The World

Home alone

Attorney Amelia McGowan represents some of the families caught up in ICE raids at several companies in Mississippi yesterday. McGowan tells host Marco Werman she fielded calls from frightened children whose parents and other relatives didn't return home from work.

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ICE arrests hundreds of immigrants in Mississippi

The huge ICE sweep required 600 agents, involving nearly one agent for each of the 680 detained people. John Sandweg served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Barack Obama. Sandweg tells host Marco Werman the operation will send a message of fear through the local immigrant community.

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India and Pakistan face off over Kashmir

Pakistan has announced a raft of measures against India to protest India's decision to incorporate the disputed territory of Kashmir. But Pakistan says there will be no military action. Host Marco Werman speaks with Shamila Chaudhary, senior fellow at the think tank, New America, and former National Security Council director for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Sicily's mafia and migrants

Migrant shopkeepers are taking on the mafia for the first time in Sicily. Meanwhile, local news outlets report the rise of a new mafia in Italy — the Nigerian mafia. Orla Barry went to Palermo to investigate.

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‘The waiting room’: Part four

The World's Monica Campbell wraps up our series, “The Waiting Room,” about migrants waiting in Tijuana, Mexico, for a chance to apply for asylum in the US. Today, she speaks with a Honduran man who's been waiting for his chance to get to the US to apply for asylum.

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Puerto Rico's political house of cards

Puerto Rico has a new governor — the third in less than a week.  Wanda Vazquez became the new governor just hours after her predecessor was forced to stand down by the Supreme Court.  Host Marco Werman speaks with Senator Eduardo Bhatia about the dizzying political situation.  Bhatia also announced he will run as governor.

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A feminist anthem in response to Brazil's Bolsonaro

Brazilian lesbian singer-songwriter Maria Beraldo released her first solo album, a feminist anthem in response to the far-right views espoused by her country's recently elected president, Jair Bolsonaro. Sonia Narang has her story.

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Marco Werman: Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, doesn't hide his views about women and the LGBT community. He has made light of rape. He has also been quoted as saying he would prefer to see his own son dead rather than gay.Maria Beraldo is not taking any of this lightly. She's a singer songwriter who's writing music in defiance of Brazil's far right president.Sonia Narang has her story.Narang: When I meet Maria Beraldo, she has the word "trouble" emblazoned in bold black letters on her bright red pants. Beraldo released her first solo album last year and she's gaining fans with her provocative, opinionated lyrics. In a country where the president has openly bashed women and gays, her songs of empowerment and lesbian lovers are a direct challenge.Maria Beraldo: We have something like a dictator. Our government is being closed. One of the most powerful technologies of oppression is to silence, silence a lot of stories. In Brazil, I think we have a lot of artists and people and everybody thinking and talking about freedom and putting themselves out [there].Narang: While Brazil has relatively strong legal protections for LGBT people, anti-gay violence runs high there and Beraldo fears it's getting worse under Jair Bolsonaro.Beraldo: I think we're actually in a moment now that is really complicated. It's really hard in Brazil now. We have terrible numbers and Lesbophobia is growing.Narang: Berlaldo was a classically trained clarinetist. She's 31 now and lives in Sao Paolo, and she's been playing music for as long as she can remember.Beraldo: Actually, I studied in my mother's body because she's a musician and my parents are musicians. So I always had this at home.Narang: In her song "Maria" she creates a world revolving around women by telling her story through the stories of her mother and grandmother. She says men have long been telling stories through their own perspective, leaving women out.Beraldo: A lot of histories are being silenced. My album is telling my history and I think that is really powerful for a lesbian woman to say her history.Perola Mathías: Traditionally, we don't have so many singers that think as a lesbian, putting this kind of voice in the lyric.Narang: Perola Mathías is a sociologist and music researcher in Sao Paolo.Mathias: So, Maria Beraldo's doing this. When she passes this kind of message, it's a kind of resistance, in an artistic way, an aesthetic way and in a political way.Narang: Beraldo's album is titled "Cavala." That's also the name of the single. The word "cavalo" is masculine and means "horse" in Portuguese, but "cavala" is an offensive slang term for women. And in this song, Beraldo reclaims the word.Beraldo: I think that word has the strength of the animal and the strength that was taken from us — like, 'men are strong, men are brave, men are like the horse.' And actually, we are that. We are supporting everything. Women had that strength much more than [men]. So it was a word that started to come out in my life because of this music.Narang: Sociologist Perola Mathías says Beraldo's music sends a message to girls and young women.Mathias: I think that it's important in this conservative moment. This music can say to them, 'You can do whatever you want, being a woman.'Narang: Beraldo’s live concerts attract thousands of people across Brazil and she spreads her message through social media, as well. Her Instagram following has grown to more than 16,000.Beraldo: I think that a lot of women and a lot of lesbian women listen to my history and identify, and that gives a lot of strength for those people. The way that we can start to change things is to let each person tell her history.

130th Icelandic festival in Canada

The annual celebration took place in New Iceland this week. Host Marco Werman speaks with Laurie Bertram, author of “The Viking Immigrants: Icelandic North Americans,” about why Icelandic culture has such an influence on the region.

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Wheelchair basketball star

Born in Somalia, and now a European basketball champion, Abdi Jama has had an eventful life. As a 6-year-old boy, he left his country of birth during the civil war. But after his family settled in England, he suffered a freak accident that left him paralyzed. Now he plays for Great Britain as a wheelchair basketballer. The BBC's Isaac Fanin went to Jama's hometown, Liverpool, to hear his story and shoot some hoops.

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ICE picks up hundreds in Mississippi raids

Marco Werman

Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement look on after executing search warrants and making some arrests at an agricultural processing facility in Canton, Mississippi. 

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Ukraine

The long fight for arts and culture in Ukraine as war rages on

Development

90% of the cars on Ghana's roads are imported used cars. Many are polluting or unsafe.

Leonardo de Carvalho Leal and Mayara Stelle administer the Twitter account Sleeping Giants Brazil, a platform for activism whose stated mission is to attack the financing of hate speech and dissemination of fake news, Dec. 11, 2020.

Free speech

Will Brazil’s ‘Fake News Bill’ regulate disinformation or stifle free speech?

Afghanistan

After Taliban ban, women NGO workers in Afghanistan struggle to make ends meet

Ukrainian rock band Vopli Vidopliassova and fans rediscover an old hit 

Lifestyle & Belief

This Jerusalem tattoo studio is part of a centuries-old Christian tradition 

Bollywood actresses from left, Siddhi Idnani, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, Adah Sharma and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah during a press conference for the movie "The Kerala Story" in Mumbai, India, May 17, 2023.

Media

Is the fictional film 'The Kerala Story' cautionary or propaganda?

Arrest of online influencer Andrew Tate puts Romania’s webcam industry in the spotlight

Ukrainians embrace tattoos as a form of patriotism

Soldiers line up before leaving to patrol the streets in Bogotá, Colombia, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. 

Critical State

 Use the force: Part II

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