Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
House lawmakers have collected enough signatures to force a vote on a bill that would nullify President Trump's executive order terminating collective bargaining rights for most federal workers.
The Catholic Church is facing aging congregations, fewer priests and financial strain. In many places, this has meant closing parishes. But in Philadelphia, they're trying something different.
Chicago is no longer the main focus of the federal immigration crackdown. For one neighborhood group, the intense enforcement activity was a test of resistance tactics they developed eight years ago.
President Trump has been announcing new trade deals with foreign countries. But these frameworks are NOT binding — leaving businesses with lots of uncertainty.
Is the trillion-dollar AI investment boom completely irrational? Google head Sundar Pichai thinks so, telling the BBC that there are "elements of irrationality" — yet Wall Street continues to invest.