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.
The Trump administration is slashing jobs at Voice of America's parent agency by 85%. Journalists who have risked their freedom to report for the broadcaster wonder what happens next.
Children from Gaza with cancer are finally making it to Jordan for long-promised treatment. But a plan to allow as many as 2,000 patients out of the war-torn enclave has slowed.