John Yang

Against the Paris skyline, the Notre Dame Cathedral has risen from the ashes with its official reopening Saturday. Dozens of world leaders, diplomats and celebrities attended the celebration of the monument’s rebirth, including a high-profile return to the global spotlight for President-elect Trump. John Yang speaks with Heather Conley, senior advisor to the German Marshall Fund, for more.

This past week, the White House detailed the scope of a massive Chinese hacking campaign that reaped information from American cell phone networks. But an HBO original documentary, “Surveilled,” says some governments use commercial spyware to monitor their own citizens. To learn more, John Yang speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, who produced the documentary.

For more than half a century, Syria had been ruled with an iron fist by the Assad regime. It all came to an end this weekend with lightning speed, as rebels took control of the capital city of Damascus, and with it, the country. What lies ahead now for Syria and the Middle East is an open question. Hassan Hassan, founder and editor in chief of New Lines magazine, joins John Yang to discuss.

In our news wrap Sunday, Trump called for an “immediate cease-fire” between Ukraine and Russia and said in an interview that he plans to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., New York police released new photos of the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and a pair of iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” sold at auction for $28 million.

Under the Assad regime, hundreds of thousands of Syrians were swept up by the government’s security apparatus, never to be seen again. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn gained access to one of the intelligence branches that orchestrated that brutal oppression and reports on what she found.

Signs of normalcy are starting to return a week after life inside Syria was upended as rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. As the country’s new leaders begin to chart a path forward, the UN envoy to Syria called for a quick end to sanctions imposed by the West. Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reports from Aleppo.

In schools nationwide, educators are hoping to empower students with knowledge and inspire them to dream up ways to ensure a better climate future. At a high school in Bloomington, Indiana, students pitched their ideas to scientists this past spring. WFYI investigative education reporter Lee Gaines reports.

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As the humanitarian crisis affecting children in Gaza continues to deepen, UNICEF says there’s also a great need in Lebanon and Syria. John Yang speaks with UNICEF spokesman James Elder about what he saw on a recent trip to the region.

The picture-perfect image of happy families at holiday gatherings isn’t reality for everyone. According to a Harris poll conducted in November, about 18 percent of those surveyed said they had only limited interactions with their immediate family. Some of our viewers share their stories of alienation from family, and John Yang speaks with family therapist Whitney Goodman for advice.