For The World

It takes courage to be the first in your family to go to college. But there's also a lot to be proud of — especially when you're headed to Stanford University. But Kaylyn Noah, whose parents are Ghanaian immigrants, is taking it all in stride. Mostly. Colorado Public Radio's Education Reporter Jenny Brundin spoke this fall with the Denver 18-year-old as she packed for college.

After President Joe Biden's announcement of a ceasefire at 4 a.m. in Lebanon, the ceasefire began. Alia Ibrahim, a reporter and the co-founder of the Lebanese online news outlet, Daraj paints a picture of what the day was like for Lebanese people and what the country's troubled political institutions may need to contend with next.

Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman list a few headlines in the news you might have missed.

This past weekend, Ghanaians celebrated the 100th anniversary of the return of a king banished by British colonial rulers. Host Marco Werman tells the story of the Ashanti king, King Prempeh I, whose exile in the Seychelles Islands and heroic return to Africa's Gold Coast demonstrated the resilience — and ultimately, the independence — of the Ashante people who founded the nation of Ghana.

Every year since 1970, groups of Native Americans have been gathering in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving Day to mark a National Day of Mourning. They honor their ancestors and march to remember “the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures.” Over the years, the event has also stood in solidarity with other Indigenous struggles around the world. The World's Sara Hassan observed the gathering last year and recently spoke with some of the organizers.

Across Europe, a lot of the plastic people drop in the emblematic “yellow containers” doesn't end up recycled. Some plastics slip through the cracks, others are contaminated. How to deal with plastic waste is on the agenda at the UN-led negotiations for a global plastics treaty underway in South Korea. Limiting plastic production is another idea, but oil-producing countries are against it. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona. TKTK

On Wednesday, police in the Philippines filed criminal complaints against the country's Vice President Sara Duterte, whom they allege assaulted members of law enforcement in the country's legislature. While she denies those allegations, she's also been summoned for questioning after she threatened to assassinate the country's President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and the speaker of the Philippines' House of Representatives. The World's Marco Werman spoke to Lian Buan, a Manila-based investigative reporter with the Philippine news site Rappler. She says it's the culmination of a long-standing feud.

A little over a year ago, the leader of Sinn Fein, Mary Lou McDonald, looked like a shoe-in to become Ireland's next prime minister (taoiseach). As the country heads to the polls on Friday, her chances look increasingly remote. Sinn Fein is now neck-and-neck with the two governing parties in the polls. And in her own constituency, McDonald is competing for a seat against one of the country's most-unexpected candidates — a notorious crime boss. The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports.

US negotiators have brokered the release from Chinese prisons of three Americans: Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung. Swidan faced a death sentence on drug charges. Li and Leung had been charged with espionage. The World's Marco Werman talks with Sophie Richardson, a visiting scholar at Stanford University about the swap.

US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Angola next week. It will be the first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa since 2015. The World's Sarah Birnbaum reports the visit was meant to underscore American interest in a vital infrastructure project there.