Ari Shapiro

In late 2017, the South African city — hit by a historic drought — faced the possibility it would have to shut off its water supply within six months. A musical challenge helped avert that disaster.

The two artists, best known for their bands Bon Iver and The National, say their new project isn't really a band but a large-scale collaboration involving dozens of musicians.

Kahane's new album, Book of Travelers is inspired by a two-week train trip the composer took across America. Kahane discusses the album and performs a few of the songs in NPR's studio.

When a disease wipes out most of the U.S. population, Candace Chen is the last one left at the office. Ling Ma began work on the apocalyptic novel right before she got laid off from her own job.

The Rio Grande Valley is the busiest stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border for crossing. NPR recently spent time on both sides of the border here, where immigration is part of everyday life.

How you feel about immigration can put you at odds with your friends, family or neighbors. In McAllen, Texas, two families with different points of view don't let politics come between them.

With the promise of good-paying jobs, Raymondville, Texas, has welcomed an immigration detention center that rose from the ashes of a facility once plagued by allegations of abuse.

Locking up immigrants is a growth business, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. NPR's Ari Shapiro visits a small town in Texas where a new immigration detention facility is opening on the site of one that burned down during riots a few years ago.

Borders are two sided. Migrants in along the Mexico border speak with NPR about the challenges they are facing on the road to the U.S.

The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas is the busiest section of the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump threatens shut down of the government over funding for border security.

Zimbabweans living in neighboring South Africa are injecting capital into a railway revamp — but much more is needed to get the country back on its feet.

The lack of hard currency is a severe problem for the southern African nation.

The Trump administration says it has reunited all of the eligible parents with their children who were separated under the "zero tolerance" policy. Hundreds of kids are still in government custody.

A court-imposed deadline to reunite separated children with their parents has arrived, but there are still many obstacles for the government to clear before they can reunite all of the families.

This "self-mythologizing memoir," which Posey pronounces "me-moir," is written as if it's a monologue to an airplane seatmate, full of collages, cocktail recipes and stories from her life and career.

Michael Cragg of Beat Magazine explains the social media reaction following Demi Lovato's reported drug overdose and what it means about attitudes toward addiction and mental illness.

Journalist Michael Scott Moore went to East Africa to write about piracy. Then he got kidnapped and imprisoned for 977 days. The Desert and the Sea chronicles his incredible ordeal.

Ebba Chitambo, 66, made music during Zimbabwe's fight for independence. Now, he's giving advice to a new generation of musicians about writing political music.

Survivors of political violence in Zimbabwe are being trained to serve as election monitors in the country's July 30 vote. Past elections have been marred by violence and allegations of rigging.

On Thursday, Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake delivered a blistering rebuke of President Trump's Helsinki summit and his meeting with Russian President Putin.