Boston Calling

President Trump has promised to help America’s soya bean farmers, who have found themselves caught in the middle of the US-China trade war. But will his help be enough? Also: an ice-cream maker in Philadelphia exports his product to China, for people with expensive tastes; a newcomer to Mexico City learns that quesadillas don’t always come with cheese; two entrepreneurs take Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine to Seoul; plus we remember restaurant critic Jonathan Gold and the effect he had on food culture in Los Angeles. (Image: Corn and soya beans grow on a farm near Tipton, Iowa. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Did Donald Trump commit treason in Helsinki? Legal experts weigh in on the “T” word. Also: we learn all about Russia’s GRU, the country’s largest military intelligence agency; we remember Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 four years after it was shot down over eastern Ukraine; we meet Crimean families who have been displaced after Russia’s annexation of the peninsula; and finally Alina Simone, a Russian immigrant living in New York, explains why she has given up on teaching her daughter Russian. (Image: US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference in Helsinki. Credit: Getty Images)

One in six Americans is affected by infertility, according to a recent study by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The US has legal commercial surrogacy programmes, but they can cost more than $100,000, so some couples are looking abroad. This week, we explore the global surrogacy industry by travelling to Ukraine, which has become the go-to spot for foreign couples seeking surrogates, and then to India, where commercial surrogacy may soon be banned. (Image: Kateryna (not her real name) lives in a rural village in Ukraine. She decided to become a surrogate so she could get ahead and earn extra money. Credit: Anastasia Vlasova/PRI’s The World)

Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, gives his take on the upcoming Trump-Putin summit. Also: we meet indigenous language interpreters helping migrants detained on the US-Mexico border make their cases for asylum; we look at global projects to combat loneliness, from dance parties in the Netherlands, to a newspaper for people cut off from society in Japan, to new research being conducted in Utah. We close out with a love song composed by a whale. Yes, for real. (Image: Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Credit: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/Handout/Getty Images)

I was just really happy,” says The New York Times en Español editor Paulina Chavira, “I was crying because it was a victory for me.” She convinced Mexico's national football team to add accent marks to their jerseys. Also: migrant workers are already building football stadiums in Qatar for the World Cup in 2022; a Pakistani woman created a board game to take on arranged marriage; a Jeopardy! winner has mixed feelings about her victory; and we listen to World Cup themed music from Colombia. (Image: Fans of Mexico celebrate during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group F match between Mexico and Sweden at Ekaterinburg Arena on June 27, 2018 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Credit: Carlos Cuin/Getty Images)

There is nothing special about the building at 606 South Olive Street in Los Angeles. But if you're an immigrant fighting deportation, what happens inside is all-important. Also: we hear about a child who was separated from his family and put in US immigration detention… in 1930; we meet a feisty Peruvian potato farmer facing down an American mining company; we learn about a proposal to legalise divorce in the Philippines; and we rock out to an Arabic remix of the Beatles song “Drive My Car”, to mark the end of the women's driving ban in Saudi Arabia. (Image: The building that houses the US immigration court in Los Angeles, one of 57 such courthouses in the country. Credit: Saul Gonzalez)

“What I remember about my dad is that he had this penetrating smile.” We recall the life of Tony Acevedo; from child of unauthorised immigrants from Mexico, to US soldier in WWII, to concentration camp survivor, to inspirational father. Also: the daughter of an American spy reveals secrets about her childhood; a father remembers telling his children that he was going to be deported; Vincenzo Bruno, an activist in Costa Rica, comes out as transgender to his son; and Tami Neilson closes out the programme with her song “The First Man.’’ (Image: Tony Acevedo at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's 20th Anniversary Tribute event in Los Angeles, February 2013. Credit: Courtesy of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

): Young Navajo in the southwest grapple with a traumatic chapter in US history. ''Nobody shares these stories with me, and I don’t understand why I feel the way I feel. I want to know what happened.'' We learn how the story of the 1864 Long Walk slipped from US history; we dig into the legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act; a House for Sale sign appears in France and brings back a flood of memories for a New Jersey real estate agent; a museum holds writing workshops for Holocaust survivors; and jazz musician Guillermo Nojechowicz sets his family’s immigrant story to music. (Image: “The Long Walk was a huge initiative undertaken by Kit Carson and his team of various military branches,” Vanessa Roanhorse explains, “to round up as many Navajos as they could, and force them on this walk.” Credit: Warren Montoya)

Bananas and foreign travel: What it means to be a computer hacker in North Korea. In North Korea’s spy agency, operatives aren’t just trained to gather intel. They also hack banks. We hear from a couple of North defectors about what it’s actually like to be a government hacker. Also on the programme: we meet a robot assistant breaking down gender stereotypes; we get to the bottom of a robocall scam; we check our own voicemail box for messages from our listeners; and we visit a restaurant where the chefs are robots. (Image: North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves from a car on April 27, 2018. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

North Korea’s cyber-hackers have raked in millions of dollars. Also: US border agents on the search for illegal animals; the cheese smugglers of Canada; and we dip into our inbox to find out where you’re listening from. (Image: Students at Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, a prestigious academy in Pyongyang. Credit: KCNA)

As NAFTA talks grind on, thousands of skilled workers wonder if they will keep their jobs. A Trade NAFTA or "T-N visa” allows citizens of Canada and Mexico to work in the US in a range of job categories. It could now be in jeopardy as the Trump administration seeks to renegotiate the trade agreement by the end of the year. Also: There is a shortage of summer workers in Cape Cod, partly due to changes to a temporary worker visa program; as the US and China talk trade and tariffs, some in Shanghai wonder what it will mean for them; the end of Temporary Protected Status for some immigrants has an unexpected impact on US labour unions; plus we find out how TV reporter Lisa Howard changed the course of the Cold War. (Image: Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo gives a message to the media during the seventh round of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks in Mexico City, on March 5, 2018. Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/Getty Images)

As traditional business models continue to break down, entrepreneurs have their sights on one more area to disrupt: traditional orthodontics. Also: biodegradable six-pack holders finally go on the market; a former ambassador tells us what's in a diplomatic pouch; the French consider adopting 'le doggy bag' for restaurant leftovers; we ride along with 23 greyhounds across the US/Mexico border; and composer Idan Raichel performs a song for us using an assortment of improvised musical instruments. (Image: Candid Co. sends customers a kit to take impressions of their teeth from home. An orthodontist then remotely comes up with a treatment plan. Credit: Candid Co.)

Alabama used to be known for its textile industry. Now, it’s becoming the automotive hub of the South. Also: we find out what it’s like to fly on Air Koryo, North Korea’s national airline; we meet Dean Huang, a Taiwanese-born immigrant who was living his dream life in the US when he got a letter from Taiwan’s military that changed everything; plus director Miao Wang tells us about her documentary Maineland, which follows the lives of two teens from China studying at a boarding school in Maine. (Image: Hyundai cars roll down an assembly line during the grand opening ceremony of the South Korean auto manufacturing plant in 2005 in Montgomery, Alabama. Credit: Robert Sullivan/Getty Images)

All over the world, countries are imprisoning women at higher rates than ever before. On the programme: We visit a new kind of drug treatment program for women in the Midwestern state of Ohio; we hear about why more and more mothers in Mexico are serving time for selling drugs; and we go to court with a Canadian woman named Cheyenne Sharma whose case ends up changing the law. The programme ends with the song ‘The One Who Stands In the Sun’ by Choctaw musician Samantha Crain. (Image: Lisa Duncan, Ashley Porter, Sheena Kimberly and Stephanie Cleveland, all of whom are in the Tapestry program in Ohio, are pictured from left to right. Credit: PRI’s The World)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promises to dedicate resources towards fighting hate speech. People in Sri Lanka have been asking for that for years. Also: policy makers in Thailand consider legalizing drugs; unauthorized workers in the US fight for their wages under threat of deportation; the film "Our New President" tells the story of how Russians learned about the 2016 US election using all real news clips yet no true statements; plus Jimmy O. Yang publishes his first book, and his parents don't like it. (Image: Mark Zuckerberg appears for a hearing on Wednesday April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images)

In 2015, Summer Nasser traveled from her home in New York City to marry Muntaser Yaghnam in his home country, Yemen. Then, civil war broke out. They tell us about what it was like to get married amid airstrikes and their long wait to travel back to the US. Also on the programme: US car companies scramble to figure out how to market their cars to Saudi women; a high-tech video portal offers one Milwaukee neighborhood a global perspective; plus we create the perfect playlist for your next journey, with jams by Cosmo Pyke and Frank Ulwenya. (Image: Muntaser Yaghnam and Summer Nasser at home in New York. Credit: PRI’s The World)

In India, revelations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official app has been sending user data to a third party provoke outrage. Also: Author Mona Eltahawy starts #MosqueMeToo to give Muslim women an outlet to speak out against abuse and it goes viral; two friends from Iran start a popular website about sexual health specifically for Farsi speakers; some researchers worry that we are not teaching our robots to be ethical enough; plus a woman named Ivanka Majic has an uninvited brush with fame. (Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his picture taken with a mobile phone on September 2, 2014. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Vitaly Bespalov wrote fake news at a Russian troll farm. He tells us the real story of what he found. Also: Boston author, Louie Cronin, on how she lost her Boston accent; we meet a professional accent coach who can teach you to impersonate anybody; we find out why the US military tried to erase the story of Donald Nichols, an Air Force officer who played an outsize role in the Korean War; plus we remember World War II spy hero Jeannie Rousseau de Clarens. (Image: The Internet Research Agency, or IRA, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Credit: PRI’s The World)

As Trump ends Obama-era protections for Salvadorans; a family in Minnesota has few good options to stay together. Also on the program: An American family finds their way in Mexico after deportation; a group of indigenous people from South West Africa visit a museum in New York City to view the remains of their ancestors; A Korean adoptee meets his birth mother and winds up moving in with her; plus why 'Arirang' is the perfect song for a divided Korea. (Image: David, who came to the US from El Salvador without papers, has three children who were born in the US. Credit: PRI’s The World)

The American economy may be strong, but the wage gap remains a huge concern. Also: solar panel tariffs could be a boon for US producers; residents in small coastal community in Florida prepare for climate change, mostly alone; a seed company connects Japanese-Americans with their roots; smoking pot could get you deported; and Green Day shatters a myth. (Image: Personal care workers Marilyn Sorensen (left) and Candice Bateman in Denver, Colorado. Wages for American workers are ticking upwards, but the US remains one of the world’s most inequitable nations. (Photo: Jason Margolis)