A new Netflix show exposes the harsh realities of living below the poverty line in America. Based on Stephanie Land’s memoir, "Maid" follows a young mother’s fight to escape an abusive relationship. The series has attracted a huge audience. Land speaks with Michel Martin about her journey.

Carlos Fernando Chamorro is one of Nicaragua’s foremost journalists and a member of a leading opposition family. His mother, Violetta Chamorro, defeated Daniel Ortega to become president in 1990, making her Latin America’s first elected female leader. Three of Chamorro's relatives were arrested in the latest Ortega crackdown. The journalist himself escaped to Costa Rica.

One group of volunteers has launched a mission to rescue nearly 500 Afghan students, artists, and others, with support from the governments of Canada, Ecuador and Pakistan. These volunteers call themselves the Thirty Birds Foundation, and Abuzar and Simin Royesh helped lead the efforts. They both join the show from the U.S., where Simin is being processed for resettlement at a military base.

The term “Me Too” went viral in 2017, but activist Tarana Burke had already been using it for a decade to help survivors – particularly young women of color – empower themselves and connect to others. For Burke, watching #MeToo go viral wasn’t necessarily a cause for celebration. Instead, she feared the movement might drift away from its original intent. Her new memoir documents all this and more.

The investigation into the January 6 insurrection is heating up on Capitol Hill, where the House committee leading the investigation voted to hold Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena. Committee member Adam Schiff is the author of a new book, "Midnight in Washington." He speaks with Michel Martin about why he believes the January attack fundamentally weakened the United States.

Lukashenko’s antipathy towards migrants is shared by another European strongman, Hungary’s Viktor Orban. The increasingly autocratic prime minister has run the country for over a decade. Will his time soon be over? Engineer-turned-mayor Peter Marki-Zay believes so –- and wants to be the one to oust him. Marki-Zay pulled off a big victory this weekend, becoming the unexpected opposition candidate.

A new Netflix documentary focuses on the everyday heroes who gave their all on the front lines of the pandemic. "Convergence: Courage in a Crisis" is directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, whose credits include such hit documentaries as "The White Helmets" and "Virunga." Featured performer Hassan Akkad is co-director. He fled Syria as a refugee before working on the front lines of COVID-19.

In Haiti, the FBI has joined the investigation into the abduction of American and Canadian missionaries. The kidnappers are now demanding $17 million in ransom – one million for each victim. Kidnappings are a daily occurrence in Haiti, where food and fuel shortages are common and where basic government services are virtually nonexistent. Yvens Rumbold works with a non-partisan think tank in Haiti.

To explore the inner workings of America’s newspapers, journalist McKay Coppins has been investigating the hedge fund Alden Global Capital and its years-long work gutting newspapers. Coppins' latest piece for The Atlantic is titled “The men who are killing America’s newspapers,” and he speaks with Hari Sreenivasan about the destructive impact of all this on American communities.

NWSL player Kaiya McCullough came forward this summer with allegations of emotional abuse by Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke, a move that set in motion the reckoning we see now. Burke denies the claims, but McCullough says she quit the team after he made her “hate soccer.” At 23, McCullough is both a veteran player and a veteran sports activist, and she joins the show to explain her decision.

Now we turn to a city familiar with devastating natural disasters: New Orleans. Ramsey Green, the city’s Chief of Infrastructure, speaks about lessons learned after Hurricane Katrina in redefining the way cities respond to extreme weather. The interview is part of The WNET Group’s second annual virtual conversation series American Cities Rebuilding.

For more on Powell’s legacy, Bianna speaks with journalist Robert Draper, whose recent book "To Start a War" chronicled the decisions and key players that led to invasion.

The fall of Enron was a scandal that rocked the business world so hard that its aftershocks are still being felt 20 years later. The Texas energy giant was then the seventh largest company in the U.S., with a claimed revenue of over $100 billion. But beneath the surface, the company was concealing huge losses within a complex web of outside deals. What went wrong?

The inaugural Earthshot Awards were held in London this weekend to honor innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental problems. Founded by Prince William and naturalist David Attenborough, Earthshot awarded a prize of more than $1.3 million to each of its five winners. Among them was Vaitea Cowan, honored for her group’s innovation of a compact electrolyzer.

Jack Straw was Powell’s British counterpart during the buildup to the Iraq War, serving as U.K. Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair. He joins the program to reflect on his friend’s legacy.

Andrew Yang ran for president in 2020 and for mayor of New York earlier this year. Now he's announced he’s leaving the Democratic Party entirely to launch a new party. The Forward Party shares its name with Yang's new book, which charts his experience in the 2020 presidential campaign. He speaks about the inspiration behind the book, his new party, and his vision for American politics.

Conservative MP Sir David Amess was stabbed multiple times at his constituency surgery, a regular session of one-on-one meetings between lawmakers and voters and a cornerstone of British democracy. A 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the killing, but the motive remains unclear. It is the second killing of a sitting U.K. lawmaker in five years.

The European Union is facing a number of pressing concerns right now -- from Afghanistan to the Iran nuclear deal to the threat of a Polish exit from the bloc. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joins the show from Washington D.C., fresh from a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Empty supermarket shelves. Soaring utility bills. Sky-high gas prices. The global energy crunch is hitting supply chains and consumers hard, interfering with the effort to recover from the pandemic and last year’s harsh winter. To discuss this and broader threats to the global economy, Christiane speaks with New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.

Julie Delpy aspires to change our outlook on aging with her new series "On the Verge," celebrating the changing lives of four female friends living and working in Los Angeles – all on the verge of middle age. The show clearly struck a chord. In its debut episode it made Netflix's list of top ten shows. Delpy joins the show from L.A. to discuss the series and what inspired her to make it.