Emily Feng

ICE has spun a massive surveillance web. We talked to people caught in it The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Border Patrol, is using a broad web of surveillance tools — purchased as its budget has ballooned under this administration — to monitor, ap...

This is what China does, though with far greater precision and scale
www.npr.org/2026/03/04/n...

Family sues after researcher's death, alleging university's probe led to suicide The suicide of a Chinese American cancer researcher has raised painful questions over alleged discrimination against Asian scientists in the U.S.

The lawsuit in the case of the death of Dr Jane Wu is worth a read - it alleges shocking details in what has been one of the most horrific cases tied to the China Initiative
www.npr.org/2026/03/04/n...

Strike on Iranian primary school kills 108, authorities say Girls’ education facility hit as US and Israel launch joint military operation

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Strike on Iranian primary school kills 108, authorities say

The Purges Within China’s Military Are Even Deeper Than You Think | ChinaPower Project Analysis of a groundbreaking dataset shows that purges within China’s military are far more extensive than previously understood.

CSIS' China Power project just updated their data on purged military officials, and it is very informative: chinapower.csis.org/china-pla-mi...

The purge continues of senior Chinese military officials, as nine generals of varying ranks are removed from delegate lists for the Two Sessions meetings starting next week.
www.news.cn/20260226/822...

China and the US alter foreign aid strategies China's foreign aid strategy has shifted in the last few decades and now its model may be the one the US is adopting as China moves away from it.

“the U.S. is moving toward a more transactional model long associated with Beijing, and China is positioning itself to become a bigger presence in global health and development.” China and the US change approaches to foreign aid

www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

Ukraine's combat amputees cling to hope as a weapon of war Along with a growing number of war-wounded amputees, Mykhailo Varvarych and Iryna Botvynska are navigating an altered destiny after Varvarych lost both his legs during the Russian invasion.

www.npr.org/sections/the...

'Given a gun and sent to die': Kenyans lured to fight for Russia in Ukraine Kenya's intelligence service warns that over 1,000 citizens may have been recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, many under false pretenses.

"Given a gun and sent to die": More than 1,000 Kenyans are now believed to have been recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine — far higher than earlier estimates,
@emmanueligunza.bsky.social reports in Nairobi for @npr.org
www.npr.org/2026/02/21/n...

Tehran on edge as residents fear US attack Many in Iran’s capital think it is only a matter of time until war returns to their lives

He said he was too exhausted to flee the city. “I’ll be killed either by the Islamic republic or by the US, but I won’t go anywhere. In this country, it seems you cannot even die a normal death.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Translations: "A Forest Needs Woodpeckers, Not Just Magpies" - Tributes to Pair of Detained Reporters, Now Released on Bail Investigative journalists Liu Hu and Wu Yingjiao were released on bail on Saturday, two weeks after they were detained across provincial borders in apparent connection with their recent report on corr...

Translations: "A Forest Needs Woodpeckers, Not Just Magpies" - Tributes to Pair of Detained Reporters, Now Released on Bail

"I remember calling him several times to bug him about a piece. I was getting a bit annoyed. An hour later, he called: 'I'm hiding in a cave, I'll write it as soon as I can.'"

Thank you for listening! They were kicking the Israelis I went with, who were there to protect the shepherds from settlers.

In the West Bank, a new wall raises fears Palestinians will be cut off from land Palestinian farmers and shepherds in the occupied territory of the West Bank say new walls and radical Jewish settlers are making life impossible for them.

As usual, listen don't read - an audio journey thru the Jordan Valley last month, along the route of a new, planned series of barriers through the West Bank and encounters with settlers
www.npr.org/2026/02/17/n...

U.S. releases new details on alleged secret Chinese nuclear test At a event in Washington D.C., A U.S. official said a remote earthquake in 2020 was caused by a Chinese nuclear test.

The U.S. government has released fresh intelligence on what it claims was an illicit Chinese nuclear test conducted in 2020.

www.npr.org/2026/02/17/n...

The villages we went to are sandwiched RIGHT between Bhutan, India, and Chinese-controlled Tibet. Unlike China's border village push, India's building push is sputtering, hampered by bureaucracy.
www.npr.org/2026/02/17/n...

India has long promised 'vibrant' border villages, as China speedily builds up India's government launched a Vibrant Villages Programme almost four years ago. But as China steadily builds up its side, Indian residents wonder what's taking so long.

Both India and China are building up strategically-placed yet very remote villages along parts of their contested border, high up in the Himalayas. @npr.org went to some of the villages on the India side.
www.npr.org/2026/02/17/n...

Professor’s Suicide Puts Forced Demolition Back in Spotlight Tuo Jiguang had accused Chengdu authorities of shirking resettlement negotiations since 2011 before ultimately demolishing his family’s two apartments last year without warning.

One of the same officials the 2 journalists wrote about also was allegedly behind the earlier forcible demolition of a law professor's properties, which drove him to suicide his family says: www.sixthtone.com/news/1006720

Chinese journalists detained after publishing an investigation into a Communist Party official Chinese lawyers and writers are calling for the release of two journalists detained by authorities after they published an investigation into a senior Communist Party official.

My story today about the rare public outcry over the detention of two journalists in China. People are still speaking out corruption and defending the need for press freedom.
www.npr.org/2026/02/14/n...

Who will police Gaza, and how? Under President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, Arab countries and the European Union are supposed to train a new police force in the Gaza Strip. But U.S. plans have run into serious challenges.

And also interesting details on a proposal, revived at least once "to train Palestinian forces in software sold by the Israeli digital forensics company Cellebrite to analyze data taken from confiscated electronic devices..." www.npr.org/2026/02/13/g...

Who will police Gaza, and how? Under President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, Arab countries and the European Union are supposed to train a new police force in the Gaza Strip. But U.S. plans have run into serious challenges.

Daniel Estrin and I got exclusive details on early 2024 efforts to train up some kind of Palestinian police force for Gaza. "The intent was that we ...then integrate them with an international security force..." said one of the officials involved" www.npr.org/2026/02/13/g...

Who will police Gaza, and how? Under President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, Arab countries and the European Union are supposed to train a new police force in the Gaza Strip. But U.S. plans have run into serious challenges.

NEW: "Just 3 weeks after the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked Israel's war in Gaza, U.S. security officials...drew up a plan...according to a copy of the U.S. proposal obtained by NPR."

Since then, most of those efforts have been stymied, for fizzled.

www.npr.org/2026/02/13/g...

Gallup to stop tracking presidential approval ratings after 88 years Public opinion polling agency says decision ‘solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities’

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The FBI seizure of Georgia 2020 election ballots relies on debunked claims An FBI investigation of the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., was initiated by a lawyer who aided President Trump's unsuccessful efforts to overturn that election, an unsealed affidavit says.

UPDATE/SCOOP:

An FBI affidavit used to seize 2020 election ballots from Georgia's Fulton County omitted key findings from state investigators that undercut many questions about wrongdoing, an @npr.org analysis finds.

Read the Secretary of State's office investigative reports:

The Sino-American convergence we can all get behind

"So he's going to get effectively for a man who turned 78 last week, a life sentence for speaking out, speaking his mind," one of Lai's lawyers, Jonathan Price, told me back in December when his guilty verdict was first read out.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison A Hong Kong court sentenced 78-year-old activist and publisher Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty under China's national security law.

Jimmy Lai and his family did not submit any letter of mitigation ahead of the hearing. He waved and smiled at the public galley though after his sentence was read out.
www.npr.org/2026/02/09/n...

Greetings from Kyiv, where candles are the last option during wartime blackouts Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Have a thought for my colleague @joannakakissis.bsky.social and others who are reporting from Ukraine, living by candles and without heat for weeks now
www.npr.org/2026/02/04/g...

Tonight at @cwclub.bsky.social in San Francisco:
5:30 PM PST / @emilyzfeng.bsky.social: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China
6 PM PST / Introducing U.C. President James B. Milliken

Details & tickets: commonwealthclub.org/events

Wonderful conversation!

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity And Belonging In Xi Jinping's China

Looking forward to seeing @emilyzfeng.bsky.social, our 2022 Shorenstein Journalism Award winner, back at Stanford, hosted by @hooverinstitution.bsky.social this Friday, and hearing her discuss the human stories behind her book and the challenges of reporting them.
www.hoover.org/events/let-o...

Israel demolishes HQ of U.N. Palestinian refugee agency in East Jerusalem UNRWA is accusing Israel of breaking international law for demolishing UN buildings in East Jerusalem. Undeterred, Israeli officials say they want to shut down more UNRWA facilities.

This week Israel is scheduled to cut off water and power to some UNRW facilities after bulldozing its East Jerusalem HQ earlier this month www.npr.org/2026/01/23/n...