Some people identify as Native American based on family stories. There is a more respected way to check and it does not involve a DNA test. Also, a proposed law would give indigenous people in Canada more say over their own land; during World War Two the US government built Japanese internment camps on tribal land; how the Choctaw Nation helped the Irish during the potato famine; and rock music legend Robbie Robertson recalls his childhood visits to family on the Six Nations Reserve .
(Photo: Native American dancers pose for pictures along the highway on May 11, 2018 in Cherokee, North Carolina. Located near the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the North Carolina side of the Appalachian Mountains, and at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the region is home to the Cherokee Nation band of Indians. Credit: George Rose/Getty Images)
The innovation edition
Cooling down our addiction to air conditioning by building a more energy efficient AC. Also, it’s a “wind, wind, wind” for cargo ships powered by sails; engineering students in Los Angeles design quality-of-life solutions for refugee camps; a navigation app helps drivers get around Nigeria; the drive to thwart diseases like malaria and dengue by altering the genes of mosquitoes.
(Photo: Air conditioning units in Antwerp, Belgium on Tuesday, July 23, 2019. Credit: Dirk Waem/AFP via Getty Images)
Unwanted attention
Impeachment hearings have entered the public phase in Washington DC. Congress is investigating allegations that President Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure it to deliver political favours. But in Ukraine they are focused on the conduct of their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a now infamous phone call with Trump.
Also, star basketball player Enes Kanter tells us how he became an enemy of Turkey’s president; a student suing the Trump Administration has her day in court; a controversial meme in the US gets a rebranding in Hong Kong; millennials tell boomers the world they have inherited is not okay; a song that got protesters in Lebanon to dance.
(Photo: Members of the media gather as State Department deputy assistant secretary, George Kent and acting US ambassador to Ukraine, William B. Taylor appear for a House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearing in Washington, DC. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
It’s automatic
Farmers in the US face a labour shortage, so they’re turning to new technology to fill the gap. Also, meet “Pepper", a robot that’s already replacing thousands of jobs around the world; a researcher from Silicon Valley finds a robot in his hotel room and discovers a potential security breach; how 3D printing could help the global housing crisis; and an instrument that sounds like it’s from outer space, but was invented on earth 100 years ago.
(Robots named “Pepper” work in banks across the US. They help answer basic questions and allow customers to skip the line for a cashier. Credit: Jason Margolis/The World)
Power and diplomacy
The impeachment inquiry has exposed some of the ways in which the US diplomatic corps feels undermined and undervalued by the Trump administration. We visit two US universities training a future generation of US diplomats to find out whether students there are reconsidering their career choice. Also, Samantha Power reflects on some of the toughest decisions she had to make while US Ambassador to the UN; we visit the Museum of the Palestinian People that is just blocks away from the White House; the rise and fall of Richard Holbrooke, a statesman known for his diplomatic breakthroughs and outsized ego; and beatboxers on a musical mission to bring the world together.
(Photo: A view of the Washington Monument and the US Department of State's flag in Washington, DC. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)