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Each episode, our Peabody Award-winning show travels beyond the headlines to answer the question,

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Russia helped keep Syria's dictator in power for years.

But Moscow, where Assad lives in exile, appears to be warming up to Syria's new rulers.

I'm sure, you know, Bashar al-Assad is not feeling very secure over in Moscow at the moment, given all of these discussions.

I'm Carolyn Beeler.

And I'm Marco Wurman, where Russia stands with the new Syria.

Also, with the U.S. immigration system shut down,

many migrants from Venezuela are going back home.

Mexico, this woman, tells us, has been very traumatic.

Plus, how airlines choose and pay for safe flight routes. We also meet the Thai celebrity

who at first turned down an invitation to audition for the

White Lotus. I said no, because I don't think I have time. Those stories are more today on the

world. This is the world. I'm Marco Werman. And I'm Carolyn Beeler. Thank you for being here today.

The new government in Syria is looking to rebuild the country after decades of dictatorship and to rearrange its relationships with its neighbors and other foreign powers.

Russia had been a close partner with the Assad regime that Syria's current leaders brought down,

but there are signs that the partnership between Moscow and Damascus is far from finished. Natasha Hall is a senior fellow at the Center

for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. As listeners might know, Russia was instrumental

in Assad's bombardment of Syria, including places where the current transitional government was governing up in Idlib.

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