NPR's Throughline podcast sort of feels like stepping into a time machine.

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

how did we get here?

Listen to one of Apple's favorite podcasts of 2024 by searching for ThruLine on Apple Podcasts

or on your favorite podcast app.

A former president of the Philippines is accused of crimes against humanity and is being flown to the Hague.

Duterte would stand in front of microphones and boast about ordering mass killings.

I'm Carolyn Beeler.

And I'm Marco Worme and today accountability for Rodrigo Duterte.

Also, Ukraine has signed on to a U.S. proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire.

We'll hear what that entails.

Militants stormed a train in Pakistan.

Now hundreds of passengers are being held hostage.

This attack is really a wake-up call for Pakistan.

And a journalist reflects on his nearly 50-year investigation into a murder in Cairo.

Along the way, I had what you might call a loss of innocence.

All that and marking five years of pandemic today on the world.

This is the world. I'm Carolyn Beeler. And I'm Marco Wurman. Glad you're with us as we hear big developments coming from Saudi Arabia about Ukraine.

Ukrainian leaders say they are open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia. That is, of course, if the Kremlin agrees.

That announcement was made today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a meeting of top U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats.

Going into the meeting, relations among the U.S., Russian, and Ukrainians had reached an inflection point. After three years of staunch support for Ukraine,

the U.S. under President Trump, had adopted an impatient and sometimes hostile stance toward Ukraine.

...