Hump day recommendations, Aug. 7, 2024

Watch:Tehran.” Yes, it’s a bit spooky watching a TV show about battles between Israeli and Iranian spies at this moment, but “Tehran” is a well-acted, continually suspenseful, award-winning series that offers multidimensional characters on all sides. Not surprisingly, seasons 3 and 4 are now on hold thanks to the show’s uncomfortable parallels with the current news. – Willis

Watch:Laapataa Ladies.” Imagine that your wife gets exchanged on your wedding day. That’s the plot of “Laapata Ladies,” which means “Missing Ladies,” a film directed by Kiran Rao. Set in rural India, the film follows two girls who recently got married. Phool, 16, has never stepped out of her village, and Jaya has just finished high school and wants to continue her studies. While Jaya gets exchanged with Phool at the train station, Phool steps down at a different terminus. Watch this heartwarming film as the two girls survive, one at a train station, and one in an unknown family, while trying to figure out their ultimate destinations. – Suhani

Watch: “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything.”This docuseries was released several years ago but feels incredibly timely. It’s about the year 1971 and the music it inspired — and how the music of that year shaped the times. So much of what happened in 1971 feels eerily familiar. It was the Nixon era and the height of the Vietnam War. Young people were out in the streets, furious over the war (among other things) and calling for sweeping societal changes. The soundtrack to this series is fantastic, and you’ll probably learn a lot, too. — John


More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

"We are seeing adversaries act in increasingly sophisticated ways, at a speed and scale often fueled by AI in a way that I haven't seen before.” says Lisa Monaco, President of Global Affairs at Microsoft.

US President Donald Trump has been piling the pressure on Russia and Venezuela in recent weeks. He placed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil firms and bolstered the country’s military presence around Venezuela – while continuing to bomb ships coming off Venezuela’s shores. But what exactly are Trump’s goals? And can he achieve them? And how are Russia and Venezuela, two of the largest oil producers in the world, responding? GZERO reporters Zac Weisz and Riley Callanan discuss.

- YouTube

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says AI can be both a force for good and a tool for harm. “AI has either the possibility of…providing interventions and disruption, or it has the ability to also further harms, increase radicalization, and exacerbate issues of terrorism and extremism online.”

Demonstrators carry the dead body of a man killed during a protest a day after a general election marred by violent demonstrations over the exclusion of two leading opposition candidates at the Namanga One-Post Border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania, as seen from Namanga, Kenya October 30, 2025.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Tanzania has been rocked by violence for three days now, following a national election earlier this week. Protestors are angry over the banning of candidates and detention of opposition leaders by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Illegal immigrants from Ethiopia walk on a road near the town of Taojourah February 23, 2015. The area, described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as one of the most inhospitable areas in the world, is on a transit route for thousands of immigrants every year from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia travelling via Yemen to Saudi Arabia in hope of work. Picture taken February 23.
REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

7,500: The Trump administration will cap the number of refugees that the US will admit over the next year to 7,500. The previous limit, set by former President Joe Biden, was 125,000. The new cap is a record low. White South Africans will have priority access.