The World: Latest Stories

Supporters of newly elected Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo say that the nation's courts have long favored the elites including some former military members. But now under Arevalo, whose victory is under dispute, they say that they hope for change, including for the victims of war crimes committed during Guatemala's civil war.

In much of Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, three-year undergraduate degrees are standard. Now, a US college accrediting body is allowing Brigham Young University in Idaho and affiliated Ensign College to offer shorter programs that require fewer credits.

Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano is a leading voice in a new generation of LGBTQ artists subverting traditional gender norms in reggaeton and reclaiming the political roots of the genre.

But critics say that India has turned the G20 into a marketing campaign for itself - and for Prime Minister Narendra Modi - ahead of general elections next year. The summit will also be a test for India as it seeks to establish itself as a rising power and as a voice for the global south.

Costa Rica sells its image as a green paradise," with ample nature reserves and no standing military. But many say this reputation is more myth than reality as violence, poverty and unemployment is on the rise.

Getting an acceptance letter from a US university is cause for celebration. However, getting a student visa in time to attend the first day of class can be a bigger achievement. That's because the wait can last months, even more than a year, for some countries. The World looks into the delays that are discouraging global talent from coming to the US.

Amie Ferris-Rotman, a global news editor for New Lines Magazine, wrote a personal essay about her experience being pregnant in Russia, where many citizens believe it is a woman's patriotic duty to give birth and become a mother.She talked about it with The World's Marco Werman.

The walk culminates in the city of Karbala to remember the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Husayn.

As we wrap up Planet Hip Hop," our summer series celebrating 50 years of hip-hop music around the world, H. Samy Alim returns to talk with host Marco Werman about the next 50 years. Alim is an anthropology professor and the director of the Hip Hop Initiative at UCLA.

In the US, interest on student loans started accruing again on Sept. 1. Soon, more than 40 million borrowers will have to resume their payments. The US is an outlier when it comes to high tuition and the debts that students take on.

European countries that border the Rhine River are working together to restore an old migration route, but manmade structures present a major hurdle.

Most Cambodians live in rural areas, with many struggling to make a living on small farms. Even with low public school tuition fees, sending a child to college is nearly impossible. Those who want a higher education must be resourceful.

Foxes have played a role London's landscape for a century. But they're being increasingly seen as pests, who raid trash cans and cause fear and annoyance. Reporter Rebecca Rosman talks to a photographer and a historian who want to celebrate the foxes of London.

Borrowers in the US and the UK rack up the highest debt in the world. In Denmark, tuition is free and students are given grants to pay for things like food and housing. Hardly anyone takes out loans, but free education comes with a price.

At least seven people are dead after a protest led by a pastor marched through a gang-controlled suburb of the capital.

Spain's on the rebound with tourism after huge losses during the pandemic. Those in the tourism business are relieved. But visitors are back with a vengeance and they're not always well-behaved, irking locals who miss the quieter days.

Jamala, an Indigenous Crimean Tatar, often talks about how her heritage shapes her music. Her new album, Qirim," or Crimea," is a sort of ode to her country, with 14 epic Crimean Tatar folk songs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has consolidated power over the last two decades. Yet, as the country prepares for regional elections next month, opposition voices are encouraging a protest vote."

A combination of a patriarchal culture and weak laws allow for many fathers to skip parental obligations and get away with it.

Many questions remain a day after the reported death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Kimberly Marten, who has studied the Wagner Group and testified about it on Capitol Hill. She is also a professor at Barnard College, Columbia University.

In 1916, Russian announced a draft to enlist Native peoples in modern-day Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to support Russia in World War I. The Russians killed thousands of people who resisted, and some 100,000 more people died trying to flee to China. More than a century later the episode is still difficult to talk about because of efforts by Russia to erase it from the history books.

In Nicaragua, last week, a judge ordered the seizure of the country's most-important Jesuit university, the 63-year-old Central American University. It's the latest in an ongoing government crackdown on the Catholic Church and church-affiliated institutions inside Nicaragua.

Mugre Sur is known for their deeply political songs - and also their sense of humor. They're tackling Ecuador's political turmoil in their upcoming album, Sudamericamente."

The mysterious demolition of a lopsided 18th-century pub in England has infuriated the local community and raised questions about the loss of British heritage and the demise of the country's famous pub culture.

Supporters are hoping their win leads to greater equality in professional soccer.

Two human rights advocacy groups have listed hundreds of incidents of human rights violations by immigration officials that include physical violence, verbal abuse and sexual harassment - including some cases that have been fatal.

Britain's National Health Service is known as a model of free health care for UK citizens. But as the public institution celebrates its 75th year, patients face long wait times at doctors' offices and hospitals. Some say the system needs more funding; others argue that either citizens need to pay for at least a part of their care or private companies should play a greater role.

People of faith gathered in Chicago this week to talk about something that doesn't sound very religious. And that's authoritarianism. It wasn't a traditional political rally for a specific candidate. They're taking part in the Parliament of the World's Religions, an interfaith convening that first took place in the late 1800s. People from many different religious traditions took part.

In Colombia's capital city Bogota, pedestrians need to watch out for loose slabs of pavement they can trip over, or wobbly tiles that get their feet wet or splash dirty water on their pants. But some activists have started trying to shame the city into making repairs more quickly by covering the broken spots with pink paint and black Xs.

The tiny Central American country of Costa Rica is known as a green paradise. But climate change is hitting the country in a multitude of ways, including increasing its risk from storms and natural disasters. Nowhere is the shifting planet being felt more than in some of the country's most iconic parks and reserves, where ecosystems are changing rapidly.

This coming school year, high school students in Russia will receive new history textbooks. They offer a rewritten rendition of Russian history that reflects the Kremlin's narrative about the war in Ukraine. The textbooks are part of a wider effort by the state to tighten control over the flow of information.

In 2020, the Korean film "Parasite" made history at the Oscars when it became thefirst non-English language film to win best picture. But before "Parasite," there was a different Korean film occupying the international cinematic landscape: a 2003 movie called "Oldboy." It's being rereleased in theaters on Wednesday for its 20th anniversary.

Odessa bears the scars of a blast that killed everything in its path. That's Odessa, Texas. It was hit by a meteor about 60,000 years ago. Today it is the best-preserved impact crater on Earth. Fulbright scholar Ania Losiak from Poland has been studying the crater, looking for what she describes as the meteor's "murderous behavior" to see how mankind can be prepared for the next one. Mitch Borden, of Marfa Public Radio, met her at the crater to learn more about her work.

Across the world, higher economic growth has seen a rise in women's employment, according to the United Nations. But India is bucking that trend, where educated women are working less in paid positions.

Six months after twin earthquakes devastated southern Turkey and northern Syria, the residents who remain are carving out a life amid the rubble.

Millions of Europeans, especially from Italy and Spain, migrated to Argentina between the 19th and 20th centuries. Their descendants are now reclaiming their rights to return to Europe.

Archeologists and craftspeople are building a village and monastery following, for the first time, the only blueprint that survived the early Middle Ages - a medieval plan for a utopian community sketched on calfskin.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, The World's Marco Werman looks at women who are rocking the mic across the globe. He dives in with Msia Kibona Clark from the department of African Studies at Howard University and host of the "Hip Hop African" podcast.

Fisherman Pennel Ames tossed hundreds of messages in bottles into the ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, asking anyone who found them to write back to him. Two decades later, people are still finding them around the world.

Thirty years ago, war raged in the city of Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia, where Gino Yevdjevich was once a pop artist. In our latest segment of Movement," our series on music and migration, we hear how this conflict changed Gino's life and led him to create the Seattle-based punk band Kultur Shock.

Peru is the world's largest exporter of shark fins, according to the marine protection organization Oceana. The catches are usually sent to Asia, where shark fin soup is a delicacy that can cost about $200 a bowl. This lucrative trade is threatening species of sharks off the coasts of Peru and neighboring Ecuador.

Calling it a humanitarian crisis, Governor Maura Healey has activated the National Guard to support migrants at Joint Base Cape Cod and launched two welcome centers in Boston and Quincy. But the influx of desperate people is so great that families are flooding nonprofits and local hospitals.

Since Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, its troops have been attacking Ukraine's ports, destroying 220,000 metric tons of grain in the past week alone. But US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the grain deal could be brought back to life.

The iconic East Los Angeles band Los Lobos is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Their blend of rock 'n' roll and traditional Mexican music has stayed consistent over generations. Members of the band, which formed when they were in high school, reflect with The World's host Marco Werman on their staying power.

In order to prevent Russian troops from advancing toward Kyiv, Ukrainian forces destroyed a dam on the Irpin River early on in the war. The flooding, as it turned out, created new wetland areas. Some conservationists hope to see the wetlands stay. Even residents whose cellars remain flooded are glad the water came and the Russian troops did not.

Europe's final victims of a drug scandal dating back more than half a century are finally being compensated. Partially, at least.

Seon Joo Oh, a grandmother in her 60s, teaches Korean cooking classes at the Milwaukee Recreation Department. She says her own grandmother back in South Korea lived to be 105 years old and told her that you're never too old to learn something new. Now she wants to pass that on to her community in the US.

A six-month ceasefire between the Colombian government and the rebel group known as the National Liberation Army began this month. Support for the truce, and ongoing peace talks, could depend on whether the group ceases attacks on civilians that include kidnappings and extortion.

Shells, bombs and hand grenades are still found across Belgium on a daily basis. Every year, a special unit removes over 150 metric tons of unexploded ordnance.

Ukraine is now considered the most heavily mined country in the world. Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnances since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. And about a third of the country needs to be cleared of these explosives. Much of that land is farmland.