The World: Latest Stories

At SCI Chester, a correctional facility half an hour south of Philadelphia, they are trying what is being called a bold experiment. They have adopted what they're calling the "Scandinavian Prison Project." It prioritizes the well-being of everyone in prison, from the inmates to the guards. Cristina Quinn reports for the "Fighting Crime" podcast, "Little Scandinavia - An American Prison Experiment."

Toronto had some of the world's worst air quality this week, thanks to wildfires burning up north. It's a growing problem across North America. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with Eric Kennedy, professor of Disaster and Emergency Preparedness at York University, about practical ways you can protect yourself from that smoke, both outdoors and indoors.

Friday marked an anti-government activist's 20th day on hunger strike in Delhi, India. Sonam Wangchuk has been protesting in support of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and its call for the country's education minister to resign. The World's Host Marco Werman learned more from political anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee, who researches Indian democracy at the London School of Economics. She explained how hunger strikes have a special resonance in India.

Cape Verde seduced the world with its appearance at the World Cup, making its historic run to the round of 32. Host Marco Werman takes us to Friday night in the capital Praia to hear one of the hot pop tunes at the moment in the country: "Obrigado," or "Thanks," courtesy of Cape Verdean pop star Helio Batalha, featuring Djodje, one of the country's top musical collaborators.

The massive wildfires in Canada are continuing to spread in Ontario. There are intense fires in the north of the province where there have been evacuations. There are also fires around Thunder Bay, on the edge of Lake Superior, not far from the US border. Carolyn Beeler is reports from Toronto, which has been blanketed by smoke.

Ukrainians took to the streets of Kyiv Thursday to protest the removal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During Fedorov's tenure, Ukraine saw successes in slowing Russian advances. To learn more, Host Marco Werman spoke to Oleksiy Sorokin, the deputy chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, who joined the show from Kyiv.

This week, France became the latest country to legalize assisted dying, honoring a promise made by President Emmanuel Macron to introduce a distinctly French form of legalization. But opponents have been quite vocal about their concerns. From Paris, DW's John Laurenson reports.

Climate change is undeniably bad for the animal kingdom. But some animals are able to adapt - so far - by changing their behaviors or even their bodies. Science journalist Ari Daniel reports.This story originally aired on May 3, 2023.

The final two games of the 2026 World Cup take place this weekend. We've been keeping track of the competition. Today, we get an update from The World's Gerry Hadden.

Musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine was forced to flee Uganda last January after soldiers broke into his home and attacked his wife. That was after President Yoweri Museveni, the country's aging authoritarian leader, was declared the winner of a disputed election. Wine tells The World's Host Marco Werman that Museveni's powerful son is determined to crush the last vestiges of democracy in Uganda.

The World's Carolyn Beeler is in Toronto this week, to get a look at how the wildfires in Ontario are affecting the province's largest city. She speaks with Host Marco Werman about what authorities there are doing, and how people on the street are responding.

Sightings of colobus congoensis, a black colobus monkey with human-like eyes and pink-and-orange fur ringing its mouth are rare. But this week, scientists announced they have confirmed that the monkey is a distinct, new species. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with Junior Amboko, a field conservationist at Florida Atlantic University and anthropologist Kate Detwiler who were among the co-authors of a paper announcing the discovery.

Producer Dan R. Morris reflects on the importance of a damaged flag, a protest symbol he discovered while living in Romania in the 1990s. Morris made the story for Audio Flux, an independent platform for short-form audio storytelling.

There's a certain romance in the idea of the "gap year." You pack a bag, maybe travel somewhere totally different. Maybe you even settle into a new culture and return home a little wisee - possibly with a new language under your belt. Spain seemed like the perfect choice for one Canadian woman on her gap year: a steady job as a nanny. On GBH's Stories from the Stage, Angela Lu shared how she managed to rewire the tedium of that work, so that it wouldn't define the rest of her life.

"The Sound of Milk" took French singer Camille 15 years to produce. It spans the years since she became pregnant with the first of her two children. She had so much to sing about that it became a three-record set. Just three singles have been released so far, but they display a much more mature artist compared to the experimentalist musician of Camille's younger years. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

After years of negotiations between the EU and the UK, the border wall between the British territory of Gibraltar and Spain has come down. Brexit had complicated travel between the two, leading to traffic snarls for the residents, tourists and workers who cross the border daily. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler explain.

At one coffee shop in Manila, customers can get more than a latte. They can listen to stories about how former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's Drug War" shattered families. The cafe is staffed by mothers, wives, sisters and friends of people who were killed. They explain the emotional cost of the war and try to convince people it's a war on the poor. Dave Grunebaum reports.

Egypt has announced the discovery of an entire city, a well-preserved Byzantine-era residential city in the Western Desert. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

Two oil tankers were struck by projectiles Tuesday, killing one seafarer and injuring several others aboard, according to the company ADNOC Logistics & Services. Since the beginning of the US-Israeli war with Iran, thousands of seafarers have been stuck in the Persian Gulf. John Canias is maritime operations coordinator for the International Transport Workers' Federation. He spoke to The World's Host Marco Werman from London.

Andy Burnham is on the brink of becoming the UK's next prime minister. Next Monday, he'll move into his new residence at 10 Downing Street, replacing outgoing leader Keir Starmer, who held office for just two years. Burnham has promised sweeping plans to help tackle the UK's cost of living crisis, and tamp down on the high cost of living. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry has more.

Cuba's entire national power grid collapsed yesterday - for the third time in less than 10 days. The island's aging power infrastructure has been especially stressed since the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on the island in late January. Havana-based journalist Ed Augustin tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that most Cubans, for years now, have been suffering through daily blackouts.

By tomorrow, we'll know who will be in the finals on the biggest soccer stage - the World Cup. Men's soccer has always gotten plenty of attention and money, but women's soccer is reportedly the fastest growing game globally, with millions of young girls joining for play on the pitch - and scrambling for merch. From our partners at Deutsche Welle, DW, Inside Europe's Lars Bevanger reports on a company in Manchester, England, that's helping to meet the growing demand.

The lights are going out at South Africa's largest diamond mine. De Beers says it's stopping production at its Venetia mine for two years. That facility produces some 40% of the country's diamond output and employs thousands of people. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have more.

One of the many grievances going around these days regarding the World Cup is that FIFA is "rigging" the tournament to favor Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with soccer aficionado Anders Kelto about this and the state of the 2026 World Cup.

On the first day of the US and Israel's war on Iran, a tragedy hit the southern Iranian city of Minab. Missiles hit a school, killing about 120 students, as well as some of their teachers. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports on a new music video released by two Iranian artists, who say they want the stories of these children to be remembered.

Given Bob Marley's continued popularity around the globe, it's little surprise to hear locals in the Solomon Islands have been inspired to play one of his hits on PVC pipes. Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler take a listen.

A new Anthropic study of its flagship AI model, Claude, shows the large language model's values shift depending on which language it's speaking. For example, Claude is frank when it speaks Dutch, shows more emotional warmth in Hindi and is especially deferential in Arabic. Princeton University's Zeynep Tufecki tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that there's a lot more at stake than styles of speech.

If you keep putting out wildfires but don't manage a forest, the undergrowth and vegetation only continue to grow, becoming fuel for future mega-fires that can burn beyond human control. Portugal is learning that, and hoping to shift more emphasis from fire suppression to prevention - namely, improving how forests are managed so that they'll burn less. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Portugal.

Los Angeles' long-running Cambodian psychedelic rock group Dengue Fever released its sixth full-length album, "Ting Mong," nearly three years ago. It was the group's first new release in eight years, and showcased the band in a more relaxed, reflective mode than previous records - a perfect platform for the nimble voice of lead singer Chhom Nimol. As part of the series and podcast Movement, Meklit Hadero talked with Nimol about how she developed that unique voice, singing with her family in a refugee camp and later on Cambodia's first televised music competition.This story originally aired on Oct. 26, 2023.

One of the strongest storms so far this year, Typhoon Bavi, slammed into China over the weekend.

Spain pledged to be ready for fires this summer after a record number struck last year. But its approach is mostly more of the same: spending to fight, instead of prevent, the fires. The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

After two powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela's Caribbean coast, anger is growing in some of the hardest-hit communities. Survivors in La Guaira are asking why so many buildings collapsed - including public housing built under Hugo Chavez, the country's late socialist president. Residents say the homes were rushed and unsafe; engineers say the answer is more complicated. The World's Tibisay Zea reports from La Guaira, Venezuela.

When the earliest form of caste was created in ancient India, it had roots in religion. In the 21st century, it lives on as a secular institution that cuts across race, gender, sexuality and class. Suraj Yengde is one of the world's leading experts in the study of caste. He joins Host Marco Werman to discuss why caste is so tricky, and how it reproduces itself in Indian diaspora communities worldwide.

US President Donald Trump has once again imposed a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, designed to prevent any ships from leaving or entering Iranian ports. Iranian scholar Kian Tajbakhsh doesn't see the Iranian regime backing down anytime soon. Tajbakhsh tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that Iran has long viewed itself as engaged in a Cold War with the US, and now sees itself as locked in an end game fight" with Washington.

The death of a newlywed woman in Delhi last weekend is among a string of cases this year rekindling public discussion in India about dowry deaths. Thousands of women are reportedly killed in India every year in dowry-related disputes despite laws on the books intended to penalize this violence. The World's Carolyn Beeler learns more from Kriti Kapila, an anthropologist at King's College London, who has studied this phenomenon.

This week, Hamas announced that it is stepping back from governing Gaza and is ready to hand day-to-day operations to a committee of technocrats. That would mark the end of nearly two decades of Hamas rule. But questions around the disarmament of the group remain. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

A massive wildfire is raging in southern Spain. Authorities in the region of Almeria say at least twelve people have been killed, and many more are still missing. Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze. The World's Gerry Hadden joins us from central Portugal, where he is currently reporting for a series on fire risk and prevention across the Iberian Peninsula.

The famed Bayeux Tapestry is on English soil for the first time in centuries. The artifact was transported from France to Britain in the dead of night with maximum security. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with author David Musgrove about the significance of this moment.

Typhoon Bavi, which hit Guam and surrounding islands earlier this week, is on its way toward Taiwan, several Japanese islands, and then to mainland China. Its approach comes just days after another storm, Maysak, caused flooding and deaths in southern China. Carolyn Beeler reports the latest.

As the World Cup reaches its final week, the spotlight is not only on the teams chasing a place in the semifinals but also on FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Elected in 2016 on a promise to restore FIFA's reputation after years of scandal, Infantino is once again facing questions about his leadership. This week's decision to suspend a player's red card after a phone call with President Donald Trump has prompted fresh scrutiny of the FIFA president. The World's Orla Barry reports.

After nearly a week of ceremonies in Iran and Iraq, the body of former Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is being returned to his hometown of Mashhad for burial. Khamenei was killed by US and Israeli forces, along with several family members, on the first day of the war on February 28. From Mashhad, Syed Shahriyar reports.

Paul Salopek is a National Geographic Explorer walking from Ethiopia to South America on foot. But it's also a journalism job. That means conducting interviews, taking photos and videos, and nonstop note-taking and writing. He joins Carolyn Beeler to peel back the curtain on the technology that has kept him connected for the past 13 years, even when he is days of travel away from the nearest outlet or wi-fi signal.

We listen to a track from Marlon Williams. She's New Zealand's hottest Mori singer right now, and she's accompanied on the track by Lorde, New Zealand's best-known artist globally. The World's Marco Werman has more.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, the best-selling memoir by Azar Nafisi, came out in 2003. It told the story of how Nafisi and seven other women read the Western canon together in defiance of the law, even as the Iranian regime banned those materials. Now it's a movie directed by Eran Riklis. The two join Host Marco Werman for a conversation about their collaboration.

In Uganda, scientists have found a new use for catnip: mosquito repellent. A new study presented at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual conference shows that lotion made with nepetalactone, the chemical in catnip that drives cats wild, is just as effective at preventing mosquito bites as DEET-based bug spray. That's welcome news in rural Uganda, where commercial bug sprays are hard to find and catnip-based lotions can be produced

Health workers on the frontline of the Ebola outbreak are on strike. Complaints include a lack of protective equipment and delayed payment. Some in the hardest-hit province say they have not been paid since May. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with Christian Happi, a molecular biologist, about the strike and how it might affect efforts to contain the outbreak.

For the past four years, Matariki, the Mori New Year, has been an official holiday in New Zealand. Mori poet Tayi Tibble speaks with The World's Carolyn Beeler about the day's importance to her and why some in the Pacific nation are uncomfortable with the increasing visibility of Mori culture.

If you're a parent of young children who get screen time, then you might be surprised to learn there's a decent chance your kids have watched content from the small Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. A group of Kyrgyz content creators who call themselves D Billions has produced a series of viral, English-language kids' music videos on YouTube that teach basics like the ABCs, which have received more than 49 billion views - that's more than Taylor Swift's videos. Reporter Levi Bridges takes a look at how they do it.

After Venezuela's deadly earthquakes, many international rescue teams have left as the window for finding survivors narrows. But Los Topos Aztecas - a Mexican legendary volunteer rescue brigade - says it is staying until no longer needed. Born after Mexico City's 1985 earthquake, the group is known for crawling into collapsed buildings by hand. The World's Tibisay Zea meets its 80-year-old leader in La Guaira, Venezuela.

As the World Cup enters the quarter-finals, more and more losing teams are heading home. But across the US, fans of those teams are still feeling the love. There are Cape Verdeans in Boston, the Blue Wave of Curacao in Houston. And then there are the Bosnians in St. Louis. The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's soccer team went further in the FIFA World Cup this year than it ever had. And for many in St. Louis' large Bosnian community, all the hubbub has resulted in a deepened sense of connection to each other and their ancestral home. St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin reports.