The World: Latest Stories

Arabic music filled the air of Laura Elkeslassy's Moroccan Jewish childhood home in Paris, especially on Fridays before Shabbat. But she didn't grow up speaking Arabic, so she didn't understand the words. In New York as an adult, Laura's search for a wedding song takes her on a rich musical, spiritual, and political journey - leading to a bookstore in Jerusalem where she discovers that this work to preserve her culture continues what her ancestors began.Elkeslassy's conversation with Meklit Hadero, host of the Movement podcast, first aired Jan. 13, 2026.

Gotham FC's star striker, Esther Gonzalez, has left the New York team and has signed on to play for a Premier League team in Saudi Arabia. Gonzalez is openly gay and married to a woman. In Saudi Arabia, same sex relationships are illegal. The World's Marco Werman speaks with Cyd Zeigler, founder of LGBTQ+ sports publication Outsports, about what this means to her fans.

Unlike the Seine, the Tiber, which courses through Italy's capital, is still considered too polluted for safe swimming. So instead of going in the water, they're going deep underground. DW's Angelo van Schaik visited an ancient Roman quarry to see how it works.

We begin with a brief update on the situation in Nepal, where flash flooding swept away entire villages in the Himalayan region bordering Tibet. The official death toll is nearing 600 people and continues to climb. The list of missing people is almost 2,500.

Gas prices in the United States have risen roughly 40% since the start of the war with Iran six months ago. Triple-A is predicting this August will be the most expensive month ever at the pump in the United States. People around the world have felt the pinch, too. But one South American country has been preparing for this moment for decades ... and is weathering the global storm in fuel prices. Michael Fox has the story from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Iceland has long kept the EU at arm's length. But Russia's war in Ukraine and President Trump's threats to take control of Greenland have prompted a rethink, with growing calls for Iceland to move closer to the bloc. On Saturday, Icelanders will vote on whether to restart talks on EU membership. But there's fierce opposition, particularly from the country's powerful fishing industry. The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports.

It's been a tense week in Haiti after nearly 50 people were killed and over 50 more were kidnapped in a coordinated gang attack in a town outside the capital, Port-au-Prince. Wethzer Piercin is an editor at AyiboPost in Port-au-Prince and joins Host Marco Werman with the details.

This summer has been brutal across Europe with extremely high temperatures. France was hit hard, with many concerned that this is the new normal. Some parts of the country reached close to 110 degrees. Adeline Sire reports on the many ways in which the French kept cool.

Five years ago, a heat dome stretched across British Columbia, Canada, killing more than 600 people. The paramedics trying to respond to emergency calls were unprepared to operate at that level of heat. But hot conditions are increasingly normal in places where they didn't used to be. For The Big Fix, The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Brooks Hogya, an academic, paramedic and member of BC's heat advisory committee, about the lessons BC took from the heat dome.

As we've reported this week, devastating flash floods have killed more than 350 people near Nepal's border with Tibet. But the death toll is fluid, with some 1,000 people still unaccounted for. Host Carolyn Beeler discussed the situation with Rojita Adhikari, a freelance journalist based in Kathmandu who traveled today to Trishuli Bazar downstream from where the flood started, and Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa, a glaciologist and a PhD candidate at the Department of Physical Geography at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Wildfires have raged for weeks in Indonesia. It's poised to be one of the country's worst wildfire seasons ever. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Wahyu Perdana, from the peatland monitoring organization Pandau Gambut, about what's happening.

Immigration is a hot topic in Europe, especially among rightwing political groups hoping to take over the leadership of their countries. One nation where the populist right is already governing is Italy - also an external border state. And while, in the first half of this year, sea arrivals in Italy were down by 30% compared to last year, from Deutsche Welle, DW, Inside Europe's Correspondent Angelo van Schaik reports that the situation at the main immigration office in Rome is chaotic.

Former Serbian General Ratko Mladic, the so-called "Butcher of Bosnia," has died at the age of 84 in a prison hospital at The Hague, in the Netherlands - where he was serving a life sentence. Mladic oversaw numerous atrocities during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

In Paris, the city's first shop devoted exclusively to French butter has opened. So far, it's proving to be a hit with tourists and locals alike.

For most baseball pitchers, facing down a batter with a full count is one of the toughest things they'll ever do. But for Alli Schroder of the Women's Pro Baseball League's Boston Hunters, baseball is no sweat compared to her job back home in Canada. GBH's Esteban Bustillos has more.

Sweden is ordering British citizens to leave at a far higher rate than any other EU country since Brexit. The UK Foreign Office calculates that Sweden has rejected more than a quarter of residency applications from British citizens, three times the rate of other EU countries. British citizens lost their automatic right to live and work in the EU after the Brexit referendum. Now, a series of cases involving vulnerable Britons has put Sweden's treatment of UK nationals under growing scrutiny. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

The UN and Red Cross released a joint statement Tuesday calling for more controls on autonomous weapons systems powered by Artificial Intelligence. The statement follows a report by The New York Times on Monday about a deadly Russian drone strike using autonomous weapon technology. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learned more from Michael Horowitz, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Pentagon expert on autonomous weapons systems.

The death of Dolly Parton has led to an outpouring of tributes around the world, with celebrities, world leaders and fellow musicians lauding the country star's philanthropy and good works. Host Carolyn Beeler runs down some of the tributes.

An accomplished Spanish American percussionist from Madrid, Pablo Martin Jones, is focusing his attention on an obscure, square-shaped hand drum found only in a small Spanish village near the Portuguese border. Traditionally, only women played it, and they used a stick. It's one of those traditions that was just about gone, but Jones is helping revive the instrument, and helping it evolve. Gerry Hadden reports from Spain.

Flash floods triggered by an ice avalanche have left hundreds of people missing in Nepal along its border with Tibet. Some scientists think the tragedy may have been set off, at least in part, by an enormous chunk of ice snapping off a glacier. Simon Cook, a glaciologist at the University of Dundee in Scotland tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler what a satellite analysis reveals about the disaster.

Venezuela's government and opposition are negotiating again - but this time, analysts say the country may have its best chance in years at a democratic transition. The talks have already produced agreements on judicial reform, while arrests have slowed and political prisoners have been released. Still, deep skepticism remains after years of failed negotiations, and key opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is not at the table. The World's Tibisay Zea reports.

This summer, a swarm of jellyfish disrupted operations at a coastal nuclear power plant in France; the same thing happened last year, when jellyfish mucked up the mechanics so badly, the entire plant temporarily shut down. So, what's with all the jellyfish? The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Monty Graham, director at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, about the species - including the one named after him.

Two thousand robots participated in a Humanoid Robotics competition this week in the Chinese capital. They participated in running, jumping, soccer and ping pong competitions - breaking records - as Host Carolyn Beeler explains.

The third time's the charm for Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band. Its first two albums were recorded using a homemade sound system set up in the group's village in northern Thailand. Now on their third album, the members have stepped into a professional recording studio in Pasadena, California. The location is different, but their heavy, surf-psychedelic rock sound is the same.

Have you ever wondered how a T-shirt, say from Primark, can cost as little as five euros ($6)? Well, one reason is that brands keep labor costs very low. But while workers in Pakistan and elsewhere say they're underpaid and mistreated, factory audits often paint a very different picture. A new report from the nonprofit organization "Labor Behind the Label" examines how these labor rights violations can continue unchecked. From Deutsche Welle, DW, Dan Ashby reports.

The Tule Lake Segregation Center in Modoc County, California, was one of 10 camps where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Eighty years after its closure, a group of pilgrims recently traveled there to pay tribute to the people who died in the camp. Jefferson Public Radio's Roman Battaglia reports that the survivors of the camp see parallels between their experience and the federal government's treatment of immigrants today.

The president of Colombia is calling for a major immigration crackdown. While the details are still unclear, any change would largely affect Venezuelan immigrants, who make up the largest immigrant population in the country. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Gracy Pelacani, professor at Los Andes University Law School, about what we know so far.

The US has announced a new round of sanctions targeting Iran's oil, shipping, weapons and financial networks. The move is part of Washington's broader effort to squeeze Iran's economy and increase pressure on its government. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

Summertime is when many families pack their bags and get in planes, trains and automobiles for their vacations. Highlights for many youngsters are when they're going to another country. Planning activities in advance can sometimes lead to conflict between teenagers and parents, though. Maya Bhat shares one experience when her family was going to New Zealand, with GBH's Stories From The Stage.

New research finds Angola's peatlands stretch over an area four times larger than previously thought. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Mauro Lourenco, the study's author and senior researcher at The Wilderness Project, about the findings.

Over the weekend, a thousand Japanese people together pulled a 400-year-old castle about three feet closer to where it originally stood. It was moved a decade ago, so workers could fix a retaining wall damaged in an earthquake. Host Carolyn Beeler has the story.

For decades, Okinawa has prided itself as a hotspot for longevity. In 1999, the Japanese islands were listed as one of five blue zones," where people statistically live the longest, often into their 100s. A strong diet and emphasis on human connection were thought to be some of the biggest contributing factors. But research from a couple of years ago, suggested the entire concept of blue zones is a myth. In 2024, Rebecca Rosman examined the data and visited Okinawa to find what healthy habits could be gleaned from the lifestyle.This story originally aired on Dec. 12, 2024.

In June, the US opened a facility in Mexico to breed and release millions of sterile flies. It's part of an effort to curb the spread of the New World screwworm, a flesh eating parasite that has spread through Central America and into southern Mexico. Host Marco Werman spoke to entomologist Phillip Kaufman at Texas A&M University when the facility was in the final stages of being built.This story originally aired on Nov. 17, 2025.

Across Europe, migration is increasingly framed as a burden, as a problem to be solved. Whether it's the EU's new migration and asylum pact or the debate following the arrival of migrants in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in late July - the focus is often on control and deterrence. Spain has tried to shift that narrative, recently granting legal status to large numbers of undocumented migrants and stressing the economic and demographic benefits of migration. Spain also announced the transfer of around 500 vulnerable migrant girls from Ceuta to mainland Spain, despite pressure from Brussels to prioritize returns. But Spain is not alone in offering a different perspective on migration. Pope Leo XIV has been doing the same. Reporter Annelise Finney reports.

In rural Ghana, pregnant women often have trouble getting to the hospital to give birth. Roads are narrow, rough and rocky, and it can take hours to go relatively short distances. Last year, The World's Transportation Correspondent Jeremy Siegel reported on how one nonprofit is working to change that with cheap motorized tricycles.This story originally aired on May 8, 2025.

Singapore announced plans to offer parents $55,000 per child to encourage people to have more children. Like many developed economies, the city-state's leaders are worried about a rapidly aging population and declining birth rate. But as The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learned from Berkay Ozcan, professor of social and public policy at the London School of Economics, such incentives are a short-term fix to an ongoing problem.

With alarms, beeping monitors, slamming doors and more, hospitals are rarely quiet. The noise isn't just annoying; it can be harmful, and can interfere with a patient's ability to rest and a doctor's ability to work. But back in 2024, a group of international psychologists, designers and musicians reimagined what hospitals could sound like in the future. Bianca Hillier reports.This story originally aired on May 24, 2022.

Nine out of 10 countries have goals for increasing the amount of exercise their populations get. But globally, the percentage of people who meet recommendations for physical activity has not increased. That's partly because, while being inactive has similar detrimental health impacts as smoking, it's not a political priority to reverse the problem. Earlier this year, Host Carolyn Beeler spoke with Andrea Ramirez Varela. She's an epidemiologist at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, and has been looking into why this is the case.This story originally aired on March 10, 2026.

Last month, Yonatan Shalev joined the newly formed Together party's political campaign in the lead up to pivotal October national elections. If elected, he would be the youngest Knesset member in Israel's history. He is a harsh critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's current government, who he calls unworthy. He's been in the spotlight since forming "Shoulder to Shoulder" in 2024, an organization demanding ultra-Orthodox serve in the Israeli army. Stephanie Fried has a profile.

The turbulence surrounding the Strait of Hormuz has left ships increasingly vulnerable. Experts are concerned that this could, in turn, lead to a resurgence in Somali piracy, and they are already seeing a spike. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Omar Mahmood from the International Crisis Group.

Hiroshi Okuda, the former Toyota CEO who led the company to global domination, has died. He was the first president of the company who wasn't part of the founding Toyoda family, and his aggressive leadership style helped transform the brand into a 21st century powerhouse. The World's Transportation Correspondent Jeremy Siegel looks back on Okuda's legacy, including the advent of the Prius, which sparked the boom in hybrid and electric vehicles that continues to transform the global auto industry today.

The war with Iran is testing one of the United Arab Emirates' most important economic propositions: a stable, globally connected hub even as conflict unfolds around it. The country just announced an embargo on Iran, long a major trade partner. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learned more from Rob Mogielnicki, founder of PoliSphere Advisory. He joined the show from Paris.

For decades, Haitian writer Lyonel Trouillot has been inspired by what he sees and hears around him. Some of these daily vignettes are collected in his latest book, "Simple Stories." Trouillot speaks to Host Carolyn Beeler.

This week, the Spanish government announced it would move 500 unaccompanied Moroccan girls from its North African enclave to shelters on the mainland, where they'll be safer. Extreme-right groups across Europe are capitalizing on the controversy to stage protests demanding mass deportations on non-Europeans. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is now the worst in the country's history - and the second largest ever. That's prompting health officials to reshape their strategy. The new focus is relying on community leaders who already have local ties to build trust. Tim Birindwa is training those leaders. He's a community health coordinator with the International Rescue Committee. Birindwa speaks to Host Carolyn Beeler after having just spent nearly 10 weeks in the city of Bunia.

Rutshelle Guillaume was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and performs in places around the globe. She is determined to sing songs of courage, resilience and hope. One of her most recent tunes is called "Determinee." Host Carolyn Beeler spins the track for us.

Denmark is often ranked among the happiest countries in the world. It prides itself on its strong social welfare and a culture of coziness. But for asylum seekers, things aren't quite so comfortable. The government has a goal of zero asylum seekers - and that's divided one family between a new life in Denmark and, for one son, a life in limbo. Journalists Caroline Chaffiotte and Kaitlin Hlywa have the story from Denmark.

National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has traveled plenty of miles on foot since 2013 when he began his long walking journey across the globe. But he's also traversed a number of sea crossings, as well. We revisit Salopek's conversation with Host Marco Werman about those sea crossings, the types of ships he took and the people he met along the way.This story originally aired on April 28th, 2025.

Since the current war in Gaza began nearly three years ago, a small number of US medical professionals have been rotating in and out of posts in the Strip's few functioning hospitals. In the new documentary "American Doctor," director Poh Si Teng follows three of those American physicians, including one who is Jewish and another who is Muslim. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with Teng and Dr. Thaer Ahmad.

When the new academic term begins soon at colleges and universities, some classrooms and labs in the US may be missing instructors, while students across the Atlantic are likely to see some new faces and hear some different accents in the halls of European academia. From Deutsche Welle, DW, Inside Europe's Anna Pujol-Mazzini explains, from France.