The World: Latest Stories

A new study published in the journal Science says longevity is even more dependent on genetics than we previously thought. Biostatistician Paola Sebastiani of Tufts University explained the factors influencing not just how long we live, but also how long we stay healthy, in this conversation with The World's Host Carolyn Beeler.

The US has imposed sanctions on 11 judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court. It has also sanctioned some individuals and NGOs working with the court. This has complicated the lives of those individuals who say they are being punished for doing their jobs. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

Derya Yildirim & Grup imek play a funk-infused, psychedelic reinterpretation of traditional Turkish music. Now, they're touring with an album that asks listeners to imagine what kind of world they want in the future. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler explains.

The surviving member of the pop duo from Munich, Fabrice Morvan, has been nominated for the reading of his audio-book, "You Know It's True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli." The group won Best New Artist in 1990 but became the first group ever forced to return its prize, when the world learned they hadn't sung on their smash hit first album. The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

Keir Starmer is in China this week, marking the first time a British prime minister has visited the country in eight years. Starmer is calling it the end of an ice age" between the nations. UK-China ties have been under strain since Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong, and amid allegations of Chinese spying in Britain. Starmer's trip has sparked criticism from opposition lawmakers, activists and the US. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry has our story.

Weeks into an internet blackout in Iran, more and more people are finally able to get online. Mahsa Alimardani has been monitoring the developments. She's the associate director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at the nonprofit WITNESS and joined Host Carolyn Beeler for the latest, from London.

Antoine Erout is part of a French-Nepali team building a new route up Mount Everest that avoids what's known as the Khumbu icefall. Due to the popularity of the route, as well as increased fragility of the icefall due to climate change, this part of the route is exceptionally dangerous. He joined The World to discuss.

As the planet warms and sea ice melts, the prediction has been that polar bears would have a harder and harder time finding food, and would begin shedding pounds. So, weight gain in the population is a cause for celebration. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

Last year, Ian Andersen began a cross-continent bike ride from the edge of Portugal to Japan. Along the way, he got caught in Iran as Israel carried out attacks on the country. Later, he got stuck in Mongolia for weeks as he awaited a visa to travel through China. As The World's Jeremy Siegel reports, his trip - shared in videos on Instagram and TikTok - has gained a massive following online and highlighted changing perceptions of Americans in a shifting world order.

Global demand for gold has driven its price up to as much as $5,500 per ounce. Daniel McDowell, a political scientist at Syracuse University and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that gold's rising value is connected to rising instability being felt around the globe.

Now that Syria's civil war has more or less ended, hundreds of thousands of refugees are returning home. Turkey took in more Syrians than any other country in the world - and their continued presence has, according to polls, become a political liability for the government. But many Turkish companies are dependent on Syrian labor, and the returns are posing a major headache. Deutsche Welle, DW's, Dorian Jones reports from the industrial city of Gaziantep, close to Syria's border.

As President Donald Trump says the United States expects to run Venezuela for years during a long transition, the country remains crowded with armed groups tied to criminal economies. Among the most controversial are the colectivos - deeply ideological, pro-government civilian groups that operate in urban neighborhoods. The World speaks with several colectivo members in Caracas to understand how they see themselves and how they reconcile their anti-US rhetoric with a government now responding to pressure from Washington.

Ten European countries have agreed to significantly ramp up offshore wind in the North Sea. The pact envisions generating enough power for a million homes a year, for 10 years. It offers certainty to companies making the turbines themselves that there will be a market in the future. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with deputy CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council Rebecca Williams about the new deal.

Cuba is all but bankrupt. The island could actually deplete its supply of oil in as little as 15 to 20 days, according to the data company Kpler. Journalist Ed Augustin is based in Havana. He tells The World's Host Marco Werman that Cubans are scared and worried about what might come next.

The Trump administration has recently targeted the Somali community in Minnesota. Citing a fraud scandal, it's used ICE to crack down on them and others in the Twin Cities. People are on edge and that's affecting small businesses and daily life. The World's Sara Hassan speaks with people about their experiences, hopes and fears.

The Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria have lost almost all of the territory they controlled in northern and eastern Syria to the central government. This is a major shift in the power dynamics in those parts of the country, which also include several detention facilities holding thousands of suspected ISIS members and their families. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

A court in the Netherlands this week sentence a man to 20 years imprisonment in one of Europe's most significant human trafficking trials in history. Amanuel Walid was accused of running a vast network of trafficking, hostage-taking, extortion and sexual violence against migrants in Libya. They were held in detention camps and tortured until families in the Netherlands paid huge ransoms. Andrew Connelly reports from Zwolle, in the Netherlands.

Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman catch you up on headlines in the news you may have missed.

The spiritual head of the Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury, going back to St. Augustine in the year 597. All of the archbishops that followed were men, until today. The Most Reverend Sarah Mullally was formally confirmed at a ceremony held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. She's now the highest ranking cleric for some 85 million Anglicans around the world. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have the story.

It began as part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement to stop the war in Gaza. But the "Board of Peace," a brainchild of US President Trump, has morphed into something with more grand ambitions, at least rhetorically. Foreign policy experts will applaud new and bold ideas for using American leverage to secure global peace. But they say it's difficult to see how Trump's scheme will achieve anything close to what the American president is talking about. The World's Matthew Bell reports.

As Russia's war in Ukraine grinds on, the number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides could hit 2 million by the spring. The Washington Post's Francesca Ebel recently returned from reporting inside Russia. She tells The World's Host Marco Werman the war is fraying the bonds that bind Russian society.

The legendary crooner Julio Iglesias had been accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking. But Spain's highest court threw out the case late last week, brought by Dominican women who worked for the star in Honduras and the Bahamas. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler explain.

On Wednesday, police in Nigeria's largest city fired tear gas on people protesting the ongoing demolition of Makoko, an enormous informal settlement that stretches out into the Lagos Lagoon. With over 300,000 estimated inhabitants, the settlement of DIY housing on stilts connected by canals is considered the largest of its kind in the country and was long home to some of Lagos' poorest. The World's Host Marco Werman learned more about the impact of the demolition from Nnimmo Bassey, a Nigerian environmental activist and architect.

The findings, based on the analysis of human fossils in a Moroccan cave dating back nearly 800,000 years possibly shift the focus from Europe back to the African continent. The fossils, mainly jawbones, carry traits of both modern humans and primitive species such as Neanderthals. And they roughly match earlier findings in Northern Spain. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

Percussionist Sly Dunbar, one-half of the legendary Jamaican drum and bass duo Sly & Robbie, has died at the age of 73. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler take a couple of minutes to recall the range of artists this irrepressible rhythm section provided beats for.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wants to fast-track residency for hundreds of thousands of mostly Latino immigrants, people who can prove they've been in the country for at least five months and who have clean criminal records. Sanchez has argued for this on moral grounds and because Spain desperately needs workers. Some say it's a necessary but bold move, as other European countries sour on outsiders. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

The 80th anniversary of the Holocaust, Yom Hashoah, was April 24. There are approximately 245,000 Holocaust survivors still alive today. While it's a sad truth that soon there will be no living Holocaust survivors, it's estimated that there are around 1 million third-generation Holocaust survivors in the United States. As The World Sarah Birnbaum reports, it's falling on them to keep the stories of their grandparents and the holocaust alive.This story originally aired April 24, 2025.

Flooding in Mozambique has displaced more than 300,000 people, washing away homes and food supplies, and increasing the risk of disease. UNICEF spokesperson Guy Taylor was in hard-hit regions just days ago. He tells The World's Marco Werman that floodwaters have swept crocodiles out of rivers into submerged urban areas.

India and the European Union have signed a massive trade deal that will account for a quarter of the world's GDP. This follows another deal struck by the EU with Latin American countries this month, and marks a shift in India away from economic protectionism. The World's Carolyn Beeler learned more from Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University and author of the forthcoming book "The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling Into Disorder."

Tuberculosis is a disease that primarily affects the lungs, notoriously causing patients to cough up blood. In 2023, tuberculosis surpassed COVID to become the world's deadliest infectious disease. That's why an effort is ramping up to get a TB vaccine into circulation, specifically for adolescents and adults. Elna Schutz reports from South Africa, one of the seven countries where the vaccine for ADULTS is being tested.

US threats to take control of Greenland have rattled Europe's far-right leaders, some of President Trump's staunchest allies. Just a year ago, many were in Washington celebrating his inauguration. Now, analysts say populist lawmakers in Europe may view alignment with the US administration as a political liability. The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports.

When space debris enters Earth's atmosphere, some of it ends up at Point Nemo, a remote area of the Pacific Ocean with depths of around 13,000 feet. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with Moriba K. Jah, professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, about why we bury under the sea what was once in space.

A teenager from Honduras attends school in the United States, and when asked whether he plays football, he says, Yes." He shows up to what he expects to be a futbol practice, and it changes his life. Former NFL player Paul Francisco explains how he got into football - and what came next - on GBH's live Stories From the Stage television series in Boston.

The Israeli government announced today it had found and recovered the remains of the final Israeli hostage. Ran Gavili was a police officer killed in the attack on Oct. 7th, 2023. The return of all the hostages is meant to signal a transition into the second phase of the Gaza peace plan. But it is unclear whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will follow through on those steps. The World's Marco Werman speaks with reporter Noga Tarnopolsky about the feeling in Jerusalem.

Lagom is a Swedish concept that means doing things in moderation and only taking your fair share so there's enough left for everyone. In this favorite story from the vault, Bianca Hillier explores all the ways it can be applied to life in Sweden.This story originally aired on

People stood in line for hours on Sunday at Ueno zoo in Tokyo to say farewell to Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, two pandas set to return to China amid strained relations between Japan and China. Their departure leaves Japan without any pandas for the first time since 1972. The World's Marco Werman has more.

The Outer Hebrides, off the north-west of Scotland, are a remote, beautiful and sometimes awe-inspiring place. Also known as the Western Isles, they're the UK's last bastion of old-fashioned Christian Sunday observance, with strictures against working, shopping and even leisure activities on the Sabbath. But ... things are changing. DW's Richard Baynes sent us this report from Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis and Harris.

Analysts are calling it China's biggest military purge in roughly half a century: President Xi Jinping has placed his second-in-command, China's top general, under investigation. Shanshan Mei, who specializes in Chinese defense policy at RAND, talks with The World's Marco Werman about the extent of the ongoing purge and what it tells us about the stability of Xi's regime.

During World War II, Japanese-Americans were dubbed "enemy aliens" - even if they fought for their country. Today, seven Japanese American soldiers are being promoted to officer ranks in a solemn ceremony, eight decades after they died fighting for the US. Host Marco Werman has details.

After the fall of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, the reaction in South Florida - home to the largest Venezuelan community in the US - is complicated. In Doral, celebrations have been mixed with uncertainty about what comes next for the country, how much control Donald Trump intends to exert, and who should lead a transition. Many who came to the US legally through the Temporary Protected Status program also fear being sent back to a country in transition. The World's Tibisay Zea reports.

Guinea-Bissau's minister of health announced Thursday that the country was halting a controversial Danish-led, US-funded trial of a hepatitis B vaccine. The West African country says there are ethical concerns with the study and that the pause is a matter of sovereignty. The World's Marco Werman learns more about the controversy from Boghuma Titanji (MD), an expert in infectious diseases at Emory University's School of Medicine.

Host Marco Werman shares updates on a few international news stories that The World has been following.

A groundbreaking Australian play has come to New York for a few weeks. It's called The Visitors and it tells an important piece of Australian history from an Aboriginal perspective. A council of tribal leaders is called in when a fleet of ships appears in what is now Sydney Harbor in 1788. "The Visitors" is written by an Aboriginal playwright, and the cast and crew are also Aboriginal. Jeff Lunden reports from New York City.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka has been a standout this week at the Australian Open - both for her play and for her outfits. Host Marco Werman explains.

Acclaimed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi's latest thriller, "It Was Just an Accident," was just nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Early last month, Tehran charged Panahi with creating propaganda against the government and sentenced him to a year in prison in absentia. Panahi spoke with The World's Marco Werman shortly after those charges were announced about the risks he takes and his latest movie that explores guilt, blame, and moral ambiguity.This segment originally aired on Dec. 4, 2025.

About half a million Syrians living in Turkey have returned to Syria - just one in five. Although aid groups estimate many more will follow, it's a difficult decision, and many are wary of Syria's new leader and struggling economy. Reporter Durrie Bouscaren visited Istanbul's now largely emptied 'Little Syria' neighborhood to see how people are answering the question of whether they should stay or go.

A stretched polar vortex is bringing severe winter storm conditions to half the continental US, and is causing temperatures to plummet across even more of the northern hemisphere. The World's Marco Werman speaks with winter weather expert and scientist Judah Cohen about how the warming Arctic is tied to this weather event.

Funding for the US Agency for International Development was among the first to be cut by the Trump administration, with the president mocking some of the programs it supported. One of them was $60 million for "indigenous empowerment" in Colombia. Reporter Natalie Skowlund looks at what the loss of funding means for the rural villages of Colombia - and the drugs coming into the US.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday to appeal for support. The country is in the midst of a bitter winter war of attrition that has seen devastating Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure. To learn more about the current trajectory of the fighting, The World's Marco Werman speaks to military analyst Michael Kofman at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A new analysis from the United Nations University finds that the world is in a state of "water bankruptcy," with nearly half the world's population experiencing severe water scarcity for at least a month each year. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, about what water bankruptcy looks like and whether it's truly a new phenomenon.