The World: Latest Stories

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate made history and highlighted the campaign’s focus on environmental justice.

About 140 ukulele aficionados from around the globe gathered online for UkeFest, an annual confab. They took to Zoom out of love for the four-stringed, guitarlike instrument adapted from the instruments Portuguese immigrants brought to Hawaii in the 19th century.

A PETA campaign is scandalizing Thailand’s huge coconut industry. But some of its claims are overstated.

More than 700 Indigenous people have died from the coronavirus while more than 27,000 have been infected across 155 tribes. The loss of many ancestral leaders is taking its toll.

Earlier this month, Canada’s immigration minister Marco Mendicino announced that the country will grant permanent residency to some asylum-seekers who have been working in institutions hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic: hospitals and long-term care homes.

The situation for furry friends has improved as airlines slowly increase the number of flights and some nations reopen their borders. But transporting house pets during this time is still very challenging.

Nodia Mena is Afro Honduran and moved to the US nearly 30 years ago. She left Honduras when she was 19, but was able to vote for the first time before leaving. She said the lack of change in her country led her to not take voting seriously. But that changed after seeing the enthusiasm toward politics in 1992.

US Secretary of State Pompeo has been trying in vain to get European support for reinstating multilateral sanctions on Iran. Two years ago, the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration.

A new trend on YouTube known as bardcore sees modern pop songs like Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks" or Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" reimagined in a medieval sound.

In her new book, “Hatemonger,” investigate reporter Jean Guerrero focuses on White House adviser Stephen Miller, who pushed President Donald Trump to implement policies that have impacted people’s lives in ways that are far less visible than the wall.

Police intimidation is a fact of life for many Roma living in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europe, but in the last five months tensions have heightened, according to activists.

With friends and family spread out across the globe, perhaps a Zoom wedding is the only way to really have everyone present — in pandemic times or not.

From the scent of a cinema to a classic pub or outdoor music festival, this candle line aims to transport you to the places you miss when you can't go anywhere.

Some viewers say "Love on the Spectrum" accurately portrays the dating lives of autistic people. Others warn it degrades them and is inherently voyeuristic.

Health authorities say Sarang Jaeil Church and its outspoken pastor are at the epicenter of South Korea’s second-largest COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic started. About 3,400 of the church’s members have been tested and about 20% have contracted the coronavirus as of Thursday.

Migration is an adaptive strategy that builds on a long tradition of people moving around the world for better lives and opportunities. In her new book, author Sonia Shah argues we must reframe migration as a solution to the climate crisis — not a crisis itself.

The pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for schools providing special instruction for English-language learners — and the burden has fallen on parents who often don’t have the language skills to help their children.

WeChat, a wildly popular app in China and among the Chinese diaspora, could soon become unavailable in the US, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the app over security concerns.

Turkey’s reopening follows a national lull in the coronavirus infections. But the country’s largest association of doctors says that based on its own research, the actual number of cases of the coronavirus in Turkey is much higher than reported figures.

Poland is considered the worst country in the European Union in terms of gay rights.

The risks of extreme heat are often overlooked. The newly formed Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance wants to develop a system for naming heat waves, like we name hurricanes, to bring more attention to the "silent killer."

Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, discusses the latest intelligence report and its clear warnings for 2020 US elections.

The distinctive brown and white residential towers of the Old City in Sanaa, Yemen, date back centuries. Amid heavy rains, floods, war and economic collapse, more than a hundred have recently seen their roofs partially collapse.

Mozambique’s Minister of Defense Jaime Neto said the attackers had attacked the village from the inside, killing civilians and damaging the nearby port.

With a record 32 million Latinos eligible to vote this year, many political observers expected to see lots of Latino politicians and representatives at the virtual Democratic National Convention. But Latino activists argue the programming missed the mark.

Cameron Johnson is a businessman and management consultant in Shanghai, but ever since the pandemic started, his life has been taken over by the high demand for personal protective equipment (PPE).

The Somali sengi, commonly called an elephant shrew, had been spotted by locals but not by scientists for at least 50 years — until now.

In L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a city bordering Barcelona, rent prices are skyrocketing, and some people face eviction even amid the pandemic.

Taiwan has kept its COVID-19 numbers low compared to other countries: It has seen fewer than 500 cases and seven deaths. Much of that success has been attributed to Taiwan's approach to technology, led by the government's digital minister Audrey Tang.

A fleet of more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels off the coast of the Galápagos Islands poses a danger to the area’s delicate ecosystem, Ecuadorian officials say.

Legislators have been fighting for the museum for decades. Finally, the proposal is making some headway in Congress.

How do we make elections secure? Try paper. Professor J. Alex Halderman, a security expert at the University of Michigan, explains why.

Dozens of domestic workers have been stranded in Lebanon since last week's blast. Many have lost their jobs and homes. They say they have no money for plane tickets back to their countries. The coronavirus pandemic has made the situation even more complicated.

For many Indian Americans, Harris symbolizes the inherent multiculturalism that defines their lives in the US.

Mass protests in Belarus have been met by violent crackdowns after the recent election. Veronika Tsepkalo, who helped create one of the largest expressions of dissent Belarus has seen in years, joined The World's host Marco Werman from Moscow to talk about the latest events.

Kenneth Prewitt, who oversaw the nationwide tally in 2000, says that counting 56 million households amid a pandemic, along with a hurried census deadline, may "result in an unprecedented undercount."

The court battle, known as Climate Case Ireland, is one of many cases around the world of climate activists bringing their own country’s governments to court for insufficient action on climate change.

The video chat app allows a sighted volunteer to help out with reading thermostats, matching outfits or troubleshooting technology.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates look set to establish full normalization of relations. As part of that framework, Israel has agreed to suspend annexation plans in the West Bank.

Are choirs really dangerous in the age of COVID-19? A new study measures the actual number of particles sprayed while singing the classic song "Happy Birthday." Jonathan Reid, a chemistry professor leading the research at Bristol University, speaks to host Marco Werman about the study.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, more than 1,700 families have been thrown out of their homes just in the state of São Paulo, according to the Observatory of Forced Removals at the ABC University.

The US has stepped up efforts to hold China accountable for treatment of ethnic minority Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region, but new evidence shows continued persecution, with celebrities even being targeted.

Martha Samaniego Calderón and her husband, Dan Heiman, decided to self-publish a Spanish-English children’s book called, "Behind My Mask," or "Detrás de Mi Cubrebocas," to encourage children to wear masks and help them process difficult emotions about COVID-19.

In southwest Houston, a Vietnamese American businessman received death threats and a boycott when he put up a bilingual Black Lives Matter billboard.

The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to cost several trillion US dollars. But a new study suggests that spending just a tiny fraction of that to curb deforestation and the wildlife trade could prevent another costly pandemic.

“It is the biggest natural disaster to my knowledge that we are having in Mauritius,” said Jacqueline Sauzier, a microbiologist who heads Mauritius Marine Conservation Society. The oil spill poses a threat to nearby ecology and wildlife on wetlands and smaller islands.

A sense of belonging — meaning, how society perceives you — along with feeling respected and valued — can be powerful forces to mobilize or discourage voting.

The World Host Marco Werman spoke with Gary Kobinger, who directs the Infectious Disease Research Center at the University of Laval in Quebec City and has worked on a coronavirus vaccine.

The environmental movement in America has deep ties to the nation’s history of systemic racism and white supremacy. Now, as Americans confront racial injustice anew, powerful green groups like the Sierra Club are beginning to reckon with their own histories of hate and exclusion.

COVID-19 lockdowns in East Africa brought air travel to a halt for months. Now, airlines in the region are returning to the air.