The World: Latest Stories

There are lots of theories and predictions about what could go wrong with the upcoming US election — making the role of international election observers in the country perhaps more important than ever.

In the past decade or so, China, via its vast network of state-run companies, has brought a development blitz to Laos.

The president's refusal to defend a core democratic concept brought swift rebukes, with a chorus of voices saying that this does not happen in America. The Senate even unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming the Legislature's commitment to an orderly transition.

In October, the Royal Festival Hall will feature 21 classical composers of color in its first season since the country's first lockdown this spring.

In 2017, President Donald Trump announced he was pulling the US out of the Paris agreement, calling the deal "draconian." But Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he’ll put the country on course again if he’s elected.

Judy Schwartz, author of "The Reindeer Chronicles," has spent years spotting the good news on global warming and the environment. She talked to The World's host Marco Werman about her new book.

Many in Belarus and across Europe say the Aug. 9 presidential election was rigged and that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the true president.

The logbook, recently discovered in a California closet, now has a new home at Georgetown University where it is being preserved by scholars and digitized.

For the first time in two decades, members of the Afghan negotiating team are officially meeting with the Taliban to work out a peace agreement. There are only four women on the team, and they say they carry a heavy responsibility on behalf of women in their country.

Willy Monteiro Duarte is being remembered as a hero who was brutally attacked without cause.

Izcan Ordaz, an 18-year-old college freshman, expected to move to campus at the University of Texas at Austin last month. Instead, he's taking classes virtually from home — and learning a lot more about his parents' upbringing.

Banishing enemies, fraudulent polls and politically motivated poisonings are all too familiar for Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice president of the Free Russia Foundation, who spoke to The World's host Marco Werman.

For students who normally live in Shanghai, China, going back to school with remote learning from half a world away in the United States has its downs — and a few ups.

Over 7 million acres of the Pantanal has gone up in smoke — roughly 50% more than all of the land that has burned so far along the entire US West Coast.

US-China tensions have added stress to binational Chinese American couples who say current politics have impacted their plans — and perspectives. Most try to compromise and wish their countries could figure out how to do that, too.

Michael Green, a former National Security Council adviser, says the lack of dialogue between the US and China "could get us in big trouble."

The pandemic has been difficult for many health care workers on the front lines, but immigrant doctors on temporary visas are especially vulnerable in light of the precariousness of their status in the country.

Greek authorities have moved almost all of the 12,000 displaced migrants and refugees on Lesbos island into a new camp after the Moria camp where they were living was destroyed by fire.

Italian populists—skeptical of the value of EU membership—drove Italy to become the first G7 country to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Then the pandemic brought generous EU aid, leaving Italy to reassess who its real friends are and how best to help its economy.

While some advanced economies in Europe and the Americas are struggling mightily with COVID-19, a few notable industrialized societies that could provide a roadmap for the US to improve its capacity to manage the pandemic, says Dr. Atul Gawande.

In the early 1960s, Ginsburg traveled to Sweden, and learned Swedish, to work on a law project with a Swedish scholar, Anders Bruzelius. Her observations of Swedish society opened up her eyes to the possibilities for women's equality in the United States.

The government cites conservative values as the reason for policing music and dancing clips on the trendy video-sharing platform.

Notoriously weak labor regulations have kept farmworkers, many of them immigrants, breathing smoke from nearby wildfires as they work all along the West Coast. Many are afraid to speak up.

Clashes throughout North America about the racial slur "squaw" is starting to lead to place name changes.

Small businesses often have trouble accessing capital as they start out. And during the coronavirus, it's been particularly difficult to access financial aid, such as the US government's Paycheck Protection Program.

Street chaos erupted after the killing of Javier Ordoñez on Sept. 8, which has also drawn attention to the political rift between the progressive, left-leaning, local government of Bogotá Mayor Claudia Lopez and the conservative, right-leaning, national government of President Iván Duque.

President Donald Trump hosted a signing ceremony on Tuesday with Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The new alliances have left some Palestinians wondering if it’s time for new leadership.

In the early 2000s, the United States resettled thousands of Somali Bantu, a group of marginalized tribes who have faced years of discrimination. Nearly 20 years later, many of their adult children are facing the unimaginable: deportation to Somalia.

Amid the coronavirus, socializing outside with friends and family has been a valuable way to stay connected with people. But as the weather cools in many parts of the US, it may be time for Americans to spend time outside in the cold.

Only by accepting the framework and language of a caste system can the US begin to heal from 400 years of racial inequality, argues author Isabel Wilkerson.

The activist group organized the largest-ever march against racial discrimination in the city's history. But a backlash soon formed as online commenters argued that the issue is uniquely American — not a Japanese one.

Opposition politician Alexei Navalny's poisoning is a "trick" used by the Kremlin to send a warning to fellow Russians, says Russian investigative reporter Andrei Soldatov.

While Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu takes a victory lap in Washington, the Palestinian leadership remains opposed to what they have termed "betrayal" by fellow Arab states.

The tradeoffs of China's investment in Kazakhstan require Kazakhs — most of whom are Muslim — to reckon with the persecution of Muslim minorities just across their border.

Most of the migrants spend their days and nights on the side of the road, taking shelter under canopies they’ve cobbled together using the little they have and whatever else they can find: sticks, olive branches, blankets.

In the UK, three women are killed every two weeks, and during the coronavirus lockdown, domestic violence dramatically increased as women living with their abusers became trapped.

Greece's and Turkey's land borders are fairly clear these days — but claims over the sea are not. When you add recent, underwater gas discoveries to the mix, the decision about who has the right to drill — and where — becomes tangled and complex.

Since the tragic events of Sept.11, 2001, national security analysts say intelligence agencies have improved on information sharing, but that Trump administration policies have discouraged reliance on their reports.

The destruction of the camp on the Greek island of Lesbos worsened an already dire situation for refugees and asylum-seekers on the island.

Colleges were already facing hard times. Could the pandemic be the tipping point to upend the whole industry?

As communities around the US face calls to defund the police, Stockholm's mental health ambulance, started in 2015, could provide a model for rethinking policing and psychiatric issues.

Amid huge challenges for Lebanon, musicians around the world find ways to support a country going through exceptionally tough times.

The Trump administration has taken aim at Chinese cultural programs called Confucius Institutes housed within US universities. Administrators are caught in the middle, and some say academic freedom is at risk.

More than half of Generation Z believes climate change is tied to human activity, and one in four Gen Zers is Latino. These trends set up young Latinos to be a key demographic leading the charge on climate activism — politically and at home.

Semenya won't get to defend her title at next year's Olympics unless she takes medication to lower her testosterone levels. But her lawyer says "there's absolutely no way that she will take any medicine or hormonal interventions at all."

Government representatives are set to meet this week with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, for the first official meeting between the two warring sides in years.

Spain has just become the first country in Europe to register half a million coronavirus cases, leaving bullrings empty and bullfighters out of work.

An advertisement published online last week by Clicks, a South African pharmacy and beauty supply chain, prompted outrage on social media and accusations of racism.

The White House has nominated a senior adviser to President Donald Trump for a post that has traditionally been held by a Latin American.

A recent study lends support to what many Indigenous people have often said: Lands held by Indigenous people are better protected from environmental destruction than other areas of the forest.