The World: Latest Stories

Hundreds of programmed drones with colorful lights flew over Seoul on Saturday night for a ten-minute, government-organized show containing messages on coronavirus prevention.

But Shanghai Pride didn't include the typical parade filled with people waving rainbow flags. In China, parades are mostly reserved for displays of military strength. So, organizers have to use a little bit of ingenuity to pull off one of the country's longest-running Pride events.

As sex clubs reopen across Europe, sex workers worry about their earnings and also whether they can stay safe. Niki Adams, a spokesperson with English Collective of Prostitutes, says the pandemic and lack of state support shows how far the industry still has to go to gain legal recognition.

Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was a powerful political voice for the Oromo ethnic group. His death is just the latest in nearly a year of troubling developments in Ethiopia, and has become a rallying cry for the opposition to speak out against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Swiss direct air capture company Climeworks is counting on it.

School’s out for summer, but the educational losses caused by the coronavirus are only just beginning to be understood.

The Chinese government has been trying to slash birth rates of the ethnic Uighur population with measures like forced birth control, abortions, and sterilization. Host Marco Werman speaks with University of Michigan professor, Alexandra Stern, about how forced sterilization has been used as a tool of oppression historically.

New music is being recorded and released every day. But for the first time, an album has come from the Republic of Djibouti, which gained independence 43 years ago. The World's Marco Werman spoke to Vik Sohonie, who co-produced the record.

Environmental pollution and exposure to risks from climate change are closely linked with a history of institutional racism in the United States. Heather McTeer Toney, field director for Moms Clean Air Force, says demonstrations for racial justice and police reform must also pay attention to environmental justice for communities of color.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sees COVID-19 as a formidable, global foe. But, Fauci tells The World’s Marco Werman, he’s cautiously optimistic that there will be more than one safe and effective vaccine available, likely manufactured by more than one country.

Upon opening, the pub attracted mostly curious 20-somethings who were entertained by the idea of drinking with friends in a North Korean-themed space.

In Brazil, the Amazon has been hard hit by the coronavirus. Now, as the dry season begins, people are bracing for a repeat of last year’s Amazon fires. Indigenous communities are especially vulnerable.

A new report found that Chinese surveillance of Uighurs started much earlier and is more comprehensive than previously thought. The World speaks to security researcher Apurva Kumar, one of the report's co-authors.

Protests in South Korea were once characterized by intense, often violent confrontations between protesters and police. Today, those kinds of fierce standoffs in the country seem to be a thing of the past.

Though France is seeing a surge in environmentalist activism, particularly in Sunday's municipal elections, anti-racism and anti-colonial movements should not be separated from the work, says Malcom Ferdinand, a researcher at the French National Scientific Research Center in Paris.

In June, South Africa became the first country in Africa to launch a new COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

"Vladimir Putin from this day de jure, belongs to the same league of rogue authoritarian regimes as ... [Hugo] Chavez in Venezuela, [Blaise] Compaoré in Burkina Faso, [Islam] Karimov in Uzbekistan and many, many others," opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza told The World. "And this should be said publicly and clearly from the highest rostrum in the Western world."

LGBTQ activists say an amendment enshrining heterosexual marriage as law would make it virtually impossible for the state to ever recognize same-sex marriages.

Back in April, Izcan Ordaz’s biggest concerns were getting through the coronavirus pandemic, the state of the US economy and finishing high school virtually. Now, the issue of racial justice is also top of mind.

The Byzantines commissioned it as a Greek Orthodox cathedral. The Ottomans conquered it and turned it into an ornate mosque. Then, secular revolutionaries converted it into a monument to two faiths. Its ownership and usage have become a perennial political debate.

South Africa, home to more than 80% of the world’s rhino population and the epicenter of rhino poaching, has seen a major decline in rhino poaching during the COVID-19 pandemic — a trend that conservationists would love to see continue as the country lifts its restrictions.

For years, mainstream environmental movements around the globe have excluded people of color, who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Today’s global Black Lives Matter protests have amplified calls for institutions of all kinds — including environmental groups — to challenge and dismantle chronic systemic racism.

In early 2017, stories began emerging on how Chechen authorities were persecuting the LGBTQ community. The World speaks to director David French on his new film, "Welcome to Chechnya," which gives an inside look at the abuse and torture faced by the republic's LGBTQ people and those who try to help them escape.

A new Netflix movie starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams may fill the Eurovision-sized hole in 2020's entertainment world. Now, a song from the film is getting a few authentic covers — from Eurovision contestants themselves.

The Greek government says it wants to make room for asylum-seekers waiting out their applications in camps on the Greek islands and elsewhere. More than 6,000 refugees are at risk of being evicted and that number will keep growing every month.

Wild animals emerged in unusual places after cities worldwide imposed lockdowns to slow the coronavirus. Researchers are calling the change in human activity an "anthropause" — and they're proposing a global effort to study how humans and animals may better share our crowded planet.

Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei speaks to The World's Marco Werman about Bejing's crackdown on Hong Kong. "The world will also abandon Hong Kong. So that is very, very sad story."

A small but growing global community of people who once had DACA are giving up on a country that has struggled to pass comprehensive immigration reform for a generation. They're moving abroad instead.

The number of COVID-19 infections has been on the rise since Iran started to ease its lockdown on April 11. About 11,000 people have died there since the start of the pandemic, according to official numbers.

Beatmaker and producer Karima 2G uses music to speak out against racism in Italy. She advocates for second-generation Italians who are born in Italy, but denied citizenship at birth because their parents were migrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Advocates across the world warn that with the pandemic and economic downturn, there’s an urgent risk that more people will fall prey to human traffickers.

In India, marketing campaigns for skin whitening products emphasize light skin as a positive quality. The products have been endorsed by leading Bollywood celebrities, as well as other youth icons.

David Petraeus, retired US Army general and former CIA chief, says he wasn't surprised by the reports of Russian bounties for coalition forces. He spoke with The World's Marco Werman.

The European Union is set to reopen its borders starting July 1. Right now, the bloc is still deciding who it wants to let in, and it does not look like people from the US will be among them.

Turkey is often cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists as the world’s largest jailer of media personnel in the world, alongside China and Egypt.

A century ago, the Republican Party supported big business and big government.

Human rights advocates say the migrants have little to no recourse, and that the situation is bound to deteriorate further as more people in the country cannot afford to pay domestic workers. The coronavirus restrictions also complicate matters.

The annexation process could start as soon as next week, despite widespread condemnation from Palestinians, US-Arab allies and numerous foreign governments.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum speaks with The World's Marco Werman about the presidential photo-op between the United States' Donald Trump and Poland's Andrzej Duda, and how President Vladimir Putin's efforts at historical revisionism play into security considerations on NATO's eastern flank.

Under a sporadically enforced law in Thailand, it is risky to say anything flattering about alcohol on social media. You can’t hold up a bottle of bourbon in a selfie and grin. Or show off a pint glass with a Heineken logo.

The mental health impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be felt for years — especially by young adults. Marlene Herrera, a first-time voter in San Diego, said it's shaping how she'll vote this fall. And when the Black Lives Matter protests began, she finally decided which candidate she'll support.

The ruling says immigrants denied asylum under streamlined proceedings, cannot contest that decision in court.

An exhibit at the Cervantes Institute in Madrid focuses on some of the most important — but largely ignored — women writers of Spain's 16th and 17th centuries.

What do students learn in the classroom about race and history? In the UK, an organization called The Black Curriculum has been pushing for Black history to be taught nationwide.

Nina Jankowicz describes how relocating the Bronze Soldier statue in Tallinn, Estonia, made the country vulnerable to a cyberattack over a decade ago that laid some of the groundwork for Russia's future disinformation campaigns.

Nearly 90% of colleges expect international enrollment to decrease next semester due to the pandemic.

The United States wants to broaden its main nuclear arms control agreement with Russia. The World's Marco Werman speaks with Matthew Bunn, a professor at Havard University, about extending the New START Treaty.

As demonstrations against police brutality and racism continue in the US and in other parts of the world, people who work with police departments to address biases and build ties with communities of color are questioning the effectiveness of their work. The World looks at the San Jose Police Department, which, despite its diversity, was criticized for its response to recent protests.

Earlier this year, the country’s constitutional court nullified the results of its presidential election in May 2019, when incumbent President Peter Mutharika narrowly won another term.

Puccini's "Crisantemi" was played in Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu before an audience of 2,292 plants that filled the venue to capacity.