The World: Latest Stories

“It was like the doors of hell had opened.” That’s how one doctor described the scene at his hospital in Beirut after a massive blast last Tuesday killed more than 150 people and injured thousands of others.

The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Stefania Giannini, the UN's assistant director-general for education about the impact of the coronavirus on schools and students.

In the last 20 years, more than 11 million acres of US farmland have been converted, fragmented or paved over by development projects, according to a new report by the American Farmland Trust.

The Booker Prize-winning novelist was arrested at a political demonstration last week against Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government.

Concerns are growing that the singular focus on COVID-19 is having a secondary impact — threatening years of progress in efforts to slow the spread of other, long-standing communicable diseases.

It will be the first Southeast Asian nation to do so — just as Thailand was the first major nation in the world to let women vote.

A group of five nongovernmental organizations are pressuring the French government to build a special housing facility exclusively for migrant youth as they await legal decisions on their status in the country.

A bedrock conservation law, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, is the latest environmental regulation rolled back by the Trump administration.

How can women juggle working and parenting during a pandemic?

The massive blast that rocked Beirut in Lebanon on Tuesday left at least 300,000 people without homes. But shortly after the blast, residents started a campaign to offer their homes to those in need.

After a four-month delay, National Hockey League players are back on the ice, bringing social justice movements with them.

The former White House national security adviser tells The World's host Marco Werman that the president is not “very well informed,” which means he “doesn't really see the bigger-picture implications.”

The country's economy is in a downward spiral as the coronavirus continues to spread.

Leaders of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were expected to announce a decision on the matter after a meeting on Aug. 5, but Turkish newspapers reported Tuesday that the gathering has been postponed indefinitely. Turkish women, however, say they will continue to protest.

Given the Black roots of hip-hop, rap, K-pop and other musical genres, BLM is hard to ignore, but artists must straddle all kinds of considerations including restraints on freedom of expression in their respective countries.

With spectators unable to watch live sports in person due to the coronavirus, the cheers and jeers must come from somewhere. Teams, leagues and broadcasters around the world are taking different approaches to provide artificial crowd noise for games.

Ana Tijoux's new song “Pa Qué?” drew inspiration from statements early into the pandemic from politicians like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Ding Jiaxi had been on a collision course with the Chinese government perhaps ever since 1989 when he was a college junior in Beijing.

Thousands of boda boda drivers have been out of work since March when the Ugandan government suspended most forms of public transportation in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In previous years, throngs of tourists flocked to Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona. But with hundreds of new outbreaks of the coronavirus in the northeast region of Catalonia, Spain's tourism industry is taking a serious hit.

Information collected from orbiting satellites can tell us a lot about the weather, our changing climate and abundant life on Earth. Thanks to advances in technology, soon we may be able to watch, in real-time, the movements and migration of tiny winged species, including insects.

Patricia Arce, mayor of the Bolivian city of Vinto, has operated under a cloak of fear since November, when a mob attacked her in the street and demanded her resignation in the wake of postelection clashes. But she has held on to her role amid rising human rights abuses under the interim national government.

A UK project is using the hashtag #PortraitsforNHSHeroes to pair health care workers with artists who are painting their portraits as a way to show appreciation for their work during the pandemic.

This year, record rainfall in China caused the longest river, the Yangtze, to overflow, leading to serious damage. But environmental experts say that a range of ecological strategies like tree planting and floodplain restoration over the last decade have helped to mitigate the impact of extreme flooding.

A Russian court sentenced a former US Marine to nine years in prison Thursday over a drunken incident he says he cannot remember. The World’s host Marco Werman spoke to Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, about what the case means for US-Russia relations.

Ameneh Sharifi was only a few hours old when gunmen stormed the clinic where she was born in May. Her mother died in the attack, but she survived. A doctor and his team worked hard to save her leg. Now the long road to recovery — and justice — begins.

Astrobiologist Sarah Stewart Johnson is a NASA scientist who has spent her career searching for answers to profound human questions. She helped design America's newest interplanetary, robotic life hunter on Mars called Perseverance, which launched on July 30.

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, continues to wrangle world leaders to make and meet ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions — even amid the pandemic.

The situation at Primex Farms highlights the tightrope farmworkers must walk to protect their health and jobs while avoiding retaliation from their employers.

As schools around the world plan for the fall semester, many are looking to Israel — where COVID-19 outbreaks swept through the educational system after a hurried reopening — as an example of what could go wrong.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice and 350.org are joining more than 1,000 companies in pausing their advertising on Facebook in July as part of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign. Other environmental groups have hesitated to get on board.

Turkey’s parliament approved a law early Wednesday that gives authorities greater power to regulate social media despite concerns of growing censorship.

Canada's nursing homes were hit especially hard by the coronavirus. To protect residents, provincial governments issued lockdown measures and shut out families. But some experts argue that confinement and isolation can do more harm than good.

Cuba stands out as a success story as it battles COVID-19. At the same time, it has seen renewed public attention around police brutality. Despite top-down efforts to silence dissent, activists say they are making some headway.

The nature of the coronavirus has interrupted many rituals of mourning, from visiting the bedsides of the dying to holding funerals. That could lead to mental health impacts down the line, says psychiatry professor Dr. Harvey Chochinov.

South Africa had one of the strictest coronavirus lockdown measures. But as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the nation returns to a strict lockdown. Host Marco Werman speaks to Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about his outlook for the pandemic in Africa.

A South Korean globe-trotter and wheelchair user advocates for more accessible tourism.

A Canadian judge ruled the bilateral agreement between the US and Canada violates asylum-seekers’ rights because of what happens after people are turned back to the US.

The show is meant to be lighthearted and fun, but for some, it’s controversial.

Professor Michele Gelfand uses “tight” and “loose” to categorize various societies around the globe based on the strength of social norms and applies this to what we can learn about the range of pandemic responses around the world.

When Victoria Band's son was diagnosed with hearing loss, she wished she could give him a doll with hearing aids to reflect his disability. Last year, she started her own line of dolls with scars, cleft lips, hearing aids and oxygen tanks.

President Donald Trump announced the expansion of a program to send federal agents to several US cities to crack down on violent crime. The World spoke to Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, about the arrival of some 200 agents in his city this month.

Christiana Figueres, the founder of Global Optimism, believes that a determined, optimistic mindset is crucial in the struggle for climate justice.

The Gülenists, dubbed by Turkey as FETO, the Fethullahist Terror Organization, are being purged on a massive scale. Those who have been accused include scientists, schoolteachers, policemen and journalists.

As the coronavirus lockdown forced people indoors, Percibald García, an architect, grabbed a microphone and portable speaker and began doing readings of children’s stories in an empty public square in Mexico City.

In recent weeks, many states have seen significant increases in COVID-19 cases. What will it take to change the trajectory?

Since April, the Yorkshire Museum has hosted 18 different #CuratorBattles under themes such as #CreepiestObject and #BestEgg. One of its latest is #BestMuseumBum.

The Brazilian president has used his illness as a platform to sell both his cynicism about the coronavirus and social restrictions, and his praise for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff, along with other Democratic lawmakers, wrote a letter this week demanding a prompt FBI briefing on a "foreign interference campaign" targeting the 2020 election.

In a country of 5.5 million, Finland has had just over 320 deaths from the coronavirus. So far, they’ve succeeded in containing the disease. And they’re not making a big deal about it. By some measures, this might be quintessential sisu.