The World: Latest Stories

Countries around the world are developing contact-tracing apps to limit the spread of COVID-19. Part of that effort is balancing privacy with data collection. MIT is tracking how some of those worldwide apps compare.

For the past few weeks, the world has been getting a rare glimpse into a heated feud between Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and his maternal cousin, Rami Makhlouf.

Bank of America projects that the region’s economy will shrink by almost 7% this year.

A public health crisis. An economic crisis. And no live shows. It's these challenges and more that stand-up comedians Joanna Hausmann and Joe Wong are navigating during the pandemic.

Usually, tens of thousands of Americans take advantage of the fact that Canada is an easy border crossing away. But things are not normal this year. The city of Niagara is deserted and hotel owners wonder if they'll be able to pay their bills this summer.

The world will need billions of doses of a vaccine to eradicate the novel coronavirus pandemic, and that means public and private sector partners will have to find new models of partnership to meet the challenge, Mark Feinberg, CEO of research nonprofit IAVI tells The World's Marco Werman.

Jacob Cuenca, an 18-year-old registered Republican, planned to cast his first-ever vote for President Donald Trump in this November's election. But the president's missteps during the coronavirus pandemic are driving Cuenca to consider former Vice President Joe Biden instead.

In her new book "The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis,” Christiana Figueres shares her personal experience of leading the 2015 Paris talks and outlines key strategies for moving our society towards ecological responsibility.

COVID-19 has changed habits around the world. As China recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, the government is urging diners to use serving chopsticks at family meals — changing a centuries-old tradition.

Flooding in November has left experts wondering whether the massive retractable gates the city is constructing will ever keep all of the water out.

The path to victory in the US presidential election in November cannot afford to ignore the Latino vote. But Latinas' voting power goes beyond their individual votes: They’re likely to encourage friends and family to vote, too.

Young pop stars in South Korea, struck with nostalgia, are performing covers of old-timey trot music on competition shows like “Mister Trot,” which have viewers vote for their favorite acts in an “American Idol”-style format.

The deal, if passed by Congress, could put the country one step closer to removing the State Sponsors of Terrorism designation, which Sudanese officials see as a key obstacle in emerging from decades of economic isolation.

Pollinators are in sharp decline across the US. A Minnesota program wants to encourage homeowners to help reverse this trend by paying them to convert turf to pollinator-friendly habitats.

The sons of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi released a statement on Twitter on Friday saying they forgive their father’s killers. But his fiancée says she doesn't support it. Agnès Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, tells The World's host Marco Werman that the entire situation is a "parody" and "travesty" of justice.

For the first time that anyone can recall, mosques in Morocco are closed for Ramadan.

Health officials gain access to the cellphone GPS records, credit card transactions and transportation history of anyone who tests positive for COVID-19, and then they release much of that information to the public. Many in country's LGBTQ community say they feel singled out.

In the midst of a pandemic, governors around the country have been reopening local economies and causing concern for many health experts. And in the rush to get back to business, governors are not meeting criteria to keep people safe.

Climate advocates and economists say this moment of disruption in the airline industry is an opportunity to become greener.

The coronavirus has threatened to worsen British Columbia’s drug overdose crisis. Some doctors are trying something unusual: prescribing opioids and stimulants, off-label, as alternatives for people who would otherwise seek out even more toxic versions on the street.

At least 115 people returned to Guatemala by the US have tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival. Deportees are being shunned, threatened or chased away by neighbors who fear they are bringing back the virus with them.

Saturday evening marks the end of Ramadan. Even though Rami is putting in long hours treating patients with the coronavirus, he’s thankful for a more traditional celebration of Ramadan — with his wife and young son.

Madrid has kept its parks closed to stop large gatherings, but citizens are increasingly angry with the lack of green space in a city where most residents live in small apartments. One lawyer is even suing the city to "take back" the parks.

Many older adults grapple with loneliness, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Zoom and WhatsApp just don't cut it. In the glass cabin, friends and family can visit safely and connect while separated by panes of glass.

The US spends billions and billions of dollars on defense, but the novel coronavirus slipped silently and invisibly across US borders and even onto military aircraft carriers. One could say the US was preparing for World War III when it got hammered by World War C — the coronavirus.

Juliette Herrera spent nearly a decade obtaining her college degree. When the coronavirus pandemic canceled her graduation ceremony, her family and friends found another way to celebrate her achievement.

The White House is reportedly looking to restrict all US foreign worker programs, including a decades-old program called Optional Practical Training that allows international students to remain in the US and work for at least a year after graduating.

Theaters were ordered to close — and no one can predict when the curtains will rise again.

Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world, has announced a 15% value-added tax on all goods and services. It is also cutting down some benefits for state employees. Meanwhile, the kingdom has been on a shopping spree with its Public Investment Fund, dropping roughly $7.7 billion on stakes in Facebook, Boeing and Starbucks, among other companies.

Michael Pollan, the author of "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" and other books, says food shortages and massive food dumping during the COVID-19 pandemic expose major vulnerabilities in the American food supply chain.

For Michelle Aguilar Ramirez, a high school junior in Washington state, the pandemic has changed how she views the world around her — including US politics and the November presidential election.

South Korean high school seniors will be the first students to return to the classroom after the coronavirus delayed the start of the academic year. For many, the pandemic didn’t just disrupt their education; it cast their entire futures into uncertainty.

Like nations everywhere, India and Bangladesh are trying to contain outbreaks of the coronavirus. On top of that, they're also preparing for a cyclone of historic proportions.

Although Italy has begun reopening, it’s unclear what the future holds for Venice, a city historically dependent on millions of tourists each year.

A human rights coalition is calling on the Canadian government to investigate and consider sanctions against Chinese officials.

In a statement to The World, Apple denied accusations that it didn’t help US investigators, who sought to gain access to password-protected devices belonging to a gunman who killed three US sailors and injured eight others in a December 2019 shooting in Pensacola, Florida.

Amid a public health emergency, there is usually a great deal of interest in prevention and preparedness, but over the years, these waves of interest in public health wane. Dr. Howard Koh of Harvard's Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School urges continued investment in public health care systems at every level, from local to federal.

“Félicien Kabuga has always been one of the most wanted fugitives,” said Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. “He has always been considered as being one of the masterminds in relation to the genocide” in Rwanda.

The influence of the 1918 flu pandemic is an undercurrent that runs through many works of the period.

The COVID Symptom Study is pulling together this growing list of the coronavirus symptoms. Since its app launched in March, it has crowdsourced symptoms from more than 3.5 million people in the UK, US and Sweden.

With so many competing interests facing off, it's far from clear that once an effective vaccine is produced, all of the world's citizens will have equitable access to it.

Governments worldwide — from Singapore to the Netherlands and the US — have devoted more than $85 billion to prop up airlines during the coronavirus pandemic. But airlines' requests for aid are controversial in less rich Latin American economies, where millions live in poverty and public health systems are ill-equipped to respond to a large-scale health crisis.

Eastleigh, a predominantly Muslim neighborhood in Nairobi, Kenya, is currently under lockdown, and most mosques have closed. Instead, some mosques are offering virtual prayers via YouTube.

Because so many Filipino Americans are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, it has taken a devastating and outsize toll on their community. A new initiative in New York City is bringing free meals to hospitals and health facilities heavily staffed by Filipinos — while also raising funds to help keep community restaurants afloat.

Author Matto Mildenberger examined how politics have shaped decades of climate policy in his new book, "Carbon Captured." He spoke to The World's host Marco Werman for this week's climate solutions segment.

The new settlement covers only workers based in the US. But the unprecedented move could have an impact on content moderators in other parts of the world.

Dramatic movements in the economy are happening all over the globe. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Simon Cox, emerging markets editor for The Economist, about the worldwide perspective on the economy.

Under a United States peace plan unveiled earlier this year, Israel had the US's green light to annex large parts of the West Bank. If that happens, life for the Palestinians and Israeli settlers who live there could get even more complicated.

Thought Brexit was over, right? Wrong. Britain did leave the EU at the end of January, but in reality, nothing much has changed. The real deadline is Dec. 31, and negotiations are set to take place until then. There’s just one problem: a pandemic.

As women’s soccer was drawing more and more fans, the players were stepping up their fight against gender discrimination in the sport. But just a year later, the game’s visibility — and its journey toward equity — has been stopped in its tracks.