The World: Latest Stories

It's being called “the snowfall of the century.’’

Nigerian playwright Ifeoma Fafunwa tells stories of sexual harassment. But her latest work puts the onus on women to fight their oppressors.

Today's CEOs don't just stay in their lane. We're seeing more business leaders going public with stances on social issues.

Bitcoin, the most popular of the new digital currencies, has shot up in value in the past year, and even though you can’t hold one in your hand, bitcoins require huge amounts of energy.

The Great Plains were the nation’s breadbasket, but drought in the 1930s created the Dust Bowl. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s solution was to plant trees as a shelterbelt to help hold back the dust. The plan worked, but now some farmers, forced by economic necessity to maximize crop yields, are cutting them down.

Lawmakers passed a bill this week changing the line “true patriot love in all thy sons command,” to “true patriot love in all of us command.”

The International Criminal Court in The Hague is considering whether to authorize an official war crimes inquiry for Afghanistan. Suspected perpetrators include not only the Taliban and ISIS, but also Afghan government forces, and even the US CIA.

Last December, a woman in Tehran stood on top of a utility box, hung her white headscarf on a stick and started waving it silently. She was protesting the compulsory covering of women in the Islamic Republic. Since then, some others have followed.

The 21-year-old activist is gathering women’s stories of sexual harassment and carefully typing them out on her antiquated machine.

"Fear has returned," says an Egyptian human rights activist. President Sisi is likely to win re-election next month easily. But the human rights situation under him is grim.

They haven’t changed their positions on illegal immigration, but conservative immigrants are now contending with the Trump administration’s proposals to curb legal immigration.

The Trump Administration announced Wednesday that Temporary Protected Status for Syrians will be extended for 18 months beyond its expiration date in March. TPS has enabled a young Syrian man named Amr Sinna to live, work, study and buy property in the US. He's been anxiously awaiting yesterday's announcement, along with almost 7,000 other Syrians living in the US with TPS.

Two girls, Abigail Anderson and Bingjie Turner, were adopted from an orphanage when they were 13 years old and brought to the US. They returned to their village recently to see what had happened to friends who were not adopted — called "left-behinds."

A lot of singer-songwriters pour their misery into their lyrics. But for Rufus Wainwright, it isn’t necessarily cathartic.

The saxophonist Joshua Redman didn’t spend much time with his father growing up. But he spent a lot of time with his father’s music.

John and Yoko’s son talks about growing up in their shadow ... and then stepping out of it.

Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash makes the case for why this pop song from 1980 is worth a deeper listen.

As Trump steers immigration policies away from family reunion, the Chinese Exclusion Act is a reminder of the human cost at stake.

Summer Ahmed was born in Aden, Yemen. She grew up in Michigan, but keeps her Adeni connection. In fact, she is the social media voice of the southern Yemeni separatists who have seized power in Aden.

Alex Sanchez, a former MS-13 member, says "people don't see that we're human and that we could change."

Many consider it to be a "grotesque caricature of native people."

A string of attacks in Afghanistan's capital has left Kabul residents on edge. Some have started carrying notes in their pockets that detail crucial information in case of an emergency: Name, age, blood type.

Native American tribes in Oklahoma contribute billions of dollars to the state's economy, including the cattle industry. One tribe in Oklahoma is providing a much-needed service in that industry — a processing plant where other ranchers can take their cattle to get grocery-store ready.

Men’s Ice Hockey at this year’s Winter Olympics is going to look pretty different — gone are the stars. For the first time in 20 years, the NHL won’t be going on hiatus and allowing its players to represent their nations. And that has Team USA, as well as Team Canada and others, sending line-ups of largely unknowns.

On Tuesday afternoon, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers that the Trump administration intends to levy new sanctions based on the list published late Monday.

James Hunter loves soul and he's been a fan of the genre for a long time. He admits a lot of musicians in the UK try to emulate it, but the "results are mixed at best, I suppose." Hunter tells us who his favorite soul artists and picks a couple of tracks from his new album.

Do names determine destiny? Many parents in the Indian state of Kerala hope so, even if the names they chose for their children are going out of fashion.

Russian meddling didn't end after Trump was inaugurated. Peter Singer takes us inside Russia's plans for 2018.

As the waters warm, the fishermen are catching more fish, and more varieties of fish, than before.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson resigned last week from a panel looking into solutions to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. And on his way out he blasted Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for lacking "moral leadership" on the issue.

Colorado Republican Congressman Mike Coffman represents one of the most diverse districts in the US. He's become a leading moderate voice on immigration. But is he doing enough for his constituents?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that America suffered a record amount of damage in 2017 from natural disasters, with a tab of more than $306 billion.

South America’s largest country is electing its next president later this year — and it’s in the thick of a legal battle about whether the top-polling candidate will be in jail by that time.

A tight community of artists in LA are pushing back against rising rents. But they worry they may lose the battle.

What you need to know ahead of a tumultuous immigration debate in Congress.

Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri was very happy when his new movie "The Insult" won a prize in Venice. But when he returned to Lebanon, he was promptly detained by authorities.

Anthropologists gathered human remains during the genocide of the Herero people. Some of those remains are in a New York's Museum of Natural History and the descendants of the murdered want them back.

The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is a monthlong extravaganza honoring the “ships of the desert” and their place in Saudi Arabia’s history. But this year, it's about more than just camels — it's about a closed-off kingdom showing signs it wants to open up.

Cedric Watson is known for playing Cajun, Creole and zydeco music on his violin. He's from Lafayette, Louisiana. Watson appears on the new album by Malian guitarist Boubacar Traoré. And through that collaboration, Cedric Watson has been able to find where the music from Louisiana and Mali meet.

When she accused her coaches and father of verbal and physical abuse, nobody listened.

Prosecutors from Massachusetts to Minnesota detail cases where mostly foreign-born women work seven days a week, 12-24 hours a day, sleeping in parlors or nearby flophouses, and are managed by a network of interstate traffickers and business people.

In recent years there's been a lot of hype surrounding blockchain and the system's applications — particularly as it applies to cryptocurrencies. But what, exactly, is blockchain? And how does it work?

Why The Last Supper was clearly painted by a theater nerd.

How a cheesy movie helped a listener through some serious grief.

Bestselling authors write short stories based on this painter’s haunting pictures.

In the face of bigotry, Chilean actress Daniela Vega looks toward a more hopeful future.

Does gender play a role in the art of diplomacy? A discussion with Madeleine Albright and Wendy Sherman on gender, diplomacy and the Trump administration.

Wendi Kent photographs protesters outside of family planning clinics. She says she tries hard to stay away from creating any kind of spin around the photos.

Saudi Arabia announced $1.5 billion in new aid for Yemen this week, a move it says is aimed at alleviating the country’s humanitarian crisis nearly three years into a Saudi-led military campaign there. But critics, among them a number of Yemenis, have questioned the motives behind the donation, given the Saudis’ own role in prolonging the crisis.

Clarke Forsythe has worked with Americans United for Life in the courts and state legislatures to restrict abortion, always with an eye on overturning Roe v. Wade.