The World: Latest Stories

The "1812 Overture" isn't even about America's War of 1812. So how did music celebrating Russia's pushback against a foreign power become associated with America's Fourth of July?

A new bill seeks to limit surrogacy to altruistic surrogates only, killing a business that injects $400 billion into the Indian economy every year.

In France, the dropout rate at public universities is high — only 40 percent make it past the first year. That's one reason the French government is overhauling its rules on higher education, but some say the changes "break the way universities work."

Poland enacted a controversial new reform to its Supreme Court forcing nearly 40 percent of its judges into early retirement in what observers say is the latest in a string of attempts by the nationalist government to control the country’s judiciary system.

A bill could allow transgender people to change their sex on their identification, but Guatemala remains a dangerous country for those who identify as trans.

Rocker Bertrand Cantat killed his girlfriend in 2003. He was convicted and went to prison. Now, he's facing protests as he tries to rebuild a career.

Rebel Pepper fled China for Japan and then Washington, DC, to escape charges of subversion because of his cartoons.

Under its new interpretation of the Toxic Substances Control Act, EPA has decided to focus its investigations into chemical safety solely on the risks of direct exposure, which will exclude risk analysis based on exposure through air, water and soil.

Five people were killed Thursday in an attack on a community paper in Annapolis, Maryland. But local journalists around the world are vulnerable to attacks, says the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists. And violence against them is on the rise in the United States.

Focusing on climate change's public health impacts can make the world a healthier place, protect our children's lives, build a stronger economy and help to create a more sustainable and just future, McCarthy believes.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently signed into law subsidies for two aging nuclear power plants. Some say the deal will help New Jersey meet its climate protection goals, but others have criticized the measure.

Muhammed Erdogan is such a fan of Turkey's incumbent president that he adopted the president's last name. But many Turks don't think he's a legitimate political candidate.

The court ruling in question says if migrant children are detained, it should be short and in facilities that are more like childcare facilities than prisons.

Three toddlers’ foster mothers brought the children to the emergency department. Dr. Tara Neubrand, who specializes in pediatric emergency medicine, says their trauma was obvious.

How Public Enemy brought the noise and revolutionized hip-hop.

How revolutionary art went from woodcuts to memes.

The 85-year-old newspaper comic strip character is getting a reboot — and her first female cartoonist.

“Climate change has all the hallmarks of an issue which is difficult for people to engage with psychologically,” says an environmental psychologist.

We’re answering some of your most pressing questions about what happens next.

Europe and the US say wood pellets are a carbon neutral alternative to coal. Many experts say otherwise.

Beth Lew-Williams’ grandfather was 9 when he was separated from family and placed in immigration detention. And he held the pain of the experience for 72 years.

Inside the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemenis hear explosions — large ones from Saudi-led coalition airstrikes and smaller booms from local fighters' rocket-propelled grenades. As the battle moves closer to the city, we hear from residents, humanitarian organizations and the UAE ambassador to the US.

It has become a hot-button topic in American politics. But beyond the numbers of children being separated from their parents at the border are very real, long-term effects from toxic stress, one expert says.

If you are an immigrant in the US fighting deportation, what happens inside this building is all-important.

US beef exports to Canada and Mexico are way up since NAFTA came into effect in 1994. But so are imports to the US.

Professional soccer used to export its English-language terminology, giving other languages words like "penalty" and "goal." But now, the roles are reversed. English-speakers use expressions loaned from other languages to describe skill moves: "rabona," "panenka," "gegenpress."

The quest for straighter and smoother hair may be causing significant health issues, according to a new study.

There are four million referrals to child welfare services in America every year. How should cities and states decide which ones to respond to?

The UK will stop burning coal for electricity by 2025. The US, meanwhile, is trying to end the “war on coal.”

My Red Light in Amsterdam is almost entirely run by former or current sex workers. And it's designed to ensure that those who rent rooms there aren't being trafficked or exploited. But some maintain that the work itself is inherently exploitative.

Living far from home for the past few years gave this student a new appreciation for her country's traditional music.

As Russia hosts the 2018 World Cup, it's being condemned for many of the same human rights abuses it was criticized for in the lead-up to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Now, President Vladimir Putin seems much more resistant to Western criticism.

The Florida ecosphere that inspired Jeff VanderMeer’s apocalyptic novel, “Annihilation.”

Take a tour through Judy Blume’s childhood stomping grounds in Miami Beach.

Carl Hiaasen has called Florida “the poster child of nationwide dysfunction,” but his campaign to tarnish the sunshine-state mystique has never quite worked.

“When I first came down here, I was astonished by how nature wanted to kill you at every turn.” Author Lauren Groff on writing and surviving in Florida.

Plenty of people move to the small town of Celebration, Florida, to live the Disney dream 24/7. But it’s not all fantasy.

Grenfell Tower, a social housing block that was home to a close-knit, ethnically diverse community, was engulfed by flames in the middle of the night of June 14, 2017, in the country's deadliest domestic fire since World War II.

From a booth at a Latino market in Phoenix, fans of the left-leaning candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, promote their pick. But the politician has critics on both sides of the border.

Ireland is not as Catholic as it used to be. One area where the Church still has a great deal of influence, though, is in the public schools. But some Irish parents want to re-examine the role of religion in educations.

As Mexico prepares for elections, 113 political candidates and eight journalists have been murdered since the election process began last September. According to a recent report on political violence, 72 percent of the violence targeted opposition candidates.

Residents of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah have been anticipating a Saudi-led invasion for weeks. It may have just begun.

You might be the smartest person in the room. But at the end of the day, are you the most rational?

The North American bid collected 134 votes to the 65 for Morocco. One congress member voted for "neither bid."

“We have a political boss," says immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks. And his decision on domestic violence as a case for asylum is why immigration courts should be independent, she and other judges say.

For many South Koreans, the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un has brought their divided peninsula one step closer to peace.

Michael Brun’s Bayo Block Party takes a celebration of Haiti’s spirit on the road, and he is bringing his friends with him too.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged on Tuesday to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy.

Every trip to Antarctica inspires awe and concern for the fragile frozen continent. But every trip also contributes to the global warming that's eating away at the place. So is it better to visit Antarctica, or stay away?

Musahar, a holiday ritual practiced around the Islamic world, harkens back to days before alarm clocks and smartphones. This year in Jerusalem, it has become entangled in the city’s often contentious religious and political divides.