The World: Latest Stories

What we can (and still can't) laugh about when it comes to the 2001 terror attacks.

Modern fish and salamander genes tell us a lot about where our hands come from — and a little about why we can’t regrow them after a fight.

Or better yet, what kind of math should they learn? Educators disagree.

Journalist Lawrence Wright told the story of al-Qaeda's rise and the planning of 9/11. Now, he's worried that Washington's reaction to terrorism is robbing a generation of basic freedoms.

The Paralympics are off to a spectacular start in Rio de Janeiro. But we found another side of the city: “Our city isn’t prepared for people in wheelchairs in any way!”

Many Americans might think propaganda is something that happens elsewhere, but in the War on Terror, Nina Khrushcheva saw and heard tropes familiar to her, having grown up in the Soviet Union as the great-granddaughter of former leader Nikita Khrushchev. Now a US citizen and New School professor in New York, she teaches propaganda, and hopes more Americans will become more propaganda-literate. She shares some ideas on where to start.

"I remember discovering the Time magazine 9/11 issue in my parents' bookshelf. And I was just shocked."

In Lahore, Pakistan, a clothing ad featuring a mini flashmob to Beyonce’s "Run The World (Girls)" sparked a backlash from both feminists and religious conservatives, and cyber threats to the performers.

A Pew study says that 20 percent of Americans who identify as Muslims are converts. With surges in hate crimes and negative media portrayals, here what makes them faithful.

It's become a cliche to call Sept. 11, 2001, a day when everything changed. But for men and women who chose to join the US armed forces after the attack, that day really did change everything.

Valarie Kaur became an activist 15 years ago on 9/11. Today, her heart is breaking, but here’s how she finds hope.

Republican politicians, including many US governors and the presidential nominee Donald Trump, want to close the door to Syrian refugees. But many conservative Christians say that, on this issue, the politicians are wrong.

Abortion is illegal in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, but many women still seek access. Illegal abortions are a leading cause of maternal death there.

Christiano Krosh couldn’t believe there wasn’t a store where Brazilians with physical disabilities could find clothes. He created his own line just for them.

The US government didn't officially recognize retired WASPs as military veterans until 1977, and didn't grant them burial rights in Arlington until 2002. Last year, Harmon died about a month after the Army revoked those burial rights over concerns about available space at the cemetery.

The wall will be the latest barrier to go up around Europe as the continent struggles with its biggest migrant influx in decades.

Despite scars from the tragedy, the faithful have returned to Saudi Arabia for another pilgrimage.

The world's chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday it was "disturbed" by the alleged use of toxic chemicals in Aleppo after dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city.

The mission of the World Nomad Games is the revival and preservation of nomadic people's historical cultural heritage.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have upped the ante in their war of words. Both are now denouncing the other's Islamic legitimacy. The two Persian Gulf powers are already locked in numerous proxy conflicts across the region. The US is not happy about the mess.

Oceans absorb most of the heat humans create in the form of carbon dioxide. And it's changing the species that live in them.

A town south of Berlin had to act fast when it was assigned 16 refugee students from an overcrowded school district nearby. Administrators hired a recent college grad to teach a "welcome" class where the new students study German and prepare to integrate into regular classrooms.

Activists were arrested after blocking the London City Airport runway to raise awareness about the "racist climate crisis" — the latest sign of a movement that's going global and adopting new calls.

The Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte got a lot of attention for using a crude insult when talking about President Obama. But he's not the first statesman to be crass and insulting.

The anti-American outburst by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte reflects a deeper erosion of US credibility on the world stage, some analysts say.

During the US dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos. Now, President Obama is pledging assistance to rid the country of unexploded — but still dangerous — ordnance.

The island of Crete is a crossroads for migrants and refugees. It's there that musician Stelios Petrakis finds his inspiration.

Germany's struggle to integrate more than a million Middle Eastern refugees and asylum seekers has led to some drama at the pool.

Some Canadian doctors say you should ditch the brush if you don't want risk ending up in the hospital.

A record 2.2 million people voted in the city-wide election for members of Hong Kong's lawmaking body.

"When push comes to shove, China has done a really good job with pandas."

Pope Francis' environmental encyclical, Laudato Si, inspired a global conversation about the moral dimensions of climate change. Even before this, however, some lesser-known religious leaders, like Father Albert Fritsch, had been trying to bring this message to their parishioners and the world.

Hari Nef is fierce and funny and helps bring reality and relevance to one of TV’s most interesting new shows, "Transparent."

The Drug Enforcement Administration just cracked open a marijuana monopoly — but it’s not what you might think.

Niku, a piece of icy debris in the Kuiper Belt, has an orbit unlike almost any other object in our solar system. Why?

There’s a new space race underway — and this time, it’s headquartered in Silicon Valley.

These Hong Kongers aren’t clamoring for freer elections. Nor are they demanding outright independence. They want to transform Hong Kong back into British territory — and proclaim Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state.

Hint: Our bodies may fight infection better by day.

On Sept. 1, in a tiny Tanzanian village called Lupiro, a group of Danish and Swedish laser scientists and local experts on the behavior of malaria mosquitoes stared into the sky.

The US and China have just announced their commitment to the Paris climate deal, in a strong push to lead almost 200 countries to pledge to cut carbon emissions. But the future of that tandem climate change approach depends on the outcome of US elections.

The strongman's death ends more than 25 years of iron-fisted rule in the Central Asian nation with no clear successor lined up.

Youth sports around the globe are taking concussion risks seriously. But some take it more seriously than others.

President Barack Obama begins his 11th and final presidential trip to the Asia-Pacific in earnest on Friday, visiting China to nurture what has become arguably the world's most important relationship and cementing an eight-year "pivot to Asia."

A Jewish ski and tennis pro who survived Nazi and Russian occupations came to America penniless, built a fortune and used it to pay for the graduate school educations of hundreds of immigrants and kids of immigrants. In this episode of Otherhood we talk to one of them — Pardis Sabeti, a badass geneticist and super-cool rockstar who's also humble, genuine and driven to help others, even after going through a devastating accident that kept her in bed, staring at a wall, for months.

His admirers held red roses and sang a karaoke version of "Amor Eterno," a ballad by Gabriel that's often played at Mexican funerals.

Donald Trump says people don’t even talk about the issue. But he does. He calls them "criminal aliens" — undocumented immigrants with criminal records living in the United States. And he says there are 2 million of them.

Berhanu Nega, on leave from Bucknell University, is trying to overthrow the government of his native Ethiopia.

Environmental policy makers from more than 170 nations are meeting in Hawaii over the next 10 days. Many of the headlines are bleak. The conference has been named: Planet at the Crossroads. But there have also been some bright spots for the planet, including a growing push to protect the world’s oceans.

Many Mexicans have already made their minds up about Donald Trump. But, they're also now angry to see their president treat the US candidate like an actual statesman, given Trump's words about Mexicans.