The World: Latest Stories

A vaccine could soon help prevent the deadliest form of skin cancer - melanoma - from returning in those diagnosed. Researchers at the Melanoma Institute Australia led an international human trial of the tailored vaccine, which lowered the risk of recurring melanoma by 42%. To understand the implications of this pioneering vaccine therapy, The World's Host Aaron Schachter spoke to Dr. Robert Vonderheide, the director of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and president-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Jamaicans are marking the one year anniversary of the strongest hurricane to ever hit the island. Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica's southwest coast as a Category 5 storm. The storm tracked north and east, leveling homes and mangling farms and businesses. Ultimately it killed 45 people and displaced thousands more. Since then, recovery has been ongoing but inconsistent.

Next month, world leaders will gather in Antalya, Turkey, for COP31 - the annual United Nations climate summit. For Africa, the stakes couldn't be higher. Last year, extreme weather affected at least 13 million people across the continent and killed more than 3,000, according to the World Meteorological Organization. For African countries, the challenge is not just coping with climate disasters, but securing the money and technology needed to respond. Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman reports from Ghana.

Every morning in Beirut, parents turn on their phones to see what their children are doing thousands of miles away. Lebanon has experienced a sustained wave of emigration, with young people leaving amid an economic crisis, political instability and repeated conflict. Reporter Shirin Jafaari went to Lebanon to see how the people who remain - the parents, grandparents and relatives whose families have been scattered across the world - are adapting and creating new community.

Today, researchers from the American Astronomical Society announced that they've identified an object from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachon mountain in Chile. Astrophysicists Matthew Holman and Kevin Napier are both with the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University & the Smithsonian. They tell Host Marco Werman about what they've found.

Israelis have flocked to the polls in what is considered one of the most important elections in the nation's history. The contest pits Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against former IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot. Much of the focus has been on whether Netanyahu is responsible for the security failure on Oct. 7, 2023. The World's Carolyn Beeler visited a polling station in Jerusalem to gauge the mood of voters.

The legendary Senegalese big band Orchestra Baobab has undergone many personnel changes since its founding in the 1960s, but it carries on the sound its members formulated years ago - a mix of Latin styles, Senegalese percussion and lyrics in French, Wolof and Portuguese slang from neighboring Cape Verde. They have a new recording that came out last week, "Made in Senegal," and we take a listen with Host Marco Werman.

In what newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella calls a "cultural counter-revolution," Colombia's government has taken down more than 30 items from the National Museum of Bogota. Most of them reflect leftist, feminist and LGBTQ history. The move has sparked multiple protests from citizens who fear the removals risk erasing the experiences of marginalized communities and sanitizing Colombia's violent past. Reporter Manuel Rueda has the story from Bogota.

The Ukrainian folk band Yagody mixes traditional Ukrainian folk harmonies with modern arrangements and instruments. The group's haunting sound and theatrical performances have caught the country's attention, and led to them being chosen as Ukraine's 2024 Eurovision entrants. Reporter Emily Cohen caught up with the group in April at the acclaimed Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, as part of their first American tour.This story originally aired on April 3, 2026.

French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe is facing backlash in China after a video circulated of him apparently mentioning an internet meme depicting him as a Chinese dictator." Chinese brands have reportedly dropped sponsorship deals, while state television has threatened to stop broadcasting Spanish soccer league games. Mbappe has since apologized, but the controversy highlights the power of China's consumer market and the consequences international celebrities face for crossing Beijing's political red lines. Isaac Stone Fish, founder of the geopolitical risk consultancy Strategy Risks, joins The World's Host Marco Werman to discuss.

The leaders of Finland and Norway have held an unusual joint call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss future negotiations to help end the war in Ukraine. Julie Wilhelmsen, who

For decades, scientists have thought the Bangka Slow Loris was extinct. The terribly cute - though venomous - primate hasn't been seen in Indonesia for 90 years. The World's Marco Werman explains how the the pack was rediscovered.

When you drive along the highway heading toward Rio de Janeiro's airport in Brazil, you pass a huge neighborhood known as Mare. You wouldn't stop there, unless you had a good reason to. That's because it's a favela, or a poor community. Many favelas are on Rio's hillsides. This one is squeezed between a pair of highways and Guanabara Bay. Roughly 140,000 people live there. It's known for being a hotbed of dangerous drug gangs, violence and police operations. But residents are trying to change that image - with food. Reporter Michael Fox has the story.

You'd be excused for thinking the Japanese folk trio Kekko Seikatsu hails from Appalachia. Their sound is built around the slower environment of the Japanese countryside that they relocated to from Tokyo a few years ago. We can also hear their embrace of acoustic styles from Ireland, as well as the American back porch.

Last night in Brazil's second-round presidential election, Incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pulled off a victory the likes of which the country has never seen. This was the first time in Brazilian history that a candidate lost the first round, and won in the second. His win also bucked the trend of the far-right wave that has been gripping Latin America in recent years. Reporter Michael Fox was in the streets to gauge reaction.

It seems every Scandinavian country has its favorite in the "slow TV" genre. Sweden has the seasonal hit "The Great Moose Migration," Norway has an hours-long train journey and Finland has its own blockbuster of nonstop boredom: a 24/7 livestream of puppies doing puppy things. The World's Joshua Coe has our unbearably cute puppy story.

Serbia is facing an unprecedented political experiment after a student-led movement swept to power, ending Aleksandar Vui's 14 years in office. The movement grew out of nearly two years of relentless protests, and none of its newly elected representatives has ever served in parliament. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry joined host Marco Werman for the latest.

Researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany in China have discovered a new species of fungus that's challenging previous assumptions about how big a fungus can get. They've named it "D-rex." And it's believed to have emerged, in part, thanks to the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Host Marco Werman has more.

Tiny solar-powered radio tags are allowing scientists to track individual monarch butterflies for the first time, documenting the paths they take on their migration across North America. Last fall, The World's Host Marco Werman spoke with Orley "Chip" Taylor, founder of Monarch Watch, about the new technology and what it tells us about the insects.This story originally aired on Nov. 26, 2025.

More than half a million young Israelis aged 18 to 22 will be eligible to vote in their first elections this week. It's being seen as one of the most consequential elections in the nation's history. Polls project these new voters could lean farther right than the rest of the population. From the city of Sderot, less than a mile from Israel's border with Gaza, The World's Carolyn Beeler reports.

If you're making the long walk to a soccer stadium, or you're just on your feet for hours a day, you might want to consider a pair of "cool shoes." Not as in trendy - but actually cool, and comfortable. They were created by a young Kenyan inventor who wanted to soothe his mother's aching feet. They're made entirely from trash and bits and pieces of old electronics. Reporter Jonathan Miller has the story.This story originally aired on June 23, 2026.

The Russian mercenary group known as Wagner Group gained notoriety during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and expanded operations across West and Central Africa. But then in 2023, Wagner's leader Yevgeny Progozhin, after leading a failed military coup against Moscow, mysteriously died in a plane crash. Most of the Wagner troops were incorporated into the Russian security and intelligence forces, except in the Central African Republic, where Wagner Group continues its work under the leadership of Prigozhin's son, Pavel. The 28-year-old millionaire has expanded and diversified the mercenary business he inherited. Host Carolyn Beeler is joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Nicholas Bariyo, who spoke about his recent investigation, The Playboy Who Inherited the World's Most Notorious Mercenary Force."

France is deploying 70,000 police and military personnel across its cities, with more protests planned for this weekend. The demonstrations that began with high school students angry about conditions in their schools have grown into a broader protest movement fueled by the rising cost of living and declining public services. And France is far from alone. Protests have since spread to several countries across Europe. From Madrid, The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

The ground on which many urban areas rest is subsiding" or sinking lower into the earth - a phenomenon frequently linked to water extraction. A study out this month by a research team in China used satellite imaging to track this sinkage across nearly 500 major cities across the globe. It found that much of this so-called land subsidence" is happening under Asian metropolises. To unpack how cities are sinking and why, The World's Host Carolyn Beeler spoke to Robert Nicholls, a professor of climate adaptation at the University of East Anglia in the UK.

It's hard to imagine, perhaps, but parts of France are bone dry. Severe and frequent droughts this year have left rivers low and wells near empty. Conservation efforts can mitigate the crisis to some degree, but climate change experts say the only real solution is more rain. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Saint-Amans-Soult, France.

In the aftermath of Syria's civil war that overthrew former President Bashar al Assad, millions of Syrians remain displaced or in other countries where they sought refuge. One of them is a woman named Israa, who settled in Germany after fleeing Syria more than 10 years ago, when she was 11 years old. A new documentary from our colleagues at Frontline, "One In A Million," caught up with Israa in Turkey as she was traveling with her family to Germany, and follows her to adulthood as she starts her own family and ultimately contemplates the possibility of moving back to a liberated Syria. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with co-director Itab Azzam about the film.

A fact of electoral life in Israel is that certain groups of people will always vote a certain way: how their leader or rabbi "advises" them to vote. This is how politicians, like Israel's current ultra-right-wing finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, can keep his job. In his case, he's supported by a certain faction of settlers. Ultra-orthodox parties whose population reaches voting age far more than any other, also have a lock on a certain group of voters. Stephanie Freid reports.

Composer Sami Yusuf likes to keep listeners on their toes with his diverse style of music. Born to Azerbaijani parents in Tehran, Yusuf grew up in London and was trained in both Western and Middle Eastern classical music. But his musical knowledge doesn't end there. Flamenco, Native American and more can be heard on his latest release "Ecstasy: Voices of the Earth." Host Carolyn Beeler has the details.This story originally aired on March 30, 2026.

We turn to one of Argentina's biggest pop stars. He goes by the stage name Dillom. It's also something of an alter-ego for 25-year-old Dylan Leon Massa, who was kicked out of his father's house as a kid a decade ago. He went on to build his own record label with friends and is filling stadiums, all without ever signing to a major label. He is now a Latin Grammy nominated artist, and soon to tour the United States. Reporter Natalio Cosoy met with Dillom in Buenos Aires and has his story.

For decades, malaria has claimed children's lives and haunted mothers across Africa. Developing a vaccine was a formidable scientific challenge, in part because the parasite that causes the disease is complex. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended widespread use of the RTS,S malaria vaccine in October 2021. Five years on in Ghana - one of the first countries to pilot the malaria vaccine - the program is actually saving children's lives. From Ghana, Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman has the story.

Ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff in Brazil, some of the country's biggest musicians are taking political sides. Several sertanejo stars - Brazil's version of country music - are backing Flavio Bolsonaro, while many samba and traditional Brazilian pop artists are rallying around President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But these musical alliances have deep historical roots, and the divisions aren't as clear-cut as they seem. The World's Tibisay Zea explores what Brazil's political soundtrack reveals about its changing society.

Conservationists in India are working on an atlas of the country's grasslands, as part of a wider push to protect the ecosystem. Grasslands are a major carbon sink, but are currently classed as wasteland by the government, meaning they are the first to be converted for other uses. Abi Vanak, advisor to the Grasslands Trust and the director of the Centre for Policy Design at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, spoke with Host Carolyn Beeler.

A shark in South Korea nicknamed Bukangi was guided out of a canal yesterday, where it had been trapped. But instead of swimming away, it's been lingering nearby. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

A vulnerability identified by artificial intelligence in the popular programming language PHP set off a global scramble this week. As IT teams around the world rushed to take down websites that rely on PHP and patch the flaw, cybercriminals raced to exploit it. Johns Hopkins University's Matthew Green tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that China's open-weight AI models likely powered some of the attacks.

As Israeli strikes forced families across Lebanon to flee, many migrant workers found themselves abandoned and without shelter. But rather than wait for help, they mobilized their own networks, opening shelters, organizing aid and protecting one another. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

For years, melting ice in the Alps has revealed historic artifacts - some just a few decades old, others stretching back to the Bronze Age. Many of those artifacts are now on display at a museum in Switzerland. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Marcel Cornelissen, archaeologist and curator of the Treasury of Ice exhibit at the Glacier Garden museum, about what is on display and how it is preserved.

Voters in Serbia will go to the polls in just over a week. And no matter the result, the dominant figure will be Aleksandar Vui. He's resigned as president so that he can run as prime minister for his dominant Serbian Progressive Party. But he faces a stern challenge from a candidate list nominated by student-led protesters. They accuse Vui of autocratic tendencies - and presiding over corruption. From our partners at Deutsche Welle, DW, reporter Guy De Launey, who has been a long-time follower of the Serbian leader's career, brings this report from Belgrade.

Comedian Kwasi Mensah learned to cook his family's Ghanaian peanut butter soup. He brought it to his Indian friend's potluck. Along the way, he learned how food helps build community, as he told GBH's Stories from the Stage.

Son Rompe Pera is a band that performs at local cemeteries in Naucalpan, Mexico. It all started with Jose "Batuco" Gama. But since his passing in 2016, his sons and their friends came together to play his music in a slightly different way, while still honoring Gama's legacy. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

After four years in legal limbo over its potential environmental impact, the British government has approved renewed production at the Jackdaw gas field, 150 miles off the Scottish coast. While the UK has sought to be a leader in the transition away from fossil fuels, the decision comes as Britain struggles with soaring energy costs and concerns over energy security. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learned more from Darrick Evensen, a senior lecturer in environmental politics at the University of Edinburgh.

In Barcelona this fall, tourists wearing smart glasses have twice filmed assailants stealing their personal items, ultimately leading to the thieves' arrests. Locals and tourists say the glasses offer added protection on the street, but others worry about privacy and online security. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

Cell phone theft is so bad in Brazil that it's become a political issue. Hundreds of thousands of smartphones are stolen across the country each year, and the two presidential candidates have made fighting that particular crime key campaign pledges. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland took the lead for Ottawa during the high-stakes trade talks with the US in 2018. Her tough negotiating stance angered US President Donald Trump, who called her a nasty woman," as she details in her new book "Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider's View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People." Freeland tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that many Canadians think the current US-Canada rupture can't be repaired.

Chile is one of Latin America's fastest-aging countries. Around 15% of its citizens are over the age of 65 - nearly half of whom report feeling lonely. One local nonprofit foundation is bringing generations together to try and combat this social isolation. As part of The World's series exploring solutions to the global problem of loneliness, Jane Chambers reports from Santiago.

Back in 2010, the explosion of the BP-operated oil well Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico spilled more than 130 million gallons of oil into the water - wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem. A new study has found that since that environmental disaster, marine life in the area decline by 60%. Host Carolyn Beeler spoke to Tracey Sutton, the lead author of the study. He's a biological oceanographer at Nova Southeastern University in Dania Beach, Florida.

Unofficial results show roughly three-quarters of voters in the Canadian province of Alberta rejected a move toward separation from Canada in this week's vote. But about one-quarter of voters - hundreds of thousands of Albertans - backed the proposal. Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet, the BBC's chief international correspondent, tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that the separatist movement will fight on.

The Trump administration is proposing a 12% cut to the National Institutes of Health's 2027 budget. The proposed cuts are unlikely to make it through Congress. But scientists still feel the need to advocate for the value of the work they do abroad. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Josh Ehrlich, associate director of the Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan. He wrote about funding research overseas in The Conversation.

For civil defense workers in southern Lebanon, saving lives comes at an enormous personal cost. In the city of Nabatiyeh, rescue teams navigate relentless danger, mourn colleagues killed in Israeli strikes and struggle with memories of those they couldn't save. Shirin Jaafari reports.

Same-sex marriage is not recognized in Slovakia, one of several EU countries that offer no legal recognition to same-sex couples. Last year, the EU's top court ruled that member states must recognize all marriages legally conducted in another EU country. But Slovakia has refused to comply. Now, a couple in the capital Bratislava is taking the state to court. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

The UK has released hundreds of prisoners as part of the government's early release plan. It's a key part of its bid to free up much-needed prison space and combat overcrowding. But one particular group of prisoners were ineligible for the deal. These are people sentenced under the controversial IPP, or Imprisonment for Public Protection, program, which had a minimum term but no maximum. From our partners at Deutsche Welle, DW, Nik Martin has the story on the fight to get IPP prisoners released.