The World: Latest Stories

Critics earn a living watching, reading and listening to works of film, writing and music. But should it be anyone’s job to tell us what to like or what’s good?

If a Venezuelan makes a film, but theres no electricity to power the cinemas that show it, did it really happen?

In the fictional film "Radio Dreams," members of a rock band from Afghanistan want to jam with Metallica. The group, Kabul Dreams, is now based in San Francisco and is trying to find an audience in the US.

“They said I’d make a good lampshade,” says Julia Ioffe.

Nonagenarian Javier Delgado Corona's bar in Tequila, Mexico, is ranked among the world's best. His advice when it comes to tending bar? "Smile when someone walks in. Greet them ... get them a cool drink in a clean glass," he says.

With greater US arms sales going to Israel's neighbors, Netanyahu has leverage to ask for even more.

He was born in China, but says his immigrant roots make him all the more American.

Sonia Inamugisha lost her brother and both her parents to war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She came to Kansas as a refugee a year ago and felt welcome, but now she worries about what the governor's recent decision says about her new home — and how she's going to explain it to her children.

Paw-ternity leave. Did you catch that? "Paw"-ternity leave. Some companies in the UK are trying out the idea of giving their employees paid time off when they adopt a new pet.

Laredo, UK, is the only living, breathing Wild West town around. It was not created as a film set, but rather for people to live the experience and commit to the lifestyle.

Shahram Rafizadeh is an Iranian poet living in exile outside Toronto. He still watches political events closely back home in Iran, and he’s holding out hope for change.

Soccer's governing body FIFA asked Harvard professor John Ruggie for guidelines on how to handle human rights issues. The big question now is whether FIFA follows his recommendations.

Economists at the London School of Economics say denial of the risks of global warming — from rising seas to droughts to civil unrest — is promoting the overvaluation of certain financial assets — in other words, a bubble.

Public research universities educate 75 percent of all undergraduates in this country. But over the past decade, state appropriations to flagship research universities have plummeted 34 percent. Now public research universities have found an unlikely advocate.

When extremists seized the city, the texts were spirited away to safehouses and eventually carried to Mali's capital, Bamako.

Men wielding machetes hacked to death the founder of the only LGBT magazine in Bangladesh on Monday.

He didn’t break new ground or offer specific foreign policy proposals, but Donald Trump might know what he’s doing. This correspondent says the speech was “smart politics.”

A small town in New Hampshire has a familiar name — Berlin — but with an odd pronunciation. A World in Words producer set out to figure out why.

It's become popular in Thailand lately for adults, mostly women, to collect life-like dolls that they treat like their own children. Considered good luck, most of the dolls are blessed by monks.

"John conducted himself in the most difficult of circumstances with a huge amount of integrity," says longtime friend John Rae.

Welcome to northern Thailand, where bile is a flavor enhancer.

It's been five years since the Arab Spring started, with hopes for tremendous change for residents of dictatorships throughout the region. Most of those protests failed, though two authors say it's too soon to judge.

Every morning, behind a metal door marked “secret," Carlos Martins and two other bakers make enough dough and custard for 20,000 pastries.

Papa Wemba died earlier this week, after he collapsed on stage in Ivory Coast. The star, known as the king of Congolese rumba, was jailed in 2004 for smuggling Congolese people to Europe. Lubangi Muniania, a Congolese arts educator who knew Papa Wemba, explains Wemba's history.

Hundreds of Somalis have died trying to reach Europe just this month; many more over the past year. A group of activists are hoping a hashtag campaign will help inspire others not to make the journey.

A town in Colombia gets new life in East Boston. But now gentrification threatens that rejuvenated community.

Ninety-six fans died after thousands surged into an English soccer stadium back in 1989. At first, the police blamed the fans. Now, 27 years later, a jury has reached a different verdict.

On April 26, 1986, the world suffered its worst peacetime nuclear disaster, when the Soviet reactor at Chernobyl went into meltdown. One survivor talks about how it affected her and her family.

American journalist Theo Padnos thinks much more can be done to help Westerners still held captive by extremists in Syria.

Though interracial and interethnic couples are free to date more openly, individuals in these relationships must navigate stereotypes, myths, preconceptions and misconceptions.

As is the case with many religions, Buddhism morphed and evolved as it moved around the world. So it's no surprise that Buddhism in the West has adapted, too.

For one village in Nepal, there's a silver lining to the earthquake: A year later, a new and better health clinic is rising from the rubble of the old. And it includes a birthing center.

An international panel of investigators has wrapped up its probe into the apparent massacre of 43 students in southern Mexico in 2014. The panel now accuses the Mexican government of stonewalling their investigation into the student's disappearance.

Anup Kaphle visited Nepal three times in the past year — twice to report on the earthquake, and once to get married.

It's tough to describe, but fans say it's the greatest sports story the world has ever seen.

Shinola watches have sold well in the US. Now the Detroit company is trying to sell Detroit's comeback story, and its watches, overseas.

In the Mississippi Delta, ambitious plans are underway to rebuild thousands of acres of marsh land, the first line of storm-surge defense for New Orleans and the surrounding communities. But progress has been slow and questions remain about funding this enormous project.

The number of people living with diabetes has gone up, but so has the price of insulin. Why is this?

Here's what studying ancient Pueblo societies can tell us about the current drought in California.

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon accident, Louisiana residents are being far more cautious about oil and gas drilling in their state.

The pop star wasn’t a huge fan of the music industry or online streaming. But this also policed uses of his likeness — even individual's tattoos.

His proposed law would allow pharmacies to sell prescription-only drugs made from cannabis.

British Prime Minister David Cameron knows the impact Obama's message could have in his country — and on undecided voters watching the evening news in Britain tonight.

Prince could have made news on countless other national TV shows. But some 20 years ago, he chose Tavis Smiley.

In the early '80s, Prince and Bowie were changing the sound of pop. Sonny Lê had just arrived, a refugee from Vietnam, and didn’t know where he would fit in America — until he discovered their music.

It's a hit — about NOT getting hit. Canadian Mounties make a video about road safety and they use Drake's beats to do it.

Not so long ago, Thailand could boast about having one of the fastest growth rates in the world. But political turbulence, protests and a couple of coups have taken their toll. And there's anxiety about what will happen when the beloved king dies. How might the new Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community help Thailand get its act back together? What risks does Thailand's volatility have for a nascent regional grouping, with big aspirations to counterbalance China?

Japanese migrants moved to Brazil by the hundreds of thousands. Now, their descendants are moving back.

It's Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday and Britain is going gaga over it. So how's this for a present? Jamaica is thinking of ditching her as its official head of state.