The World: Latest Stories

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered in the US for his leadership on civil rights, but that legacy extends to other countries, as well. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have more on King's universal message.

The chief minister of India's Tamil Nadu state has announced a $1 million reward for the person who can decode an ancient Indus Valley script. The civilization thrived in what is today Pakistan and northwestern India over 5,000 years ago. But when it ended, so too did the understanding of what scholars believe to be its written language. The World's Host Marco Werman spoke to Marta Ameri, associate professor of art history at Colby College in Maine, to learn more.

In a half-hour speech today, President Donald Trump laid out some foreign policy promises, goals and predictions. They included a name change for the Gulf of Mexico and the return of the Panama Canal to American hands. Meanwhile, for many communities, Trump's announcement today that he will begin deportations is nothing new. Arizona has experienced roundups of undocumented immigrants before, as a result of the state's the infamous SB1070 act. So now, families and community groups are doing things like making plans for guardianship of their kids in case they get deported and creating 24-hour hotlines that people can call for legal aid. KJZZ's Alisa Reznick reports from Tuscon.

The UN says 630 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the start of the ceasefire deal over the weekend. This comes as thousands of Palestinians return to their homes across the Gaza Strip. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Amande Bazerolle, a coordinater with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, about the needs on the ground and what's happened since the ceasefire went into effect.

A cafe in downtown Tokyo has robotic waiters controlled remotely by people with disabilities as a way to allow people who have significant mobility issues to work. The World's Carolyn Beeler visited the spot in Japan.

With their outrageously long horns and sleek auburn coats, Ankole cattle are a symbol of western Uganda. But they're now considered an endangered breed, as farmers switch to imports such as Holsteins. And this is a problem because Ankole cattle are equipped to withstand harsh conditions such as high temperatures and droughts - both of which are occurring more often. Anita Elash reports from western Uganda.

An important US ally like South Korea would normally send officials to meet with members of the new US administration. But South Korea's government is currently in crisis, with the country's president sitting in a prison cell. Yoon Suk Yeol is being investigated on charges of insurrection. Over the weekend, hundreds of his supporters smashed their way into a court building in Seoul. Police restored order early Sunday morning, but not before making dozens of arrests. The World's Matthew Bell has the latest from South Korea's capital.

The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 was one of the bloodiest of World War II. More than 200,000 people were killed during the three months of fighting, more than half of them civilians. Okinawans were victims not only to American artillery bombing, but also from the very people meant to be protecting them - Japanese forces. But that history, of the role the Japanese military played in Okinawan suffering, is getting left out of textbooks. Rebecca Rosman reports from Okinawa on some people who are trying to preserve the memory of what actually happened.

"Remigration" has become a buzzword among far-right lawmakers in Germany and Austria recently. The term is widely understood to mean the mass deportation of people from a migrant background. Just a year ago, the word was considered taboo in Germany even among far-right politicians there. But a lot has changed since then, as The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports.

Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Carol Hills catch you up on headlines in the news you may have missed.

With much of Syria now under the control of rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a new battlefield is emerging in the country's northeast, as Turkish airstrikes target Kurdish-led militias. Turkey says the militias are an extension of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, which has waged an insurgency in Turkey for the past 40 years. But some within the Turkish government suggest that now may be the time to end the conflict for good. The World's Durrie Bouscaren reports.

Over the past few weeks, Greenland has been in the spotlight as Donald Trump renewed his interest in taking possession of the world's largest island. But this comes at a time when Greenland's Prime Minister Mute B. Egede is discussing independence from Denmark. The World's Carolyn Beeler spoke to Maaliaaraq Engell. She grew up in Greenland and is a member of its Indigenous Inuit community. Now, she is a student at the University of Copenhagen.

One of the founding members of the pioneering Afro rock band, Osibisa, Teddy Osei has died at age 88. Hosts Carol Hills and Carolyn Beeler explore the monumental career of this Ghanaian-born multi-instrumentalist whose music is credited with bringing African rhythms and harmonies to Western pop music, beginning in the 1970s.

Israel's Cabinet has approved the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal. This followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confirmation that a deal had been signed with Hamas to pause the 15-month conflict. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Israeli journalist, Noga Tarnopolski, about what this means politically for Netanyahu.

Hockey is Canada's most-popular sport. This year, broadcasters are making professional games more accessible than ever before by producing shows with commentators speaking Cree and Inuktitut, two Indigenous languages. The World's Bianca Hillier has the story.

Romesh Ranganathan took a circuitous route to comedy. The son of Sri Lankan immigrants in the UK, he taught high school math for about a decade before abandoning it for a full-time career in entertainment. He does standup, radio shows, podcasts and TV specials. As he started the North American leg of his current Hustle tour, Ranganathan stopped in at The World's studio in Boston for a conversation with The World's Carol Hills.

Using AI technology to produce child sexual abuse material is a growing problem around the globe. It poses policy issues at the local, state and national level to prevent it at the point of content creation and how to prosecute it in the courtroom. Carol Hills speaks to Dan Sexton of the Internet Watch Foundation about the breadth of the problem and what's being done to combat it.

In his farewell address, President Joe Biden warned that an oligarchy is taking shape in the US. Katie Drummond, the global editorial director for Wired magazine, talks about how their latest issue scrutinizes how this is true abroad.

There's been a mixed reaction to the ceasefire and hostage deal in Israel. Different parties and movements are reacting with joy or anger in response to the deal which will see Israeli hostages released in a first phase of the deal. But hostage support groups are so far elated at the news that the hostages will come home. Host Marco Werman speaks with Amir Blumenfeld, a doctor and health member of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, to get his reaction to the deal and what these hostages will require as they return to the daily lives.

Twenty-one-year-old Palestinian computer engineering student from Gaza, Shaimaa Ahmed, says she's hopeful, but at the same time very scared, that a ceasefire deal recently negotiated between Hamas and Israel won't stick. Ahmed lives in the central city of Deir al-Balah. She tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that she's still deeply worried that she'll wake up to find the people she loves are gone.

One place where many try to build new lives is Agadir, a city along Morocco's Atlantic Coast. It isn't perfect but there is work there, and a sense of welcoming, as Morocco tries to integrate migrants. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Agadir.

Global shipping is a huge business - and a relatively huge contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. But the International Maritime Organization aims to change that by cutting its emission to zero by 2050. To this end, individual ports are changing the way they do business and new ships are using different types of fuel. David Kattenburg reports.

This month, Indonesia rolled out a new free meal program for school children, a massive undertaking for the world's fourth most populous country. The initiative has the potential to reduce stunting and poverty in the country, improve educational outcomes and increase incomes of farmers. Leila Goldstein reports on how the program is going so far.

As the implementation approaches of a law that would ban TikTok in the United States, many American TikTok users are downloading RedNote, a video-sharing app written mostly in Mandarin, as an act of protest. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler examine the user migration to Chinese-owned RedNote that openly dismisses concerns about TikTok's ties to Beijing.

Mozambique has a new president, but Daniel Chapo represents nothing new for the country. His party Frelimo has controlled the government since independence from Portugal 50 years ago. But as months of protests have demonstrated, people in Mozambique are not satisfied with the status quo. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Armando Nhantumbo, a journalist with Savana News, a Mozambican newspaper, who joined the show from the capital Maputo.

BMI, or Body Mass Index, is often used to determine obesity. But a new report by a group of international researchers suggests that there may have been an overreliance on BMI to determine whether someone fits the criteria for obesity. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Doctor Ricardo Cohen, director of the The Center for Obesity and Diabetes in Brazil, about the new report and what it means for how we determine obesity.

South African authorities sought to end illegal gold mining in a derelict gold mine in Stilfontein. Their strategy was to cut off the supplies that were being sent down to the miners to keep them alive. Now, in one mining complex below, it's clear a large number of the miners have died. Kimon de Greef is a South African reporter who's followed the standoff between the miners and the police at Stilfontein and explains the miners' dark world beneath the surface.

Donna Burke has the most famous voice you've never heard about. The Australian first moved to Japan in the 1990s, hoping to make it as a singer. Now, she's the voice of the Tokaido Shinkansen, commonly known as the bullet train, and her announcements are heard by more than 400,000 people in Japan every day.

In 2024, there were 692 packed, wooden boats that reached the Atlantic Archipelago off the west coast of mainland Europe, carrying in total more than 47,000 people. Most came to the tiny, western-most island of El Hierro where emergency services struggle to help the new arrivals. But as The World's Gerry Hadden reports, most islanders receive the migrants warmly.

US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns speaks with The World's Host Marco Werman about what he's accomplished as top US Envoy in Beijing, and the fraught relations between the two superpowers as President-elect Donald Trump takes the helm.

After months of back and forth, Hamas and Israel appear to have reached a ceasefire deal. The agreement, which was mediated by Egypt, the US and Qatar, will be carried out in three phases. The World's Shirin Jaafari speaks with Host Marco Werman about the latest.

After defying government investigators for weeks, Yoon Suk Yeol became South Korea's first sitting president to be placed under arrest. Around 1,000 security officers moved in on the president's official residence in the early hours of Wednesday. Yoon is being investigated on charges of insurrection, after declaring martial law in early December. He essentially gave himself up today, saying that he would cooperate with investigators in order to prevent bloodshed. But Yoon called the action against him "illegal." The World's Matthew Bell is in Seoul and has the latest.

Morocco's western Atlantic coast is popular for migrants trying to enter Europe without permission. But the trip in fishing boats to Spain's Canary Islands is just the final leg of a long, harrowing trip that can last years. In Part 2 of The World's North From Africa project, Gerry Hadden reports from Agadir, Morocco.

A massive collection of sheet music spanning the whole career of 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg was lost in the Pacific Palisades fire. The collection, maintained by a publishing company run by the composer's heirs, was used extensively by scholars and musicians to study and perform Schoenberg's works. The company has said it will digitize and rebuild its collection over the next several months.

A trial is underway this week in South Korea's Constitutional Court that could remove the country's president from office. Yoon Suk Yeol sent this nation into a democratic crisis six weeks ago, when he declared martial law. That got him impeached. Now, Yoon is facing an arrest warrant and he's refusing to appear in court, out of concern for his personal safety. The World's Matthew Bell has the latest from Seoul.

NATO is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. A recent string of incidents have heightened fears of Russian sabotage and spying in the strategic region. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Sophia Besch, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about what this program will look like and whether or not it will escalate tensions with Russia.

Mexico sent a team of firefighters to California on Saturday to help teams battling the wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles. "We are supporting not just because Mexico has always been generous, but also because there are so many Mexicans in these burn sites," said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. In Los Angeles County, about half the population is Hispanic, many of Mexican descent. The World's Tibisay Zea reports on efforts by this community to help support victims.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth has made conflicting statements about whether women should serve in combat roles in the US military. Tufts University Professor Abigail Linnington served for 25 years in the US Army as a military strategist and aviator. Linnington discusses women's evolving roles in the US military with The World's Host Marco Werman.

The first legal drug consumption room in Britain opened in Glasgow, Scotland, this week. Users will be able to inject illegal drugs under the watch of healthcare professionals without fear of arrest. Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths per capita in Europe, but not everyone in Glasgow is on board with the initiative, as The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced an ambitious plan to supercharge the growth of the UK's AI industry that would involve fast-tracking permissions and data-sharing. The plan was relatively short on details. The World's Host Marco Werman talks to David Clifton, the Royal Academy of Engineering chair of clinical machine learning at the University of Oxford and a National Institute of Health research chair for AI.

Along the frontlines between Russia and Ukraine, battles are fierce and the casualty numbers are mounting. In response, Russia is doing everything it can to recruit new soldiers. It's main solution has been to offer financial incentives, including high salaries and signing bonuses. The World's Daniel Ofman reports.

Sudan's armed forces captured the city of Wad Madani over the weekend. It marked a significant blow to the Rapid Support Forces, the rebel force vying for control of the country. Host Marco Werman speaks with Cameron Hudson, senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the city's capture and why it's so significant.

Spain received more than 46,000 migrants in 2024. This, despite the dangers and tougher border controls at the fence-line between Morocco and the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta. To skirt security, migrants are swimming farther and farther out to sea, and sometimes drowning. The World's Gerry Hadden reports in the first of a four-part series, North from Africa.

Imagine mastering an 800-year-old Japanese martial tradition so completely that you become the face of it - all while navigating the complexities of being an outsider. Gregory Stewart, a 59-year-old Australian expat living in Hokkaido, has done exactly that, becoming Japan's reigning champion in yabusame, the ancient art of horseback archery. Rebecca Rosman profiles the athlete in Hokkaido, Japan.

Canada's postal service is raising the cost of mailing a letter by the equivalent of 25 cents today. The move comes after a 30-day holiday labor strike tested Canadians' support for the financially-strapped service. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler discusses the service's viability with Professor Ian Lee, who teaches management at Carleton University and has closely studied Canada's postal service.

Over the weekend, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's military captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of Russia. While their identities and other details have yet to be confirmed independently of Ukraine, 10,000 North Koreans are believed to be fighting on Russia's behalf, with many now believed to be dead or wounded. Zelenskyy offered to exchange the two North Korean prisoners for Ukrainians held by Russia, but former North Korean soldier Hyunseung Lee tells Host Carolyn Beeler that a swap is unlikely. Lee served in the North Korean army and trained alongside the country's special forces known as the Storm Corps before escaping to the United States. He's now lead strategist for the Global Peace Foundation and joined the show from Washington.

Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler get you up to speed on headlines in the news you may have missed.

Medical equipment stops working in an ICU. Factories sit in the dark. Iran is grappling with a major power shortage, and has arranged scheduled blackouts to cope. Iranians say the power cuts remain onerous and unpredictable. The World's Durrie Bouscaren reports with Sima Ghadirzadeh.

The crowd went wild at the Australian Open on Sunday when Hady Habib won his first round match in straight sets. The win makes him the first Lebanese player to win a Grand Slam singles match. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler have the details.

In 2021, six women - two pilots and four cabin crew - participated in Afghanistan's first-ever all-female flight. It was a historic moment. Their photos and videos were shared all over the world. Then, a few months later, their lives were turned upside. The Taliban toppled the Afghan government and took over the country. The World's Shirin Jaafari reconnects with some of the women involved in that flight to see where life has taken them.