The World: Latest Stories

Little more than a year after the US and Cuba announced plans to begin normalizing relations, the two countries announced the resumption of direct, scheduled commercial flights between them — which haven't existed in more than 50 years.

Her mom wanted her to become a TV news reporter. Then she listened to Björk — and set her sights on music stardom.

A filter, which requires no electricity, is already providing contaminant-free water to 400,000 people in West Bengal and seven other Indian states. Its inventor says Flint, Michigan, should try it.

Militants from Boko Haram kidnapped 14-year-old Zara John and married her to a commander. Nigeria's army rescued her, but the teen still longs to be reunited with her extremist husband.

It's a story about mosquitos, public health, water and women, which is why The World has sent its Across Womens' Lives team to Brazil. They’re there to report on how Zika fits into the story of Brazilian women’s struggles to improve their lives in a time of rapid and often disturbing environmental change.

When he made history by becoming the first Italian American appointed to the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia went to Italy and was received like a king.

When the United Arab Emirates officially swore-in a new set of government ministers last week, one of them was wearing some unconventional jewelry. Ohood Al-Roumi wore a necklace shaped to spell out the English word 'happy.' The reason? Al-Roumi is the UAE's first 'Minister for Happiness', one of three new posts created alongside the Minister for Tolerance and the Minister for Youth.

Keeping her grandmother's Swedish flavor alive in her big-name New York restaurant is stressful. So chef Emma Bengtsson dances, and goes shooting for fun.

Political partisanship divides voters more than it used to, and, as it turns out, it's also having a bigger effect on interpersonal relationships than it used to.

In states like Pennsylvania, efforts to deal with the mess left behind from abandoned coal mines have hit an unexpected — and rather ironic — hurdle: the decline of the coal industry itself.

Scientists used to believe there was a planet in our solar system called Vulcan — and we're not talking about Star Trek. But that's no longer the case.

Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody says depression tests are easy to administer, and should be done, especially around the vulnerable period of pregnancy.

A group of scientists believe they have evidence of octopuses communicating with each other using their arms, skin color and other body language.

President Obama's Clean Power Plan has been put on hold by the Supreme Court, but this academic thinks Section 115 of the 46-year-old Clean Air Act allows Obama's plan to function.

The aboriginal TV sketch comedy show "Black Comedy" is a breakout hit in Australia. Co-writer Nakkiah Lui says the secret to its success is that it invites white Australians in for a laugh.

A chef rockets to Instagram fame. And no one cares the chef isn't real.

Last winter was a tough one in Boston. In Stockholm, they kept the trains running on time, all the time. Zero disruptions. So, what's their trick?

The first Latin American pontiff, will visit the extremes of Mexico, north to south, and reflect on migration and the country's problem with cartel-fueled violence.

World powers meeting in Munich have announced a ceasefire plan for Syria. Fighting is supposed to stop in a week. But no Syrians were at the conference, leaving this observer skeptical about the implementation of the deal.

Here's why learning about negative interest rates might be worth your time.

In Iran, you probably think of deserts, perhaps markets, and maybe even the controversial nuclear program. But you should also think of skiing.

Her soulful songs — and her activism — are about the people she sees around her. And her own life as an undocumented immigrant.

She left Darfur when she was a baby but she's been writing about it her whole life. This poetry slam champion reminds us the war there isn't over.

Why scientists who want to know the geology of other planets head to Antarctica

Part of the US' strategy to fight ISIS has been to arm Kurdish opposition forces, including the dominant group PYD. It has close ties to the PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

North Korea's military has taken over Kaesong, the joint North-South industrial zone that's near the volatile border between North and South Korea, and sent South Korean workers packing. It's the latest fallout from poor relations on the Korean peninsula.

If they were, would the presidential candidates be making a different impact on minority voters? This political reporter says they might be more relatable if they weren't both white males, despite being Hispanic.

In the 1970s, young Iranians wanted change. They got it through a revolution. But it's not the kind of change Shahram Aghamir hoped for. Now he lives in the US.

Hundreds of public schools in Brazil have gardens where kids grow their own vegetables. And the schools say it's changing the way kids think about the food they eat.

One hundred years ago, Einstein predicted the existence of gravity waves. Today, for the first time, scientists announced that they've actually been detected. Here's what the discovery might mean for our understanding of the universe.

We remember one of the great singers of Afro-Cuban music. But he wasn't Cuban. "Melón" died on Monday in Mexico City at the age of 85.

The revolution in Iran is still very much alive in its 37th year, but it's as much a study in contrasts as it ever was.

What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be Chinese? And how, as an adopted Chinese daughter of an American Caucasian mother, do you find a balance that works for you? And how did China's one-child policy make that a question faced by tens of thousands of Chinese-born American girls and young women? In search of perspective, Maya Ludtke, 19, traveled back to the town where she was born, meeting girls growing up as she might have, if her parents had kept her.

The Obama administration says its plan to require big cuts in climate pollution from power plants is on firm legal ground. But an unexpected procedural ruling by the Supreme Court suggests a key swing justice could cast a vote to scuttle it.

Professor Robert Bullard is called the father of environmental justice, and he says low-income communities of color often face environmental crises with lagging help from government agencies.

Since time immemorial, the laws of England have been written on vellum; a material made from calfskin, that lasts for thousands of years. Now, as a cost-cutting measure, the UK Parliament in London is switching to parchment paper. But some MPs aren't ready to give it up.

Ghafoor Hussain has kitted out a big bus with a rolling kitchen to supply migrants with a hot meal.

Liberian academic and author Robtel Neajai Pailey says children, with their curiosity and strong sense of right and wrong, are the natural audience for a book about corruption. So she wrote one.

Badiuco is a fake name. But his political cartoons are real and they've rankled Chinese authorities so much that Badiucao exiled himself to Australia so he could continue drawing them.

The murder of a young reporter this week shows why Mexico continues to rank as one of the world’s most dangerous places to report.

Brazil's small farmers can now directly supply the country's school meals programs. It's been a big boost for local farmers, and it's helping the schools too.

Their offenses include publishing exposés and reports on scandals that embarrass the Communist Party. Some of them amount to substantial accounts of abuse. Others are closer to National Inquirer-style tabloid fodder. At the time they disappeared, Lee and Gui, both Hong Kongers, were prepping a salacious book on the Chinese president’s love life.

As scientists have been predicting since 2014, a powerful El Niño in the Pacific ocean is triggering extreme weather events and changes in weather patterns around the world. Some climate scientists are saying the lessons learned from this El Niño could help the world cope with the weather changes we can expect from climate change.

The New Hampshire primaries are over. All of the politicians and national media will pull up stakes and move on. But they're leaving behind a heroin epidemic that continues — and that is finally getting some attention.

Could a Scandinavian-style welfare state work in the US? And what exactly does a “social democracy” look like in Sweden?

President Barack Obama is getting out in front of the fight against the Zika. He's asked Congress for emergency funding to combat the mosquito-borne virus. The money could speed the development of a vaccine, and a much needed diagnostic test for Zika.

The Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary play a key role in every presidential election cycle. Yet these states are remarkable for their comparative lack of diversity. Does that matter?

While they're counting ballots in New Hampshire, here in Tehran they’re counting the finalists at the Fajr Film Festival, with very little attention being directed at that state whose motto "live free or die” might actually be warmly embraced by many Iranians.