The World: Latest Stories

Hundreds of firefighters from all over the country battled the Rock Mountain Fire in northern Georgia this autumn. And southern hospitality helped them win the battle against the blaze: a local Conservative Jewish camp opened its doors to these crews.

The Islamic State starts the new year under more pressure than it has faced since it erupted onto the scene in 2014. ISIS itself is losing territory, men and money. But it's still able to lash out as we've seen this weekend in Istanbul and Baghdad.

"Europa" is an illustrated guidebook to Europe, written in four languages, and it's meant for refugees and migrants arriving in Europe.

John Hockenberry urges us to approach the new year with the idea that we can begin anew.

Over several years in the 1940s, Michael Dillon underwent a groundbreaking physical transition from female to male through a series of surgical operations. It was just one part of his remarkable story of personal transformation. But all of that was just part of this Englishman’s remarkable story of personal transformation. Michael Dillon was outed by the newspapers after he transitioned from female to male in the 1940s. Dillon's pioneering journey is a fascinating story about gender, identity and spirituality.

The actor Simon McBurney talks about how he brings the Amazon to life in a New York theater.

Tyrus Wong, who had a gift for "evoking incredible feeling in his art" is an influential animator still today.

Studies show that bias can manifest in many ways over the course of a career.

Twenty-five of Uranus’ 27 moons are named for characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Why?

"Whenever something bad would happen, I would notice my mentions going up on Twitter, and the poem would sort of have a mini resurgence.''

Prescribed drugs — as well as illicit ones, are feeding the opioid epidemic, according to two experts.

President Putin of Russia says he's going to simply ignore tough new US sanctions, announced Thursday by President Barack Obama in response to Russia's alleged attempts to influence the US election. However, Russian officials are concerned about the dangers of a US cyberattack.

A new exhibit in Brooklyn takes a critical lens to chop suey and egg drop soup to tell the story of how Chinese immigrants created a great American comfort food.

Obama is kicking the Russians out of the Norwich House in Upper Brookville on Long Island, New York. Nearby, the Russians own a another compound known as Killenworth, a house at the height of the Cold War.

Audric de Campeau has combined his two passions, beekeeping and winemaking, by making mead, an alcoholic beverage made with honey. And he ages his mead in the tunnels under Paris.

Real-life revolutionary women inspired those famous coiled buns.

In a small village in western Borneo, a village leader named Hamisah networked with other women to end illegal logging.

We lost icons in 2016, but also musicians less well-known to American audiences. Here, we pay tribute to them all.

Lines formed around ATM machines in Delhi and other major Indian cities on Friday as the deadline approached for people to deposit old banknotes or risk having their currency declared worthless.

The people of Brockton, Massachusetts, have been debating whether to enact an ordinance to protect undocumented immigrants. Now, the question is even more difficult.

In a recent essay for the Boston Globe, author Joan Wickersham makes that case that listening to Bach is not only good for the soul, but good in times of uncertainty.

Syrians on both sides of their country's political divide search for an end to a grinding conflict.

Syria’s “moderate” rebels have agreed on a national ceasefire with the government of Bashar al-Assad. It follows their crushing military defeat in Aleppo. But the ceasefire process is far from certain; and, anyway, peace in Syria is a long way off, since other conflicts continue.

China and America have inspired and annoyed each other by turns since the birth of the United States. Understanding the many ways the countries have influenced each other over time may be invaluable going forward.

London is home to thousands of foxes, which become a considerable nuisance to city residents when mounds of holiday trash tempt the animals out into the open.

Wampanoag, like many other Native American languages, is fighting for its survival.

In October, Bob Bradley became the first American to coach in the English Premier League. In December he was fired. In between, he was criticized for speaking like an American.

Nigeria's slogan sounds like Donald Trump wrote it in a tweet: "Good people, great nation."

It's been a violent year in Chicago — the worst since the 1990s. So why aren't programs that have worked in other cities working in Chicago?

There are no cashiers. No cash registers. No computers to ring up bills and no credit card machines. Instead, there is just a bowl, into which people drop voluntary cash amounts. Remarkably, the honor system is working, says Curto Café’s owner.

Austria's word of the year is as complicated as its over 50 letters seem.

Former South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis has big problems with the incoming president, but sees some flickers of hope on climate policy despite all the red flags.

Elizaveta Glinka died last weekend when a Russian military plane taking off from Sochi crashed into the Black Sea. Glinka ran a Russian humanitarian foundation that helped orphans and elderly people and was flying to Syria to help deliver food and medicine to children caught up in the civil war.

Niloofar Rahmani, a 25-year-old pilot lionized widely as the "Afghan Top Gun" after the 1986 Tom Cruise film on flying aces, was scheduled to return to Afghanistan last week after a 15-month training course with the US Air Force. But on the eve of her departure, she declared she will not be returning citing fears for her safety, triggering a storm of criticism in Afghanistan for "betraying" her nation but also garnering support from activists.

Who invented the alphabet? Here’s a maverick theory.

Cuba looks different to its Caribbean neighbors.

After 20 years, Bhutanese refugees who ended up in camps in Nepal have mostly been resettled to third countries, but there are some aging residents who don't want to leave.

Around the US, Jewish delis have fallen on hard times. But the one of the oldest delis in Canada — Schwartz’s of Montreal — has an unlikely savior.

Before Kerry took the podium, Israel delayed a vote on permits for hundreds of settler homes at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request, to avoid further conflict with Washington.

A high-profile North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea has told the BBC in an exclusive interview that he has no regrets. Thae Yong-ho was Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to London before he defected in the summer. He and his family are now under the South Korean government's protection.

Exodus is a new documentary that follows the path of refugees as they make a life-threatening journey to Europe.

In a visit to the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama marked an event 75 years ago that launched a war that led, eventually, to a powerful international friendship.

Thirty years ago, Paul Simon released the album "Graceland." He recorded it in South Africa, in the thick of the anti-apartheid struggle there.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian children are attending temporary Syrian schools in Turkey, where they learn in Arabic. But the country is considering a plan to have them attend Turkish schools only.

People in Russia aren't spending much time marking the 25 anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But its effects continue to play out in modern geopolitics.

For years, women in rural Guatemala were terrified to tell what had happened to them during the country's long civil war. But then the story of an earlier war victim helped them speak out.

A "carbon farming" expert explains how smart perennial planting can help your garden sequester more carbon, and produce more food.

Journalist Constance Hale's new book is about a Hawaiian renaissance — told through hula.

The UN Security Council voted last week to condemn the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, calling them a flagrant violation of international law.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell remembers Michael for coming out as gay at a difficult moment for LGBT rights.