The World: Latest Stories

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Updated 2024-11-26 08:45
The quest to create the first dumpling emoji
on (#1030J)
Emoji is a Japanese term for the cute little symbols you can text and tweet from your phone and PC. There are emojis for pizza and taco and apple but recently writer Jennifer 8 Lee discovered that there is no official dumpling emoji. Dumplings are one of the world's most ubiquitious foods, why no dumpling emoji? She decided to change that. The World in Words podcast talks Lee about her quest to create the dumpling emoji and writing a proposal to the mysterious Unicode Consortium, the entity that encodes emoji and makes them "official."
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London's forgotten network of massive underground air raid shelters is being found again
on (#103B2)
In World War II, London was a dangerous place. That's why the government launched a plan build a huge network of subterranean air raid shelters far below ground, each with the capacity to hold thousands of people.
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Delivering newspapers is tough work, but it allows this immigrant to work two jobs and keep his kids in a good school district
on (#103C8)
Forget the image of the newspaper delivery boy of old — these days it's more likely to be an adult driver throwing the paper on to your porch. It's part-time work so it's good for people who need more than one job to get by, and immigrants often fit the bill.
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When a policeman was shot after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, this Paris man held his hand
on (#103B4)
A Paris neighborhood remembers the cop who was killed the day of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
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This transgender officer's soldiers still have to call her 'sir'
on (#103B6)
The US military is getting ready to accept transgender servicemen and women, but the military's policies haven't caught up.
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Would photos of violence — actual violence — be enough to change US laws?
on (#101HX)
Despite violent crimes, any changes to US gun laws remains stubbornly out of reach. But what if people saw the damage wrought with these guns?
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Here's how undocumented families might prepare for a worst-case scenario
on (#ZZNR)
Immigration agents have been knocking on doors in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. Many deported parents don't have time to even say good-bye — which has led them to prepare in advance should that come to pass.
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Can we make a little room for World War II's female pilots in Arlington National Cemetery?
on (#ZZQ5)
The ashes of World War II veteran aircraft pilot Elaine Harmon belong in Arlington National Cemetery, according to her family and supporters. Harmon was a WASP, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. The Army says there's no space for them in the national cemetery.
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Charlie Hebdo’s aftermath looks a little different on the very French island of La Réunion
on (#ZZNT)
The diverse French island of La Réunion watched the Charlie Hebdo attacks from more than 5,000 miles away. A year later, a reporter who was working there explains what it was like to watch that horror surrounded by that community.
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Eric Holder: Sandy Hook was 'the worst day'
on (#ZZFF)
"To see the bodies of these little angels." The former attorney general speaks of gun control to the financial crisis.
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China’s stock markets are plummeting, but that’s only part of the story
on (#ZZNW)
The markets in China are tanking and the pain spread quickly to other parts of the global economy. But the bigger worry is what happens with the Chinese currency.
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Ghana. That's how desperate Obama was to find a home for Gitmo detainees.
on (#ZZNY)
Two prisoners who were held at the Guantanamo Bay prison have been sent to Ghana. It's part of a deal that the United States government made with Ghana. They will be in Ghana for two years before they can decide to either remain there or move onto another country.
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North Korea's hydrogen bomb claims strain Beijing-Pyongyang relationship
on (#ZYWA)
North Korean officials declared this week that they'd detonated a hydrogen bomb — to the consternation of their only ally, and patron, China.
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Her magazine's Charlie Hebdo cover will endure. Here's what she was thinking.
on (#ZZP0)
It's been one year since two masked gunmen opened fire in the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Francoise Mouly of The New Yorker still recalls how she felt after hearing that cartoonists had been murdered for simply drawing a picture.
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Muthoni the Drummer Queen rules Kenya's music scene
on (#ZYDJ)
Her parents hoped she'd be an economist. And in a way, that's what Muthoni the Drummer Queen became. Just in the music world...
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In Flint, Michigan, a crisis over lead levels in tap water
on (#ZY0Z)
After testing discovered high levels of lead in the Flint, Michigan, public water supply, the Michigan declared a state of emergency.
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Author asks us to consider what would happen if the protesters in Oregon were Muslims?
on (#ZW0J)
Author and journalist Wajahat Ali ponders what if the armed group occupying a wildlife reserve in Oregon were Muslims.
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Was it an H-bomb? Seismic analysis, sniffer planes and time will tell.
on (#ZW0M)
Experts are scrambling to find out exactly what kind of bomb went off in North Korea on Wednesday. The detective work could take days or weeks as seismic waves are more closely analyzed and US and Japanese sniffer planes try to test atomic plume particles.
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Five book picks from the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature
on (#ZW1V)
The Library of Congress tapped Gene Luen Yang to be the the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Yang is the very first graphic novelist to be named to the post. Here are five of his favorite books.
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World condemns North Korea’s claim to have tested an H-Bomb, despite doubts
on (#ZW0P)
North Korea claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb. There was definitely an atomic test. But there are serious doubts as to whether it was an H-Bomb. Nevertheless, the world is condemning the test as a deliberate provocation.
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First Generation? Second? For immigrants and their children, a question with meaning.
on (#ZVKC)
A sociologist, a public health director and a Hollywood actress are all asking the same question but finding their own way to define their immigrant identity.
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When Pierre Boulez, who died Tuesday, met Frank Zappa
on (#ZW1X)
French conductor Pierre Boulez was known for being an avant-garde composer, while Frank Zappa was firmly ensconced in the avant-garde world of rock. Together they recorded an album, "Boulez conducts Zappa." We'll hear how their collaboration maybe wasn't so unlikely.
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Bonus: Teaching China's next generation of journalists to question everything
on (#ZV40)
Journalists love to ask why, and authoritarian governments don't much like to be questioned. So how to teach China's future journalists to do good work despite the censors and other pressures? Former CBS veteran Peter Herford talks about his decade teaching his craft to China's next generation of journalists. A Whose Century Is It bonus episode, to accompany Episode 9: And That's the Way it Was, about the past and future of journalism from a guy who's spent the better part of a century in it.
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A Mexican mayor was murdered hours into her new job — the latest in a long line of similar crimes
on (#ZQZZ)
Gisela Mota was murdered only hours after she was sworn into office as the new mayor of Temixco city in southern Mexico. She's one of about 70 mayors who have been killed in the past decade in Mexico.
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A Pakistani mom sets out to visit her new American granddaughter, and is turned back at the visa counter
on (#ZR34)
Dual citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan are hit by the new US program that restricts their travel. But Pakistanis say they're victims of a visa clampdown as well.
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People aren't happy about an art project paying someone $22,000 to live in Glasgow for a year
on (#ZR1D)
Artist Ellie Harrison recently received $22,000 to live in the Scottish city of Glasgow for a year, and local Glaswegians have a few issues with that.
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Is that militia in Oregon similar to radical Jewish settler groups in the Israeli-occupied West Bank?
on (#ZR1F)
The self-appointed militiamen who’ve taken over buildings at a federal wildlife sanctuary in Oregon say they’re not backing down. Israel is also dealing with an armed movement of zealots challenging their government’s authority.
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Netanyahu, Rabin and the assassination that shook history
on (#ZR36)
Middle East peace. It used to be the golden chalice of deals. If an agreement could be struck between Israel and the Palestinians, then, hey, anything is possible. But Mideast peace now seems more distant than ever. And Tuesday's episode of Frontline helps to explain why. It's titled "Netanyahu At War." The doc is as much about Netanyahu as it is about Barack Obama's legacy on Middle East peace.
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Loosened US pot laws have sent Mexican weed prices plunging
on (#ZR01)
Some farmers are getting out of the marijuana business. Have free-market economics done what decades of a war on drugs could not?
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Every 30 seconds a Latino in the US turns 18. The challenge is getting them to vote.
on (#ZR38)
Latinos are the least likely ethnic group to go to the polls. If they voted more, Latinos could be a force in coming years — roughly every 30 seconds, a Latino in the US turns 18.
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Ghana’s market women were once so powerful they were targeted by the military
on (#ZR1H)
More than 90 percent of Ghanains shop at the West African nation's many open-air women. And that means, in most cases, buying from women, who dominate the trading business. But that power came at a price a generation ago, when the market women were blamed for an economic crisis and their livelihoods destoyed.
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Update: 'Go home,' sheriff tells armed men who took over federal compound in Oregon
on (#ZKTR)
"It's time for you to leave our community, go home to your families," Sheriff David Ward said. "You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. That help ended when that protest became an armed occupation."
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Iran and Saudi Arabia ratchet up long-simmering tensions over religious schism
on (#ZMCF)
Tensions in the Persian Gulf are high after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric. Iran sees itself as the champion of Shiite Islam and is furious with the Saudi action. Saudi Arabia has retaliated by cutting off relations.
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After six years in prison, an Iranian blogger sees a very different Internet
on (#ZMDH)
Hossein Derakhshan didn't expect to find himself in an Iranian prison, but that's where he spent from late 2008 to November 2014. He was sentenced to 20 years for political writing, as well as traveling to Israel, a 'hostile state' under Iranian law. Six years later, he's reemerged into a very different world.
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Israel’s security agency blames Jewish extremist group for deadly arson attack
on (#ZMCH)
A 21-year-old man and an unnamed Israeli minor are both facing charges in connection with an arson attack last summer in the West Bank that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents. Far-right Israeli activists say the suspects were tortured under interrogation.
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Desperately seeking names for new elements
on (#ZMCK)
There are four new elements to the periodic table. It's a big deal for scientists. And and even bigger deal to provide the elements a name.
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Sweden cracks down on migrants flowing across its borders
on (#ZMDK)
For the first time since the 1950s, Sweden has reintroduced passport controls at its border with Denmark.
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Could Russia be the first nation to send a woman to the Moon?
on (#ZMDN)
Here's the story of the Soviet Union's pioneering female cosmonauts program and Russia's efforts of late to revive it.
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Once a refugee in Syria, this Palestinian woman is a refugee once again
on (#ZMDQ)
Nadera Aboud is a refugee in Europe. But this isn't the first time she's had to flee her home. The first time was almost 70 years ago.
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Psoriasis? Arthritis? New designer cells might be able to stop symptoms before they start.
on (#ZG73)
Researchers are working on an implant of designer cells to fight psoriasis breakouts and inflammation before it starts.
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Want to be an astronaut? Here’s your chance.
on (#ZDGT)
The usajobs.gov website is currently accepting applications for would-be US astronauts. As the listing says, “frequent travel may be required.”
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How do we save the Internet for history? This group is trying.
on (#ZB8H)
The average lifespan of a web page is 100 days. In an era of thousands of quickly changing websites, blog posts and tweets, is it even possible to archive the web?
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A new Sunni Awakening in Iraq might just turn the tide against ISIS
on (#ZC24)
Iraq is celebrating the re-capture of Ramadi from ISIS. The Iraqi army hoisted their country's flag over the city — the capital of Anbar province — earlier this week. But the victory may owe more to a switch in allegiances from the city's Sunni population.
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As a kid, he fled Nazi Germany. As an adult, he found Hitler's forgotten second book.
on (#ZC2X)
Gerhard Weinberg became a historian of World War II — the same war that displaced his family.
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Want to install solar panels but can't? No problem.
on (#ZC2Z)
The solar industry got a big holiday gift at the end of last year — Congress extended a tax credit to build new solar panels. You and I can get the same deal for slapping panels on our roofs. Or if we don’t have a roof that works, for helping finance a few panels in a nearby field.
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The beauty and grunge of 1970s New York City is captured in this bestselling novel
on (#ZB0B)
Garth Risk Hallberg says the inspiration for his thousand-page bestseller came from the “crappiness and beauty” of New York City.
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Saving the planet depends on saving its tropical forests. Can we do it?
on (#ZB0D)
The UN-REDD program aims to restore tropical forests to offset carbon emissions and buy time for humanity to move to green energy economies. REDD has seen some limited small-scale implementation, but, even after the recent agreement at COP21, it’s still unclear whether REDD will deliver on its promise.
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In 1815, six Muslims landed in London for the first time. Here's what they can teach us.
on (#Z9GN)
In 1815, a ship docked at a port in England carrying an unusual cargo: A group of frightened Iranian students. They were sent there by the Shah of Iran to study the "new sciences." One of the students kept a diary about his trip to this foreign land. And the diary is the basis of a new book.
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How one German town copes with its migrants
on (#Z9GQ)
The Bavarian town of Abensburg has welcomed many of the refugees who fled Syria for new lives in Germany. But the town is still adapting to all the new arrivals.
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To potential ISIS recruits, the one question you should ask
on (#Z9GS)
A Turkish journalist pens a letter to anyone thinking about joining ISIS. He says it's a pursuit for the self instead something holy.
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