The World: Latest Stories

India has a severe shortage of toilets, something the government of Narendra Modi has pledged to address. Anoop Jain is already working on it. He's an American doctoral student who's building public toilets in one of the poorest states in India.

Dhammananda and her flock of 15 female monks are shunned by the all-male Buddhist hierarchy. But "that’s their problem,” she says.

Aki Kumar left his home in Mumbai to work as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. But then, Kumar discovered American blues and everything changed.

When Frank Hessenland joined Germany's Alternative für Deutschland, he saw it as a center-right political party. Then it moved far to the right. Even though he quit the party, he couldn't shake its far-right image.

On Friday, half a dozen young men stormed a cafe in Dhaka and brutally killed 20 people. They were from Bangladesh's elite society, had lived in the best neighborhoods, and were educated in the best schools.

Even without a kitchen in their cramped shelter cubicles, some refugees in Germany are able to cook traditional Middle Eastern delicacies during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The calls of Guillemots and terns and the crash of ocean waves surround two puffins nesting at the Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge in Maine. It is a remote spot, accessible only by boat, but you can watch the puffins close up via two special bird cams operated by the Audubon Society.

The Iraqi capital is no stranger to violence, but observers say the patience of the people is running out.

Nonviolent struggle played an important role in the founding of the United States. During the colonial era, between 1765 and 1775, there were three major campaigns of nonviolent resistance before war broke out.

Black Lives Matter demonstrators say they were protesting "anti-blackness" with a sit-in that stalled Pride Toronto.

As bigger productions head to the South African city, local actors are seeking out accent coaches and tuning into US soaps in order to sound American.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, has announced his resignation from politics. Farage, who had campaigned for years for Britain to leave the European Union, Farage told reporters today that his "political ambition has been achieved."

The Andean mountains will humble you.

The government of the DRC wants to begin construction on the next phase of its Grand Inga Dam. But no environmental or social impact studies have been done on the massive project, which has raised concerns among conservation groups and local communities.

The University of Massachusetts has decided to divest the five-campus system’s endowment from direct holdings in fossil fuels. Mass President Marty Meehan says student activism and a desire for moral leadership led to the decision.

Researchers have long documented the link between air pollution and respiratory illnesses like asthma, but new research from Sweden suggests that air pollution could also impact our mental health.

What if you could take skin cells and turn them into viable human eggs? Scientists have already done the procedure in mice, turning skin cells into eggs and into sperm. And guess what they raised? Baby mice. So how long before that's the norm for human reproduction, given the rate of technological advancement?

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on your reading — maybe while you're lounging on the beach or waiting in those long TSA lines. PRI’s Science Friday has suggestions for great summer science fiction books to help you escape — and maybe even get you thinking.

Searing drought is causing people to rethink water infrastructure in the Western US, including some of the major dams along the Colorado River.

What can you do to make sure you develop resistance to antibiotics as slowly as possible? Wash your hands.

As the Brexit dust settles, listen to these takes from thoughtful people in Berlin, Dublin and London, about what it all means — for them personally, for their country and for the region. And if you like Beethovan's Ode to Joy, listen to the end.

Residents of a sweltering Iraqi port city lost power — and air conditioning — when three Turkish-owned electric generating ships in the harbor shut off the juice.

With Boris Johnson gone, Conservatives are rallying around no-nonsense Theresa May. But the home secretary might not be the first choice for immigrants.

The deadly attack in Istanbul this week raised questions about security measures and protection at airports across the world.

Baseball used to be THE sport of Puerto Rico. Not so any more. But new baseball academies are popping up to re-elevate the game.

Almost all cultures across the world have some version of what we call sausage. In fact, throughout history, encased meat has been a human staple.

100 years ago, soldiers climbed out of the trenches at the start of the Battle of the Somme in France. It was a disaster. The massive carnage traumatized a nation.

Turkey has been a summer escape for Turks living and working in the US. But now things are changing.

Ray Kwong saw how his family's Chinese heritage came with "cultural baggage" when it came to treating his father's disease.

There's a proverb in Turkish: "Feed a crow and it will pluck out your eyes." It may be on the mind of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan right now.

"They're not all ultra-marathon runners. They're exceptionally strong and in great physical condition, but that doesn't mean they're physically ready to put on a 100-lb. pack and hike across extreme desert that they've never seen before in their life, facing unknown dangers."

In Berlin, a priest, a rabbi and an imam have come together on a project to create a hybrid church-synagogue-mosque in the German capital. Like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the House of One would tear down the walls between religions.

Dope, as in drugs: Despite efforts to clean up the race, there are always a bunch of doped-up riders. But this year there will probably also be doped-up bikes.

With his cropped black hair, button-down shirt, and hipster shoulder bag, it’s hard to imagine Nawang was once a 7-year-old sheep herder hoping to score sweets from a visiting foreigner. But one day, he made a life-changing chocolate request from an Oxford professor who had come to his village to conduct fieldwork.

Prominent British-Lebanese TV presenter Liliane Daoud was arrested and deported out of Egypt this week. She says her deportation is the latest in a long series of crackdowns on vocal journalists in Egypt.

During the past 12 months, more than 260 people have been killed in terrorist attacks by ISIS or Kurdish militants. Ömer Taşpınar, a Turkey expert at the Brookings Institution, explains the country's dual conflicts.

Istanbul has long been safe zone and a tourist hub, but those identities are slipping away.

Turkey was making headlines for its diplomatic blitz, extending olive branches to Israel and Russia while continuing its pursuit for EU membership. Then came the attack.

There are some names we'll hear a lot about over the coming months and years. Two men who arguably had the biggest impact in pulling off Brexit are Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Who are they?

Many Puerto Ricans are calling a new debt rescue bill passed by US Congress a form of neocolonialism. It's an interesting time on the island for sure, a time when many are questioning their collective identity.

Listen to The World in Words' live performance at the New York Public Library, with stories on how language activists around the world are trying to revive their mother tongues.

The case is closed on two capybaras who made a daring escape from a Toronto zoo last month. They're now safely back at home.

Refugees face tough choices about where to go and how to survive. And sometimes they'd rather return to the war zone back home than be confined to an official refugee camp.

Spokane, Washington, had an incredibly high dropout rate not too long ago. But through a community-wide effort, it has managed to cut the rate more than in half.

When a Syrian refugee moved into the Jellinek family's home in Berlin, he got help with his German. And the Jewish family developed a new appreciation for their country.

Politicians in Brussels are trying to pick up the pieces of the EU after Britain's vote to leave. And the European Commission's president replied to the staunch Brexit campaigner, "Why are you here?"

Some Brexit voters did not take the vote seriously, treating it like an "insignificant" local election.

Britain will not leave Europe. It just won't happen. The entire drama should be looked at as a giant hoax.

For these students from immigrant families, a second pair of hands helped them move up through high school and on to college.

For many first-generation families, college can seem an impossible goal. One program is trying to make that less so by letting high school students earn college credits.