The World: Latest Stories

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.

The tiny island of Curaçao is home to many e-commerce companies. But a big business is sports gambling. Billions of dollars pass through the country annually.

With no end to the outbreak in sight, Zika has become a part of the five-day celebrations. Mosquito costumes have featured heavily in parades across the country. Health officials handed out paper fans with information about how to avoid the virus. And some pregnant women did what was once unthinkable in a nation known for its celebratory spirit — they stayed home.

"It's of an explorer, and he's sitting on a little bench in Colombia's Amazon. His clothing is worn. His hat is torn. He's barefoot," explains anthropologist Ignacio Prieto. "This image fascinated me."

The new London is an immigrant mega-city where nearly 40 percent were born abroad. This is no longer the city of Dickens. London now is a city of African night cleaners, Filipina maids and Romanian building bosses. A city where immigration has so utterly transformed the fabric that it has changed London’s very soul.

A USC video game creation program enrolls more women than men, and has set out as part of its mission reinventing the culture around gaming from the inside out.

The unconventional career of George Miller includes hit kids' films, a post-apocalyptic series, and medical school

The 28-year-old vanished on the fifth anniversary of the Tahrir Square protests. His body, showing signs of torture, was later found on the outskirts of Cairo in a scenario all too familiar to many Egyptians.

This weekend, North Koreans were alerted to the news that their country had completed another technological triumph: the launch of a satellite. "The fascinating vapor of Juche [self-reliance] satellite trailing in the clear and blue sky in spring of February" was how North Korean TV described the launch. But the official response from Beijing, North Korea’s only ally, was muted.

Back in 1997 Eddie Izzard took the stage in France and did an entire set of stand-up in French. It wasn't funny, he admits, but it was the start of a career goal to do stand-up in as many languages as possible. Eddie comes on the World in Words podcast this week to talk about language learning and translating humor.

After the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and Jewish market, France stationed heavily armed soldiers round-the-clock outside Jewish institutions. “There was enough fire power in my front room here to take out a small village,” according to one rabbi.

More minorities and women are getting into tech — but they're not saying. And that's where the problems start. The story you haven’t heard about why talented people are giving up and dropping out.

A swarm of international political enthusiasts are in New Hampshire for the primary. Willem Post is a Dutch academic who hasn’t missed a Granite State primary since the beginning of the ‘90s. He loves the whole experience and says the excitement, the intimacy and the scenery make the poll in the New Hampshire resemble ‘a fairy tale.’ He also wants Americans to understand the global significance of the vote.

Civilians fleeing a Russian-backed government offensive in Aleppo are turning back from Syria’s border with Turkey as makeshift camps set up to deal with the influx have become overwhelmed.

While touring Cuba with a New Orleans jazz band, musical connections are made amidst dancing in the streets of Havana.

A group of scientists are drilling a hole in the floor of the Indian Ocean. One reason why? They think they might be able to find life in the Earth’s mantle, the layer of Earth immediately beneath the crust.

Why your senses of smell and hearing, not just taste, play a major role in how you experience and enjoy food.

What led to the current crisis in Flint, Michigan? Bad decisions, lies and evenan attempted coverup. The result is a public health crisis of enormous proportion. Will anyone be held accountable?

The Excellence in Mental Health Act is still in its early stages, but its estimated $1 billion investment in mental health services for low-income Americans have led advocates to call it “the biggest federal investment in mental health and addiction services in generations.”

All eyes are on Brazil, but there may be another crisis brewing next door.

An investigation by the Financial Times shows that hundreds of cargo ships every month are engaging in what might be suspicious activity. Security officials in Europe fear some may be aiding terrorist groups.

In Osaka's kappo restaurants ,dining out is much more than a meal — it's an interactive experience where customers get to watch close-up and talk to the chefs as they create their signature dishes.

Several girls from the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq, Jordan, got a chance to work with mentors to discuss their aspirations for the future and to develop plans to achieve them. They were then given the opportunity to design and direct their own photoshoot in which each girl poses as her future self — as someone who has achieved those goals.

A former top Chinese official is believed to have leaked secret documents to the US via his brother. And it's all due to being shamed for having a wealthy son die young, while flaunting his money in a Ferrari.

Can Sweden preserve its egalitarian values and social safety net, while extending that way of life to many more people displaced by war?

Maurice White, founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, died Wednesday at the age of 74. The band blended soul, funk, jazz and a bit of everything else. White himself, though, was heavily influenced by the study of ancient Egypt.

The members of Khebez Dawle are among the million-plus refugees and migrants who made their way to Western Europe last year. But for them, the journey to safety turned into a music tour.

There's no reason he can't. Also, if Bernie Sanders needs a foreign policy brush-up, or Hillary Clinton needs a ward boss in the Senate, Biden can do it.

When the call went out in Flint, Michigan, for volunteers to help deliver bottled water, Islamic Relief USA answered. The aid group has had experience working with vulnerable populations — including refugees in Greece.

Why you should go see this movie about the 2008 financial crisis, according to Adam McKay, the movie's director.

Opposition research — it's that package that shows up in the mail of this week's political thriller. Will she use it, or won't she? But that research has to come from somewhere — and these are the people who do it.

Zenith Irfan describes herself as "a 21-year-old Capricorn on an epic motorcycle journey amongst the terrains of Pakistan with nothing but her free-hearted soul."

In a country that's seen more than its share of human hardship over the years, a rare iguana is the focus of a rare conservation effort, run by an unlikely leader.

Researchers in Brazil are still trying to see if there is a definitive connection between Zika and Microcephaly. There's new evidence that is pointing them in that direction.