The World: Latest Stories

A lot of the peeled shrimp we eat here in America comes from Thailand. And much of it is the product of slave labor, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

His name is Ben Simmons. He's from Australia. And he is the future of basketball.

Saudi women got to vote for the first time in this weekend's elections — and won a few seats too. But many say this vote is just the beginning.

A ceasefire agreement last week in Homs promised safe passage for the city's rebels. But the BBC's Lyse Doucet reports that there is still life in the city.

Dozens of young people in the Kibera district of Nairobi have joined a savings club called Mashujaa, which means "heroes" in Swahili. Each member may only contribute a few pennies a day, but it adds up. And it allows the members to make big expenditures that might be out of reach. The deal is, they have to get the whole group's consent first.

I learned a lot about my own parents after watching "Master of None" with them.

The smiles and handshakes at the end of the high-stakes Paris climate summit masked huge holes in the deal and massive challenges ahead. But The World's environment editor Peter Thomson says an imperfect deal still represents a major turning point in the global climate crisis.

During a recent military celebration in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, goose-stepping soldiers, tanks, and allegedly nuclear-tipped missiles were paraded past the cheering throngs. Also on display? The reclusive nation’s fleet of military drones. And some of those drones have already crossed the border, posing a threat to both South Korea and the United States, which has 28,000 soldiers stationed near the demilitarized zone.

For the first time in history, fewer than half of American households are in the middle class. The poorest segment and the richest segment are both growing.

Journalists from around the world traveled to Paris this month to report on the historic climate change summit. One Paris youth hostel turned into a hub for young global journalists covering COP21. What were their most pressing questions?

Many chemicals in common use have made everyday life easier and more convenient for many people — from detergents and industrial lubricants to insecticides and flame retardants. But exposure to some of these same products might be working against our health.

Hoverboards are all the rage, but they didn't just pop up out of thin air. This is the story of how a city in China came to produce these devices that are all the rage.

It's the land his mother was born in, grew up in. He's spent millions developing real estate there. But Scotland wants no part of Donald Trump.

Journalists from abroad who cover the US offer a different perspective on recent events in the US.

Casa Nemo Beach Resort and Spa sits on the island of Pulau Weh in Aceh, Indonesia. While the rest of Aceh has its own version of Sharia law, restricting the behavior of women and gay men, things are a little freer at Casa Nemo. The resort's owner says she wants it to be a refuge, but she's not sure how long it will be able to survive as one.

Nepal wants the world to know that, in the wake of the earthquake, the country is open for business. But that isn't exactly true. While, the earthquake damage isn't so much the problem anymore. It's the fuel crisis.

Past the suited diplomats working to make a deal at the Paris summit on climate change are many other voices working to be heard. These Millennials are going to be the real movers and shakers as the next generation has to tackle the real challenges of climate change. We feature there voices here.

The story of the Essex, a 19th century whaling ship that was destroyed by the very whale it hunted, has been turned into a book and movie. “We have Google Maps to lead us places," says writer Nathaniel Philbrick. "These guys had nothing.”

They were once bitter foes. But two Nigerians, a Christian and an Muslim, are now preaching unity.

For decades, Serge Toussaint has made Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood stand out. Will his street art fade as trendy city residents move in with their own ideas about art?

You love ‘em. You might eat one every day. It's kind of the perfect fruit, easy to carry, easy to peel, good to eat. But there's a banana crisis looming, a deadly fungus that's destroying banana crops in Asia and is spreading elsewhere.

The latest attacks in Paris are a sign that ISIS is becoming a global threat.

The anti-Islam and anti-immigration protest movement that grew out of Dresden a little over a year ago is not fading away. On the contrary, the far-right in Germany is on the rise, thanks in part to the refugee crisis.

Just about every country on Earth is at the negotiating table at the Paris climate summit. But communities that span national borders, like the Sami of far-Northern Europe, can feel shut out.

Oil prices have cratered — and they continue to fall. But this analyst says we may finally have reached the end of cheap oil, with prices back in the triple digits by 2017.

There are mysteries aplenty in David Bowie's song lyrics, Jennifer Tseng's story of love and Noam Chomsky's theory about language. But do we really need to solve these mysteries?

Changes afoot after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino will make it more difficult for citizens of 38 so-called "friendly" nations to visit America. Some 60 percent of all international travelers who visited the US last year entered via the visa waiver program. Now that program is likely to be tightened.

Angela Merkel has rallied the German public to welcome refugees, saying "We can do this!" But the city of Berlin is struggling to cope with nearly 50,000 newcomers who've arrived in the capital in recent months.

While negotiators from nearly 200 countries tussle over the details of a proposed climate pact in Paris, people from affected communities are straining to have their voices heard. The World's environment editor Peter Thomson spoke with three women from far-flung regions who've gone to Paris to demand strong action.

America has a history of imposing blanket bans on certain types of immigration. In the 1880s it was ethnic Chinese.

It can be hard to measure and define, but there are perhaps tens of millions of people already being displaced by climate change.

France's far-right National Front party is known for its anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim stance. But there is a town in northern France where the National Front mayor has reached out to the Muslim community. And they support him.

Latin America's largest nation is also one of the world's deadliest. And, just like in the US, violence in Brazil disproportionately affects young, non-white men. Now activists are fighting to draw attention to the problem of killings of young black Brazilian men, frequently by police. One of the leading local movements is Amnesty International’s “Jovem Negro Vivo,” meaning “Young Black Alive.”

Journalists Rupa Shenoy and Arun Rath talk about how Aziz Ansari's "Master of None" became a window into their own lives as first-generation Americans.

Valencia College is a community college that stands apart from the crowd. It's raking "geniuses from the coal." Here’s the school's secret.

The H-2 visa program allows US employers to bring in workers from foreign countries if they can't fill the job with an American. But an investigation finds many abuses of the system.

Drones may be best known for their surveillance and military capabilities, but there’s a growing movement to use them for humanitarian aid. Inventor Mark Jacobsen is building drones to deliver humanitarian aid to Syrians stuck inside their war-torn country. But as he’s learning, bureaucracy — combined with public fears about the use of drones — has hamstrung efforts to get that aid anywhere near the Syrian border.

A song calling on Chinese Muslims to "awaken" and "die fighting on the battlefield" has been released by the terrorist group ISIS. The song is sung in Mandarin and is a direct attempt to recruit Chinese Muslims to the terrorist group's cause.

How a "fairly normal" Texas suburb became an international focus of Islamophobia.

Donald Trump has a huge new development in Dubai, along with other real estate deals in the Middle East. Yet on Monday, the presidential candidate suggested the US block Muslims from entering the country.

It's difficult to care about climate change. It's a big, slow moving story. That's why fiction might be the key to solving the crisis. Books are empathy machines. They make us care.

How culturally-sensitive mental health care helped this Somali American teenager stay resilient.

German cops from the national police force have become the first-responders to the ongoing refugee crisis. But the role they’re playing has more to do with customs and humanitarian aid than it does law enforcement.

For the first time in Saudi Arabia's history, women will be allowed to vote in Saturday's local municipal elections. They will also be able to stand as candidates. These are considerable gains for women in the kingdom, yet activists say challenges still remain.

The tragedy in San Bernandino involved two semi-automatic rifles and two handguns, all legally purchased. How easy would it have been to have acquired equivalent weapons in other countries?

Thousands of people and companies lost their land and homes after the success of Castro's Cuban revolution in 1959. That includes the Schechter family, some who are now living in upstate New York.

At the massive global climate summit in Paris, it's all about trying to bring the world together to turn the corner on climate change. But with just days to go, there are still lots of devils in the details.

Several days of protests followed a much delayed indictment of a Chicago police officer accused of gunning down a suspect over a year ago. Now the police chief has been fired and the federal government is coming in to conduct an investigation.

Politics in Venezuela is no longer a contest between a train and a bicycle. Now there are two trains, and the Socialist party and the opposition might be crazy enough now to crash into each other and smash the whole country.

Less than a month after the Paris attacks, France's hard-right Front National party has triumphed in the first round of regional elections. Could it herald a far-right future for French politics?