The World: Latest Stories

Not everybody is hoping for an agreement in Paris — Republicans are vowing to scuttle any commitments made by the Obama Administration.

Christmas is a two-day holiday in the United States. Two days. In Latin American countries, the celebration is more like a month. And Baby Jesus owns Santa Claus.

In the wake of the attacks on San Bernardino, we're seeing how Americans are reacting in their own lives, even if they're far removed from the attack.

29-year old Tashfeen Malik was known as a conservative Muslim but not a radical. Yet last Wednesday she joined her husband on an ISIS-inspired mass shooting in San Bernardino. Later that day she herself was killed in a gunfight with police. So how did she become radicalized?

Two years after a horrific and chaotic terrorist incident left 67 dead and hundreds wounded, Nairobi's Westgate Mall is open again for Christmas shoppers. But the rise of ISIS has Kenyan authorities worried about changes among terrorist tactics in East Africa.

As the Justice Department launches an investigation into Chicago's police, Callie Crossley wonders whether the code of silence among officers will ultimately be broken.

Before the Paris attacks, the only place you'd see French people waving the flag would be at an international soccer tournament. Now the French flag is popping up all over.

The Gbolos are believed to be New Jersey’s only African-born farm owners.

​Some see the gold bikini Leia wears in Star Wars Episode III as an icon. Others resent its popularity. Let the debates begin.

A new work of historical fiction tells the story of "The Communist Manifesto" author Friedrich Engels' lover, Lizzie Burns.

Since shortly after World War II, fluoride has been added to water in the US to help strengthen children’s teeth. Today it comes out of the taps in about two-thirds of America’s households. Yet it remains a highly controversial subject.

The Toxic Substances Control Act is getting its first reform since it passed in 1976. Due to loopholes in the law and industry opposition, the EPA has been mostly unsuccessful at regulating dangerous chemicals in the marketplace. Two new bills in the House and Senate aim to change this. But don't hold your breath on their passing.

Here's the story of one high school student's unlikely journey to Paris. Clancy is a 17-year-old who goes to school on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He was supposed to go on a school trip to Paris, but that was cancelled after the Paris attacks. But he's decided to go anyway, because he feels climate change is an issue that his generation has to take action on.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, FBI officials said the attack in San Bernardino was officially being classified as an act of terrorism. New information coming out has refocused the spotlight on Tashfeen Malik, the female suspect in the attack.

Priests in Mexico’s most dangerous areas face increasing threats, while also hearing confessions from drug gang members repenting their murders.

A professor at the University of Pennsylvania is racing to document Philadelphia's unique sign language dialect, and the history behind its origins.

At the Paris climate talks, most everybody is searching for a silver bullet — a technological fix to produce enough clean energy to allow us to continue to grow. Some argue we already have part of the solution: more nuclear energy.

She's all about business — and that's why she sings about it. Kenyan-Norwegian rapper Stella Mwangi on the importance of #OwningIt.

The pawpaw, the largest edible fruit native to the US, is unknown to most people. Yet it has earned a loyal following among those who are familiar with it. A new book peers into the pawpaw’s storied past, how its popularity has grown today, and why it’s not a staple in the produce aisle.

While US government policies bar providing aid to authoritarian states, China has no such restrictions — which has made it a powerful force in parts of Africa the US won't work with.

Students who don’t speak English as their first language rank toward the bottom in almost every measure of academic achievement. Even if their population were to stop rising, the situation signifies a looming hit to the national and regional economies.

Paul Brown has covered global climate talks for nearly a quarter-century. This time he says, "despite years of having the sand thrown in my eyes, I think there is a change of mood. People really want to get on with this thing.”

It can be useful to view the tragic violence in San Bernardino through the lens of other countries. Mexico has just one legal gun shop and strict gun laws. But the country is awash in guns and assault rifles, like those used in the San Bernardino shootings. And South Africa sees more than its fair share of gun violence with rampant crime in cities like Cape Town, but mass shootings are foreign.

Only hours after the British Parliament voted in favor of joining the US-led coalition against ISIS, British fighter jets conducted strikes on oil fields in ISIS-controlled territory. But what will this new addition to the coalition mean for the fight against the group?

We tend to think of climate change these days in terms of big disasters like storms and droughts. But in many coastal regions, the impact is less dramatic but no less devastating. Sam Eaton reports on the slow drowning of communities in a crowded, low-lying part of India called the Sundarbans.

Gerry Hadden grew up in the US, but moved abroad to report. He's built a family in Spain — and now struggles to explain mass shootings to his kids.

The Philly accent is unique. Turns out it's not just a spoken thing. But Philadelphian speakers of American Sign Language also have a distinctive accent.

Ghanaian reggae musician Rocky Dawuni is in Paris this week for the climate change summit. He's there to raise awareness how the carbon in smoke aggravates climate change. And he points out that in many parts of the world, a kitchen consists of three stones with a wood or charcoal fire below, and a pot on top to cook in. This setup is not only bad for the environment, but it's also deadly.

Texas has been extremely vocal about how opposed it is to Syrian refugees being resettled there. But refugee groups have been equally insistent they will press ahead. On Wednesday, that disagreement reached a head.

Why dual-language schools, and educating language-minorities in general, has been a challenge for the US South.

Geeking out to help end global poverty. (That's meant with the highest respect for geeks.) Tapping great minds to help the world's poorest, Shashi Buluswar leads the Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies at Lawrence Berkeley Lab in Berkeley, California.

Under the rain of bombs in Aleppo, women, children and old men become inured to danger.

There are way too many feels in the animated short, "Sanjay's Super Team." That's saying something. It's by Pixar.

ISIS continues to try and claim new territory, despite an array of opponents that continues to grow.

There are dietary restrictions and then religion-based dietary laws, such as preferring halal food if you are Muslim. So when it comes to meat, what makes it halal exactly?

Americans use the most greenhouse gasses per person. Overall though, China has become far and away the world’s largest emitter. But China’s economy is cooling off. And transforming. Chinese new economy could mean for the health of the planet battling climate change.

Almost every Spanish-speaking country has a different set of words for lemon and lime.

While the global goal is to limit future temperature rises to within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average, a recent report predicts that China’s temperature rise is likely to be more like 2.7 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.9 to 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

As public schools become more linguistically diverse, some see bilingual or “dual-language” programs as a way to improve education for all – English speakers too.

We don't hear much about Belgium when it comes to Europe's migrant crisis, but it too is struggling to cope with an influx of foreigners arriving to claim asylum. In Brussels, volunteers are opening up their homes to refugee families so they don't have to sleep in the streets while they wait for the appointments with immigration officials.

Modern humans, facing a potential crisis of enormous proportions, have begun to recognize the importance of honeybees to agriculture and the stability of the global food chain. But long ago, in ancient Egypt, humans considered the honeybee sacred. Can we learn anything from that?

Attempted murders, bombings, arson and other violence are common at abortion clinics in the US.

Beijing is experiencing its worst air pollution yet as heavy smog chokes the capital city for the fifth day. Schools are closed and residents are being told to stay indoors. All of this while President Xi Jinping is in Paris for the UN Global Conference on Climate Change.

Russians are mourning the loss of movie director Eldar Ryazanov. His movies were icons of satire in the former Soviet Union, making him hugely popular. One modern Moscow-based writer, Natalia Antonova, describes what Ryazanov meant to her.

Countries gathered at this week's global climate conference in Paris are trying to find ways to grow their economies while cutting greenhouse gas pollution. But there's one huge economy that's already doing it: California.

Checkbooks are out today, as potential donors try to maximize their charitable contributions.

The number of Latinos in US schools is rising faster than any other group. And their share of the school population is rising fastest in the South.

Bernie Sanders has made big promises about how he's deal with big banks and financial institutions — something that's gotten him taken off most Wall Street Christmas lists. But here's one investment banker who is on Team Bernie.

Italian fans appreciate Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant as one of the greatest NBA players of all time. That's because the multi-occasion all-star = grew up in Italy and played soccer before falling in love with basketball.

Presidential contender Mike Huckabee is one of several public figures calling the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs an "act of domestic terrorism." But is it?