The World: Latest Stories

Burundi is edging toward civil war, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Meanwhile, the African Union has warned that Africa should "not allow another genocide to take place on its soil."

With California heading into its fifth year of drought, many in the state are looking for more water-efficient ways of growing food. One transplanted Israeli farmer is helping show the way.

Your genome tells part of your story; so do your biometrics, data about how and where you choose to live your life. A new approach to medicine, and genomics, aims to bring together many different layers of such data, resulting in precision medicine, targeted for you. What is that worth to you? Enough to give up some privacy? Enough to pool your data with many others, so scientists can better understand how and when certain genes are expressed? In southern China, leading genomics sequencing company BGI, and a new venture, iCarbonX, are among the global players exploring what's possible.

The first observant Sikh of his generation to join the US military is on a campaign to eliminate the dress code that has blocked all but a handful of Sikhs from serving the country they love.

Wen Stephenson was a moderate liberal and a journalist with NPR before an epiphany about global warming changed everything.

Walla Walla Community College in Washington State won the Aspen Prize for community college excellence in 2013. Here’s the school's secret to success.

George Lucas cites many influences for his legendary "Star Wars" series but one unknown influence may have been the French comic, "Valerian and Laureline," by Jean-Claude Mézières. You can see influences on everything from the millennium falcon to the characters of Jabba the Hutt and Chewbacca. And, perhaps, an infamous bikini.

Afghan journalists like Samiullah Mahdi are creating popular, controversial TV programs that take big risks to reach an eager audience.

Sorry, Pele. Abby Wambach, who retires this week, will be remembered as the greatest soccer player of all time. Man, or woman.

Issues around national security dominated the 5th debate among the Republican Party's presidential candidates. But some have criticized them for exploiting popular fears.

Badrinath Singh and Asha Devi became activists after the death of their daughter in a gang rape in New Delhi. But three years after her death, the couple wonder if anything has really changed.

If you use Lush-brand cosmestics, some of the materials included are grown by women farmers in Kenya.

It wasn't until he was appointed to the California Supreme Court that Goodwin Liu discovered he was more than a justice — he was an Asian American role model.

Soul-searching in San Bernardino County over school cops’ tactics and attitudes.

Back in the 1970s, NASA scientist James Hansen was one of the first to recognize the dangerous impacts that rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions could have on Earth’s climate. Now this climate scientist has become an activist in the climate movement, lending his scientific voice to calls for urgent action.

Los Angeles authorities cancelled classes for more than a half a million school kids Tuesday after receiving what they called a "credible threat."

A powerful typhoon rolled through an island in the central Philippines Monday. It's the same island that was slammed by Typhoon Haiyan just two years ago. This time, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated before the storm hit. It's a reminder — just days after the Paris climate agreement, that a lot of work still has to be done to adapt to rising seas and stronger storms.

Kenyan women are creating beautiful clothes, though Kenyan women seem unsure about buying them. But women in the country's burgeoning fashion business say they're not giving up.

Saudi Arabia has announced the creation of an alliance of Muslim nations to fight terrorism. Thirty-four nations are taking part. But questions remain over who they will be targeting.

It's certainly a difficult time to be Muslim in the US. And it's a really difficult time to be a Muslim American women. Thankfully, there's a manual to help.

The Pinta tortoises of the Galapagos Islands have been extinct since the last one, Lonesome George, died in 2012. Now, scientists are trying to revive the species using hybrid descendants recently discovered.

Colombia has a lot going for it as a tourist destination: beaches, mountains, colonial cities and the Amazon. But the country is still battling its image as one of the world's most dangerous places.

Texas plumber Mark Oberholtzer has filed a lawsuit against a car dealership after he traded in his truck with the promise they would remove the decals for his business that were on it. That didn't happen — and making matters worse, it wound up in the hands of ISIS.

Some one-in-seven people in developing countries die from conditions caused by exposure to high levels of pollution. COP21 might reverse that, but not before millions more people die.

There is vast potential for drone use in the developing world. In recent years, an explosion of initiatives has popped up across the continent of Africa, from unmanned peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Facebook’s high-hovering drones that bring the Internet to remote places. But the technology has proliferated faster than regulations can keep up. A couple countries have banned them altogether, including Kenya. Recent terrorist attacks have much to do with the restrictions there, but innovators think the country has more to gain from drones than it has to lose.

In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, the Taliban have gained a new foothold, taking over organised crime and kidnapping networks to fund their activities. Reporter Mobeen Azhar was given unique access the police squad charged with tackling them: Karachi's so-called 'Taliban Hunters'.

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.