The World: Latest Stories

Memorial Day is about remembering the 1.2 million people who’ve died in US wars going back almost 250 years. It’s also a time when people say to veterans, “Thank you for your service.”

Overcrowded onto rubber vessels that capsize or sink, many of the drowned had never been on a boat before.

It happened in one day. Daniel Torres was interviewed for citizenship and took the oath in San Diego — years after he served in Iraq. He was brought to the US as a child and, he says, wanted to do something for his country when he enlisted with a fake birth certificate.

Hissène Habré, the former ruler of Chad, has been convicted of crimes against humanity. The verdict is the culmination of 25 years of effort from victims of the dictator's regime to bring him to justice.

German submarines sank about 50 ships in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II. Here's the story of Ray Downs and his family, who survived one of those attacks.

So, who does it belong to? "Everyone and no one, really," says the 25-year-old crooner from New Zealand.

A tea tent at a refugee camp on Lesbos provided comfort and support to volunteers and refugees. Sadly, it closed in March following a deal between Turkey and the EU.

As the pre-trial resumed Monday, the proceeding has almost become a forum to debate how America deals with what the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation techniques" — what most authorities now call "torture."

An art therapy program born out of the Veterans Administration in Boston has proven to be so successful among vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that it will soon be rolled out nationwide.

The boom in natural gas brought new businesses and jobs to many communities in the US, including some in western Pennsylvania. But now oversupply linked to a mild winter means some of those businesses are going bust and the jobs are disappearing.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, doesn’t shy away from sharing his sense of urgency about the dangers of climate change. In fact, Whitehouse has shared his views 135 times on the Senate floor, as part of his Time to Wake Up series of speeches.

Back in the 1960s and 70s, thousands of idealistic young people left the city and went back to the land, looking to live sustainably and often communally. Now a new book captures that idealism.

For decades Bill Cosby was not only an American icon but a global one. In apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, "The Cosby Show" was in fact the most popular TV program among white South Africans.

We asked US veterans what they think of Obama's trips to Hiroshima and Vietnam and how World War II and the Vietnam War have shaped their worldview. Here's what they told us.

Lesbos became the epicenter of a massive, and dramatic, human migration. But the boats aren't really landing any more, and the island is looking for tourists to help them rebuild their economy.

There’s a popular dish in Hiroshima called okonomiyaki. It’s informally called the Japanese pancake. But it’s unlike any pancake you’ve had before.

Native American tribal leaders urged a Paris auction house to cancel its Memorial Day sale of ceremonial shields, masks, and objects taken from tribes. The sellers moved ahead with the auction of all but one item.

Makmoud Nakarch, a law student from Aleppo, had created a Syrian flatbread-baking business at a massive refugee camp in northern Greece. He also said he could predict things. He predicted, correctly, that this camp would be emptied.

There's a negative image of protesters in Japan, but one student group is changing that.

Forget the good cop, bad cop routine. Police departments across the US are updating their interrogation techniques with new lessons.

The US editor for Israeli daily Ha’aretz says the hard-right defense minister isn't all that different from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but "his bark may turn out worse than his bite."

Shortly after taking office, President Obama outlined an ambitious plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons. It helped win him a Nobel Peace Prize. On the eve of Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima, we review his nuclear successes and failures.

The destination of this field trip isn't what's important. It's the ride that counts, along with catching candy mid-air and listening to the Sudanese zaghrouta.

While on assignment, reporter Matt Pearce stopped by a Somali restaurant and ordered a rice and lamb platter. Along with his food, came a banana. Things got interesting from there.

No one knows where Japan's indigenous Ainu language, or the people who spoke it, came from. The language is not part of any known linguistic tree. Now, a dedicated group of Ainu and linguists from around the world are trying to unlock the language's secrets before it dies out.

When Cambodian Lt. Gen. Hun Manet visited Lowell, Massachusetts, protesters made it clear that he wasn’t welcome. Now some of those protesters say they’ve been getting retaliatory threats.

Youth on the run from gangs in Central America are cautioned to check their social media settings.

The US ambassador to Yemen before the war remains hopeful about Yemen's future. But Yemenis we speak with want the US to respond to Yemen's troubles right now.

We own less property — a product of rising debt loads and the shift to an increasingly digital economy. Sometimes that means people rent something until they own it — and that presents a whole host of new opportunities for abuse.

The newest Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was a deputy of the former mullah who reportedly died in a recent US drone attack. Nothing in his murky past suggests he's ready to negotiate for peace anytime soon.

It's been six months since the terrorist attacks in Paris. And a statement by a member of the band that was playing at the Bataclan theater has a lot of people talking, including his fellow survivors.

Debo Band is about as eclectic as musical fusion groups get. Well, now even more eclectic.

Here's why President Obama won't revisit the history of the decision to drop the A-bomb when he goes to Hiroshima on Friday.

At the San José de Apartadó Peace Community, neither side in Colombia's long-running civil war is viewed as being in the right. The members of the community protest against both sides.

Students from the public high school in Medford, Massachusetts planned to take part in 'World Hijab Day.’ That sparked some angry reaction. But organizers say it succeeded by getting people talking.

Authors Tim O'Brien and Phil Klay both served in US wars. O'Brien in Vietnam, Klay in Iraq. They reflect on President Barack Obama's trip to Vietnam and the scars war leaves on nations.

How one program is tearing down the sport's elite, mostly white wall and letting young immigrants take a swing — and improve their grades.

Authorities in Greece want to move migrants from the Idomeni camp to better facilities elsewhere in the country. They've sent hundreds of police to support the gradual evacuation of the site.

About 8,500 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere lived in the Idomeni camp in northern Greece. Authorities began clearing it on Tuesday.

By now you've seen the photo: President Obama and Anthony Bourdain at a little Hanoi diner sharing beers and supper. Here's more on what was in their bowls.

They change colors, kill baby ducklings and have sold for $150,000. What's crazy is that decades ago, Asian arowanas were eaten for food.

Electro-cumbia has been around for years. But La Yegros is taking it to a new level.

The new guys in charge of Brazil describe themselves as great for business interests — as for the environment, campaigners say not so much.

The spoils in Austria's presidential election go to former Green Party leader Alexander Van der Bellen, who narrowly beat the far-right candidate, Norbert Hofer. Here's what the results mean.

The world's first humanitarian summit is being held in Istanbul in an attempt to tackle what the United Nations describes as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II — it says 125 million people around the world are currently in need of some form of humanitarian aid.

The police say they shake people down for bribes because their salaries are too low to provide for their families. That may be true, but residents say they're targeting ethnic Somalis for extortion.

Miki Nguyen, now an entrepreneur in his birth country, reflects on the significance of US President Barack Obama's trip to Vietnam.

Bernie Sanders is so fed up with Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz that he is actively pushing for her defeat. He's come out in support of Tim Canova, who is trying to unseat Wassermann Schultz in Florida's 23rd congressional district.

Get out the vote. We’re hearing a lot those efforts this year. In Maryland, some people pushing to bring people to the ballot boxes can’t even vote themselves.