The World: Latest Stories

Musician Rhiannon Giddens is a modern-day Renaissance woman who trained as an opera singer before veering into folk music. She's an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist. But she is first and foremost a dedicated banjo player who has been researching and teaching the instrument's African heritage. The World's Carolyn Beeler speaks with Giddens about the origins of the banjo.

The history and legacy of slavery in America are not often taught in great detail. That is what Professor Mary Niall Mitchell, the Midlo Endowed Chair in History at the University of New Orleans, contends. But she told The World's Marco Werman that one trailblazing historian worked for decades to uncover the origins of enslaved Africans in Louisiana and shed light on their lives.

On Juneteenth, you can drink whatever you want - as long as it's red. For Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved, the color red represents perseverance and survival. That association with the color red has roots that go back centuries to West Africa, where beverages made from hibiscus are a staple. Enslaved Africans brought this tradition with them to the United States, where red drinks became an assertion of their own identity and heritage. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

In Pakistan, the finance minister has just announced that a controversial tax on tampons and pads will be abolished. Back in December, we spoke to the lawyer who had taken the Pakistani government to court, arguing that the tax was in violation of the constitutional rights of women and girls. Today, we listen back on that conversation between Mahnoor Omer and The World's Host Carolyn Beeler.This story originally aired on Dec. 17, 2025.

The US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding aims to end regional fighting. But Israel and Lebanon remain key wild cards. Any renewed violence along their shared border could quickly put the agreement at risk.The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with veteran correspondents Kim Ghattas in Beirut and Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem to discuss whether the deal can work for both countries, and what it would take to make it succeed.

The European Union is rolling out the biggest overhaul of its asylum system in years. The reforms are designed to speed up asylum decisions and tighten controls at the bloc's external borders. On Wednesday the EU parliament also backed plans that could allow deportation centers to be set up outside the bloc. Human rights advocates fear the new rules could make it harder for people fleeing persecution to find protection. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports from Madrid.

If you're watching the World Cup, and you're following team Bosnia-Herzegovina, you may have heard fans singing a song that's become an unofficial anthem of sorts. It's called "I Am Bosnian," and it's from 2011, by the Bosnian band Dubioza Kolektiv. He says what began as a spoof on the dream of getting out of Bosnia has become "the American football dream for the entire nation." Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

For years, fentanyl has dominated the opioid crisis in the US - but there's an up-and-coming class of synthetic opioids emerging called nitazenes, drugs that can be 40 times more potent than fentanyl and far more difficult to track. Now, the investigative group Bellingcat has found nitazenes spreading across the United States, and it has discovered links between Chinese suppliers and growing markets in Europe. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learns more from Jonathan Moens, the journalist behind the reporting.

Minnesota saw an extreme crackdown by federal ICE agents on immigrant communities earlier this year. What was known as Operation Metro Surge has drawn down, but some people remain on edge. That includes college students from the Somali diaspora. Now, as Juneteenth approaches, students reflect on the holiday's meaning and how its message of emancipation resonates with immigrants who see themselves as part of the wider Black community. Reporter Sara Hassan has the story.

Chinese solar panel manufacturers are expanding their businesses to sell battery storage, as well. That's because there's so much competition in the industry - and the scale of production surged so far beyond demand - that making the panels is no longer profitable. For The Big Fix, The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Jeremy Wallace, professor of China studies at Johns Hopkins, about whether that could do for the battery storage market what it did for solar.

As G7 leaders wrapped up talks in France, one key focus for European allies was keeping the US engaged on the war in Ukraine. While leaders praised Ukraine's recent battlefield progress, US President Donald Trump sent mixed signals during the summit. He called his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy very good" but also said the US had nothing to do" with a war taking place thousands of miles away." To help us understand where US-Ukraine relations stand after the summit, The World's Host Carolyn Beeler spoke to Mariia Zolkina, the head of regional security & conflict studies at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation. She joined the show from Warsaw, Poland.

Globally, religious believers face censorship, harassment and imprisonment under the banner of combating extremism or maintaining public order. Many legal tools and political systems are used to control religious life. How do these religious leaders remain resilient in the face of oppression and is the problem on the rise? The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports from the Oslo Freedom Forum.

Anti-immigration groups in South Africa are stepping up vigilante-style actions aimed at pressuring migrants to leave the country. Some activists have issued a June 30 ultimatum for undocumented migrants to depart, a deadline that has no legal standing. Sharon Ekambaram, the head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria describes the implications to The World's Host Carolyn Beeler.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is predicting that following an agreement to end the US-Israeli war in Iran, oil supply will rise throughout the year. But demand is expected to recover much more slowly, leading to an expected oil glut in 2027. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Gregory Brew, senior analyst on Iran and energy at the Eurasia Group, about what this means for the global energy market.

Leaders from the US and Iran will meet in Geneva on Friday to sign an agreement to the war between their two countries. Meanwhile, a major hang-up to the deal is Israel's campaign in Lebanon and the slim likelihood of Tehran agreeing to end its nuclear program. Host Carolyn Beeler looks at what's in the document, and what the problems might be, with Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat who was involved in the negotiations for the JCPOA, the nuclear deal adopted with Iran during the Obama administration.

Colombia opens its World Cup campaign today against Uzbekistan in Mexico City. Fans are pulling out the team's yellow jersey - a symbol of national pride. But this year, that same shirt has become part of a bitter presidential runoff. The World's Tibisay Zea reports on how Colombia's national soccer jersey got caught up in politics.

Jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding was a student in college when she first heard the voice of Milton Nascimento. Now, many years later, Spalding has gotten the chance to produce an album - and sing on it - with her hero. Their latest album is "Milton + Esperanza."This story originally aired on March 7, 2025.

The US Southern Command airstrike on a compound in Venezuela last week killed Tren de Aragua leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Nino Guerrero." Guerrero was hiding for many years in a vast strip of land in southern Venezuela, rich with gold and cobalt. Phil Gunson, Caracas-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that eliminating Guerrero may be one first, small step" to opening up the mining region to US interests.

Most songs that reach the top of the charts have a few traits in common: They are a few minutes long, they're played on familiar instruments, and you can dance to them. But what if a composer doesn't care about popularity or dancing? That's when they get into mischief. That's the theme of a new book, "The Madman's Orchestra: The Greatest Curiosities from the History of Music." Author Edward Brooke-Hitching joins Host Marco Werman to take us on a tour through some of history's musical oddities.

Most of the way through the opening round of the World Cup, a slew of ties is injecting hope into teams not expected to get terribly far in the tournament. From Iran to Qatar to Japan to Cape Verde, underdogs aren't winning - but they aren't losing either. And some historically dominant teams are feeling stunned. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Barcelona.

Greenland's melting glaciers are contributing to rising sea levels. And, they're also reshaping deep-sea ecosystems on the ocean floor, according to a new study in the journal Nature. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

This year, Haiti's national team will be in the World Cup for only the second time ever, having last participated in 1974. However, the country's World Cup history is more interesting than that. In 1950, as the US vied for the World Cup, it was led by Haitian Joe Gaetjens. Gaetjens scored the only goal of the game, leading the US to a miraculous 1-0 over the powerhouse team from England. Reporter Amy Bracken has the story.

Earlier this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged countries caught between the world's superpowers to work together and forge a "third path." Now, as leaders gather for the G7 summit in France, questions remain about whether Carney can translate that vision into real influence. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, about whether this so-called "middle power moment" has momentum.

"AWAY" is a three-minute audio piece created by Tanzanian audio visual storyteller Edgar Hudson for the Audio Flux audio contest. It's a delightful musing on how one man's trash is another's treasure, and nothing really gets thrown "away." Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Hudson about his inspirations for the piece.

More than a thousand supporters of Scotland's national soccer team packed into a fleet of school buses for a 45-minute trip from Providence, Rhode Island, to "Boston Stadium" to watch their squad compete in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in nearly three decades. The unlikely transportation method began as a novel way to save money as local officials and FIFA organizers have come under mounting criticism over steep prices for trains and buses to the international sporting event. The World's Jeremy Siegel joined the Scots onboard.

Two-hundred and fifty years ago, the American revolution sent shockwaves around the globe. At the same time, events taking place outside the US impacted how democracy grew in America. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with historian Heather Cox Richardson about how the contradictions inherent in the American experiment have played out on the global stage.

For the first time, scientists have mapped the vast networks of fungi that run beneath the Earth's surface. If you stretched them out, they would run more than a billion times longer than the distance from the Earth to the sun. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Professor Katie Field, who worked on the study, about why these networks are so important to plant and ecosystem health.

During the initial phase of the war between Iran and the US, some Iranians hoped that the attacks would lead to regime change in Iran. After decades of protesting the government of the Islamic Republic without success, they thought that a foreign military intervention could pave the way to freedom. Now, with a potential deal between the two sides in the works, Iranians reflect on what the war achieved. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

We bring you updates on some of the news stories that we've been covering over the past week.

Many people assume Iran's nuclear program began after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But in his new book, "Iran and the Bomb," author Sina Azodi traces the country's nuclear program to the early days of the Cold War. Azodi joins The World's Host Carolyn Beeler to discuss the long complex history of Iran's nuclear ambitions, and argues that knowledge of how to build a nuclear weapon can't be bombed away."

During citrus harvest season in southern Turkey, reporter Durrie Bouscaren found herself with 10 pounds of lemons. After running out of sweet dessert recipes, a colleague suggested making pickled lemons - sending her on a quest to learn about the art and history of Turkish pickling.This story originally aired on Oct. 20, 2023.

D4RYL is a small humanoid robot that assists magician David Penn on stage. But while audiences are impressed with the robot's tricks, London's famous Magic Circle magicians' club says D4RYL is not eligible for membership.

Mexico opened the World Cup with a 2-0 win over South Africa. But for many fans in Mexico City, the celebration unfolded far from the stadium. At the the city's main public squares, one of the biggest in the world, thousands gathered for a giant public watch party - braving heat, confusing access, nearby protests and even a heavy downpour. The result was a messy, joyful, rain-soaked version of the opener, where fans without tickets turned the capital's main square into their own stadium. The World's Tibisay Zea reports from Mexico City.

Friday marks one year since an Air India flight bound for London crashed just seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people. Only one passenger survived. A much-anticipated report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau did not arrive on the anniversary, with investigators saying the probe remains ongoing. No timeline has been set for a final report. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks to Hassan Shahidi, president of the Flight Safety Foundation.

Switzerland could become the first country in the world to put a legal cap on its population. In a referendum this weekend, voters will decide whether to limit the country's population to 10 million people. It currently stands at 9.1 million. Supporters say the move would ease housing shortages and reduce pressure on public transport but critics warn it could be disastrous for the Swiss economy. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

Over 15 million people around the world live with a spinal cord injury, according to the World Health Organization. It's a lifelong diagnosis that can permanently affect a patient's mobility. In Brazil, an experimental treatment has yielded promising results, high hopes and legal challenges to get access to clinical trials. The World's Julia Franca reports on the treatment, and the patients caught between hope for recovery and uncertainty over when, or whether, they will be able to access it.

About 20 years ago, farmers living near the Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia built a radio station to keep their neighbors informed about impending eruptions. That station has now shut down as listeners instead turn to their phones. But not everyone has - or wants - a smartphone. Naina Rao reports on how locals are staying informed.

British painter David Hockney was one of the most famous living painters of the past half century. Known for his colorful, sun-soaked depictions of Los Angeles, he was 88 when he died. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Mark Rozzo, writer with Vanity Fair, about his life and legacy.

A new report out this week shows conflicts between states have now surged to their highest level since World War II. Meanwhile, protracted conflict in the Middle East suggests the world may be entering into an era in which states increasingly remain in perpetual confrontation without crossing into all-out war. The World's Host Marco Werman talks with Monica Duffy Toft, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at Tufts University's Fletcher School, about the current state of global conflict.

Australia is now about six months into a social media ban that prohibits children under 16 from using certain platforms. But whether or not that ban is working is still up for debate, as kids have resisted, found work arounds or not been kicked off at all. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with author and psychology professor Angela Duckworth about why bans may not be the best way to get kids off of social media.

FIFA World Cup Host Mexico will play in the first match, going toe-to-toe - or cleat to cleat - with South Africa. The visiting squad is making its first appearance at the men's World Cup in 16 years. Host Marco Werman hears from Kamogelo Ndlovu, a soccer fan and sports journalist in Johannesburg who says there's not as much hype in South Africa as he had hoped.

National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has been walking around the globe on foot for over 13 years. One facet of life that he encounters everywhere he goes is gender. He joins Carolyn Beeler to talk about the importance of walking alongside women in his travels, and what's missing from his project when social barriers make speaking to women difficult.

Summertime in Japan means festivals to deities, and each individual shrine hosts its own. A highlight of the season is happening now: a 10-day festival in Tokyo, which will culminate in a parade on Friday, featuring the god of fortune riding a shrimp. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have more.

Global conflict is increasing - more than at any time since World War II, according to some estimates. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are driving the surge. But there are exceptions to the grim headlines. Last year, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia signed a deal that ended a decades-old border conflict. From southern Kyrgyzstan, Levi Bridges has this story of two countries making peace.

Local officials in southern Iran say the US has struck a water reservoir there, leaving thousands of people without clean drinking water. This comes with the two countries engaged in fraught negotiations to end the fighting between them. The World's Shirin Jaafari joins Host Marco Werman with more.

The FIFA Men's World Cup, which begins tomorrow, is a big deal for fans around the world, especially in host countries. GBH reporter Sarah Betancourt went to one community in East Boston that is especially excited.

Renowned author and war correspondent Anna Badkhen has seen humanity under pressure. In her new collection of essays, "To See Beyond," she explores how humans have managed to survive catastrophic change by employing what she calls radical hope." Badkhen speaks with The World's Host Carolyn Beeler about how to approach climate change through that lens, arguing that hope can serve as a powerful tool for addressing the crisis without succumbing to wishful thinking.

It's not uncommon for people in Sardinia to live to be 100 years old, and some have attributed their famous longevity to the foods commonly eaten on the island. Italian chef Francesco Mattana is out with a new cookbook, "Eat Like a Sardinian: Live to 100." Mattana grew up in Sardinia, but now lives most of the time in London. He came on The World to talk about his book with Host Marco Werman.

As part of The World's Chasing Democracy series, about American democracy on the world stage 250 years after the country was founded, we look at how the colonies' fight for independence is taught elsewhere, namely, in the countries whose authority was defeated: England, France and Spain. Reporter Gerry Hadden has our story.

The Fijian government this month rejected a proposed waste incinerator plant that would, in their view, risk increasing "waste colonialism." That is, the pattern of trash from the Global North being dumped in developing nations. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler discusses this global garbage network with Ernesto Estrada, a research professor at the Institute of Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complexity in Spain.