The World: Latest Stories

The US Navy says it is now providing guidance" to commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. But retired Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, now senior director of The Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, tells The World's Host Carolyn Beeler that because of the strait's geographical constraints, protecting vessels from threats like fast boats, drones and mines will be far from easy.

The United States has be a nation for 250 years. But it's democratic roots go back much further, to ancient Greece. The new documentary "Athens: Birth of Democracy" looks at the time when democracy first emerged. The documentary is from our colleagues at NOVA. Historian Paul Cartledge is one of the contributors to the show. He teaches at the University of Cambridge in England and recently spoke to Host Marco Werman.

The World's Hosts catch us up on a few things we might have missed in the news.

The capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, has its own classical orchestra, known best as the Kinshasa Orchestra, or the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste. Sometimes, all it takes is a little pop power to give a classical ensemble a boost for greater recognition. That's what the Cameroonian singer, who goes simply as Irma, has done with her viral cover of Henry Mancini's "Moon River," accompanied by the Kinshasa Orchestra. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler take a listen.

Anti-immigrant sentiment has surged in South Africa, leading to harassment, threats against businesses and sporadic attacks, particularly against Ghanaians and Nigerians in the country. The Nigerian government now plans to repatriate its citizens from South Africa. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with Sethulego Matebesi, a professor of sociology at the University of the Free State in South Africa, about what is happening and why.

Bombing refers to illegally releasing wildlife into nature, to restore its presence. In Spain, two decades ago, someone let 18 beavers free in the Ebro river. Today, about 2,000 of the sharp-toothed rodents call the northeast region home. Some folks are pleased, others peeved. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Aragon, Spain.

Late last month, the UN passed a resolution urging reparations for slavery's historical wrongs." This is the latest - and most dramatic - moment in an ongoing and global process of historical reckoning, which requires former colonizing countries to come to terms with the darker sides of their past. Six years ago, for example, Berlin became one of a handful of European cities reassessing its relationship to European colonialism. The local administration funded efforts to decolonize" the city landscape in partnership with Afro-German organizations. From Deutsche Welle, DW's, Inside Europe, Annelise Finney brings us this story.

Historically, the cars made in China have been small. But at this year's Beijing Auto Show, it was all about SUVs. Unlike their American competitors, however, these big Chinese cars aren't gas guzzlers. The World's Transportation Correspondent Jeremy Siegel has highlights from the world's biggest car show.

A jury resigns at the world's most important art fair. And a whale recently stranded in shallow water is successfully moved to its natural habitat. Host Marco Werman has more.

Colombia's government has announced a controversial plan to kill dozens of hippos that are roaming freely in one of the country's most fertile areas. But the animals have become a beloved tourist attraction, years after they were introduced into the country by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Officials say the hippos could become a danger to local farmers, and are also displacing native species like the river manatee. Reporter Manuel Rueda has the story from Doradal, Colombia.

Today is May Day, when workers mark the anniversary of the birth of the labor movement in the United States. This is an international movement that sees marches and protests demanding stronger protections for workers, and better pay, from South Africa to Vietnam. Host Marco Werman talks to Paul Ortiz, professor of labor history at Cornell University about the state of the global labor movement.

You might know that spring is here by how late the sun stays up, or by the sight of picnics in the park. In the small German village of Lehde, the arrival of spring is marked by the local post office delivering mail on a barge. That's because the village is linked by a network of canals that function as both a historic irrigation system and the best way to get around. Host Marco Werman has more details.

Academy and Grammy award-winning musician Jorge Drexler is back with his 19th album, called "Taraca." The album is something of a homecoming, since it's the first record in over 20 years that Drexler has made in his native Uruguay. The musician has lived for years now in Spain. Reporter Natalio Cosoy caught up with Drexler in Buenos Aires and has this story.

Friday is May Day, International Labor Day. In the Czech Republic, the giant parades of the communist era are long gone. But left-wing groups still gather each year in the center of Prague. This time, though, they do so under a controversial new law explicitly placing Communist propaganda and symbols under the same anti-extremism legislation used against Nazism. From Prague, Deutsche Welle, DW's, Rob Cameron reports.

Saturday will mark 15 years to the day that Osama Bin Laden was killed inside a compound in Pakistan during a targeted nighttime raid by US Navy SEALs. It was the culmination of a decade-long manhunt following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Over a decade later al-Qaeda, the group Bin Laden founded, persists with affiliates and partners across the globe - but also faces steep competition from ISIS. The World's Host Marco Werman spoke to Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

This week, US prosecutors indicted the sitting governor of Sinaloa state and nine others, alleging ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. The case is already raising difficult questions - not just about the specific allegations, but about accountability and sovereignty at a time of raised tensions between the two countries. To learn more, Host Marco Werman spoke to Parker Asmann, a Mexico-based investigator with InSight Crime.

Today is International Jazz Day, declared by the United Nations in 2011 "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe." On this annual celebration of the smooth form of music, Puerto Rican folk musician Fabiola Mendez came into The World's studio to talk with Host Carolyn Beeler about her music and the traditional stringed instrument she plays, the cuatro.

After a long political impasse, Ali al-Zaidi has been tapped to become Iraq's new prime minister. A wealthy oligarch, al-Zaidi is seen as both a compromise candidate, but also a political outsider. The World's Host Marco Werman learned more from Hamzeh Hadad, an Iraqi political analyst with the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.

Hungary's incoming prime minister is moving quickly to make his mark. Peter Magyar, who takes office next month, met top European officials in Brussels this week to set out his plans to restore the rule of law in Hungary. Billions of euros in EU funding have been withheld amid concerns about corruption and democratic backsliding under outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Magyar has promised voters he will unlock that money. But first, he must convince Brussels he can deliver reform. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry reports.

Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran in February. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was quickly picked as the successor. But since his ascent to power, there has been no audio or video of him - only statements attributed to him. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports that evidence suggests the new supreme leader of Iran has been seriously injured and has nowhere near the power his late father had.

The keeping of livestock requires both maintaining a bond with the animals and effective communication. National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek knows that from his own past as a cattle rancher in Mexico. And, as he tells Host Carolyn Beeler, so do the shepherds and nomads he has met along his global walking project, the Out of Eden Walk. He explains and demonstrates some of the language of animal husbandry.

For 19 days, the route up to the summit of Mount Everest was obstructed by a huge block of ice which held back climbers from fulfilling their dreams of getting to the top of the world's tallest mountain. Sherpas were brought in to clear the ice and, earlier this week, it slowly disintegrated, opening the way. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler have the details.

If you drive south, from the US, into Mexico, you'll notice some very different car brands on the roads. Increasingly, they are Chinese-made, and many of them are electric. From the Fronteras Desk at KJZZ, Nina Kravinsky reports from Hermosillo, Mexico, on how the US is responding, and what it means for the future of EVs in Mexico.

The sewage of some 300,000 people is being sent directly into Mexico's Lake Chapala. It's the source of water for 60% of residents of Guadalajara. Further downstream, international companies send industrial waste into the Santiago River. Studies have found that people in the area suffer kidney disease at higher-than-normal rates. What used to be known as a vacation destination has recently been dubbed a "slow moving Chernobyl." Glynis Board reports from Jalisco, Mexico.

The far-right has made great gains in Europe over the past couple of decades. In France, the RN, or National Rally, has gone from fringe movement to the largest party of the nation. The party is now hoping that its leader, 30-year-old Jordan Bardella, will win the French presidency next year. Host Marco Werman gets the details from Victor Mallet, senior editor with the Financial Times and author of "Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe."

Technical difficulties nearly scuttled the performance of the Canadian national anthem before last night's NHL match between the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins. But, when the singer's microphone cut out, the fans came together to finish the tune.

The United Arab Emirates says it will leave OPEC, a consortium of oil producing countries, effective May 1. That would strip the cartel of its third-largest producer and further weaken its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman explain.

Spain has been struggling for years to find people willing to live and work as shepherds. It can be tough, lonely work at times. But a new training program has found a way to fill those rural jobs: by tapping into Spain's immigrant and newly-arrived refugee communities, many of whom have shepherding experience back home and who love the idea of working with animals. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Ciudad Real, in central Spain.

The Lost Boys of Sudan - that's the phrase commonly used to describe the refugees whose parents had been killed in Sudan's civil war more than 30 years ago. But not all of those young people were boys - including Rebecca Deng. She was one of the girls less often included in the telling of that history. So, she wrote a memoir about her experience and shares one story from the book with GBH'S Stories from the Stage.

The war in Iran has caused a massive crunch in the global supply chain. But nothing has been hit harder than jet fuel. Prices have more than doubled, tickets are getting costlier, and some airlines might not survive the crisis. The World's Transportation Correspondent Jeremy Siegel reports.

When Spain went dark for a day, on April 28, 2025, the tiny village of San Vicente del Monte went about business as usual. The town maintained power because of an experimental lithium battery that many other municipalities had declined to try out. The World's Gerry Hadden explains.This story originally aired on May 23, 2025.

The issue of plastic waste is not going anywhere. In fact, globally, we continue to generate more of it. In the EU, plastic packaging waste alone makes up about 16 million tons a year - and less than half of that is recycled. But across Europe, new recycling plants have been popping up, promising to recycle hundreds of thousands of tons of the particularly-hard-to-recycle stuff using a technology called chemical - or "advanced" - recycling. Deutsche Welle, DW's, investigative environmental journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor look into the idea.

The annual marmalade festival and competition is a contest that draws around 3,000 entries per year, and the whole town "goes orange," gathering at Dalemain Mansion in the UK for the event. Reporter Leo Hornak profiles some creators of very traditional recipes, as well as some from the "experimental" category. Judges say it can be hard not to get sick tasting about 60 marmalades in a row.

Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler catch us up on a few stories flying just below the radar.

The World's Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman take us in the way back machine, to 1993, and the first release by the Senegalese super group Africando. The name of this track is Gouye Gui. In the Wolof language, it refers to the massive baobab trees found across Senegal. The song is an homage to the baobab's symbolism of longevity and wisdom.

Robot news has been coming fast and furious this month. One robot won a half-marathon in Beijing, others captured a Russian position in Ukraine. And last week, we learned of a robotic arm that beat table-tennis champions at their own game. To learn about this moment in robotics, The World's Host Carolyn Beeler spoke with Kenechukwu Mbanisi. He's an assistant professor of robotics engineering at Olin College in Massachusetts.

Mali's military junta is fighting off coordinated attacks across the country that began this weekend. Led by Tuareg separatists and al-Qaeda-linked fighters, the country's defense minister was among those killed in one of the attacks. The joint militant forces have also claimed control of the northeastern city of Kidal. The Russian government-linked Africa Corps confirmed that it pulled out of the city. To help make sense of this complicated picture, The World's Host Marco Werman spoke to Ulf Laessing, a security analyst with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla are in the United States today for a four-day state visit marking the year of the 250th anniversary of US independence. The trip comes amid strained relations between London and Washington, after Britain resisted pressure to support US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The visit is being closely watched in London, where officials may be hoping it will help ease tensions between US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The World's Europe Correspondent Orla Barry joins Host Marco Werman.

They're just like normal, night-time raves, except totally different: They happen when other humans are having breakfast, and there are no alcohol or drugs in sight. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from a "coffee rave" in Barcelona.This story originally aired on Oct. 22, 2025.

In Syria on Sunday, landmark trials began that are expected to bring members of the Assad regime to justice. While the former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and others are being tried in absentia, Atef Najib, a former security chief - and the cousin of Bashar al-Assad - sat behind bars in the courtroom. The World's Host Marco Werman spoke to Amr Al-Azm, a Syrian historian at Shawnee State University, who joined from Doha.

The London Marathon yesterday saw a major record-breaking moment. It was the first time two competitors ran the race in under two hours. Sabastian Sawe of Kenya and Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia ran the marathon in 1:59:30 and 1:59:41, respectively. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler talks to David Monti, editor and publisher of Race Results Weekly, about this stunning record.

Last week, the US data and spy tech company Palantir posted a 22-point manifesto on the social media platform X. Based on a book by the firm's CEO, Alex Karp, the manifesto - variously described as the ramblings of a super-villain" and a parody of a RoboCop film" - has renewed concern about the aspirations and motivations of a company that is increasingly embedded in state infrastructure on both sides of the Atlantic. It's the contract with Britain's National Health Service that has proven the most controversial, as Lars Bevanger reports from Manchester.

In Mexico, the constitution guarantees universal health care. But for many, access remains out of reach. Long wait times, overcrowded clinics and persistent gaps in the system are pushing millions to seek care elsewhere - including low-cost pharmacy clinics. Now, the government says it plans to expand access and unify the system. But questions remain about whether those reforms can succeed without more funding and resources. The World's Tibisay Zea reports from Mexico City on the gap between coverage on paper and care in practice.

A ceasefire is holding in Iran and life is slowly returning to a sort-of normal, as people grapple with the impacts of the war on their country. Some business owners have had to close up shop, and have no income. Others have seen their operations disrupted because of the ongoing internet blackout in the country. The World's Shirin Jaafari explains where things stand now.

Increasingly, European military readiness is bound up with its ability to respond to rapidly developing technology, such as drones. And the Ukrainian experience is showing that in this field, smaller, more agile security tech start-ups are playing an increasingly significant role. Ben Bathke was in Estonia's capital Tallinn to meet up with Ragnar Sass, an Estonian tech entrepreneur who has pivoted towards defense.

Representatives from over 50 countries are meeting in Colombia to discuss how to transition away from fossil fuels. Laura Ballesteros is among the attendees. She's a member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies and represents the center-left party Movimiento Ciudadano - or Citizens' Movement." She spoke to The World's Host Carolyn Beeler from the conference in Santa Marta, Colombia.

A meeting of the G7 nations on the environment kicked off in Paris yesterday, but two words were barred from the agenda: "climate" and "change." France's ecology minister said all the ministers wanted to avoid a dispute with US President Donald Trump, who dismisses climate change as "fake news." The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

For years now, the north of Cameroon has been dealing with both separatist and militant insurgencies. The violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and the UN reports it has impacted the education of some 250,000 children. The International Rescue Committee has warned that girls are especially impacted as "hidden victims" of the conflict. The World's Host Carolyn Beeler learns more from Antoinette Chibi, IRC's country director for Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Temperature readings jump dramatically, right after someone bets a lot of money that it will be a hot day. What could explain it? A police investigation into apparent tampering with weather sensors at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport suggests that someone tried to change reality, to match their wager. Host Carolyn Beeler has more.

The Brazilian state of Bahia is home to some of the biggest names in Brazilian music, particularly Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. A new voice from the state, singer-songwriter Melly, scored a Latin Grammy nomination with her debut album, "Amarissima." Melly has been performing in bars since she was 16. Born in a poor family with a dad who played in samba-reggae bands, Melly had to overcome a lot to pursue a career in pop music in Brazil, particularly as a Black, LGBTQ woman. Reporting from Bahia, Gisele Regatao has her story.