The World: Latest Stories

More than 30,000 athletes took part in the Boston Marathon today. They range from elite runners - clocking in sub 5-minute miles for the entirety of the course - to first-timers, getting to the finish line hours after the pros. As The World's Jeremy Siegel reports, many of them, from the top of the field to the weekend warriors, come in from far-flung spots around the globe.

The Israeli military launched an internal investigation after a March incident in which Israeli troops killed 15 unarmed Palestinian medics. That investigation says that a deputy commander incorrectly assumed the medics were Hamas militants and opened fire, and soldiers under his command followed suit. That deputy commander has been fired. A video that was previously found on the phone of one of the slain medics showed that all the vehicles were clearly identified and had their emergency lights on. Host Marco Werman has more.

Colombia has announced a health emergency in response to rising deaths from yellow fever. The country's health ministry reported at least 34 deaths and 74 cases of the disease - a dramatic increase over known numbers from previous years. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks to Dr. Andrea Vicari, who leads the Infectious Hazard Management Unit at the Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization headquartered in Washington.

Pope Francis died today, Easter Monday, after addressing Catholics from St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday. The World's Matthew Bell has this obituary of the Church's first pontiff from Latin America, and the legacy he leaves around the world.

Last week, a meeting at the United Nations brought together the descendants of enslaved people and slave owners. The attendees discussed ways to compensate former British colonies in the Caribbean for the legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The World's Host Marco Werman spoke to Arley Gill, who attended the meeting. Gill is chairman of Grenada's National Reparations Commission and joined the show from St. George's, the Grenadian capital.

A UCSD researcher has spent years studying the language acquisition of cats and dogs in 47 countries. You may have seen some of his research on TikTok where animals learn to hit buttons that play words like "outside," "food" and "treats." But are the animals really talking to us, or do they just see us a treat machines? The World's Marco Werman gets to the bottom of things.

April 19th marks the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the famous 'shot heard "round the world." The start of the American war of independence happened against a global backdrop of Britain, France and Spain jockeying for world dominance, with trade centered in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The World's Carolyn Beeler explores what was going on around the globe in 1775 with Larrie Ferreiro, a professor at George Mason University and the author of "Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It."

Kristian Jamieson, a dental student in Ontario, Canada, has spent the past few years working toward a major goal of running the Boston Marathon. His dream is about to come true. But for Jamieson, the race is bigger than just a personal achievement. He's the great-great-grandson of Tom Longboat, who in 1907 became the first Indigenous person to win the Boston Marathon. The World's Bianca Hillier reports.

Saudi Arabia has been pouring billions of dollars into the electric vehicle industry in the past few years. It has even been working on its own brand of EV called Ceer. Just this month, Tesla began selling in the kingdom for the first time. All this is part of a push by the crown prince to lower the country's reliance on oil revenues. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman list a few headlines in the news you may have missed.

Xi Jinping wraps up his tour this week through Southeast Asia where he's been presenting China as a force for stability and mutual prosperity, in contrast to President Donald Trump's trade policies. The message seems to be resonating for now, though this latest round of trade tension is just getting started. The World's Matthew Bell has our story.

The Trump administration continued its bombing campaign against the Houthis, this time targeting a strategically important oil port. It's also the bloodiest attack on Yemen to date. But, the exact number of fighters killed versus civilians is still hard to know precisely. Abdul Ghani Al-Iryani is a senior Researcher at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen and he speaks with The World's Carolyn Beeler.

Surp Giragos is the largest Armenian church in the Middle East, and it's at least 500 years old. But the community it serves has dwindled to just a handful of Armenian families in the predominantly Kurdish town of Diyarbakir, Turkey. After a decadeslong restoration, the church is preparing to welcome thousands of supporters for Easter services this weekend. The World reports.

Climate change is reshaping the global map of wine production. A new report on fine winds finds some varieties currently at home in southern Europe could be more common in northern England by the end of the century. That shift is already underway in Yorkshire where new vineyards have cultivated a strong reputation for sparkling wines. We spoke with Alice Maltby, from Little Wold vineyard in Yorkshire, about how climate change is affecting their wines right now, and how they are planning for a changing future.

April 17th is the 200th anniversary of the independence of Haiti - but also of the indemnity agreement with France that was a condition of independence. Over the next 122 years, Haiti paid an estimated $21 billion to France. Haitians have been pushing for reparations and French President Emmanuel Macron now says he will set up a joint Franco-Haitian commission to examine France's history with its former Caribbean colony. Marco Werman speaks with Marlene Daut, a professor of French and African diaspora studies at Yale University.

African penguins are on the edge of extinction with some experts warning that they could disappear by 2026 if trends continue. Overfishing, climate change and oil spillages have had the biggest impact. Dyan de Napoli - penguin expert and author - was involved in one of the largest animal rescue missions in the world after a massive oil spill off Cape Town, South Africa in 2000. This is her story for Stories From The Stage by our partners at GBH World TV.

Generations of Canadian soccer players have had to leave their families and travel abroad to play professionally. That all changed Wednesday night when the country's first-ever professional women's soccer league kicked off in Vancouver. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler have the details.

Autocratic governments often suppress the independence of universities to eliminate opposition. Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, has written about how that crackdown happened in Egypt, Syria and Turkey. He talks with The World's Carolyn Beeler about his latest article in Foreign Policy, "America's Universities Could End up Zombies."

Wednesday marked the start of the annual Great Moose Migration, a beloved televised event in Sweden that offers audiences a nonstop livestream of the four-legged creatures on their three-week journey. There's no narrator, no background music, just moose and the sounds of nature. This "slow TV" programming is the kind of mediative experience that's taken off in Scandinavia, as Johan Erhag explained to The World's Marco Werman.

President Donald Trump's latest wave of tariffs is reverberating across the San Diego and Tijuana industrial landscape, leaving manufacturers facing heightened uncertainty but also creating potential opportunities for Mexican industry. The World's Tibisay Zea reports from Tijuana.

A bright object, initially appearing to be a meteorite, lit up the skies over Mexico's capital early Wednesday. Host Carolyn Beeler explains that scientists determined it was a bolide, a chunk of meteor that disintegrates in the Earth's atmosphere.

The Beth El synagogue in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn is known for serving as the home of the operatic cantors who gained fame during the golden age of cantorial music. The building itself is an architectural landmark, often called "the Jewish Carnegie Hall." Reporter Jon Kalish takes us there.

Tijuana is a Mexican city less than 20 miles south of San Diego. Because of that close proximity, some musicians in Tijuana are much closer to music trends coming out of the US than the vibes coming out of Mexico City, which is some 1,700 miles away. Still, some artists proudly want to represent Tijuana with their own sounds. One a recent Saturday, Marco Werman went crate digging in Tijuana with music journalist Betto Arcos. They set out to look for vinyl, taking in Tijuana music both past and present.Editor's note: In this segment, the Avandaro festival, known as Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avandaro, is mentioned as having taken place in 1973. The correct year is 1971.

The latest move in tit-for-tat tensions between France and Algeria may signal the end of a budding reset of relations between the two countries. As The World's Sarah Birnbaum reports, France and its former colony just can't seem to get along.

A federal court in Denver has found a former member of The Gambia's military guilty of torturing five people accused of involvement in a failed coup against the West African country in 2006. This constitutes a rare prosecution in the United States for torture committed abroad. Carolyn Beeler speaks with Mariam Sankanu, a Gambian journalist who covered the trial in Denver, about what this case means for The Gambia.

The largest commercial whaling company in Iceland has canceled its seasonal hunt due to an uncertain economic outlook. Only three countries are allowed to hunt whales - Iceland, Norway and most recently, Japan - and Iceland's primary export market in Japan has been declining. The World's Carolyn Beeler spoke with Sigurur Johannesson, director of the Institute of Economic Studies at the University of Iceland, about the economic outlook of whaling in the country.

The first casualties of Joint Task Force Southern Border were reported Tuesday night. Two Marines from Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego, were killed in a vehicle crash in New Mexico during a reconnaissance mission of the region. The World's hosts explain.

The Israeli military is conducting a new phase of the war in Gaza. This includes the Israel Defense Forces expanding its operations around the southern city of Rafah. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 current and former spies and soldiers have joined a letter campaign calling on the Israeli government to reconsider its military plans for Gaza. The World's Matthew Bell has the latest.

The UK's highest court has ruled the legal definition of "woman" under the 2010 equality law only applies to biological sex. The case was a challenge to a Scottish government position that the legal definition also applied to transgender women who held a gender recognition certificate. The World's Carolyn Beeler spoke with jane fae, director of TransActual UK, about the ruling, what it means for transgender women and the state of transgender protections in the UK.

On Tuesday, Ghana announced that foreigners will be kicked out of the country's gold trade as of next month. Gold is Ghana's top export and the country is No. 6 in the world for the prized metal's output. But as researcher Gavin Hilson tells The World's Marco Werman, illicit mining and smuggling operations are pervasive in the country. Hilson studies the environmental and social impacts of the small-scale mining sector in West Africa. He's a professor at the University of Surrey in the UK.

A sandstorm in central and southern Iraq has sent more than 1,800 people to hospitals with respiratory problems. In a typical spring, Iraq would see up to three storms per month, but this year at least nine major storms have descended on the country in April alone. Carolyn Beeler speaks with Nick Middleton, a physical geographer and fellow at St. Anne's College at Oxford, about the natural and human-caused reasons for sandstorms and why they're on the rise.

Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish architect most famous for the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. A church so beautiful, it is said to inspire many visitors to convert to Catholicism. There has long been a movement to canonize him as a saint. Gaudi's devotees may see their wish granted someday, as Pope Francis has just declared Gaudi to be venerable, a step toward canonization.

Times are tough in Argentina, while the new president attempts to tame inflation, poverty is on the rise. But there's one sport, and one very special place, that brings people together. As part of our "Sacred Spaces" series, reporter Lautaro Grinspan takes us to the the 80-year-old soccer stadium La Bonbonera in Buenos Aires, Argentina. La Bonbonera was home to the late soccer great Diego Maradona, and has become a kind of holy site for Argentina's soccer fanatics.

Bhutan's plans to develop Gelephu as a financial hub are a pivotal step in the country's efforts to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on external aid. Located near the Indian border, Gelephu is strategically positioned to serve as a gateway for trade and investment, fostering stronger economic ties with neighboring countries. Sushmita Pathak has the story.

Nearly half of the first round draft picks at Monday night's 2025 WNBA Draft are international players. The World's Bianca Hillier reports on the new names joining the league, and how the league itself is going global.

Unknown assailants launched seven attacks overnight in France, burning cars in prison parking lots, defacing facades and in one case opening fire with an assault rifle. Authorities have promised a swift investigation and to boost protection for prison workers. But they still don't know who was behind the attacks. The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

Since the Trump administration shut down the asylum system, many fewer migrants have been crossing the US-Mexico border. A few have resorted to more dangerous routes, swimming or taking boats around the border wall, which extends into the ocean between San Diego and Tijuana. KPBS border reporter Gustavo Solis talks to The World's host Carolyn Beeler about what's changed in San Diego since the Trump administration took office.

Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman list a few headlines in the news you may have missed.

Wera Hothouse arrived at the Hong Kong airport on Thursday, only to be turned away from the Chinese territory - without explanation. Hothouse, a member of British parliament, interprets the move as an attempt to intimidate her from speaking out about human rights in China. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have more.

Every year, the Boston Marathon attracts some of the biggest names in distance running. One of the professionals in next week's race is Mary Ngugi from Kenya. Not only is she a professional runner, but she's the founder of Nala Track Club. Ngugi founded the Club in 2022 to provide a safe place for young girls to train amid Kenya's history of gender-based violence. The World's Bianca Hillier reports.

As the San Diego-Tijuana region continues to grow, so does its decades-old sewage problem. Industry in the region has long outpaced Tijuana's construction of wastewater infrastructure. Now, residents of an east Tijuana neighborhood tucked between multinational factories are saying they think it's more than sewage and rain that's running down their streets and into the river. inewsource investigative reporter Philip Salata has more.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele was in the White House on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. The focus of the meeting was the deportation of hundreds of migrants that the Trump administration accuses of being criminals. Bukele said he cannot return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported because he is a Salvadoran citizen.

A new law banning Hungary's Pride parade comes into effect on April 15. The government of Viktor Orban said its aim is to protect children from being exposed to messages that "conflict with traditional family values." The move has already led to several protests in the country's capital in recent weeks. Orban's critics say the ban is about much more than just cancelling the Budapest parade. The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports.

On Monday, Ukraine's security service held a press conference with two Chinese prisoners of war who answered questions from the media through an interpreter. President Zelenskyy says that a few hundred more Chinese nationals are likely fighting on Russia's behalf against Ukraine. The World's Carolyn Beeler spoke to Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Solohub who was at the press conference in Kyiv.

Mario Vargas Llosa, a giant of Latin American literature, died on Sunday at the age of 89. The Peruvian writer's work explored the power and politics of Latin America, often critiquing authoritarians from a leftist point of view. But his own politics veered to the right over time, becoming a supporter of neoliberal policies. The World's Marco Werman spoke with Ignacio Lopez Calvo, Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at University of California-Merced, about Vargas Llosa's literary and political legacy.

The United States and Iran have agreed to meet again next Saturday to discuss Iran's nuclear program. The meeting is reportedly taking place in Rome. This follows the much-anticipated meeting that took place over the weekend in the Gulf country of Oman. That was seen as a positive first step in reaching a deal which curbs Iran's nuclear program.

For well over a century, most of the world's brie and camembert producers have been sourcing a key ingredient, the fungus Penecillium Camemberti, from the same strain, leaving the cheeses vulnerable to disease and other threats. This, according to French researchers who are sounding the alarm: either we "re-wild" the cheese or risk losing it, at least in its creamy white current form. The World's Gerry Hadden reports from Paris.

Diplomats at the United Nations have agreed on a new plan to charge shipping companies a carbon tax. The global economy relies on shipping, but the industry is powered almost entirely by fossil fuels. The new carbon tax would correspond to the tons of CO2 a ship produces. Alice Larkin, who researches shipping decarbonization at University of Manchester in the UK, joined host Carol Hills to explain how it would work.

Security is the main issue on the minds of Ecuadorians as they go to the polls in the presidential runoff election on Sunday. Leftist Luisa Gonzalez is facing off against conservative president Daniel Noboa. Michael Fox reports from Quito that it's a tight race with major implications for Ecuador's future.

Anoush Froundjian grew up attending Armenian school on weekends, in the 1990s. But at her American school, on weekdays, she worried that her cultural heritage was a social liability. That all changed when she learned the words to a song.