The World: Latest Stories

President Joe Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday for the first time since he took office. He met with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Biden said in the past that he would make the kingdom “the pariah that it is.” But as gas prices have skyrocketed, he has changed his rhetoric. Now, experts question what the US will get out of this controversial visit.

Due to depleted money reserves and uncertainty on when Russia's war in Ukraine may end, zoo staffers at Zoo XII Months say they’re in worse shape than ever before. The animals remain distressed and, with virtually no visitors, the privately owned zoo isn’t making money.

During President Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East, he's signed a joint declaration with Israel to counter Iran's nuclear program. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Sina Azodi, a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council in Washington, about what the move means.

In a huge reversal for Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, the government is seeking a loan from the International Monetary Fund to tackle Ghana’s economic woes.

​​​​​​​The top agenda item for Biden is regional security. Scheduled meetings with Israeli officials focus on strengthening the regional relationships that Israel has forged with some of its Muslim neighbors.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have ended up in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the Polish border, where prefabricated homes have become a fast and affordable way for the city to house refugees.

Dina Temple-Raston of the Click Here podcast spoke with Jorge Mora, Costa Rica’s former director of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) and Mario Robles, the CEO and founder of White Jaguars, a Costa Rican cybersecurity company that helped the San José government respond to the ransomware attack on the country.

Green sea turtles are an endangered species and among the largest of their kind in the world. They’re also the only herbivorous sea turtles. Now, some conservation groups are trying to protect them.

Lebanon’s old-growth cedar forests have been decimated by centuries of logging. Now, rising temperatures from climate change are set to take the rest.

After years of getting high prices for their fruit, Peruvian growers and exporters have seen the prices fall dramatically this season.

The newly released images from the James Webb Space Telescope show dancing galaxies and the death of a shooting star.

The sliding value of the euro could have a big impact on the US trade deficit, according to economist Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor who spoke to The World's Marco Werman from Spain.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he plans to establish an 18-mile “safe zone” in northern Syria to counter a US-backed Kurdish group. Erdoğan considers the People’s Protection Units, or the YPG, a threat to the security of his country.

Thwaites Glacier is considered the world's most important one — not just due to its size, but because of the massive amounts of ice that will melt due to global warming.

A year since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Haiti has descended into further violence, and efforts to hold people accountable have proven to be fruitless. Widlore Merancourt, editor with news outlet AyiboPost in Port-au-Prince, discussed with The World's host Marco Werman what the anniversary means for Haitians.

Beach towns like Calella turned their hotels, shut down by the pandemic, into safe havens for thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war. But with tourists back, refugees are struggling to find more reliable forms of accommodation.

In southwest France, just about everyone seems to know someone who’s been jabbed by a syringe while out partying at a dance club.

Zeyi Yang, a China reporter with MIT Technology Review, looked at some of the data and spoke from New York with The World's host Marco Werman about the situation.

Displaced people have spent decades living in old sanatoriums and hotels scattered throughout Georgia. Now, the government plans to restore the dilapidated buildings to boost tourism.

This week, coup leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said he would support a full transition back to civilian rule in Sudan. But the offer was promptly rejected by the political opposition. “We do not trust, nor do we believe the military,” Sudanese activist Daliah Abdel-Moneim told The World’s Marco Werman.

As people faced with electricity blackouts install solar panels on their rooftops, they say they're seeing some relief — but it comes alongside frustration with the government's inability to power the country.

Namewee is a singer-songwriter and filmmaker who is known for speaking his mind and composing songs that go viral on YouTube. He tells The World's Rebecca Kanthor why promoting his music is important.

Hugh Dugan, a former State Department special envoy for hostage situations, has handled negotiations for Americans detained or kidnapped abroad. He joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner's detention and how negotiations for her release might unfold.

Massive protests broke out after Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed constitutional changes that would have prevented the Karakalpakstan region from holding a referendum on secession. He has since backed away from the proposal, but imposed a monthlong curfew.

Some Rwandans worry that refugees will find it hard to make a new life in Rwanda where unemployment rates are five times higher than in the United Kingdom.

The German public has been reluctant to become involved in Ukraine's war. But the government in Berlin plans to deliver on a promise that Chancellor Olaf Scholz made in February to supply military assistance, citing a “turning point” for Europe.

Critics of the move say that the houseboats are an important part of Cairo’s cultural heritage that should be preserved.

Rapper Maykel Castillo “El Osorbo” and visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara were sentenced to prison by a Cuban court last week for his involvement with an opposition movement on the island.

“Religious polarization has been rising in India under [Narendra] Modi, who is seen as a Hindu nationalist leader,” journalist Sushmita Pathak told The World’s Marco Werman.

Western countries have put extensive financial sanctions on Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Some Russians at home and abroad have turned to cryptocurrency to keep themselves afloat.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a shortfall in foreign workers when their visas weren't approved to return to the US. A decline in the number of Americans willing to take service sector jobs doubled the impact for small business owners.

Across Europe, walk-outs by crew members of various airlines have led to dozens of canceled or delayed flights.

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a public policy professor at George Mason University in Virginia, spoke with The World's host Carol Hills about the networks behind the illegal smuggling operations.

Language learning app Duolingo will offer a new Haitian Creole course for English speakers. It’s an opportunity to explore how Haitian Creole can sound and feel: sweet and romantic — but also rebellious.

In Lebanon, a pregnancy can only be terminated if three doctors agree that a woman's life is at risk. But this doesn't stop abortions from happening.

Trillions of dollars of financial assets are at risk of losses related to the climate. The Biden administration is moving to require public companies to disclose their climate risk to investors.

These trendy videos often feature African children who are prompted to parrot Chinese greetings and to act in inappropriate ways — for entertainment.

The World's Carol Hills spoke with Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about Syria's drug trade and the country's descent into a narco state status.

​​​​​​​Nearly half of the country’s small businesses closed when the war began. Now, many Ukrainians are returning home, and businesses are reopening. But they’re faced with serious financial challenges, among other concerns.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for talks in Ankara. The visit comes as Turkey seeks to repair ties with its regional rivals. Steven A. Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington spoke with The World's host Carol Hills about the significance of the visit.

Accra has been hit with heavy rain and flash flooding in May and June, leaving many experts worried about the city’s capacity for climate resilience if trends continue.

Last week, Algeria severed trade and diplomatic ties with Spain, and has now threatened to cut off coveted gas sales — which have been protected under a two-decade-old friendship treaty.

For more than 30 years, the Chinese government had restricted most people to having only one child. Illegal and forced abortions were common, and it led to a massive drop in the country’s birth rate. A new policy that started last year allows couples to have up to three children now, but many people aren't interested.

Indigenous leaders have 10 demands including reducing gas prices, halting new mining and gas projects, providing funds for health care and education, and economic relief for millions of families in debt.

Belgium has returned the mortal remains of Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba to Democratic Republic of Congo and his family. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, DR Congo's representative to the United Nations, discussed the move and its significance with The World's host Carol Hills.

Genshin Impact’s unexpected global success highlights a precarious balance: How Beijing goes about nurturing Big Tech while holding true to Chinese Communist Party ideology.

The students were able to escape Kabul because of the efforts of their school, the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, which was holding remote classes for the students living in Kabul during the coronavirus pandemic.

For years, people believed that climate change was to blame for the water shortage. But a recent study published in the Switzerland-based journal Water found that this shortage was not only due to the megadrought, but has also been caused by water misuse and management practices established under the country’s current legislation.

Ukrainian Cpl. Andrii Shadrin has been deployed to the Donbas region to fight Russian-backed separatists a half dozen times since 2014. The 26-year-old medic spoke to The World's host Carolyn Beeler from a makeshift base in the Luhansk region.

Rent prices in the western city of Lviv have nearly quadrupled in some cases since the war began, making it very difficult for displaced people fleeing war to find stable, affordable housing.