The World: Latest Stories

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.

Social prescriptions are relatively common in the United Kingdom, especially to treat loneliness and isolation. When these conditions were exacerbated by the pandemic, the UK already had a strategy in place to help those who need it most, including the elderly.

​​​​​​​The remains of two men missing in the western Amazon were found on Wednesday night. And two fishermen have been arrested in connection to the case. Indigenous and environmental leaders are mourning the deaths and asking questions about the government's role in protecting the Amazon.

A new Mozilla Foundation report states that election disinformation and hate speech are being spread through TikTok in the run up to elections in Kenya next month. After violence erupted during 2007 elections, the government created an agency to quell ethnic strife, and it warns against a repeat of the unrest.

Since February, hundreds of dolphins have been found dead off the coasts of Ukraine, Bulgaria and Turkey. Scientists have pointed to the war in Ukraine as a possible cause. Navy sonar systems used to locate other vessels create powerful sounds that may be disorienting the marine animals.

For years, medical providers were taught that MS is very rare among Black Africans. But the presence of more neurologists in Zambia has upended previous thinking on the condition. Now, more people are getting diagnosed and treated for the disease.

Shepherds in Spain are now training to start “fire flocks" that graze at the edge of forests to prevent wildfires from spreading to populated areas.

The Cuban government recently lifted a decadesold ban on professional boxing imposed by then-President Fidel Castro in 1962. This year, the Cuban boxing team “Los Domadores” made a triumphant professional debut on May 20 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Hundreds of years ago, women in China weren’t allowed an education and spent their days locked in rooms, embroidering and making crafts. They came up with a new language that men couldn't understand — Nüshu — and wrote it onto handmade fans to communicate with each other. A filmmaker is now trying to raise awareness to preserve it before it is lost.

Hundreds of years ago, it was common for Chinese women’s feet to be bound, making it almost impossible for them to walk freely by themselves. They also weren’t allowed an education, and they spent their days locked in their rooms, embroidering and making crafts. So, women came up with a new language that men couldn't understand — Nüshu — and wrote it onto handmade fans to communicate with each other. Now a filmmaker is trying to raise awareness to preserve it before it is lost.

The Polish government says it is establishing a national medical database, following a directive from the EU Commission, promising to ensure the protection of people's privacy. But in a country with a near-total abortion ban, rights activists are not so convinced.

History professor Charles Tshimanga-Kashama joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the historic visit and its implications for the future relations between the two countries.

History professor Charles Tshimanga-Kashama joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the historic visit and its implications for the future relations between the two countries.

Around 60 million adults in European cities are exposed to noise that's harmful to health.

Sex work is technically legal in India, but workers say they face stigma, harassment and violence — especially by the police. In recent years, sex worker collectives have formed to demand full decriminalization of sex work and recognition of their labor as worthy of protections and rights.

With the Celtics looking to bring home a banner under the guidance of the first-year head coach, the local Nigerian community is beaming at the success of one of their own.

Musicians with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music arrived in Portugal in December 2021 with high hopes of working again in their profession. But six months later, the future remains uncertain for them.

Last month, one railway network in Tokyo switched its entire network to electricity derived from renewable energy. It’s the first time a railway has become entirely net-carbon neutral.

Dinesh Joseph, who is a South African-born leadership and management trainer based in London, was recently on vacation and was one of the people forced to take the test before boarding his flight from the Canary Islands back to the UK. He described the experience to The World's host Marco Werman.

Some fear that Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira may have been kidnapped, disappeared or killed by members of criminal groups in the area.

An all-female orchestra was launched earlier this year as part of an effort to decrease gender disparities on Colombia’s classical music scene. It highlights the contributions of women and offers a place for younger generations to develop their talent.

Dr. Atul Gawande, a renowned surgeon and global health leader at USAID, talks with The World’s host Marco Werman about plummeting resources in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The African Development Bank Group has pledged $1.5 billion to tackle a massive fertilizer shortage across the continent, but smallholder farmers in Ghana worry that it may already be too late to avert a food crisis.

Deep in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, two Indigenous activists who secured a legal victory against gold mining in their native lands have won the Goldman Environmental Prize.

About a dozen dust storms have blown across Iraq this year with increased frequency and intensity. Experts say that it's due to climate change, drought and desertification.

Despite the decriminalization of abortion in Northern Ireland several years ago after presiding over some of the harshest legislation in the world, access is far from straightforward. And campaigners on both sides of the issue are rallying after last month’s US Supreme Court leak that's suggested the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Scientist Berat Haznedaroğlu is the director of Türkiye’s first initiative to turn algae into fuel for airplanes — but scaling up is a challenge.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, medical workers have been concerned about the possibility of Russia using chemical agents against civilians. That hasn’t happened yet (none on official record) but a Syrian American nongovernmental organization is helping Ukrainian medical workers prepare for the worst.

In Europe, wood pellets fire power plants and home furnaces in what’s become a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry. It’s expanded because the European Union labels pellets as renewable. But environmentalists say that the label is misguided.

As Shanghai begins to ease its two-month COVID-19 lockdown, writer and translator Xing Zhao says that the psychological impacts on residents are likely to linger for much longer.

Leaked government documents suggest a portion of the Achimota Forest Reserve could be rezoned for development, sparking a major outcry among residents and conservationists.

A series of recent drownings has brought to light the dangers of migrants trying to cross the Rio Grande as they attempt to flee to the United States.

Uyghurs in the diaspora are now going through the lists from leaked documents to try and identify their missing relatives. For many, it’s the first time they’ve been able to confirm what happened to them.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Title 42 would end May 23, it was the change that many immigrants at the US southern border had been hoping for. A recent court decision changed that.

​​​​​​​Around the world, few treatments exist for the countless numbers of people who develop long COVID-19. In the UK, where more than a million people are estimated to be in this situation, a group of medical specialists and professional opera singers have been examining whether an age-old performance practice can help address one of the most common, debilitating symptoms: breathlessness.

In Portland, Maine, high schools are infusing North African flavors into school lunches as the district experiments with being more inclusive of its diverse student body.

China's zero-COVID-19 policy has shattered many people's trust in the government, especially in Shanghai. The monthslong lockdown has left people exhausted and plotting to escape. But getting out of the city isn't easy.

The combination of a vast, geographically diverse space and such a young sport means that highlining has a lot of potential in Sonora, with room to grow. A group of highliners use the opportunity to practice their discipline that features balancing on lines strung dozens — even hundreds — of feet in the air.

There is concern that the Taliban may decide to ban female anchors altogether from the newsroom according to their interpretation of Islamic law.

A new exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art brings together about 400 pieces, including some objects by the luxury jewelry maker Cartier. It also tells the story of how the Cartier brothers were inspired by Islamic art.

Darren Byler, who specializes in China's treatment of Uyghurs at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, discussed insights from the leaked data with The World's host Marco Werman.

Many students who rely on the national free lunch program risk going hungry after Ghana’s school caterers went on strike.

Seagrass is on the decline in the world’s oceans, but the Indigenous Comcáac people of northern Mexico have managed to protect 96% of the eelgrass that grows in their waters.