The World: Latest Stories

The University of the People bills itself as the first nonprofit, tuition-free, American-accredited online university. Thanks to technological developments and the acceptance of online learning, the nature of higher education is changing fast. But are the university's 137,000 students from more than 200 countries, including the US, getting a quality education? Emily Haavik reports on how the university works.

Dec. 20 is a national day of mourning in Panama in memory of the victims of the 1989 US invasion of the country. At the time, it was the largest invasion since Vietnam and the first after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the US, it was heralded as liberating the country from dictator Manuel Noriega, a former US ally. But in Panama, many saw it as something much different. The victims of the US action are still demanding justice.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's political party has unanimously nominated him to be their presidential candidate for the upcoming election in March 2024. The nomination comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, heavy political repression and heightened censorship.

The war in Gaza has entered its third month. In neighboring Jordan, the suffering in Gaza has led to a rise in an expression of support for Hamas. Many people in Jordan are Palestinians whose ancestors fled or were driven from what is now Israel. Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US, doesn't have an official representation in Jordan. But some tribal leaders are saying it's time it did.

New York's Big Apple Circus is collaborating with a famed German circus this year, giving the annual show a distinctly European flair. Jeff Lunden reports on the mind-boggling juggling, the clowns and the poetry.

Ever since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the group has been charged with committing acts of sexual violence. Host Carol Hills speaks with journalist and author Christina Lamb, who is recently back from reporting in Israel, where she spoke with first responders and others on the ground.

In Spain, the government is facing legal action over one of the country's most popular prescription painkillers. A patients' advocacy group claims the drug can have potentially fatal side effects. And Britons traveling in Spain may be most at risk.

Every year, thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims flock to Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But this year, Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem and across the Middle East will be dramatically toned down.

Palestinian refugees from Gaza live in a state of limbo in Jordan. Despite having lived in the country for decades -and even being born there -Jordan hasn't granted them citizenship. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports from Amman, Jordan.

In the Canary archipelago, the Laurel forest of La Gomera island looks like something from the age of the dinosaurs. Because it is from the age of the dinosaurs. It's lush and eerie, with trees" that grow horizontally along the ground like enormous vines. In recent times, the UNESCO-protected forest has been threatened by building, forestry and tourists. Locals are figuring out ways to protect this special place.

In wartime, it is rare that people are held accountable for the crimes they commit. Sometimes justice takes decades, or it never comes. But cell phones and city surveillance videos mean that atrocities can be caught on cameras. Dina Temple-Raston, the host of the podcast, "Click Here," reports that Ukrainian officials are working with the International Criminal Court to collect the data and file cases so those who commit war crimes don't go free.

In the Canary archipelago, the Laurel forest of La Gomera island looks like something from the age of the dinosaurs. Because it is from the age of the dinosaurs. It's lush and eerie, with trees" that grow horizontally along the ground like enormous vines. In recent times, the UNESCO-protected forest has been threatened by building, forestry and tourists. Locals are figuring out ways to protect this special place.

For the past few weeks, a floating film festival has been plying the waters of Ecuador's Amazon region. The films are transported aboard a solar-powered boat. It stops in Indigenous communities along the rivers, sets up a projector, and shows films by and about Indigenous people around the globe.

Jordan's economy relies heavily on tourism but since Hamas' attack on Israel in October and the ongoing war in Gaza, tourism in the country has slowed down. This is also the case in other countries in the region, including Israel itself, Lebanon and Egypt.

Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was detained in October in Russia's Tatarstan region. Officials there have accused her of failing to register as a foreign agent;" however, it's widely believed that she was arrested because she's a US citizen.

It's considered a rare punishment of Israelis by the US and comes as settler violence is on the rise. The World's Marco Werman spoke with Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now, about the history of the settlers and their political influence with current government.

At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, leaders from the US and EU have backed a phasedown of fossil fuels, with some qualifications. But many African countries say they deserve to exploit their natural resources and develop just like richer countries.

El Hierro, a tiny island in the Canaries, is halfway to the UN goal of ditching fossil fuels. But finding just the right renewable energy mix is proving tough.

After the shocking attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, many people have decided to arm themselves. Gun sales are on the rise. But lots more guns in more people's hands can be dangerous.

It's been about six months since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive. Its aim was to recapture large swaths of territory occupied by Russian forces. However, as we enter the cold winter months, most military experts believe that the war in Ukraine is now entering a new phase.

China began restricting exports of graphite supplies needed to make electric vehicle (EV) batteries on Dec. 1. EV carmakers are nervous about shortages because the US lacks its own domestic supplies. One of the world's largest sources of graphite has been discovered in Alaska, but the company with mining rights to the site is Canadian.

As Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza continues, a boycott campaign is growing in the Middle East and beyond. In Jordan, many have stopped buying American and European products that they say support Israel financially or have a pro-Israel stance. Starbucks and McDonald's in Amman sit mostly empty. In supermarkets, everyday items carry warnings.

After Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994, there's been a fragile but sustained calm in this region. But following the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and an increase in settler violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank, relations between Jordan and Israel have soured.

On Wednesday, a US federal indictment was unsealed, charging Indian national Nikhil Gupta in a murder-for-hire plot ordered up by an official inside the Indian government for targeting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual American and Canadian citizen, in New York.

Asa Koski, a social strategist with the Lulea municipality in northern Sweden, started the Sag hej! (Say hi!") campaign to try and get people to interact more with each other to combat widespread loneliness.

Few American statesmen have been as celebrated and as hated as Henry Kissinger, described as a key architect of US foreign policy." He died on Wednesday at the age of 100.

For more than 30 years, Palestinian and Bedouin shepherds say they lived peacefully in part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A few days after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, they say they faced extreme harassment and threats from armed Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers, and were forced to relocate. Palestinian advocates say extremist Jewish settlers are attempting to "cleanse" parts of the West Bank of Palestinians. Israeli settlers tend to see things differently.

Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip remain in desperate need of humanitarian aid. To find out more about the situation, The World's host Marco Werman spoke with Avril Benoit, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders in the United States.

Optimism soared after the Paris Agreement was established in 2015. But progress at UN climate talks since then has been incremental at best.

There are many Russian critics of the war in Ukraine. Those inside Russia generally keep quiet, while others are silenced through imprisonment. Others have left the country, including the four members of the feminist activist collective Pussy Riot. The World's Marco Werman speaks to one member of the group.

Since the Brexit vote of 2016, hundreds of thousands of Britons have applied for citizenship of European countries, allowing them to continue to work and travel freely while holding onto their British passport. Thousands have been able to acquire passports of other European nations through sometimes distant Jewish roots.

As political and military leaders negotiate over the fate of civilians on both sides of the war in Gaza, there are Israeli and Palestinian people who are working together to search for common ground. The World's host Marco Werman had a discussion withtwo leaders from Standing Together, the largest Jewish-Arab grassroots organization in Israel.They are both Israeli citizens. Sally Abed is Palestinian and lives in Haifa. Alon-Lee Green is Jewish and lives in Tel Aviv.

In recent months, thousands of migrants from around the world have been arriving at the Latvia-Belarus border. Most Western countries blame Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko for orchestrating the unfolding border crisis that began in 2021.

The national instrument of Cuba, the tres is gaining some attention in the US. For the very first time, Berklee College of Music in Boston admitted two students of Cuban tres this year.

After weeks of negotiations, Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, starting on Thursday. What will follow is the release of dozens of people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israel will also set free a large number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The World's Matthew Bell tells us more.

Severe water shortages in Iraq are affecting the cultivation of the country's signature anbar rice. The lack of water is being caused by a combination of climate change and geopolitics. The World's Sara Hassan speaks with a farmer who can no longer grow the crop in southern Najaf province.

For centuries, eyeliner has been seen as a staple, and often the only beauty item some women and men wear. In culture journalist Zahra Hankir's latest book, "Eyeliner: A Cultural History," readers learn how eyeliner isn't just some superficial beauty hack and that in many cultures around the world, it has been revolutionized and popularized by people of color for medicinal purposes, authority and its cultural ties.

On Tuesday, Ukraine is celebrating 10 years since the start of the Maidan Revolution, the uprising that led to the downfall of the pro-Russian government and closer ties with the European Union. It also sparked a new wave of aggression from neighboring Russia that led to its full-scale invasion nearly two years ago.

Monday is Black Consciousness Day in Brazil. It falls on day of death of Zumbi dos Palmares, the leader of Palmares Quilombo, a community of runaway slaves and their descendants, in 1695. There are still thousands of quilombos across Brazil, and many continue to fight for their land and their rights.

Communication blackouts have become common since the start of the war in Gaza. Without phones, people can't call for an ambulance or let their families know they are alive. It hampers aid workers. But Dina Temple-Raston, the host of the podcast "Click Here," reports that one man has found a workaround.

Guatemala is facing political turmoil following legal challenges posed to the country's president-elect, Bernardo Arevalo. On Thursday, prosecutors moved to remove him and his party members of their immunity for allegedly making social media posts encouraging students to take over a university last year. Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joined The World to talk about why and how this political development has unfolded and what it means for the country.

New York Times food writer Yewande Komolafe grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. When she moved to the US in her late teens, she recreated her favorite dishes by memory. Now she celebrates her home town's cuisine in her new book: "My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora." Host Marco Werman speaks to Komolafe about what inspired her book.

Negotiators have reportedly been getting close to reaching a deal to free Israeli hostages taken by Hamas last month. In exchange, Israel would release Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. But so far, any agreement between Israel and Hamas has proven to be difficult to reach.

Fifty churches, synagogues, mosques and temples in New York City will start housing nearly 1,000 migrant men. The new plan announced by Mayor Eric Adams means the city will pay houses of worship to have beds, showers and dining areas, filling in the desperate need to provide shelter as more migrants keep arriving. The announcement comes as religious affiliation in the US is down, even among Latinos.

If you're not from the US, football and its traditions can be bewildering. To help their international students, many universities now offer a crash course in the rules, scoring and, of course, fight songs. Shannon Young reports from football-crazed Boulder, Colorado, that the classes aren't just to help international students understand football but American culture.

Just days before the presidential elections in Argentina, Taylor Swift fans wanted to make sure their voices were heard. Pink posters with the caption: "Swifties Don't Vote for Milei" were spotted all around the country's biggest stadium, where the pop star recently performed three sold-out concerts. Javier Milei is a far-right libertarian candidate who has proposed radical changes if elected.

Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli finance minister has endorsed the idea of sending Palestinians from Gaza to countries that will accept them. But Palestinians say this would effectively be ethnic cleansing.

For over a year now, the front line in the war between Russia and Ukraine hasn't moved very much. Russia still occupies about 18% of Ukrainian territory. For Ukrainians living under Russian occupation, security and safety is a major concern. So, many Ukrainians have chosen to flee.

Thousands of rockets have been fired at Israeli towns and cities by Hamas militants in Gaza. In the beginning of the war, many were directed at the city of Ashkelon. About 200,000 Israelis have fled to other parts of the country. But some residents have decided to stay put.

The growth of the sugar industry in Southeast Asia resulted in the displacement of many small farmers. But some farmers in Cambodia are finally trying to get compensation for their losses, and, in some cases, violent harassment by sugar producers. A class action lawsuit in Thailand filed by Cambodian farmers is considered to be a major landmark for this part of the world. New documents may suggest that Coca-Cola knew about human rights violations in Cambodia.