The World: Latest Stories

Among the public in places such as Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan, surgical masks are widely believed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

For most asylum-seekers stranded in Lesbos, the future is uncertain — even more so now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daily worship has changed at the Western Wall and other holy sites throughout the city.

Multilateral diplomacy could be key in stemming the spread of the outbreak of the coronavirus says Nicholas Burns, former United States ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The US lags behind nearly all other countries when it comes to sick leave. And when sick people come to work, viruses are harder to contain.

His latest routine, Bassem Youssef skewers Egypt’s recently deceased former strongman, Hosni Mubarak.

Almost everything Lebanon consumes is imported — and COVID-19 has struck as Lebanon slides deeper into an already bad financial crisis brought on by government corruption and mismanagement.

As the coronavirus pandemic sharply curbs travel, the aviation industry is facing the "worst crisis" since 9/11.

Seline Frederiksz, whose son died aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, said speaking up at the trial is "one of the last things that I can do" for the victims.

Epidemiology professor Dr. Michael Mina says better coordination among various parties in the US health system is "really what is needed if we want to keep everyone in this country safe."

An estimated 250,000 US-born children nationwide have parents in the country under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. A lawsuit on whether the Trump administration can end DACA is before the US Supreme Court.

The lawsuit asks that the Commission on Unalienable Rights be folded, that its records be made public, and that the Trump administration be barred from taking recommendations from the body.

Despite medical experts and the WHO raising the alarm over coronavirus, world leaders — particularly in the Western world — must do more to show they are taking the threat seriously, says epidemiologist Marcel Salathé.

The coronavirus outbreak has led to a spate of cancelations and school closures, and it's causing logistical and financial challenges, especially for the more than 1 million international students enrolled in schools in the US.

Residents don’t have access to their normal support networks.

Many Russians in the far north have been waiting for more than two decades to be resettled in lower latitudes. They are caught between Moscow's grand plans for Arctic development and an exodus of aging Soviet workers longing to see flowers rather than blizzards in the springtime.

This California family is finally free to leave their apartment after six weeks indoors in China. Monica Campbell has an update on what those first few days of freedom felt like to the family.

The government has told all Italians to stay at home and avoid non-essential travel until April 3, radically widening steps already taken in much of the wealthy north, which is the epicenter of the spreading contagion. Italy's Lombardy region in the north of the country, where Stefano Magnone works as a surgeon at the Papa Giovanni 23rd hospital, has been the hardest hit. Magnone spoke with The World's Marco Werman.

Officials haven't confirmed the cause of the conflagration, but the blaze took place amid increasing tensions over the migrant situation on the island.

Your hands connect you to the world. During a virus outbreak, that’s not a good thing.

In the border village of Kastanies, interactions with the Turkish neighbors are a fact of daily life. Relations are friendly. But the recent political standoff between Greece and Turkey has changed everything.

Faced with Europe's worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus, northern Italy is on lockdown following a governmental decree. The World speaks with Alessandro Vespignani, a researcher at Northeastern University, who models the spread of infectious diseases. He's been studying how China's early travel restrictions in Wuhan affected the spread of the virus worldwide.

The idea of women striking has existed for years in different parts of the world, but this year in Mexico, it’s taken on a new life with the horrific, back-to-back murders of a young woman and a 7-year-old girl.

The campaign has pushed more than a dozen political leaders out of restaurants, malls and other venues in the past few months.

Tens of thousands of migrants have been trying to get into Greece since late February when Turkey said it would no longer stop them from leaving. On Friday, Greek and Turkish security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds near the Kastanies-Pazarkule border crossing.

Three nurses in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca became viral heroes in the fight against the coronavirus thanks to a video they made in 2016 on the correct way to wash one's hands.

Two neighboring Embassy Row properties in Washington, DC, have been boarded up for years. The buildings are caught in a unique sort of real estate limbo as diplomatic relations between the US and Iran are suspended. But if walls could talk, wild parties might be on the tip of their tongues.

While fake news is a global problem, it is especially so in Nigeria, where false information on social media can quickly end up on legitimate news websites.

Vietnamese pop star Mai Khoi sings about censorship and human rights. It's gotten her in trouble with the authorities in Vietnam.

Author Yashu Zhang first experienced the arrival of coronavirus in Pudung, the district of Shanghai where she works, and later in her hometown in Hunan province, where she recently visited her grandparents.

The two remaining major Democratic candidates for president — former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — are largely sticking to similar talking points, saying they’ll start reversing on day one what the Trump administration has done. But people who’ve been working on immigration for years also want to hear what a Democratic president would do on day two — beyond reversing Trump’s policies.

Spotify has launched a podcast designed to calm your dog when he is home alone, in response to owners’ request and scientific studies that prove a connection between pets and humans.

Officials say they’ll look for people who lied during naturalization, and ask a judge to strip them of citizenship.

On Monday night, Colombia’s Constitutional Court voted to uphold a previous ruling that allows the procedure when a woman’s life is at risk, the fetus is malformed or the pregnancy is a result of rape.

Some Americans showed up to a local sports bar in Israel on Super Tuesday to cast their votes for the next American president.

The country has seen a rise in reported femicides and violence against women. Despite the president's promises to address the violence, his administration has cut programs aimed at helping women and girls.

Outside China, South Korea has the highest number of COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) announced the number of infections had surpassed 5,000 and attributed at least 28 deaths to the virus.

Latinos' rapid growth as a voting bloc means 2020 will likely be the first election where Latinos comprise the largest minority voting group. Super Tuesday will be the first major test of their influence.

A new law would give night clubs the same status as opera houses. The measure would make it easier for new clubs to get zoning licenses and reduce restrictions on where clubs can operate.

The Greek government is working to expand refugee camps, but many Greek residents oppose such a move and violence has escalated this week.

As Indian officers are accused of standing by during violent persecution of Muslims, one policewoman describes the hardships of trying to change the force from the inside.

Israelis took to the polls Monday for the third general election in 12 months. The role of religion in state affairs was top of mind for many voters.

More than 10,000 migrants, mostly from Syria, other Middle Eastern states and Afghanistan, have reached Turkey's land borders with EU states Greece and Bulgaria since Ankara said last Thursday it would stop keeping them on its territory. The World's Marco Werman speaks with Devon Cone of Refugees International.

London is already one of the most surveilled cities in the world with around 420,000 CCTV cameras in operation. Yet London police are pushing ahead with plans to implement the facial recognition technology across the city. The Dazzle Club, led by four artists, dons camouflage make-up and leads a silent public walk once a month in protest of live facial recognition police cameras in London.

Many places in the area hardest hit by COVID-19 are struggling to get the supplies they need.

When COVID-19 first emerged, the country took some of the most aggressive measures to contain the spread without putting entire communities on lockdown.

In Istanbul on Friday, refugees from Syria clamored to board buses to Bulgaria. Other migrants are heading for the Greek islands, and hope to enter the European Union by boat.

A Christian pastor's kidnapping and execution by Boko Haram in January along with a spate of reported attacks on churches in recent years in northern Nigeria have led some Christians in the country to believe they are being persecuted for their religion.