The World: Latest Stories

Judy Twigg, a global public health expert at Virginia Commonwealth University, joins The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the science behind Russia's new vaccine cocktail.

"I think in a past life I was a fish," said Wang Xiao Xue, a mermaid-in-training. Mermaid diving is a fast-growing trend in China, with 60 mermaid diving training centers — more than in any other country.

A growing number of young people in the US, whose parents are highly skilled immigrant workers, may be forced to leave the country because of a visa backlog that won't allow them to stay.

July 26 celebrations in Cuba were dampened by protests, communication shutdowns and COVID-19 restrictions — a completely different experience from previous years' fiery speeches and street parties. Former Florida Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia has been watching events in Cuba closely.

Mohammed Rezuwan, 24, lives in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp. He’s gathering Rohingya folk stories before a generation of storytellers dies off.

For decades under the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s school curriculum was infused with Islamic ideology. As the new government set out to change that, an intense debate has grown over the future of Sudan's school curriculum.

British jazz and soul singer Amy Winehouse died 10 years ago on Friday. Host Marco Werman reflects on her talents.

Kaveh Madani, a senior fellow at Yale University and former deputy head of Iran's Department of Environment, joins The World's host Marco Werman to discuss some of the reasons behind Iran's latest water shortages.

Since US President Joe Biden announced the unconditional withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan back in April, the Taliban has been taking over districts across Afghanistan. It has yet to reach major cities, such as Kabul, but how much longer can the Afghan security forces hold the group back?

Aida Mohamed says she's putting in longer hours and she's more experienced, but she's as excited now as her first time at the Olympics in 1996. She joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about her fencing career and the bubbling anticipation as the Tokyo Games begin.

Early-stage abortions are legal in Thailand, but many doctors and nurses there refuse to do them.

Securing a spot at the Olympics isn’t a lifelong promise. The International Olympic Committee has cut sports like plunge-for-distance, tug of war and rope climbing out of the Games, but competitions have continued outside the Olympic ring.

As China experiments with frozen treats, people can now find popsicles shaped like the Great Wall of China, boba tea-flavored ice pops and even peppercorn-flavored ice cream. China's gelato shop owners say ice cream is gaining popularity the same way coffee did 30 years ago.

ISIS claimed responsibility for rockets fired Tuesday in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. There were no reports of serious injuries, but it’s yet another reminder of the worsening security situation in Afghanistan as US troops are leaving.

Seattle-based artist Dakota Camacho went on a quest to understand the complexities of their ancestors’ history, the Chamorro people. In the process, Camacho developed a unique hip-hop style inspired by their ancestors.

The Nuba rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) are negotiating with the transitional government, and reviving an age-old issue in Sudan: secularism, or the separation between religion and the state.

Farmworkers are 35 times more likely to die from a heat-related death than other occupations. Roxana Chicas, a nurse and assistant professor at Emory University School of Nursing in Georgia, told The World's host Marco Werman that more needs to be done to protect farmworkers' rights.

"Surfing to us is just one more thing in the list of things that has been separated from our cultural heritage, our people and our sovereignty," Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā, with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, told The World.

"We never wrote the song for us. We didn’t do it to get attention. We did it for the people. We did [it] because we want change," said Cuban singer Randy Malcom, about his song, "Patria y vida," in an interview with The World's Latin America correspondent, Jorge Valencia.

Cuba, a world leader in medicine, is the first in Latin America to develop its own COVID-19 vaccine.

The Brazilian songwriter’s second-ever solo album contains everything from ‘Tuyo,’ the theme song he wrote for the Netflix series “Narcos,” to the more personal, ‘Tango,’ about the people he wants to be surrounded by.

Art Bites founder Maite Gomez-Rejón uses art from different eras of history to inspire her culinary projects and give her visitors a sensory experience.

What accounts for the extraordinary rise of Amazon, and what does that rise tell us about ourselves?

Stan Swamy died on July 5. The Indian government said he died of medical causes, but now, officials from the US and United Nations are expressing concern about the circumstances of his death — and activists hope their pressure could force a turning point for human rights in the country.

Michelle Gavin, a senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joined The World's host Carol Hills to help make sense of the unfolding situation in Tigray.

A shake-up in education pushes us into the future of learning.

This fast-food joint in Athens is serving up a vegan version of a traditionally meaty wrap.

National Geographic has released “Secrets of the Whales,” a video documentary miniseries that seeks to unravel the secrets of whale behavior and understand whale cultures of orcas, humpbacks, narwhals, belugas and sperm whales.

Masih Alinejad spoke from Brooklyn with The World's host Marco Werman about the kidnapping plot.

Feminist and LGBTQ groups in China face online harassment and government censorship of their social media accounts and activities.

The British parliament is currently considering whether to include invertebrates, like lobsters, in a new animal welfare bill that would mean the end of live-lobster boiling.

A recent report shows that polysilicon companies — a key component of solar panels — used forced labor of Uyghur people.

William Gumede, the executive chairperson of the Democracy Works Foundation in South Africa, discusses the recent civil unrest in South Africa with The World’s host Marco Werman.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, has been a mainstay face of the COVID-19 pandemic response over the past year.

Lillian Guerra, who writes extensively on the politics of Cuba, has been following the protests from her home in Gainesville, Florida. She joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about the significance of protests over the weekend.

With only 15% of Colombia’s population fully vaccinated, some public health experts have criticized the privately funded scheme for perpetuating inequities. Others say it will eventually benefit everyone.

Several months ago, Bangladeshi radio personality R. J. Apu, who grew up reading the comics throughout the 1990s — and whose actual name is Zahidul Haque Apu — created cover art that shows Tintin in various cities across the country.

Brazil outpaced the United States last year to become the largest soy-producing country in the world. Record exports are again expected this year. But, mass soy production is wreaking havoc on traditional farming methods.

Point Roberts shares its only land border with Canada, whose citizens can’t cross because of COVID-19 restrictions. Business owners are now struggling to stay afloat.

Pamela White served as US ambassador to Haiti from 2012 to 2015 and is now with the School of Policy and International Affairs at the University of Maine. She discussed the situation in Haiti with The World's host Marco Werman.

The Biden administration’s first comprehensive annual review of modern slavery is causing shockwaves around the world.

Ford’s F-Series pickup trucks are the best-selling vehicles in the United States. Now the all-electric version of the popular F-150 is the talk of the auto industry.

A historian’s ode to the resilient city, warts and all.

Lisa Lucero, an anthropology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an expert on Mayan civilization, discussed her findings with The World's host Marco Werman.

Peru’s closely contested presidential election exposes a long-standing but rarely acknowledged problem in the country — a legacy of marginalizing Indigenous people, who account for more than 26% of the population.

On July 1, Turkey formally withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, designed to protect women against violence, claiming a section on sexual orientation and gender identity counters Turkey’s “family values.”

Two people born in China in somewhat different eras join host Marco Werman to look at the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party.

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) was used to infiltrate Muslim American communities after the 9/11 attacks. Some say Joe Biden's new plan after the Capitol Hill breach doesn't do much better.

Canadians are being urged to use the day to reflect on the nation’s history of oppression and honor Indigenous communities.

For some, recent findings signal that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission didn’t go far enough to get answers about what took place in the residential schools.