The World: Latest Stories

A journalist who made fun of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's height must pay her 5,000 euros in damages. Host Carol Hills has the details.

On Instagram, Princess Mahra al Maktoum made a post that recited one custom in conservative Islam that allows a husband to divorce his wife if he repeats, "I divorce you," out loud three times. It's reserved for men, but Princess Mahra flipped that. The post points to social and cultural underpinnings of the Dubai royal family's stage-managed public presence - and it's possible erosion.

Mohammed Rezaie, a former Iranian navy captain who fled to Turkey, is pursued by a group of undercover Turkish operatives working for Iran. They nearly kidnap him, but Rezaie's suspicions of them help him escape. Reporter Fariba Nawa tells the story of how Rezaie survives.

Switzerland isn't a car country. It's train territory. Cars here are luxury items, and often unnecessary, thanks to robust public transit. So, a pop-up, drive-in movie series in Basel is kind of a novelty. But as reporter Gabe Bullard discovered, attendees really embrace 1950s Americana. Vintage cars included.

Earlier on Friday, Evan Gershkovich stood in a glass cage in Yekaterinburg, a city about 900 miles east of Moscow, as the court sentenced him to a 16-year prison term on espionage charges. The Wall Street Journal and the US government have called this a sham trial" and vehemently deny the charges. The World's Daniel Ofman reports on the plight of Gershkovich and other Americans detained in Russia on baseless charges.

The International Court of Justice issued a ruling on Friday saying that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and east Jerusalem is illegal and amounts to apartheid. Israel said the ICJ's decision was biased and "completely detached from reality." The World's host Carol Hills reports.

Siamese crocodiles are considered highly endangered and nearly went extinct in the 1990s. Now, through government and NGO decadeslong-conservation efforts, the Siamese crocodiles are making a comeback. Host Carol Hills reports.

In Uganda, motorcycles are one of the most-popular forms of public transport. In the capital city, Kampala, there are hundreds of thousands of them. Until recently, all of them were driven by men. But that's starting to change, with a new initiative to get women into the business. Anita Elash has the story from Kampala.

On Oct. 7, 39 workers from Thailand were murdered by Hamas in Israel. Another 31 were taken hostage into Gaza. So it's probably no surprise that around a third of the 30,000 strong community - which has been taking up agricultural jobs on Israel's farms for decades - left the country in the aftermath of the attacks. Now, they're coming back, in large part motivated by the financial incentives. Rebecca Rosman reports from Israel.

In the northeast city of Girona, Spain, the ever-growing resentment toward overtourism has boiled over into acts of aggression against an unlikely demographic: people on bicycles. Girona has a been a hub for serious cyclists for decades. A new group has formed to keep out cyclists, and vandals are attacking local bike shops. The World's Gerry Hadden pays a visit to Girona to find out why.

Former military staffer Kevin Dutremble wanted to work with refugees to learn more about US foreign policy. But the lessons he learned went much deeper than that. He shares his experience with Stories From The Stage, a storytelling project from GBH.

The closing of the Acropolis in Greece is just one sign of a heat wave that's suffocating southern Europe this week. Meteorologists say temperatures are expected to keep hitting well into the triple digits through Sunday. Host Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have more.

Thousands of students armed with sticks and rocks have been clashing with armed police in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, and across the country. The protests began with a demand to update a quota system for government jobs. Now, it has expanded to a demand for a stop to government repression. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Samina Luthfa, associate professor of sociology at the University of Dhaka about the protests and the lethal response by authorities.

A report from Human Rights Watch details how El Salvador's war on gangs and waves of arrests have also targeted children, who are often detained and sentenced without due process. The abuse they face in prison can be harrowing. Host Marco Werman speaks with Andre Rangal, a communications director for Human Rights Watch, about the findings.

Several countries in Africa have moved toward protecting LGBTQ rights in recent years. But in about half of African nations, homosexuality is illegal. These legal codes make it difficult for many in LGBTQ communities to get the health services they need. Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman looks into the problem of LGBTQ access to health care in Malawi.

Friends and enemies alike spy on each other across the globe. But in the tense relationship between the US and China, spycraft takes on a more complicated and dangerous dimension. The World's Marco Werman talks espionage with journalist Jane Perlez, host of the podcast Face Off: The US versus China."

Pastor Khader Khalilia has spent the last decade educating his congregation at Redeemer-St John's Lutheran Church in Dyker Heights, New York. For starters, many of his congregants initially assumed that all Palestinians were Muslims. Khalilia speaks with The World's Marco Werman about challenges he's encountered as one of the few Palestinian faith leaders in the US to lead a Christian church.

Robert Menendez , a New Jersey senator, and former head of the Senate foreign relations committee, has been convicted of bribery, fraud and extortion. The jury in the Manhattan court found Menendez guilty of acting on behalf of Egyptian intelligence and steering financial aid and weapons to the country. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

Poppy seeds are a flavorful ingredient in Trader Joe's "Everything But the Bagel" seasoning blend, and in South Korea, they are classified as a narcotic - which has led to a ban on importation of the product. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler tell how poppy seeds, beloved in cakes, muffins and on bagels, are now increasingly under scrutiny by authorities around the globe.

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was arrested as he was about to board a one-way flight back to Syria. Sheikh had been living in Los Angeles since 2020 and is accused of killing and torturing Syrian political dissidents. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Mouaz Mustafa of the Syrian Emergency Taskforce about the role his organization played in the case against Sheikh.

The legendary singing couple from Mali, Amadou and Mariam, are back with a new single titled "Mogolu," which means "the people" in their language Bambara. It's an embrace of the connections that can be made simply by traveling and making human connections. Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler have more on their story.

California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten (TK) to all 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year. It's poised to be the largest free preschool program in the country. A lot of the kids heading to TK are dual-language learners. KQED's Daisy Nguyen reports on the challenges California faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.

It's summer and the US and other countries are seeing a rise in rates of COVID-19. Could certain aspects of summer life be contributing: like huddling indoors with air conditioning? Or is it new variants? Host Carolyn Beeler explores these questions with Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health.

Latinos make up a little more than 10% of North Carolina's population. But they're expected to play a key role in this November's election. The Biden campaign is using Spanish-language media to target Latino voters. Meanwhile, a conservative nonprofit called the LIBRE Initiative is playing a long game. It's not necessarily trying to get Latinos to vote for Donald Trump, but to embrace conservative ideas. WFAE's Steve Harrison reports from Chapel Hill.

The men's 1,500-meter race at the Paris Olympics is bound to entertain, with medal contenders from Kenya and the US. The reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and reigning World Champion Josh Kerr are getting a lot of attention, too. A fierce rivalry has formed between them in the past year. The World's Bianca Hillier reports.

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro is under major pressure. The country will hold elections on July 28, and he's performing badly in the polls. Under his 11-year rule, Venezuela's economy collapsed, oppression increased, and about 20% of the country's population left. A diaspora of millions of people could have been crucial for the electoral outcome. But as The World's Tibisay Zea reports, most Venezuelans living abroad were not allowed to register to vote.

A court in Moscow handed Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen an eight-year prison term in absentia for criticizing the Russian military. The case stems from a YouTube interview Gessen conducted in 2022 with anti-war Russian blogger Yuri Dud. Gessen, who lives in the US and is a columnist for The New York Times, is unlikely to be imprisoned unless they travel to a country with an extradition treaty with Russia.

Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer is promising to "smash the gangs" that traffic undocumented migrants across the English channel from France. He has also ditched the controversial Rwanda policy, which threatened to send migrants to the east African country to have their asylum claims processed there. Starmer says a new border security command unit will reduce the numbers crossing the channel to seek asylum in the UK. As The World's Europe correspondent Orla Barry reports, refugee rights campaigners say that's unlikely to work.

The new study says ice melt from the Earth's poles is slowing the planet's rotation. By the end of the century, days will be longer by a few milliseconds, but this is enough to disrupt the internet, GPS systems and more. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Benedikt Soja, a leading author of the study.

A few weeks ago, a scandal erupted in India following the results of a medical school entrance test. An abnormally high number of students received perfect scores on the fiercely competitive exam. It turns out that exam questions had been improperly shared before the test. As Sushmita Pathak reports from Delhi, the scandal is shining a light on India's toxic exam culture.

Hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler offer a global roundup of news about animals that listeners might have missed.

Ri Il-kyu served as a North Korean diplomat in Cuba, up until he decided to defect to South Korea late last year. The details of his account appeared in South Korean newspapers on Tuesday. Ri's defection is the latest in a string of officials fleeing from North Korea over the last several years, and it will be embarrassing for dictator Kim Jong-un. The World's Matthew Bell reports.

There doesn't appear to be much doubt about who will win Monday's presidential election in Rwanda. The incumbent Paul Kagame has been in power for three decades, and the past three elections saw landslide victory after landslide victory. Critics have called him a strong man or dictator. To understand how his rule has shaped the country, host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Michela Wrong, who has covered eastern Africa as an author and journalist for Reuters and the Financial Times.

Anchored by volunteers and funded by donations, Istanbul's Open Radio is considered one of Turkey's last bastions of free speech. After a guest on a news program mentioned the 1915 Armenian genocide on air, Turkey's broadcast regulator issued the station a hefty fine, and told them to take the program off the air. They didn't. The World reports from Istanbul.

Dozens of people who had sought shelter in a makeshift camp were killed and many more injured in Israeli airstrikes on Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. Al-Mawasi was previously designated a "safe zone" by Israel, which prompted thousands to seek shelter there. Israel's military leadership claim the strikes targeted members of Hamas' military leadership in Gaza. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Hassan Morajea, a regional access advisor with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Gaza, about the latest situation.

Political violence and increasing polarization in the United States have led much of the world to question what the country represents. Steven Levitsky, author of "Tyranny of the Minority," tells host Carolyn Beeler that violence frequently occurs in democracies. What matters most is whether political leaders rally in response, to ensure that democratic principles endure.

This weekend saw two of the biggest events in international soccer. The European Championship pit favorites Spain against underdogs England, who haven't ever won a Euro Cup. In the Copa America, South America's dominant team, Argentina, took on up-and-comers Colombia. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks about the competitions with The World's Gerry Hadden in Barcelona and Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia.

The weekend's scene of a former American president, and current presidential candidate, being grazed by a bullet in broad daylight grabbed headlines around the globe. As the World's Matthew Bell reports, the reactions from international leaders came quickly.

Two days after winning Wimbledon, Czech tennis champion Barbora Krejcikova is back in the top-10 ranking of tennis players. Winning the women's singles title on Saturday catapulted her 22 places up the list, as host Carolyn Beeler explains.

During the past two weeks of nationwide anti-tax demonstrations, one institution has drawn the ire of many of the young Kenyans out on the street: The International Monetary Fund (IMF). They blame the IMF for encouraging Kenya's government to increase taxes in return for debt help and credit. It's not the first time the IMF has been criticized by Africans for giving loans that come with strict conditions. Now that Kenya's president has agreed not to sign the controversial bill, the question is how Kenya will address its debt problems. The World's Halima Gikandi reports from Nairobi.

For most of the world, silent films died out in the 1930s. But the one cinema in the world that still offers a regular schedule of silent films, with live piano accompaniment, is thriving. Theo Merz brought us the story from Brussels, Belgium, last summer.This story originally aired on July 5, 2023.

People in Tamaulipas State in northern Mexico are seeing a noticeable symptom of recent heavy rains: crocodiles showing up in towns, nearly 200 of them, since June. Hosts Carol Hills and Carolyn Beeler have more details.

It's been nearly three weeks since police deployed from Kenya arrived in Haiti to secure the capital, Port-au-Prince. But gangs continue to control much of the city. Host Carol Hill speaks with reporter Wildore Merancourt in Port-au-Prince about the situation on the ground there.

The US, Canada and Finland have just announced plans to work together to build icebreakers, a type of ship suited to the icy waters of the Arctic. The idea is to fend off growing Russian activity in the polar region, as climate change enables easier passage through once-frozen seas. The World's host Carolyn Beeler discusses the significance of this new effort with Katarzyna Zysk, a professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies.

The nuptials of Indian billionaire Anant Ambani and pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant this weekend in Mumbai are already a global spectacle, attracting international attention, and local criticism. Hosts Carol Hills and Carolyn Beeler have the story.

Chile's government is considering 81 proposals for new lithium projects. Lithium is crucial for making a transition to clean energy and Chile has the largest reserves of lithium ore worldwide. Host Carolyn Beeler talks about the challenges Chile faces as it tries to boost production of lithium, with Patricia Garip, a reporter based in Chile who focuses on natural resources.

The world's top tennis stars are in London, battling it out on the famed Centre Court at Wimbledon. The World's Bianca Hillier reports on the competition as the remaining athletes head into the finals this weekend.

Mystic troubadours in India and Bangladesh have been singing songs that draw from the teachings of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. They're called The Baul. Reporter Philip Salata takes us inside a musical tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

This week, CIA director Bill Burns and President Joe Biden's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, traveled to the Middle East to meet with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials. The meetings are part of the latest efforts to reach a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports on what's happening in those talks, and where peace negotiations stand.

National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek is on a 24,000-mile, transcontinental journey and he's traveling the slow way: on foot. In this installment, he talks about the local foods he's eaten along the way. He tells host Marco Werman about some of the dishes he's tasted, from a meat dumpling stew in the Palestinian West Bank to fresh fruits and vegetables gathered on a Turkish farm to pizza in rural India.