The World: Latest Stories

A six-month ceasefire between the Colombian government and the rebel group known as the National Liberation Army began this month. Support for the truce, and ongoing peace talks, could depend on whether the group ceases attacks on civilians that include kidnappings and extortion.

Shells, bombs and hand grenades are still found across Belgium on a daily basis. Every year, a special unit removes over 150 metric tons of unexploded ordnance.

Ukraine is now considered the most heavily mined country in the world. Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnances since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. And about a third of the country needs to be cleared of these explosives. Much of that land is farmland.

As part of our summer series, "Planet Hip Hop," we take you to South Korea, where hip-hop found its footing in the 1990s.Haekyung Um has written extensively about Korean pop culture and also teaches global popular music and Asian music industries at the University of Liverpool. Shejoined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about the evolution of hip-hop and rap in South Korea.

The Nordic nation is the third-largest exporter of pop music in the world, after the US and the UK. But musicians in Sweden are worried that the country's changing political climate could endanger this great Swedish success story.

Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh are seeing shortages in basic necessities and are calling on the US and EU to step in.

A recent survey indicates much less species growth in Germany's Black Forest. Two plant species have gone extinct, and several more will likely disappear in the next 15 years.

Nearly a year and a half into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its impact has been felt most acutely in lost lives, flattened cities and destroyed infrastructure. But the environmental damage from combat has also contaminated Ukraine's soil, water and air, at a cost the government is estimating to be $56 billion. This impact is likely to be one of the longest-lasting legacies of the war, persisting for decades after the fighting stops.

Liberia has been on and off the State Department's human trafficking watch list for years. In this desperately poor country, people accept jobs from agents to work as domestic servants in other countries. Usually, they are trapped, earning little money and subject to abuse. But several hundred Liberian women used social media to escape their traffickers in 2022.

After four years of pandemic shutdowns, the grand Gion Matsuri festival resumed in all its glory this July, with bells, gongs and flutes chiming atop massive floats decked out in lavish tapestries and treasures.

Getting accurate casualty numbers in Russia's war against Ukraine has been very difficult. Now, a team of Russian journalists and researchers are doing the grueling work of counting Russian casualties on their own, using some unusual methods.

Ecuador is in the throes of political turmoil and discrimination against foreigners is on the rise. This is affecting gay and transgender Venezuelans particularly hard.

Dr. Alexander Tenorio is part of a network of doctors in the San Diego area who are on call to receive individuals who attempt to climb over the 18-foot border wall, then fall on the US side where they have to be treated in local hospitals. It's an urgent issue as the border wall is now being raised in many parts from 18 feet to 30 feet.

Unlike conflicts in the past, technology is now allowing third-party observers to document human rights abuses in near-real time thanks to, among other things, low-orbit satellites. The Recorded Future News podcast, "Click Here,"looks at the past and current violence in Darfur, Sudan.

This summer, we are taking you on a global journey to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. In Senegal, hip-hop has evolved from something of a fad, to an influential force for social change.

In our latest installment of Movement," our series on music and migration, Meklit Hadero speaks with Belgian artists Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul, who are trying to start difficult conversations through music.

New York City has opened 188 shelters, including several humanitarian relief centers. But with 56,200 migrants currently living there, the shelter population is at an all-time high.

About 5,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Iceland since the start of the war, and continue to do so at a rate of about 200 arrivals per month. The government gives them nearly instant resident status, on humanitarian grounds. It has also created a website in Ukrainian to help them navigate the bureaucracy and culture.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many European countries have been trying to find ways to reduce their dependence on Russian energy. One place they're starting to look is West Africa, where Senegal and Mauritania are capitalizing on recent discoveries of natural gas. But many locals are wondering how much they will benefit from their own country's resources.

Scientists say research into newly found reefs could lead to important conservation efforts

The Moomins are troll-like characters from a Finnish children's book series that became popular around the world starting in the 1950s. But they never really took off in the United States. The author Tove Jansson rejected Walt Disney's offer to buy the brand. Now, a bookstore chain in the US is trying to popularize the Moomins here.

Sweden's gun homicide rate is 2 1/2 times higher than the European average and 75% to 80% of deadly shootings remain unsolved. But local communities and former gang members are working together to find answers and fight back.

More than a year after thousands of Russians who opposed the war fled abroad for safety, they now face deportation and other challenges in the countries that initially received them, such as Kazakhstan, Estonia and Georgia.

Boston is a cradle of American history, and 4 million people a year visit the historic churches, graveyards and parks that make up the Freedom Trail to learn more about the country's origins. But rarely do they hear the underbelly of that story: that slavery touched nearly every aspect of the society and the economy of Massachusetts during that period of time. But that is now changing.

Noam Tsuriely is a 28-year-old Jewish Israeli hip-hop artist from Jerusalem He says he likes to rap in both Hebrew and Arabic to get Israelis and Palestinians to learn both languages, so they can understand each other better. Tsuriely's story is the latest in The World's summer "Planet Hip Hop" series.

The small town of Akureyri, in Iceland, has set itself a big goal: to become the world's first carbon-neutral city by 2030. It hopes that going green can serve as a model for other places.

Some startups throughout the Americas are establishing loans geared towards migrants. Among them is Galgo, which helps migrants buy motorbikes in order to earn money with delivery apps like Uber Eats.

The ban will come into effect in five days, leaving roughly 60,000 women out of work.

The 27-year-old Japanese trading card franchise has exploded in popularity in recent years, leading to frenzied fans, collectors and Pokemon card players fighting for the best cards.

California is home to the largest Armenian diaspora. Since the end of the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there's been a reverse migration of children of Armenian migrants in the US back to Armenia. They're starting businesses, getting jobs and moving back with their families to set up homes.

Varzeshe Pahlavani is a mix of martial arts, wrestling and calisthenics. It has deep roots in Persian tradition going back centuries. The sport is officially closed off to women, but one female Iranian activist is trying to change that.

The UK has taken in more than 250,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022. The World follows up on the story of one of them: a young woman who fled to London alone in March of 2022.

The Green Road project has helped over 3,000 displaced Ukrainians find safe housing in ecovillages throughout Ukraine and across Europe - including the idyllic, rural community of Hallingelille, just outside of Ringsted, in Denmark. The project is a testament to the power of international friendships and networks in times of crisis.

After the war started in Ukraine last year, the UK created several programs to welcome Ukrainian refugees. British families received stipends to welcome them into their homes, and the Ukrainians had special status to live and work in Britain. But Sudanese refugees fleeing the civil war do not have a quick, legal path to enter the UK, even if they have family there.

For generations, people have moved from rural areas to cities to find opportunities. But new research shows neighborhoods in Indian cities are segregated according to caste and religion, and that impacts upward mobility for residents.

The ruble is not doing very well. The Russian currency has been in a free fall. Last week, it reached its lowest point against the US dollar since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That could have implications for the Russian economy.

Hip-hop has taken root in Egypt. Authorities are trying to suppress it. But the raw power of the music may be unstoppable. Yasmine el Rashidi, author of "Laughter in the Dark: Egypt to the Tune of Change," tells host Marco Werman how young Egyptians are pushing hip-hop to the limit.

The former administrative capital of French West Africa, Saint-Louis in Senegal sits between the Senegal River and the Atlantic Ocean. Its highest point stands just 13 feet above sea level, and it gets waves from both fresh and seawater that have become a growing threat as water levels rise.

About 10% of Iceland is still covered by glaciers - what Icelanders call their white diamonds." Now, a mysterious patch of cold water in the North Atlantic Ocean, known as the Blue Blob," is helping slow down the rate at which these glaciers are melting. But scientists are concerned about how long this will last.

Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources has warned that the country is facing its worst water shortage in a century. It said 7 million people are experiencing reduced access to water. Shrinking water levels, rampant salinity and contamination have left communities with no choice but to migrate.

After the war began in Ukraine last year, Ukrainians fleeing the violence spread across Europe. In the UK, a program paid families to take Ukrainians into their homes for six months. But the budget for this program was cut in half this year, and thousands of Ukrainians are looking for a longer-term solution, and risk becoming homeless.

A two-day NATO summit wraps up on Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania. The 31-nation military alliance now has plans to grow, with Sweden expected to become a full-fledged member. Ukraine is eager to join as well, and its membership bid was at the top of the NATO summit agenda.

The war in Ukraine has interrupted the delivery of wheat to Senegal, and that's shaking up a big part of that country's culture.

The ongoing fighting in Sudan is being described as a civil war, with fears of possible genocide. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Administrator Samantha Power, who heads the US Agency for International Development (USAID) about the unrest and humanitarian support to those who need it most.

A year and a half into her administration, many say Xiomara Castro has yet to live up to expectations. But as Honduras' first female president, those expectations are higher than usual. Much of the criticism against Castro comes from machismo and gender discrimination. She's just one of two female heads of state of a Latin American country.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year upended energy markets throughout Europe.No country was hit harder than Germany.At the time, more than half of Germany's gas came from Russia. In the short term, the country had to double down on fossil fuels: keeping coal-fired power plants open longer and building new liquefied natural gas terminals.But in the long term, the war pushed a government falling behind on renewable energy goals to enact some ambitious new policies.

A financial deficit that forced Cardinal Stritch Universityin Wisconsin to close down left many of Milwaukee's undocumented community with nowhere to go. Stritch was seen as a welcoming place for undocumented students facing additional barriers to higher education. Now, students are trying to replicate its services at other colleges.

Oscar Olivares plans to take his ecological art global in hopes of promoting sustainable practices and educating communities on how to recycle.

The Taliban have given all women's beauty salons in Afghanistan one month to close down. The ultraconservative group, which took power by force in 2021, has consistently chipped away at women's rights and freedoms in the country.

On Thursday, the 14th Dalai Lama turns 88 years old. The Tibetan spiritual leader and prominent Buddhist figure is the longest serving in the line of Dalai Lamas in Tibetan history. As he gets older, the prospect of his demise - and what happens after - is looming.