The World: Latest Stories

This week, the US agreed to return more than 17,000 treasures to Iraq. Nada Shabout, a professor of art history, joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss Iraq's stolen cultural heritage.

Athens has appointed a chief heat officer, the first such appointment in Europe and only the second in the world. Chief heat officer Eleni Myrivili spoke with The World’s Lydia Emmanouilidou in Athens.

A new study says if global warming continues at its current rate, more than 80% of Emperor penguin colonies will be gone in the next 80 years. Phil Trathan, who co-authored the study, joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the plight of penguins.

More people who are working remotely are moving into less expensive towns — but that's also causing a housing crunch for refugees in Maine who can't afford to live elsewhere. The trend stretches across the US.

The park skateboarding event made a memorable debut at the Tokyo Olympics — with the host country continuing to dominate.

A Samoan appeals court has finally confirmed Fiamē Naomi Mata-afa as the country's prime minister, months after being sworn in during an ad-hoc ceremony in May, but not everybody is happy.

A year after a blast in Beirut killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the city, no one has been held accountable as the country sinks deeper into crisis.

Nineteen-year-old Athing Mu made history on the track in Tokyo on Tuesday by winning gold for the US in the 800-meter race.

“I can’t explain why, but France has always excelled at judo,” said judo instructor Raymond Demoniere. With nearly 600,000 registered players — or judokas — across the country, Judo is one of France’s most popular sports.

Sudan’s new government is working to provide protections for religious minorities. Sudanese Christians are trying to figure out what it means for them.

After years of pushing a narrative of anti-Americanism and Filipino nationalism, President Rodrigo Duterte reversed his decision to void a long-standing defense agreement with the US. Analysts say Manila is in need of American assistance to counter Chinese aggression.

George Nissen, an acrobat and tumbler from Iowa, invented what's known today as the modern trampoline. His daughter, Dian Nissen, a trampoline coach, reminisces about her father's joy of jumping.

Until now, Africa has faced an uphill battle importing COVID-19 shots.

Mia Bloom, co-author of "Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon," speaks with The World's host Marco Werman about the rise of QAnon, a US-based, conspiracy-fueled movement with international reach.

Global health officials are scrambling to curb the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 delta variant. Dr. Michael Marks, a researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the new challenges.

Iván Ghezzi, an archeologist and the director of the Chankillo project that was awarded the honor, discusses how the centuries-old system operated, and how it's still precise to this day.

On Wednesday, police in Russia raided the home of Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of The Insider, an independent, investigative media outlet. Dobrokhotov joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about the pressure journalists are under in Russia.

The ambitious green-belt project aims to create a series of contiguous forests that would run for hundreds of miles across the country's southern region — but it may take decades.

Although rates of the coronavirus in Niger are low, experts warn that it could still be vulnerable and stressed the need for ongoing vigilance.

Scott Cassel, CEO and founder of the Product Stewardship Institute in Boston, discusses the law with The World's host Marco Werman.

A new migration crisis looms on the horizon. Where will people go when a changing climate renders their homelands uninhabitable? And what can governments do about it?

Shelley Thakral, communications and advocacy specialist with the World Food Program, joined The World's host Marco Werman from Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss the dire situation.

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.