The World: Latest Edition

It's been over three years since the Trump administration began separating families at the US-Mexico border as part of a zero-tolerance policy. This week, President Joe Biden announced a task force to reunite families, but some people have already been doing the arduous work searching for parents. And, almost a year into the pandemic, societies around the world are faced with immense contradictions. Also, carbon offsets have been gaining popularity — one project in the Maritimes provinces of...

The protests led by farmers in India are entering their third month with no sign of ending. Now, global celebrities are weighing in on the standoff including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg. And, the people helping manage vaccine shortages and rising cases of the coronavirus in populations across African countries are some of the best equipped for responding to infectious diseases and the pandemic. But the continent is now facing a second, more threatening wave of COVID-19. Also, Scandinavia's...

In Myanmar, a military coup has outraged citizens. Some of their elected leaders have been detained and cut off from the world and no one knows if the army will lock up even more civilians. And, Tuesday, President Biden signed three executive orders to alter US immigration policies. Also, a new study published by the Lancet shows that Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is nearly 92% effective against COVID-19, according to interim trial results.

For a second weekend in a row, demonstrators across Russia came out to the streets to call for the release of opposition politician Alexei Navalny from jail. And, Myanmar’s military has seized power in a coup. The takeover happened before dawn on Monday with politicians taken from their homes and detained. Also, while concerns are growing over the limited supplies of approved COVID-19 vaccines, behind the scenes, the vaccine powerhouse Serum Institute of India is massively scaling up and is...

The global race toward the mass vaccination of populations continues to face hurdles around the world just as new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus are identified. And, the United Kingdom, with one of the highest COVID-19 mortality rates per capita in the world, has a new way to stop the spread of the coronavirus by putting people in hotels to quarantine. Also, long before Wuhan became known as the city where the first cases of the coronavirus were found, it had built a very...

The Biden administration has been undoing several controversial policies of the last four years including former President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration. And, with less than six months until the Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to take place, officials are still finalizing plans for how to keep athletes safe from the coronavirus. Also, cleaning, cooking and taking care of children is work typically unpaid and overwhelmingly, around the world, done by women. But a political party in...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday held a confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden's nominee to represent the US at the United Nations, veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Also, a new study suggests that the global economy will take a major hit if low- and middle-income countries aren’t able to vaccinate their populations. And, more and more Arab women are becoming professional mountaineers, and they are making history on the mountains.

Thousands of farmers took to the streets of India’s capital on Tuesday as part of monthslong protests against agricultural laws that farmers say put their livelihoods at risk. Vishavjit Singh, a Sikh American artist and activist, suggests there’s an important similarity between the farmers in India and minorities in the US: the need to be seen and heard. And, President Joe Biden’s longtime confidant and longtime statesman, Antony Blinken, was confirmed as the next US secretary of state....

Just after President Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed office on Jan. 20, 1953, deep in the middle of the Cold War, his greatest adversary died. The speech that followed is considered one of his best, though not his most well-known. Today, it’s not hard to imagine Eisenhower standing up before us and making the same case he did almost 70 years ago. In this episode of "Things That Go Boom," The World's partner podcast from PRX, host Laicie Heeley sits down with US Sen. Chris Murphy, someone in a...

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — known to flout wearing a mask — said Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and was receiving treatment for mild symptoms. And, civil rights groups are raising concerns about moves by the US Congress to strengthen laws to investigate and charge domestic terrorists suggesting it could result in the targeting of Black and other diverse communities. Also, after being inspired by South Korea's K-pop genre, a band named Ninety One pioneered...

The Biden administration announced plans to overturn former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees and travelers from many Muslim-majority countries. And, as President Biden and his foreign policy team get to work, one country presents some big challenges: China. Also, the rumor mill heated up on Thursday after a London newspaper reported the Summer Olympics would be called off. But officials with the International Olympic Committee say that the games are on schedule.

A year after the first lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, there are two different narratives: one of heroism and teamwork, and another about loss and pain. And, after four years of the US reneging on international agreements and rolling back domestic environmental regulations, what does the Biden-Harris administration have to do to regain trust and lead the world on climate action — as Biden has promised to do? Also, starting this year, the Spanish government...

The coronavirus pandemic has forced school systems around the world to piece together patchworks of in-person, remote and hybrid learning programs. What’s the latest science on children and COVID-19? As part of The World's regular series of conversations on the pandemic with Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and as a special in our podcast feed, reporter Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with Harvard education expert Meira Levinson and epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch.

US President Joe Biden used his inaugural address to send a message to the world, taking the opportunity to directly repudiate Trump's “America First” policy. And, Biden outlined his top priorities on Wednesday including the environment, calling climate change one of the "cascading crises" America faces as he takes office. Also, in stark contrast to former President Trump's policies and approach, the Biden administration marks a major shift in the US pandemic response globally.

Guatemalan soldiers forcefully prevented a large group of migrants who were attempting to walk across the country and eventually reach the US. The tough stand taken by Guatemala at its border is in large part because of policies put in place during the Trump administration. Also, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Tuesday that the Chinese Communist Party has “committed genocide” against the Uighur ethnic group. Also, 12 bottles of Bordeaux red wine are now back on Earth after aging...

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of the recent election and will begin his sixth term in office. But, the main opposition candidate is calling the election fraudulent. And, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s work and activism profoundly shaped the US, but it also has had a huge global impact. Also, Italian authorities are calling for proposals of a new, historically accurate recreation of the iconic Colosseum floor, after over a millennium of having a bare arena.

China, which had no deaths from COVID-19 on its mainland for eight months, has responded to reports of 500 new cases by locking down 28 million people. Also, for the first time in its 30-year history, an Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, has called Israel an "apartheid regime" in a new report. And, the first place many of us go answers about any given subject is Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia, which is curated by volunteers and open to all, turned 20 on Friday.

A now-viral photo shows New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim cleaning up the Capitol rotunda after the mob rampage. Rep. Kim speaks with The World’s Marco Werman. Also, China is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, but at the same time, it's at the forefront of renewable energy innovation and has some of the world's largest conservation projects. And, a group of artists in Istanbul turned an abandoned apartment building into a multistory art installation.

Donald Trump was impeached for a second time Wednesday as the House of Representatives debated whether to remove the US president. And, Canadian authorities are considering designating the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group founded by a Canadian, as a terrorist organization in the wake of the crisis at the US Capitol. Also, the European Union's Food Safety Authority said on Wednesday that mealworms are safe for human consumption.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that Cuba will be re-designated a state sponsor of terrorism. And, on Thursday, millions of Ugandans will go to the polls to vote for president in an election that has been marked by violence and the arrest of opposition figures. Also, so-called “‘edible public spaces” can come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, ranging from a community garden to a 5-acre forest to a citrus tree on the side of a road.