The World: Latest Stories

China and Russia are both vying for an economic boost during President Vladimir Putin's two-day state visit. Putin wants Chinese leader Xi Jinping to finally endorse a long-proposed gas pipeline and to further strengthen trade and financial ties. Isabel Hilton of the China Dialogue Trust tells The World's Marco Werman that obstacles stand in the way of a closer embrace.

We join Paul Salopek, a National Geographic explorer, on the next leg of his journey across western Kazakhstan. Salopek meets horse wranglers, archaeologists working with flint metal, sufi mystics and musicians all along the ancient silk road, crossing into Central Asia. Host Marco Werman talks with Paul Salopek his experiences.

Scientists have finally cracked the mystery surrounding the ancient baobab trees. The iconic baobabs, known for their peculiar shapes and remarkable longevity, have been traced back to Madagascar around 21 million years ago. Over time, their seeds dispersed via ocean currents, giving rise to distinct species in Australia and mainland Africa. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman have the details.

The Punjabi Wave is a style of music blending South Asian sounds and languages with hip-hop beats. And some of the biggest artists in the genre have roots in the Indian state of Punjab, but live and produce their music in Canada. Anita Elash reports from Toronto.

A roundup of stories and things that may not have caught your attention from hosts Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler.

The Darien jungle, between North and South America, has become one of the main routes for migrants heading to the United States, with more than 520,000 people crossing just last year. Many are now documenting their migration journeys with their phones and posting videos on social media platforms. From Bogota, Colombia, Manuel Rueda reports.

Brooklyn's World Spa is "a theme park for spas," according to the managing director, Lenny Vays. The 50,000-square-foot facility offers spa treatments and experiences from across Europe and Asia. The World's Bianca Hillier pays a visit.

The European Union is taking some 20 airlines to task for using terms like "green fares" and "greenest and cleanest" to describe their commitment to the environment. The EU has embarked on a long-term plan to transition to sustainable aviation fuels, and the first benchmark is next year when 2% of the fuel powering aircraft has to be green. Carolyn Beeler speaks with Andrew Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy, about the kinds of sustainable claims the airlines are making.

Singer-song writer Stevie Wonder celebrated his 74th birthday this week by traveling to Ghana and receiving citizenship in the West African nation. The Grammy-winning music icon has a long, deep relationship with sub-Saharan Africa's anti-colonial movements, as author Kevin Gaines tells The World's Marco Werman.

On Wednesday, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a landmark bill to establish universal health insurance in the country. He says it will help make the country's divided health care system more equal. But he faces a lot of criticism at home. This all comes as his party, which has ruled the country since apartheid, faces its toughest election yet later this month. The World's Africa correspondent Halima Gikandi reports.

When the Israeli military seized control of the border crossing at Rafah, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian government seemed to be taken by surprise. Egypt's government has stopped cooperating with aid shipments going into Rafah. Experts say the 45-year-old Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty is being put at risk. The World's Matthew Bell reports. And we hear from a US aid worker and a Palestinian in Gaza City what it's like for them, more than seven months after the Israeli attacks on Gaza began.

Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, has been rocked by major protests opposing the foreign agent bill, which has now passed the parliament. The president of Georgia is expected to veto the bill but the parliament can override the veto with a majority vote. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Olya Churakova, a Russian journalist, about her experiences as a Russian journalist who was labeled a foreign agent in Russia under a similar law.

In a surprise move, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed up at an underground bar in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday night. He joined Ukrainian rock band 19.99 for a rendition of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." As we hear from hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman, the band was disappointed not to be on stage with the rock legend, but they called Blinken a natural.

The condition of Slovakia's Prime Minster Robert Fico is said to be critical after he was shot several times on Wednesday in what is being described as an assassination attempt. The suspected shooter is said to have been arrested. Fico is close to Russia's Kremlin and a critic of Western support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. The World's Orla Barry talks with host Carolyn Beeler with the latest developments.

A third of the world's population cooks with fuels that produce harmful fumes when burned. Breathing in the fine particles produced by cooking with wood, charcoal, coal, animal dung and agricultural waste can penetrate the lungs and cause multiple respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including cancer and strokes. Women and children are most at risk. Fifty countries gathered in Paris on Tuesday to raise funds to replace dangerous cooking with clean ones. Marco Werman speaks with Dymphna van der Lans, CEO of the Clean Cooking Alliance, who was at the summit.

Singapore has a new prime minister: Lawrence Wong. At 51, he's known as an affable workaholic who loves dogs and plays Taylor Swift songs on his guitar. Less clear is his political vision for the small city state, increasingly tugged in opposite directions by the US and China. The World's Patrick Winn reports on the political and economic headwinds Wong faces.

Three sisters from Saudi Arabia have faced arrest, imprisonment and travel bans because of their online activism. One has fled the country, another is in prison and one faces a travel ban. The case of these sisters has raised questions about previous promises of social freedoms in the kingdom. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports.

The global solidarity movement against sexual abuse and harassment really took off in 2017, with the trial of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. But it faltered in France. Now, a short film on the topic at Cannes, and a list of alleged sexual abusers is set to be read at the festival, and it has the film industry, and all of France, perhaps, poised to take #MeToo to the next level. The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

An activist in Thailand has died following a hunger strike that lasted more than two months. The 28-year-old woman, Netiporn "Bung" Sanesangkhom, wanted to draw attention to Thailand's law against insulting the country's monarchy - a law she'd been charged with herself. Thailand has some of the world's strictest laws against royal defamation - with some offenders receiving decadeslong prison sentences. The World's Patrick Winn is following the story from Bangkok.

Canada faced a ferocious wildfire season last year. So, far this year appears to be headed on the same trajectory as communities faced evacuations and property losses in the western provinces. One trigger has been smoldering underground fires from last years blazes. They're dubbed "zombie fires." Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Jennifer Baltzer, a forest ecologist, about the role of zombie fires and what this wildfire season could look like in Canada.

The French road safety association "Victims and Citizens" launched a campaign this week asking motorists to "drive like a woman." The idea is to reduce the number of traffic deaths. The organization notes that 84% of deadly road accidents in France are caused by men. And nearly all alcohol-related accidents are caused by men as well. Hosts Carolyn Beeler and Marco Werman explain.

In the South Caucasus, neighboring countries Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The conflict was about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan. In September, Azerbaijan's military seized Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of Armenians. Now, the two countries are engaged in peace talks. The World's Daniel Ofman reports that many Armenians are not happy.

Students from China and its island of Hong Kong travel thousands of miles to study in European and North American universities. Yet they regularly face surveillance and harassment from authorities back home. In a new report from Amnesty International, dozens of students describe the intimidation they and family members encounter. Amnesty's China director, Sarah Brooks, talks with The World's Carolyn Beeler.

The 92-year-old acclaimed Canadian short story author Alice Munro has died. Munro published 13 collections of short stories and one novel. She won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2013. Host Carolyn Beeler has the story.

Ever since the Port Arthur massacre three decades ago, Australia has had strict gun control laws. The mass shooting prompted then-Prime Minister John Howard to fundamentally reform Australia's gun laws, including a complete ban on semi-automatics and shotguns. But there was no registry for those who still owned weapons. The World's Sarah Birnbaum says the recent killing of two police officers is behind a current push for a national gun registry.

Vladimir Putin has dismissed his longtime Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and reappointed him as a national security adviser. In his place, Putin has appointed Andrei R. Belousov, an economist, to run the Ministry of Defense. The World's Marco Werman talks with Sam Greene, a professor in Russian politics and director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, about what the shake-up means for Russia's war effort and Kremlin intrigue.

Israel's national security adviser says the top Hamas leader in Gaza, whose name is Yahya Sinwar is "living on borrowed time." Sinwar is believed to be the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack on Israelis. He would also have to sign off on any ceasefire deal to release the remaining hostages held in Gaza. The World's Matthew Bell reports.

For more than 500 years, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa has generated a lot of questions. What's she smiling about, for one. There's also the question of what's going on behind her - where is that? Well, geologist and art historian Ann Pizzorusso thinks she's finally solved a mystery of one of the world's most-famous paintings.

The World's Marco Werman and Carolyn Beeler bring you three stories you may not have heard.

People lined up all day in huge numbers to vote in Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday with more than 36% turnout. This was the highest number of voters since 1996 in the region that's been plagued by terrorism and violence for decades. This is also the first election since the federal government in Delhi revoked the state's constitutional special status and autonomy. We report from Srinagar on what issues are at stake in the valley.

Many of the searching mothers of the 116,000 still missing have been looking for their sons and daughters for years, even decades. But, in a rare exception, officials managed to find the bodies of three missing foreigners from Australia and the US in less than a week. It was an unusually quick resolution to a case that made international headlines. From Mexico City, The World's Tibisay Zea reports.

Over the weekend, millions got to see the Northern Lights as they made an appearance over the US and Europe. That was largely thanks to solar activity coming from the sun. Host Carolyn Beeler spoke with Daniel Welling, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, about seeing the Northern Lights and what the solar flare that caused them can mean for humans and infrastructure on Earth.

When the Refugee Olympic Team was first created in 2016, the UN estimated there to be 65 million displaced people around the world. Now, the UN says there will be 130 million refugees across the globe by the end of the year. And there's a new team of athletes set to represent them at the Paris Games. The World's Bianca Hillier reports.

Israeli troops are positioning themselves to enter Rafah, as the country wages war on Hamas. The humanitarian situation in the southern city was already dire. Host Carol Hills talks with Imad Gammoh from the Norwegian Refugee Council. He was on the ground there recently, and speaks about the new humanitarian low in Rafah.

The rapper Freek was an unemployed Somali immigrant living in Dubai. He was undocumented and could only stay in the United Arab Emirates if he got a job. Then, a song he wrote mocking his situation went viral online. And within a short span of time, he had a job. This episode of "Movement with Meklit Hadero" about music and migration features Freek's story.

The tall peaks of Tajikistan are home to the only place in the world that scientists have found glaciers that are growing - you read that correctly, growing - not receding because of climate change. Levi Bridges went up one mountain to learn more from researchers about why this might be happening.

The release of a new Apple advertisement, which shows a giant iPad crushing the symbols of human creativity (art and books), is angering users. Iza Kavedija, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, explains why the ad is especially offensive to Japanese viewers.

The price of doner kebabs has increased rapidly in Germany in the past few years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It's a favorite food introduced by Turkish guest workers in the 1970s. The Left Party has proposed to cap the price at $5.30 before the kebabs become a luxury item. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks to Joshua Coe in Munich.

Two major powers in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia and Israel - have been in indirect negotiations to end decades of disengagement. As part of reestablishing ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia wants the US to help it with a civilian nuclear program. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports on why the Kingdom wants a nuclear program and where the negotiations stand today.

In Rome, Pope Francis has delivered the official declaration for the Catholic Church's upcoming 2025 Jubilee. This is a once-in-25-year event for Catholics that goes back to the 14th century. The theme, highlighted by Francis for the upcoming Catholic Holy Year, is "hope." Host Carol Hills speaks with The World's Matthew Bell about what to expect.

Christine Sun Kim, a deaf American artist living in Berlin, has produced a short film highlighting the shortcomings of closed captioning. And she offers some solutions. Though her suggestions may be just a little too poetic for the average viewer.

In March, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani's longtime interpreter and close friend Ippei Mizhura was accused of massive theft from the Japanese star. Prosecutors claim Mizhura stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts and purchase personal items. Now, Mizuhara has agreed to plead guilty. The World's host Carolyn Beeler has the details.

African art served as an inspiration in the 19th century for some of the greatest European artists, like Picasso, Gaugin and Matisse. But artists from Africa have played a small part in the international art world. Until now. This week, a gallery in New York City is holding one of the largest showings of African contemporary art in the world. The World's Halima Gikandi reports that it's selling.

Houthis - members of a rebel group in charge of much of Yemen - continue to target shipping in the Red Sea. US military operations have failed to prevent the attacks, and the group is signaling it will continue as long as the war in Gaza continues. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, about the impacts these attacks are having on global shipping and supply chains.

When international students arrive to study in the US, life can be harder than expected. Some universities have found that religious chaplains can help students make the transition. While mental health is stigmatized in some countries, spiritual care is not. So, student chaplains have become de facto frontline mental health care providers, who then triage those in need of professional care to campus counseling offices.

Just two years ago, Nigeria had the largest economy in Africa. But it has slipped to fourth due to currency devaluations. A sharp price jump in oil prices then added to the inflation rate, which disproportionately burdens the poor. Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman reports from Lagos that many Nigerians are calling on the country's president to bring back fuel subsidies, even though it threatens to undo recent economic reforms.

The vessel known as the Energy Observer recently docked at Boston's Rowes Wharf. The experimental ship, powered by renewable sources, was outfitted to show that there are workable alternatives to fossil fuel. GBH's Craig LeMoult spoke with the crew before they returned to France.

Kim Ki-nam, the propaganda chief who served all three generations of North Korean leaders and established their political legitimacy, has died. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Sung-Yoon Lee, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, about Kim's six-decade career, during which he was not only the Communist nation's chief propagandist, but also its chief censor.

The May 9 Victory Day celebration is one of Russia's most important holidays. It marks the USSR's win over Nazi Germany. But for President Vladimir Putin, it's an occasion to show off the nation's power and strength. Today's message was that the heroes of the past share their legacy with Russia's military today, which includes the war in Ukraine. From Riga, Latvia, The World's Daniel Ofman reviews the celebrations with host Carolyn Beeler.

A teacher in Coventry, England, dug a stone out of his garden that was inscribed with ancient Ogham writing from Ireland. It's one of thousands of written languages that have been largely lost to time. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Tim Brookes, founder of The Endangered Alphabets Project, about the value of written language, and how handwritten or carved scripts connect people with their cultural heritage.