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After a year-long postponement, the Tokyo Olympic Games are officially underway. Japan’s tennis star Naomi Osaka served as the final torch bearer and lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony today. The games have shaped up to be nothing like Japan imagined when they won the bid in 2013. The World’s Bianca Hillier reports on the initial plan and the impact of the loss.

While billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have gotten lots of attention for their recent forays into space, there's another space race heating up — in Africa. Host Marco Werman speaks with Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of the space consultancy firm Space in Africa, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Tomorrow, after a one-year delay, the summer Olympics will finally begin in Tokyo, Japan. There will be many restrictions, however. Athletes will be tested for COVID-19 frequently, and fans won’t be allowed to attend the actual events. For many athletes, this will be their first Olympic Games. For others, though, this will certainly not be their first rodeo. Hungary’s Aida Mohamed is taking part i...

Americans love ice cream, but in the past five years, the popularity of frozen treats in China has exploded. The country now has the largest ice cream market in the world. This summer, tourist spots around China are featuring specialty destination popsicles. In Beijing, there’s one shaped like the Great Wall of China. And in Xi’an, you can find popsicles shaped like the ancient terracotta warriors...

Nord Stream 2 is a massive offshore pipeline that's been in the works since 2011. The goal is to transport natural gas directly from Russia to Germany. For years, the US, Ukraine and other European countries have opposed the project. Now, however, the US has changed its tune. Following a new deal with Germany, Washington has effectively dropped its opposition to the completion of the pipeline. Hos...

For 60 days, more than 400 undocumented migrants have been on hunger strike in Belgium. The migrants, who began occupying a church and two universities in Brussels back in January, have been appealing to the Belgian government to grant them the legal right to stay and work in the country. This week, Belgium's government looked like it might collapse over the crisis. But last night, a deal was stru...

"Build back better." That was Joe Biden's presidential campaign slogan. But just 2% of the $16 trillion spent on COVID-19 recovery worldwide has been slated for clean energy measures. What’s more, greenhouse gas emissions are heading for a new record high. The World’s Carolyn Beeler takes stock of just how "green" the global recovery has been so far.

Captagon is a party drug containing amphetamines. Those who use it claim that with one pill, they can dance all weekend. Its popularity has been a boon for war-torn Syria, which has become a major producer of captagon. Host Marco Werman speaks with Jason Palmer, host of the podcast The Intelligence at The Economist.

In Thailand, there’s been a breakthrough for women struggling with unwanted pregnancies. Abortion had been mostly illegal in the country. But, as of February, anyone can get an abortion in the first trimester for any reason. Yet, pro-choice advocates now say that, despite the legal changes, women seeking abortions are still facing resistance. Many doctors who are now legally able to perform aborti...

On Aug. 9, Canada will reopen its land border to Americans who have been fully vaccinated. But Mexico isn't ready to lift its restrictions on non-essential travelers and neither is the US. Host Marco Werman sorts out the latest on who can travel into and out of countries adjacent to the United States with Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute at...

July 21 is known as “Liberation Day" in the US territory of Guam. But not everyone on the island considered the US invasion at the end of World War II to be liberation. Seattle-based musician and dancer Dakota Camacho has roots on the island. In this installment of our series Movement — stories at the crossroads of music and migration — Dakota tells the story of a quest to understand the people’s...

Scorching heat in Europe, wildfires in western North America, drought in Brazil and southern Africa and floods throughout Asia. In just the past few weeks, it seems that everywhere in the world people are contending with extreme weather conditions of some kind. While the frequency and severity of extreme weather are boosted by climate change, not everyone is aware of the connection. Max Boykoff, f...

The recent heat wave across much of the US has caught many people unprepared.  Still, the  government has not issued heat safety regulations for agricultural workers. Many of them are immigrants and many are undocumented.  Many of them also fear speaking out against employers who don't protect them against the heat. The World's Marco Werman talks to Roxana Chicas. She's a nurse and assistant profe...

Ben & Jerry's, the popular Vermont-based ice cream company, says it will no longer sell its products in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel's politicians have criticized the move, calling it "economic terrorism." The World's Marco Werman spoke with Israeli journalist, Noga Tarnopolsky, about what this means in Israel.

Rockets landed near the presidential palace in Kabul, as officials prayed outside the building on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. No serious injuries were reported right away, but it was another reminder of the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, with most US troops having already left. The World's Shirin Jaafari reports from Kabul.

In 2004, the city of Liverpool in the UK was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its role in the 18th and 19th centuries, as one of the biggest trading ports in the world. But today, UNESCO announced that it is revoking that status, over concerns that plans to redevelop Liverpool’s waterfront — including building a soccer stadium there — could damage the docks’ historic character. Host Marco We...

More than 11,000 athletes are headed to Japan for the Summer Olympic Games. They’ll compete across 339 events in 33 different sports. But the list of sports changes from year to year, as some events get added and others get dropped. The World’s Bianca Hillier took a look at the events of Olympics past, and some people who are working to keep them alive today.

Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo made history on Tuesday after scoring 50 points during the NBA Finals and landing his team their first championship in just as many years. Antetokounmpo is being celebrated around the world, but especially in Greece, where he was born and grew up. The World's Lydia Emmanouilidou visited the Athens-area neighborhood where Antetokounmpo started his humble...

COVID-19 is tearing through Indonesia, where the total case count is nearing 3 million. The rate of infections has skyrocketed since mid-May. And, as Ashley Westerman reports, many Indonesians are angry that they’re in such a position more than a year after the pandemic began.

Floods in Western Europe, wildfires across the west in North America and, in Siberia, one headline quoting a local there — "everything is on fire." Central China is also feeling the pain, with huge floods affecting millions of people. The World’s Rebecca Kanthor is following the story from Shanghai, and says the worst-hit areas are in the city of Zhengzhou and surrounding Henan province.

Surfing is making its debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games. In Hawaii, the event's birthplace, that’s cause for both celebration and some concern — concern that the Olympics’ big stage may cause people to lose sight of surfing’s roots and its enormous cultural importance to Native Hawaiians. Host Carol Hills speaks with Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā, of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that 700 Afghans who worked as interpreters for the US military are being brought to Fort Lee in Virginia along with their 1,800 family members. These Afghans are at the final stages of an arduous process of obtaining a Special Immigrant Visa. And as host Marco Werman notes, many other military interpreters are still waiting in Afghanistan for their first hearing.

Cubans pouring into the streets to protest food shortages, power outages and a lack of COVID-19 vaccines have been singing a chant inspired by a pop song. The World’s Latin America correspondent Jorge Valencia has the story on how “Patria y vida” (“Homeland and life”) became protesters’ rallying cry. 

In recent months, few countries have suffered from COVID-19 more than India — where patients overwhelmed hospitals and the dead have been burned in mass funeral pyres. But now a new country in Asia has overtaken India when it comes to new cases: Indonesia. It’s logging more than 50,000 new cases per day — the highest rate in the world — and experts believe the true number of cases is actually much...

For decades under the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, the school curriculum in Sudan was infused with Islamist ideology. The new government in Sudan set out to change that and it put Omar al-Garrai in charge of that effort. He sought to “de-Islamicize” Sudan’s school curriculum. But this turned out to be a real challenge. Conservative Muslims took issue with some of the changes Garrai was implemen...