The World

The World Trade Organization has reached an agreement on vaccine sharing. The deal allows for ways to circumvent intellectual property rules to manufacture, import and export lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Still, many view the result as a disappointment. Also, on Sunday, Colombians head to the polls to elect their next president. Their choices: a right-wing real estate billionaire and a leftist former guerrilla fighter. And, for art lovers, there's a must-see event in West Africa right now: The Dakar Biennale in Senegal, also known as Dak’Art. It's a showcase of spectacular work from artists across the globe.

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Leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv today, to show support for Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion. The high-profile visit demonstrates Europe's measure of support for Ukraine as the war continues. And rents in the Ukrainian city of Lviv have finally leveled out after ballooning at the start of the war, but they're still much higher than before it began in February. Those who fled the eastern part of the country are still in limbo, but the high prices have made it hard to stay in Lviv. Plus, TikTok may be a platform known for its fun and silly videos, but according to a new report, it’s also a culprit when it comes to election disinformation in Kenya.

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The risk of war between the US and China is on the rise. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd discusses how the two superpowers can step away from the precipice. Also, in Southeast Asia, 99.9% of the regional population breathes in air with pollution levels high above World Health Organization standards, according to a new University of Chicago study. Plus, Ukraine is often known for its comedians — including its president. The war abruptly ended the comedy scene in Kyiv for a few months, but it's coming back, with comedians stressing the importance of laughter during wartime.

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Ukrainian soldiers are having to make do with shortages of weapons and supplies on the frontlines in eastern Donbas, according to Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezugla, who is hunkered down there with the troops. Also, a fight between Turkish and Afghan teenagers has set off a series of attacks against migrant workers who pick up trash around Istanbul. As the country's economy worsens, tensions between Turks and refugees are getting worse. And in mid-August of last year, as the US was fully disengaging from Afghanistan, some Afghans clung to a C-17 military plane as it was taking off from Kabul airport and fell to their deaths. Multiple investigations had been launched to uncover exactly what happened. Plus, June 14 marks 40 since the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over control of the Falkland Islands. We hear what the war and the islands mean to Argentinians today.

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Faced with rising numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the English Channel on boats, the British government came up with a plan to fly them to Rwanda to apply for asylum there. Now, the plan is facing legal challenges, and it might not even happen. And, in 1962, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro banned professional sports in Cuba, and encouraged athletes to pursue amateur careers. Now, the country is ending its longtime ban on professional boxing, and the national team has made a triumphant debut. Also, in Zambia, the growing presence of neurologists in the region is starting to challenge long-held beliefs about multiple sclerosis. Plus, for the third time in 40 years, a human beat a horse in the annual 22.5-mile race held in Wales, scoring a cash prize and bragging rights over 1,000 other runners and 50 horses (and their riders).

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The Summit of the Americas started with discord but ended the week on a high note. The United States unveiled a long list of measures to confront the migration crisis in the Western Hemisphere and pledged $300 million to tackle the problems. And the Polish government is being accused of setting up a "pregnancy register" to document all the pregnancies in the country. The country's Health Ministry said the new database is being set up following a European Union directive, but abortion activists are not convinced. Plus, as the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics fight for basketball's biggest bragging rights, Celtics’ head coach Ime Udoka, from Nigeria, has attracted lots of Nigerian fans in Boston to cheer them on.

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Gas prices in the US are at an all-time high, according to the American Automobile Association. But on the other side of the Atlantic in Europe, they're paying much more. And, earlier this month, the State Department dropped a massive report that looked at the state of religious freedom in some 200 countries. Also, this month in Rome, Pope Francis canonized 10 new saints. He's named a record number of saints since becoming pope. Plus, no letup in the grueling battles raging in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. We hear the story of one Ukrainian soldier shaken by the relentless fighting.

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Allison Fluke-Ekren, from Kansas, has pleaded guilty to organizing and leading an all-female military battalion on behalf of ISIS. According to court documents, Fluke-Ekren trained women on to how to use assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts. And in Brazil, journalist Dom Phillips and anthropologist Bruno Pereira have gone missing from one of the largest Indigenous territories in the Amazon rainforest. It’s an area that, in recent years, has become increasingly dangerous because of illegal logging, mining and narcotrafficking. Plus, as “Nanook of the North” turns 100, we hear from an American filmmaker who returned to Inukjuak to examine what has happened to the community over the past century.

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A diplomatic firestorm has engulfed India’s ruling party, the BJP, following the sanctioning of two party spokespersons over insulting remarks the pair are reported to have made toward Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Several Gulf countries described the comments as “insulting.” And in April, the UN refugee agency said it was on "high alert" for cases of human trafficking among Ukrainian refugees, 90% of whom are women and children. In Romania, which had relatively high rates of trafficking and exploitation even before the war, nonprofit groups are working to keep refugees safe. Plus, Colombia’s first all-female orchestra has developed a strategy to encourage women to succeed and rise to leadership positions in classical music.

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Several Latin American and Caribbean heads of state, including the president of Mexico, aren’t showing up to the ninth annual Summit of the Americas. A former ambassador discusses Latin America's growing dissatisfaction with Washington’s approach to the region. Plus, gunmen stormed a church in Nigeria over the weekend, leaving 50 people dead and many more injured. Experts say this is an example of intercommunal violence between Muslim and Christian groups. Also, we hear about how Czech writer Karel Capek’s 1930s science fiction novel, adapted into an audio drama, still resonates today.

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