The World

The World's reporters have been covering immigrant communities and communities of color this election season, and they compared notes during a recent live discussion on Facebook. Reporters Daisy Contreras, Rupa Shenoy and Halima Gikandi hosted the conversation on voters of color and the 2020 election — covering politics, diversity and the issues that mobilize them. We wanted to share that discussion here in The World's podcast feed.

Watch the video of the conversation here.

Canada is seeing rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, which some public health experts believe can be traced back to family celebrations of Canadian Thanksgiving on Oct. 12. And, despite mounting public pressure, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to offer free school meals for children in England during the Christmas holiday break. Also, Polish writer and illustrator Martyna Wiśniewska Michalak has given the classic book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar," a hilarious makeover for the COVID-19 era.

Support The World during our fall fundraiser! Nonprofit journalism depends on your philanthropic support. Be one of the 1,000 people to donate $100 or pledge $8.33 a month to receive a special invitation to a virtual party with Marco Werman and the team at The World! Thank you for your support. Donate here.

For five days straight, thousands have taken to the streets of cities across Poland to protest a court ruling on abortion. The country’s Constitutional Tribunal last week outlawed abortion in all but the most exceptional of circumstances. And, Germany has been pretty successful containing the coronavirus and also getting students back into classrooms. But in southern Germany, two counties are going into lockdown because cases there are spiking again. Also, Sacha Baron Cohen's iconic character Borat has been at the center of many controversial moments. Now with a new "Borat" film out, Kazakhstan has embraced the fictitious Kazakh journalist’s catchphrase: “Very nice” and turned it into the country’s tourism slogan.

Support The World during our fall fundraiser! Nonprofit journalism depends on your philanthropic support. Be one of the 1,000 people to donate $100 or pledge $8.33 a month to receive a special invitation to a virtual party with Marco Werman and the team at The World! Thank you for your support. Donate here.

Sudan is set to start normalizing relations with Israel. The move comes as the US removes Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. And, China's Belt and Road Initiative is transforming countries across the globe with new infrastructure, mining and factories. But physical investments are only part of the story: China is making a digital power play, too. Also, despite the ongoing unrest in Mali and a pandemic, Timbuktu-based music group Songhoy Blues is optimistic.

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Support The World during our fall fundraiser! Nonprofit journalism depends on your philanthropic support. Be one of the 1,000 people to donate $100 or pledge $8.33 a month to receive a special invitation to a virtual party with Marco Werman and the team at The World! Thank you for your support. Visit theworld.org/give to donate today!

The last presidential debate on Thursday focused extensively on foreign policy topics. The World's foreign correspondents share global reactions and what they're seeing abroad in the leadup to the Nov. 3 US election. And, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday. It's the latest attempt to find a solution to nearly a month of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. Also, when is a burger not a burger? That was a question facing the European Parliament on Friday in a discussion about whether plant-based alternatives can use names typically associated with meat.

Many health officials around the world are working to contain second waves of the coronavirus. Join us as we examine what's driving the latest wave of surges around the world, as part of our regular series discussing the pandemic presented jointly with The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — and as a special podcast in The World's feed. Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with Yonatan Grad, from Harvard's department of immunology and infectious diseases.

Watch and listen to more of The World's Coronavirus Conversations here.

The US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced Wednesday that Iran is behind a campaign of sending threatening, faked emails to voters in the US ahead of the 2020 presidential election. And, in the wake of the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund has doled out billions of dollars to keep countries afloat, with few restrictions. But now those countries say the IMF wants them to impose austerity measures. Also, a doctor in northeastern India dances for COVID-19 patients to make them feel happy — and a video of his moves has gone viral.

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Support The World during our fall fundraiser! Nonprofit journalism depends on your philanthropic support. Be one of the 1,000 people to donate $100 or pledge $8.33 a month to receive a special invitation to a virtual party with Marco Werman and the team at The World! Thank you for your support. Visit theworld.org/give to donate today!

The gruesome murder of a history teacher in France has sparked intense criticism of social media companies over the role they played in motivating the killer and inciting the murder. And, according to a new study by the University of Cambridge, millennials around the world are currently less satisfied with democracy and more disillusioned than at any other time in the past century. Also, one of the biggest issues facing some European cities was overtourism before the coronavirus. So, how are the cities coping now that the tourists are staying at home?

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Support The World during our fall fundraiser! Nonprofit journalism depends on your philanthropic support. Be one of the 1,000 people to donate $100 or pledge $8.33 a month to receive a special invitation to a virtual party with Marco Werman and the team at The World! Thank you for your support. Visit theworld.org/give to donate today!

The UK government announced today that it is funding the first stage of a human challenge trial for a coronavirus vaccine. And, an international mystery that seems to be ripped from a Cold War spy novel: US diplomats coming down with mysterious brain ailments while posted overseas. But in 2018, this was a reality for dozens of diplomats and spies posted at the US embassy in Cuba. Also, as the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, travel is basically a no-go. But people are desperate to be transported beyond the four walls of their home or office — which is where wildlife photography can come in handy.

French police on Monday conducted raids of Islamic associations and individuals suspected of extremist religious beliefs after the beheading of a history teacher near Paris. The teacher was fatally attacked in the street after having shown his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a discussion on free speech. And, violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan is now heading into its third week, even after multiple attempts at a ceasefire. Also, more than 50 people have died in Turkey over the past week after drinking bootleg alcohol.