Stories for

Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty after 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony shows the Chinese flag flying after the Union flag was lowered on July 1, 1997.
Global Politics
Hong Kong still holds powerful symbolic meaning for China
A cover illustration for the Communist-era board game Burokratopoly, which is being re-launched by Berlin's DDR Museum.
Culture
To understand life in East Germany, all you need is this board game
Health workers carry buckets of disinfectant at the newly-constructed Island Clinic and Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia, September 25, 2014.
Medicine
New mobile clinics are helping aid workers treat Ebola patients in Liberia
Author Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka, and then moved with her family to Birnin Kebi, Nigeria, to avoid civil war. Here Munaweera stands with her mother, Mali, and younger sister, Namal.
Books
After escaping turmoil in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, her next hurdle was surviving LA schools
Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai speaks during his inauguration as president in Kabul on September 29, 2014.
Global Politics
Afghanistan’s new president looks to break from recent history
Behind this tangle of barbed wire in the Place d'Armes in Gonaives, a boy was sexually assaulted by UN peacekeepers, according to a UN investigation.
Justice
The UN let off peacekeepers involved in a Haitian boy’s rape
Protesters stand on a bridge as they block the main street to the financial Central district outside of the government headquarters building in Hong Kong on September 30, 2014.
Global Politics
In central Hong Kong, the protest movement keeps growing
Turkish musician Mehmet Ali Sanlikol visits the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH in Boston, home to The World.
Music
This musical style was once a dividing line in Turkish culture
Music Heard on Air
Music heard on the air for September 30, 2014
"Mandolin" Srinivas performs a live show in Pune, India, in 2009. The musician introduced his electric mandolin into India's ancient Carnatic music.
Music
Remembering the man who reinvented an ancient Indian musical style
Scores of Syrian refugees from Kobane - under threat of capture by Islamic State - sit in the sun waiting to be allowed to cross into Turkey. Sept. 26, 2014. The outskirts of the village are visible in the background.
Conflict
Turkey’s Kurds are outraged that they’re being prevented from fighting ISIS in Syria
Modi_1
Global Politics
America greets India’s Prime Minister like a rock star, if a controversial one
US Border Patrol agent Art Del Cueto points to the Mexican border just a few feet away.
Conflict
Is ISIS a threat on the US border? Some border patrol agents believe it is — but others say not so fast
Music Heard on Air
Music heard on the air for September 29, 2014
A Chinese national flag, at center, flies upside down on September 29, 2014. Chinese living in mainland China know very little of the pro-democracy protests taking place in Hong Kong.
Conflict
Hong Kong has grabbed headlines around the world — except in Beijing
A protester walks in tear gas fired by riot policemen after thousands of protesters blocked the main street to the financial district outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014.
Conflict
Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’ isn’t deterred by clashes with police
Turkish soldiers stand at a position on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc on September 24, 2014.
Conflict
Turkey prepares to shift course and take military action against ISIS
The dove has long been a symbol of peace. This white dove lives at the Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan
Conflict
The world is actually becoming more peaceful — believe it or not
Presidential candidate Marina Silva is introduced at a recent rally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Global Politics
The honeymoon may be over for Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva
Music
Music Heard on the air for September 26, 2014
Displaced women from the minority Yezidi sect. ISIS is increasingly subjecting women to rape, as well as forced conversions and marriage.
Belief
Some Yazidi women who have escaped ISIS barbarism aren’t hopeful for their futures
A Kirin staff member poses with its new craft beer product "Spring Valley Brewery 496 prototype," which was launched in July 2014. Craft styles are increasingly migrating from the United States to other countries.
Food
America’s craft brewers are inspiring beer lovers — and makers — across the globe
Bluefin trevally at Palmyra Atoll, Pacific Ocean.
Environment
One scientist calls the largest marine sanctuary in the world a volcano of fish
A demonstrator holds a banner with a picture of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a protest against the entry of American troops into Iraq on September 26, 2014. The words on the banner read "No No America."
Conflict
A militant Iraqi cleric wants to fight ISIS without US help, and he’s far from alone
Staff from the Indian Space Research Organization celebrate at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore after their Mars Orbiter spacecraft successfully entered Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.
Science
Women are the face of India’s Mars mission, but they’re still the exception
Fish and seafood are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Moscow. Embargoes mean that Russia's usual sources of fish have been replaced by food from other areas, and Russians aren't happy with the new options.
Food
Putin’s quarrel with Ukraine squeezes Russia’s sushi habit
The surviving members of ? and the Mysterians, the day their 1966 hit '96 Tears' was proclaimed the official rock and roll song of Bay City, Michigan. (From left to right, Frank Rodriguez, Question Mark, Robert Martinez, Frank Lugo, and Robert Lee Balde
Music
Here’s how ’96 Tears’ became a Michigan city’s official rock anthem
Sruti Swaminathan, 22, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She told photographer Quetzal Maucci that while growing up in the US, she was embarrassed to bring Indian food to school for lunch.
Culture
This young photographer brings the stories of immigrant children to light
This satirical t-shirt was one of many images posted on Twitter under the hashtag #MuslimApologies
Belief
Frustrated Muslims are ‘sorry for algebra’ and many other things
Music Heard on Air
Music heard on air for September 25, 2014
A man reacts as he carries a child who survived what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by forces of Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in the Al-Fardous neighborhood of Aleppo, September 19, 2014.
Conflict
US air strikes spark sympathy for Syrian extremist groups in rebel-held areas
In Novemeber of 2009, Eric Holder announced that the accused mastermind of the September 11th attacks, and four other top terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, would be prosecuted in criminal courts.
Justice
Eric Holder will resign, leaving a mixed legacy on national security issues
All public school students in England will now learn programming from the ages of five to 16.
Education
Reading, math and … Javascript? Coding is now mandatory in English schools
Arts
A worldwide viral hit shows a different side of Ukraine
Arts
This Japanese woman never gave up on her hometown. Even after the tsunami
Young Iraqi men gather in Baghdad's Jadriya district every Friday night to "drift" — a form of stunt driving where the driver purposefully skids and partially loses control of the car at high speeds.
Culture
Young Iraqis are ‘drifting’ through their country’s crisis
A general view of the Baiji oil refinery, Iraq's largest, in 2009. Today it's being held — barely — by Iraqi forces against ISIS fighters.
Conflict
As the US bombs ISIS oil in Syria, militants lay siege to Iraq’s biggest refinery
Pupils of Olumawu School in Nigeria are guided through the use of hand sanitizers. Nigeria is so far managing to halt the spread of Ebola.
Science
A scientist on the cutting edge of Ebola research calls for calm and focus
Friends in Jesus African International Church
Health
Where Ebola hits home in the United States
Pussy Riot is a feminist punk guerilla performance collective. Their unauthorized public performances address feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to Russian President Putin.
Global Politics
Pussy Riot wastes no time in getting back to activism
Music Heard on Air
Music aired between segments on September 24, 2014
BollyX Fitness class in Cambridge, MA.
Culture
BollyX combines Bollywood dance moves with aerobics to make you more fit
Carlos Ramos
Justice
A teen’s parents are allowed to stay in the US, but he still faces deportation
An artist applies the finishing touches on an idol of the Hindu goddess Durga in preparation for a yearly festival for Bengali Hindus.
Media
For Bengali Hindus, radio is an unchanging part of a religious tradition
President Barack Obama addresses the Climate Summit at UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2014. Obama touted American commitments to cut greenhouse pollution, but international agreements have been undercut by sharp internal divisions in the US
Environment
Here’s why the US and Europe are so far apart on climate policy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses scientists and Indian officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network complex in Bangalore after its Mars Orbiter Mission, nicknamed "MOM", successfully ent
Technology
India is over the moon about its mission to Mars
A box of Mithai, the sweets that are an ever-present staple of social life in India.
Culture
Why the sugary sweetness of mithai is a social currency in India
Residents inspect a damaged site in what activists say was a US strike in Kfredrian, Idlib province, Syria, on September 23, 2014.
Conflict
Syrian activists worry they won’t be the ones who gain from US airstrikes
A relative of a victim lights a candle during the first anniversary memorial service of the Westgate shopping mall terrorist attack in Kenya's capital Nairobi on September 21, 2014.
Conflict
Kenya considers its security on the anniversary of the Westgate mall siege
Riot police stand guard a checkpoint near the courthouse where ethnic Uighur academic Ilham Tohti's trial took place in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in mid-September.
Justice
China’s harsh punishment for a moderate Uighur could make things worse in Xinjiang
Dutch ecologist and dike designer Mindert de Vries stands on top of one of the new "soft" dikes being built near the Rhine River delta city of Dordrecht. Dutch innovations in flood control are helping reduce the adverse effects of older dike technologies.
Environment
With the waters rising, the Dutch find eco-friendly ways to keep them at bay
Environment
The UN climate summit opens with a voice from an endangered nation
The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile against ISIS targets in Syria on September 23, 2014.
Conflict
The many reasons why ISIS will be hard to dislodge in Syria
Lilian Chen goes by the gaming name "milktea"
Culture
This woman’s gaming career took off in the back of her parents’ Chinese restaurant
Music Heard on Air
Music heard on the air for September 23, 2014
American Puppeteers
Arts
American artists practice a little shadow puppet diplomacy in Iran
Cardoon, also known as the artichoke thistle, is one of the plants Jennifer McLagan discusses in her new book Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor
Food
Don’t be afraid of that bitter taste in your mouth!
Japanese Social Club_1
Culture
How wartime prejudice brought young Japanese Americans together for life
An empty street at the start of a three-day national lockdown in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on September 19, 2014. Curfews were imposed in an effort to halt the spread of the Ebola virus.
Health
Sierra Leone celebrates the end of its lockdown, but Ebola still looms
Rockefeller fund
Environment
The Rockefellers call it quits on oil, divesting themselves from fossil fuel industries