World News and International Headlines NPR world news, international art and culture, world business and financial markets, world economy, and global trends in health, science and technology. Subscribe to the World Story of the Day podcast and RSS feed.

NPRWorld

Many Stories, One World

French President Emmanuel Macron during departures at the end of an EU Summit in Brussels, last month. Macron told a French newspaper this week that he wanted to "piss off" the unvaccinating, drawing the ire of opposition politicians. Stephanie Lecocq/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Stephanie Lecocq/AP

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a backhand against Marin Cilic of Croatia during the Davis Cup Semi Final match between Croatia and Serbia at Madrid Arena pavilion in December in Madrid, Spain. Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images for Lexus hide caption

toggle caption
Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images for Lexus

Passengers look out from the Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship docked in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Thousands of passengers were being held on the ship for coronavirus testing after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to a recent omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back. Vincent Yu/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Vincent Yu/AP

Women wearing face masks to protect against COVID-19 look at their smartphones at a public park in Beijing Wednesday. China is reporting a major drop in local COVID-19 infections in the northern city of Xi'an, which has been under a tight lockdown for the past two weeks. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Residents of Xi'an, China, react to COVID lockdowns with outrage and humor

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1070472805/1070506161" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

People wait in line for a coronavirus test in Los Angeles on Tuesday. California is starting to feel the full wrath of the omicron variant. Hospitalizations have jumped nearly 50% since Christmas and models show that in a month, the state could have 22,000 people in hospitals, which was the peak during last winter's epic surge. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jae C. Hong/AP

An employee walks among the cars during the inauguration of a factory that will recondition used cars near Paris, on Nov. 30. Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images

A frozen section of the Ross Sea at Scott Base in Antarctica on Nov. 12, 2016. Britain's Preet Chandi made history by trekking 700 miles from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in an unsupported expedition. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

Novak Djokovic will play in the 2022 Australian Open, after getting an exemption from vaccine requirements. He's seen here removing his mask at the 2021 ATP Cup at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last February. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin in 2020. Activists are appealing to Tesla to close a new showroom in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, where officials are accused of abuses against mostly Muslim ethnic minorities. Hannibal Hanschke/AP file photo hide caption

toggle caption
Hannibal Hanschke/AP file photo

Members of Women of the Wall gather around a Torah scroll the group smuggled in for their Rosh Hodesh prayers marking the new month, at the Western Wall where women are forbidden from reading from the Tora. Maya Alleruzzo/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Maya Alleruzzo/AP

Smoke rises from the Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday, Jan 3, 2022 after the fire re-ignited late afternoon. Firefighters are again on the scene after a major blaze tore through the precinct a day earlier. Nardus Engelbrecht/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Nardus Engelbrecht/AP

Richard Leakey, Kenyan wildlife conservationist, places a rhino horn to be burned at the zoo in Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic, in 2017. Leakey, known for his fossil-finding and conservation work in his native Kenya, has died at 77. Petr David Josek/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Petr David Josek/AP

Blend, a Kurd from Iraq, considers himself lucky. He has only spent 14 days in a camp on the Belarusian side of the border and five days in the woods after crossing to the Polish side. When his kidney problems started to become unbearable because of lack of food and water for the last days, and he couldn't walk longer, volunteers from Polish aid organizations arrived to help. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kasia Strek for NPR

Chris Yeung, founder and chief writer of Citizen News outside his office in Hong Kong Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. The online news site said Sunday that it would cease operations in light of deteriorating press freedoms. Vincent Yu/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Vincent Yu/AP