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The European Parliament has nominated Iraqi Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel Moussa for its prestigious Sakharov Prize, awarded every year to recognize individuals and organizations that defend human rights. 

It’s hardly surprising that Laos is under China’s sway.

The former is a mountainous nation of 7 million people, mostly farmers, with an economy smaller than that of Mobile, Alabama. It sits next to a superpower soon to possess the largest economy in human history.

In the past decade or so, China, via its vast network of state-run companies, has brought a development blitz to Laos. Think highways and train lines, gold mines and rubber plantations, and hydropower dams tapping the flow of the Mekong River.

This story is part of "Every 30 Seconds," a collaborative public media reporting project tracing the young Latino electorate leading up to the 2020 presidential election and beyond.

Growing numbers of Latinos in Georgia have come out to support the Black Lives Matter movement over the past few months — and increasingly, it’s shaping how they could vote in the upcoming US general election. 

When hundreds of far-right activists gathered in Berlin earlier this month, banners and T-shirts bearing US President Donald Trump’s face could be clearly seen among the crowd. Many waved the American flag. The demonstrators, who later tried to storm the German parliament, had assembled to protest against the German government’s COVID-19 restrictions.

In early September, Zeinab Kaak and Nazeer Mohammed sold almost everything they owned: their home, television, furniture, household goods, even Kaak’s jewelry — all to raise the 15 million Lebanese pounds, or about $2,000, which smugglers asked for to take them to Europe. 

This essay is part of "On China's New Silk Road," a podcast by the Global Reporting Centre that tracks China's global ambitions. Over nine episodes, Mary Kay Magistad, a former China correspondent for The World, partners with local journalists on five continents to uncover the effects of the most sweeping global infrastructure initiative in history.

At last, a little over a month before the US general election Nov. 3, the public is getting a glimpse into President Donald Trump's taxes.

The New York Times acquired more than two decades' worth of tax records that the president has refused to make public. They paint a picture of a businessman who took extraordinary measures to avoid paying taxes and also incurred huge financial losses.

This week saw the idea of American democracy take a hit as President Donald Trump called into question the peaceful transition of power — one of the pillars of democracy.

An exchange on Wednesday between Trump and reporter Brian Karem with Playboy magazine ruffled a lot of feathers.

"Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election?" asked the journalist, with Trump responding, "We're going to have to see what happens."

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was almost the next president of Belarus. 

Last month, she ran for the nation's highest office despite having no political experience. She joined the race after her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was previously a presidential candidate himself, was detained on charges of inciting violence ahead of the Aug. 9 presidential election. Tikhanovskaya's platform was for Belarus to release political prisoners, including her husband and other political candidates, and to hold new free and fair elections.

When reporting on climate change, most of the news is pretty bleak.

Related: The world is watching: 2020 US election will have a big impact on global climate politics

It's fall 2020, and the presidential campaign in the US is happening against the backdrop of extreme weather events the world over.

In the US, wildfires are burning — fueled in part by hotter, drier conditions out West. Hurricanes are plaguing the Caribbean. And the Arctic is seeing its second-lowest ice cover ever.