World Story of the Day

King Abdullah, who's at least 90, was hospitalized last week and Crown Prince Salman delivered an annual televised speech Tuesday. One analyst says the kingdom is stable, perhaps too much so.

The master luthier's violins and cellos include spruce from the Fiemme Valley. The forest still thrives, and its trees are still made into fine instruments.

To help end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Michael Sharp sits among the banana trees and talks with the fighters about memories of the past and dreams for their children.

Nicolae Ceausescu ruled with an iron fist for 25 years until he was overthrown and executed on Christmas Day in 1989. A quarter-century after his ouster, the country is still dealing with his legacy.

With spiraling inflation and a distrust in banks after the country's 2001 default, Argentines are keeping more cash on hand. And that means robbery rates are spiraling, too.

The country's economy is a mess and low oil prices are hurting the oil-exporting nation. While President Nicolas Maduro is unpopular among many Venezuelans, the opposition is fractured and weak.

By the summer of 2014, a third of Iraq was under the control of the self-proclaimed Islamic State or ISIS, and people worried the capital might be next. Six months on, that's changed.

While some Americans worried that Ebola would spread around the U.S., a new mosquito-borne virus flew right in. It sickened more than 2,000 Americans and nearly a million people across the Caribbean.

The prostitutes of Freetown can't find customers. A wedding planner's shop is stuffed with dresses but couples keep delaying the big day. And the condomologist reports that business isn't booming.

Maggie Gyllenhaal says she had reservations about taking on the role of Nessa Stein in the Sundance series. The conflict in the Middle East is "really complicated and it goes back so far," she says.