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Editor's note: some of these images contain graphic content. Across southern Africa, a war is raging over an increasingly precious commodity: rhinoceros horn. A single kilogram of the horn can fetch up to $100,000 on the global black market, a price largely driven by a belief in some parts of Asia that the appendage is imbued with mystical healing properties. The growing demand for rhino horn has fueled a massive rhino slaughter: Poachers, some of them armed with automatic weapons and bullet-proof vests, killed 1,000 animals last year. Meanwhile, conservationists and wildlife officials have taken up arms to stop the bloodshed, patrolling game reserves under cover of darkness. Writing for Foreign Policy, journalist Scott Johnson chronicled the tremendous efforts to save South Africa's rhinos in his dispatch, "Where the Wild Things Are." Conservation efforts have tried a variety of solutions to save the dwindling rhino population, from contaminating rino horns with herbicide to diminish their value, to relocating entire populations, to a controversial proposal to legalize and regulate the trade in horns. All these developments represent a shifting and high-stakes battle over one of the world's increasingly rare and sought after commodities. Above, a rhino at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in Pilanesberg, South Africa, on Oct. 23, 2013. Rhinos were tagged and DNA collected during the park's anti-rhino poaching initiative. Daniel Born/The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Editor's note: some of these images contain graphic content. Across southern Africa, a war is raging over an increasingly precious commodity: rhinoceros horn. A single kilogram of the horn can fetch up to $100,000 on the global black market, a price largely driven by a belief in some parts of Asia that the appendage is imbued with mystical healing properties. The growing demand for rhino horn has fueled a massive rhino slaughter: Poachers, some of them armed with automatic weapons and bullet-proof vests, killed 1,000 animals last year. Meanwhile, conservationists and wildlife officials have taken up arms to stop the bloodshed, patrolling game reserves under cover of darkness. Writing for Foreign Policy, journalist Scott Johnson chronicled the tremendous efforts to save South Africa's rhinos in his dispatch, "Where the Wild Things Are." Conservation efforts have tried a variety of solutions to save the dwindling rhino population, from contaminating rino horns with herbicide to diminish their value, to relocating entire populations, to a controversial proposal to legalize and regulate the trade in horns. All these developments represent a shifting and high-stakes battle over one of the world's increasingly rare and sought after commodities. Above, a rhino at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in Pilanesberg, South Africa, on Oct. 23, 2013. Rhinos were tagged and DNA collected during the park's anti-rhino poaching initiative. Daniel Born/The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Horns of Africa

FP Staff
Editor's note: Some of the following images contain graphic content. While reports are conflicting, at least 500 (possibly as many as 570) Palestinians and 27 Israelis have been killed since Israel began an offensive in the Gaza Strip on July 8 intending to quash Hamas rocket fire and destroy Hamas tunnels linking the Strip to Israeli territory. On Monday, Palestinian deaths topped 100 for the second day in a row. With the offensive approaching the two-week mark, the U.N. Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Cairo to push for a cessation of hostilities. Here is a look at the scene on the ground. Above, rescue crews evacuate the wounded and the dead in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya, July 20. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Editor's note: Some of the following images contain graphic content. While reports are conflicting, at least 500 (possibly as many as 570) Palestinians and 27 Israelis have been killed since Israel began an offensive in the Gaza Strip on July 8 intending to quash Hamas rocket fire and destroy Hamas tunnels linking the Strip to Israeli territory. On Monday, Palestinian deaths topped 100 for the second day in a row. With the offensive approaching the two-week mark, the U.N. Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Cairo to push for a cessation of hostilities. Here is a look at the scene on the ground. Above, rescue crews evacuate the wounded and the dead in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya, July 20. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Gaza Under Fire

FP Staff
Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 smolders in a field in Grabovo, Ukraine, near the Russian border, on July 17. Flight 17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, carrying 295 passengers and crew, is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to U.S. intelligence officials and Ukrainian authorities quoted in published reports. The area is under control of pro-Russian militia. Foreign Policy's reporters and editors are liveblogging the downing of the plane and its aftermath on FP's Passport blog. Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 smolders in a field in Grabovo, Ukraine, near the Russian border, on July 17. Flight 17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, carrying 295 passengers and crew, is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to U.S. intelligence officials and Ukrainian authorities quoted in published reports. The area is under control of pro-Russian militia. Foreign Policy's reporters and editors are liveblogging the downing of the plane and its aftermath on FP's Passport blog. Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The World in Photos This Week

FP Staff
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Live Coverage of the Crisis in Ukraine: The Day After the Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Passport
FP Staff
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What We Know So Far About the Passenger Jet Shot Down in Ukraine

Passport
FP Staff
STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images; STR/AFP/Getty Images; CELLOU BINANI/AFP/Getty Images; David McNew/Getty Images; SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty Images
STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images; STR/AFP/Getty Images; CELLOU BINANI/AFP/Getty Images; David McNew/Getty Images; SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty Images

Longform’s Picks of the Week

Feature
FP Staff
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Longform’s Picks of the Week

Feature
FP Staff
Afghan farmers load a donkey as they harvest wheat on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan on June 23. Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images
Afghan farmers load a donkey as they harvest wheat on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan on June 23. Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images

The World in Photos This Week

FP Staff
All states -- even the most robust -- face some degree of instability. But it takes a complex mix of factors - from disease and abject poverty to terrorism and sectarian conflict -- to earn the designation "fragile state." The 12 economic, social, and political indicators factored into the Fragile State Index (FSI) provide results which suggest that, while all nations face challenges, some are up against seemingly insurmountable odds. This year's Index -- the 10th annual collaboration between Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace -- assesses 178 countries and ranks each by its total score (the higher a country's score, the weaker the state). The 2014 rankings highlight how much can change in a year, as well as how little: Nine of the top 10 states on the list maintained their unfortunate positions. The following photos depict scenes of conflict and tragedy, but also moments of quiet resilience, in 50 of the world's most fragile states. Editor's note: some of the following images contain graphic content. Above, South Sudanese cattle herders stand among their animals in a field in Terekeka, on April 13. Ali Ngethi/AFP/Getty Images
All states -- even the most robust -- face some degree of instability. But it takes a complex mix of factors - from disease and abject poverty to terrorism and sectarian conflict -- to earn the designation "fragile state." The 12 economic, social, and political indicators factored into the Fragile State Index (FSI) provide results which suggest that, while all nations face challenges, some are up against seemingly insurmountable odds. This year's Index -- the 10th annual collaboration between Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace -- assesses 178 countries and ranks each by its total score (the higher a country's score, the weaker the state). The 2014 rankings highlight how much can change in a year, as well as how little: Nine of the top 10 states on the list maintained their unfortunate positions. The following photos depict scenes of conflict and tragedy, but also moments of quiet resilience, in 50 of the world's most fragile states. Editor's note: some of the following images contain graphic content. Above, South Sudanese cattle herders stand among their animals in a field in Terekeka, on April 13. Ali Ngethi/AFP/Getty Images

Postcards From Hell

FP Staff
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There Are as Many Refugees in the World as Justin Bieber Twitter Followers

Passport
FP Staff
Iraqi laborers work at a white cement factory in Bartala in Nineveh province, east of Mosul, on June 17. KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images
Iraqi laborers work at a white cement factory in Bartala in Nineveh province, east of Mosul, on June 17. KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images

The World in Photos This Week

FP Staff
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Kim Jong Un and His Hipster Submarine Make Their Instagram Debut

Passport
FP Staff
Descendants of Comanche Indian soldiers pray on Utah Beach on June 9 in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, northwestern France. 14 Comanche code talkers landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, with the 4th U.S. Infantry Division. They used the Comanche language to transmit messages that could not be understood by the German occupiers. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images
Descendants of Comanche Indian soldiers pray on Utah Beach on June 9 in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, northwestern France. 14 Comanche code talkers landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, with the 4th U.S. Infantry Division. They used the Comanche language to transmit messages that could not be understood by the German occupiers. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

The World in Photos This Week

FP Staff
CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images; DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images; JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images; Bethany Clarke/Getty Images; AFP/AFP/Getty Images
CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images; DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images; JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images; Bethany Clarke/Getty Images; AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Longform’s Picks of the Week

Feature
FP Staff
An Egyptian woman with a portrait of presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on her head celebrates his win in Cairo's Tahrir Square on June 3. Sisi won 96 percent of the vote, according to CNN. But, as Foreign Policy's David Kenner noted in his dispatch "Sisi's Day is a Bust," voter turnout was dismal. MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images
An Egyptian woman with a portrait of presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on her head celebrates his win in Cairo's Tahrir Square on June 3. Sisi won 96 percent of the vote, according to CNN. But, as Foreign Policy's David Kenner noted in his dispatch "Sisi's Day is a Bust," voter turnout was dismal. MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images

The World in Photos This Week

FP Staff
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