Dispatch
The view from the ground.
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The site of the Astana Expo 2017 on its second day of opening, June 11, 2017. The skyline is dominated by the vast Kazakhstan Pavilion. Kazakhstan Spent $5 Billion on a Death Star and It Doesn’t Even Shoot Lasers
The Central Asian country built a futuristic city to host the World's Fair and polish its own brand. One small problem: it forgot to invite guests.
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Riot police detain a man covered with Russian national flag during an anti-corruption protest organised by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on Tverskaya Street in central Moscow, Russia, June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva - RTS16OSX Anti-Putin Protesters Have Started Wrapping Themselves in the Russian Flag
The country’s leading opposition leader has made a bold move to claim the banner of patriotism for his movement.
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syria1 The United States Is Getting Dragged Into the Fight for Syria’s South
America's allies find themselves trapped between the Islamic State and pro-Assad militias -- and the only thing keeping them safe is U.S. airstrikes.
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Garowe, Somalia: Abdulkadir Hasan Farah is a former pirate who now makes a living driving a taxi in Garowe. Growing up in the seaside community of Eyl, Abdulkadir followed his father into the fishing business. But the rise in illegal fishing made it increasingly difficult to earn a living. Twice foreign crews destroyed Abdulkadir’s nets, which were costly to replace. Broke and livid, he and some friends started taking guns out on their fishing trips to await foreign trawlers to hijack. Somali pirates are some of the world’s most infamous villains, immortalized by Hollywood and feared by ships traversing the waters off the Horn of Africa. But when these gangs first emerged they were just fishermen, made desperate by the destruction of their seas by illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping. International patrol vessels now guard Somalia's coastline, keeping the pirates at bay but doing nothing to address the return of illegal fishing activity by Asian and European companies. Until the root causes of piracy are addressed this threat will linger, waiting to reclaim its waters. (Photo by Nichole Sobecki) The Making of a Climate Outlaw
Extreme weather pushed a farmer and a fisherman to take up arms. These are their stories.
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yemenaqap One Yemeni Governor Wants Trump to Know: You’re Fighting al Qaeda All Wrong
It's local forces and economic assistance that will defeat jihadism, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Saeed bin Bourek says, not drone strikes.
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mbs Can Saudi Arabia’s Young Prince Wean the Welfare State?
The ambitious plan to remake the Saudi economy is the brainchild of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But does he have what it takes to upend his country?
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An Afghan security force member stands at the site of a car bomb attack in Kabul on May 31, 2017. At least 40 people were killed or wounded on May 31 as a massive blast ripped through Kabul's diplomatic quarter, shattering the morning rush hour and bringing carnage to the streets of the Afghan capital. / AFP PHOTO / SHAH MARAI (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) Afghanistan Blames Pakistan for Planning Deadly Kabul Attack
Afghan intelligence services admit they knew an attack was coming, but blame the government next door for organizing it.
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Members of the Yazidi minority search for clues on February 3, 2015, that might lead them to missing relatives in the remains of people killed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, a day after Kurdish forces discovered a mass grave near the Iraqi village of Sinuni, in the northwestern Sinjar area. A peshmerga lieutenant colonel said the grave containing the remains of about 25 people was found during a search for explosives that IS often leaves behind, posing a threat to security forces and civilians even after they withdraw. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images) The Battle to Unearth Iraq’s Mass Graves
Thousands of Yazidis slaughtered by the Islamic State are awaiting exhumation. But a row between Baghdad and Erbil has left them in the ground for more than a year.
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passport_kenner How Trump Backlash Is Funding a Refugee Camp School in Lebanon
The financial challenges are daunting – but Donald Trump has unwittingly spurred a wave of donations that will help educate thousands of children.
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passport_wittmeyer Don’t Call It Brexit Radio
Union JACK Radio was supposed to celebrate the quirks of British culture, from tea and scones to Mr. Bean. Then came Brexit. Then came the angry tweets.
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Carles Puigdemont, president of the government of Catalonia, waves to supporters in Barcelona on Jan. 10, 2016. (Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images) A Secessionist Abroad
The president of Catalonia will have the vanilla.
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Workers erect a brick wall at the former shop front of a restaurant in a hutong neighborhood near the Forbidden City in Beijing, China April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter - RTS1340S How to Destroy the Heart of a Chinese City
Beijing is wrecking migrants' shops and lives — and the capital's spirit with them.
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Jakarta's Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purname, also known as Ahok, arrives for his court hearing in Jakarta on April 20, 2017. The first Christian to govern the capital in more than 50 years, Purnama is on trial accused of blasphemy over remarks he made about the Koran. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Tatan Syuflana (Photo credit should read TATAN SYUFLANA/AFP/Getty Images) The Islamic World Has a Blasphemy Problem
How have such bad laws gotten on the books in Muslim countries? It's complicated.
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final_1tristan_kenya_1 Gunfight at the K.C. Corral
Why the Kenyan government won’t do anything to stop attacks on cattle ranchers, including the last remaining white "Kenyan cowboys.”
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JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - MAY 23: (ISRAEL OUT) In this handout photo provided by the Israel Government Press Office (GPO), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017 in Jerusalem, Israel. Trump arrived for a 28-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority areas on his first foreign trip since taking office in January. (Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO via Getty Images) Donald Trump Playacts Peace in the Middle East
On his first visit to Israel, the president stressed his “personal commitment” to ending the country’s conflict with the Palestinians but did nothing to prove it.
