Dispatch

Terrorist violence and COVID-19 have set maternal health back decades.

Afghan officials are trying to contain a spate of kidnappings and armed robberies that appear designed to bolster public thirst for Taliban-style justice—just ahead of a critical donor meeting.

At least 2,500 Mexicans in the United States, many of them essential workers, have died from COVID-19. Back home in Mexico, their grieving families are left without support.

Facing a military-backed government, Thai protesters find musical inspiration.

Many Afghans want the groups disbanded when the United States withdraws.

As Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed goes to war against Ethiopia’s former rulers—the Tigray People’s Liberation Front—Khartoum’s moves will determine whether the conflict remains a local affair or a regional conflagration.

Netanyahu has a wish list for the lame-duck president while Trump has a score to settle with Biden.

In the 1990s, the Azerbaijani population was expelled. Now Armenians could face the same fate.

By casting his lot with Trump, the U.K. prime minister now looks like yesterday’s man. He is in for a rude awakening.

The country’s Catholic conservatives have achieved a long-sought goal—and may have fatally weakened their power in the process.

Abiy Ahmed’s military move against the Tigray region could spark a conflict with the party that once dominated Ethiopian politics—and tear the country apart. 

Trump’s insults and ideological closeness to Marine Le Pen have left a bitter taste.

Trump has showered Netanyahu with foreign-policy favors, but a Biden win could be a harsh wake-up call for Israelis.

Corruption, oligarchs, and media concentration have weakened Bulgarian democracy.

The protests that began as a movement against police brutality have much bigger goals—including regime change.

The victory of an Erdogan ally in Northern Cyprus spells danger for the island’s reunification prospects—and sets Turkey up for regional hegemony.

Coronavirus cases are spiking again in the country’s north, threatening to increase strain on public hospitals. This time, local governments face even more political pressure to lift restrictions.

Demonstrations against police brutality—organized on social media and powered by artists and musicians—have shown Nigeria’s youth that they have the power to change society.

Italian fishermen are being kidnapped off the coast of Libya—and Rome is too caught up in EU migration politics to help.

Drought has disrupted the traditional way of life for pastoralists, pushing many women into business for the first time.

Both the government and demonstrators are borrowing tactics from Hong Kong.

After a confrontation with the royal motorcade, the government is cracking down.

Religious violence is growing despite the pandemic.

The burning of the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos has exposed the EU’s short-sighted, inhumane, and ineffective approach to asylum.

As the United States abandons demands for human rights, young Afghans are embracing free speech the only place they can—on the Internet.

The biggest rallies in years are risking the wrath of royalists eager to use the lèse-majesté law.

Pandemic measures focus anger on crimes against women.

Hungary’s prime minister has used the pandemic to drain power from one of the last sources of opposition to his rule.

Afro-Brazilians make up over half of the country’s population, but they are still fighting for their right to live.

President Andrzej Duda is locked in a surprisingly close race with Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. Their rivalry is the latest battle between the country’s poorer and more religious rural regions and its wealthier, socially liberal cities.