Dispatch
The view from the ground.
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A woman sits next to newborn babies who lost their mothers following an attack in a maternity hospital in Kabul on May 13. Horrific Attack on Maternity Ward Threatens to Upend Afghan Truce
Kabul blames the Taliban for the killing of mothers and newborn babies but questions about the culprits remain.
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Riga, Latvia Facing Pandemic, Latvia Follows the Lead of Its Experts
The country has taken a unified, middle-of-the-road approach to the coronavirus, rooted in respect for science. It’s working.
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Seoul commuters wear protective masks as they crowd on an escalator and stairs after getting off the subway during rush hour on May 11. Coronavirus Resurgence in South Korea Reignites Homophobia
A new spurt of cases after the lifting of social distancing restrictions exposes an undercurrent of hate.
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People wearing masks in Seoul South Korea Tries a Tentative Reopening—and Pays for It
After a new spurt of coronavirus cases in Seoul and with a second wave deemed “inevitable,” South Korea is bracing itself for a new normal.
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U.S. soldiers intervene against Iraqi protesters carrying flags of Kataib Hezbollah as they storm the U.S. Embassy. A Powerful Iran-Backed Militia Is Losing Influence in Iraq
The Iraqi government is finally starting to make progress in its attempt to curb the influence of Kataib Hezbollah.
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Volunteers distribute food boxes and a traditional sweet drink among people for breaking their Ramadan fast in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on May 3. On the Coronavirus, Pakistan’s Government Is Missing in Action
As the pandemic threatens livelihoods, the country’s poor are relying almost exclusively on the charity of fellow citizens.
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A hair salon reopens in Spain during the coronavirus pandemic Sorry, Americans, You Haven’t Even Had a Real Lockdown Yet
Here in Spain, even easing measures leaves them stricter than in most of the United States.
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A Lebanese protester launches a bottle bomb toward the entrance of a bank in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon late on April 29, as anger over a spiralling economic crisis in the country reenergized a months-old anti-government movement in defiance of the coronavirus lockdown. Lebanon’s Banks Are Burning
The coronavirus curve is flat, but inflation is raging, and protesters are firebombing banks.
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Habib-ur-Rahman, seen on May 3, runs a girls school from his house in Badikhel village in southeastern Afghanistan. In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools
What’s different this time, villagers say, is many of the fighters’ own sisters and daughters are attending.
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A man looks at a solidarity basket displayed with a note reading "Who can, put, who cannot, take" in one of the deserted streets in the historic center of Naples on April 3. Mafia, Poverty, and the Pandemic
In southern Italy, an already shaky economy is left struggling by the coronavirus—leaving a vacuum for organized crime.
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The town of Bsharri, Lebanon. Can a Small Lebanese Town Become a Model for Conquering COVID-19?
The coronavirus hit Lebanon in the middle of an economic crisis. Unless the country can overcome rampant corruption and provide adequate social services, it won’t stop the pandemic.
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Faranaz Anwari, a 35-year-old widow with three children, wears a face mask as she sits on a Kabul street begging with other women on April 22. Afghans Choose Between Sickness and Starvation
Living marginal lives even before the pandemic, many in this war-ruined land have no choice but to defy the lockdown and turn to begging.
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Fabio Berlusconi participates in the Iditarod The Last Great Race
Climate change has altered Alaska’s landscape, and the experiences of Arctic mushers are the canary in the coal mine.
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Alma Rosa Preciado marches with a photo of her disappeared daughter and granddaughter in Poza Rica, Veracruz, on Feb. 21. ‘We’re Doing What the Government Won’t Do’
In Mexico, a growing citizen movement is searching for thousands of victims of forced disappearance in the absence of enforcement of government policies.
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Muslim women walk in front of paramilitary personnel during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India, on April 12. India Is Scapegoating Muslims for the Spread of the Coronavirus
The pandemic has provided fresh opportunity for Hindu nationalists to beat down an already disadvantaged minority group.
