I was in Afghanistan when mujahideen guerrillas fought Soviet invaders. Three decades later, security remains precarious and peace a distant dream. Men walking from the Pakistan border into Afghan territory abandoned by Soviet-backed Afghan forces in 1988 (All photos...
COVID-19 has forced billions of people into lockdown. Two survivors of earlier crises tell how solidarity and patience are antidotes to fear. Patients receive blood transfusions in Karachi, Pakistan, 1 April 2020. A lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has created...
My father used to tend our garden. Then he was taken from us — changing what I understood about America’s fundamental covenants. He doused the roots of his white carnations, careful not to soak the generous stems that lived inside this hanging pot. They...
Ashamed of flying because it worsens your carbon footprint? You’re not alone if you want to ride the rails — as I recently did when my life took a turn. (French countryside viewed from a TGV fast train. Video and photo by Sarah Edmonds) I am suffering an...
Chinese immigrants form a growing community in France. Two manicurists gave me insight into challenges facing workers in Paris’s beauty industry. Finding a good nail salon in a new city can be a challenge. After roaming the streets of Paris’ 14th arrondissement...
In a world with nuclear weapons, every agreement counts. So the decision by the U.S. and Russia to scrap a disarmament treaty does matter. Demonstrators with masks of Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump...
By Kaitlyn-Lee Mun It was a Sunday afternoon in early June at Hong Kong’s Kowloon Park. Cicadas buzzed incessantly, delivering a deafening chorus. On this humid day, the air like soup, people gathered to watch a weekly Kung Fu performance. I was in the crowd,...
We all have our convictions. But the world’s a complex place, where opposing viewpoints co-exist. Humility can be the first step to understanding. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, seen in London on 11 July 1961, was the first man to orbit the Earth, not U.S....
I used to associate the Middle East with violence, devastation and instability. On a trip to Israel, I discovered hospitality and generosity. Artwork by Banksy in Bethlehem (Photo by Jasmine Li) Sitting in the shade, I touch the sand in my hand, cold and moist....
I was raised in Guatemala, where I was expected to grow up fast and told that women are not meant to go to school. But I had other dreams. Children attend school in northern Guatemala, 1 July 2014 (AP Photo/Luis Soto) I come from Guatemala, where education is not a...