Inside the Double Life of a Syrian Hairdresser Accused of Torture in Assad’s Prisons
Hala Mounir Mohammad was a popular Syrian hairdresser who taught styling and posted blowouts and bridal looks to thousands of online followers. She was also, according to five former detainees, a guard inside Assad's Air Force Intelligence prison who beat women with green plastic pipes and boasted of sniping at civilians.
‘South Africa First’ Hits the Streets
Xenophobia in South Africa has taken a new form, as vigilante groups set up checkpoints at clinics and schools, stopping people and demanding identification. Foreign nationals are often turned away or singled out, while the response from police and government is inconsistent.
Profit, War and Russia’s Growing Prosthetics Sector
The war in Ukraine has vastly increased the need for prosthetics in Russia. The result is an industry that is visibly expanding — financially and statistically — while the system meant to serve amputees becomes more strained, less flexible and increasingly unequal.
How Elon Musk Fuses Rockets and Tech To Shape Modern Society
Quinn Slobodian joins Faisal Al Yafai on The Lede to discuss what Elon Musk reveals about a new era of digital capitalism.
How the Strait of Hormuz Became the World’s Most Contested Waterway
From the Portuguese conquest of 1507 to the end of British policing in 1971, various powers have tried to control the narrow channel between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.