Spotlight
Refugees, Minerals and Security
Following a minerals deal between the Trump administration and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a separate plan has emerged to relocate America’s Afghan allies to the African country — not to the U.S. The move has sparked protests in Kinshasa and could set a precedent for outsourcing asylum obligations.
Pakistanis Deported From UAE
Pakistani nationals, many of them Shiite, allege being arbitrarily detained and deported from the UAE amid deteriorating relations between the countries in the wake of the Iran war.
How Syrian Forces Captured the Man Behind the Tadamon Massacre
Amjad Youssef hid for over a year in a village in rural Hama, Syria, slipping between his family home and the forested peaks above it, until intelligence officers tracked his nighttime movements and arrested him in his bedroom.
Assad’s Cousin Stands Trial in Damascus for Crackdown That Sparked Syria’s Uprising
Fifteen years after his security forces tortured a group of schoolboys in Daraa and ignited Syria's uprising, Atef Najib, Bashar al-Assad's cousin and the regime's former political security chief in the south, appeared in a Damascus courtroom on Sunday.
The West Bank on Strike
While international attention has been focused elsewhere, Israel has been steadily constricting everyday life in the occupied West Bank, including through the withholding of tax revenues it is legally obligated to pass to the Palestinian Authority. The desperate situation has led to a general strike, but there are few avenues for relief.
Lebanon’s Beekeepers Are at Breaking Point
Lebanon's bees were already under siege from pesticides, climate change and economic collapse before Israeli bombardments devastated apiaries across the south. With hives destroyed, beekeepers displaced and the next generation fleeing the country, an ecological catastrophe is unfolding — the effects of which will outlast the war.
A Suicide Breaks Through the Silence
Passant Soliman was an Egyptian mother, blogger, model and law school graduate who ended her life while hundreds watched on her Facebook livestream. In a country where suicide is almost always shrouded in denial and moral condemnation, her death has sparked a wave of sympathy.