The Divine, the Digital and the Political at Humanity’s Largest Gathering
Pilgrims taking a holy bath and praying late last month at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Russia, Seeking to Salvage Military Bases, Goes Hat in Hand to Syria
Russian soldiers at the entrance of the Hmeimim Air Base outside Latakia, Syria, in late December.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
DeepSeek A.I. Is a Win for China, but a Danger to Party Control
The DeepSeek app on a phone in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
The Dark Side of Canada’s Fight Over Lobster
Atlantic lobster caught by the Mi’kmaw fisherman Bill Bartlett off the coast of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Life in Goma After a Rebel Takeover
M23 soldiers, in the foreground, as they secured Congolese soldiers who had surrendered in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Netanyahu Heads to Washington at a Critical Juncture for Mideast
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold meetings this week with the Trump administration.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Moo Deng, the Toddler Hippopotamus, Still Has Star Power
Moo Deng striking an adorable pose in her enclosure.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Latin America Gets Into Deal-Making Mode for Rubio’s Visit
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Deciphering Ancient Indus Valley Script Could Earn You $1 Million
A seal with the Indus Valley civilization script that is part of the collection of the National Museum in New Delhi.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Horst Köhler, Former German President and I.M.F. Leader, Dies at 81
Horst Köhler in Leipzig in 2009, when he was president of Germany. He was little known politically before becoming president in 2004.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
How the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze
Delivering U.S.-funded food aid in Bentiu, South Sudan, in 2023. Supplies of aid to the country have been disrupted since the freeze announced by President Trump.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Italian Judges Block Meloni’s Plan to Hold Asylum Seekers in Albania
An Italian Navy ship carrying migrants on Tuesday to Albania as part of a deal to process asylum seekers there.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Belgium Forms a Government After 7 Months of Squabbling
The leader of the New Flemish Alliance party, Bart De Wever, left, with King Philippe of Belgium this month after a meeting at the Royal Palace to discuss the formation of a new government.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Where the Taxis Are Motorcycles, and the Drivers Are Women
Lilian Raham, one of the “Boda Girls,” prepares to drive a client, Beatrice Oduor, and her child to a clinic in the town of Ukwala.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s New Interim President, Travels to Saudi Arabia
Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s leader, in Damascus in December.
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Thomas
on February 2025
Main FAA Warning System, NOTAM, Is Down
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Israel and Hamas Exchange 3 Hostages and More Than 180 Prisoners
Israeli hostage Ofer Calderon is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Saturday, in the latest exchange in a tense cease-fire deal.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Why Trump Is Imposing Tariffs on Mexico
Trucks crossing into the United States from Tijuana, Mexico, on Friday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
Funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development has been essential in transporting lifesaving treatments worldwide.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Arab Nations Reject Trump’s Suggestion to Displace Palestinians From Gaza
A meeting of foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Wounded Gazans Begin to Leave for Egypt Through Reopened Rafah Crossing
Medical workers loaded a young Palestinian into an ambulance to cross from Gaza into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
American-Israeli Hostage Is Released in Gaza Under Cease-Fire Deal
Keith Siegel, center, a dual American-Israeli citizen, is flanked by Hamas fighters during his release in Gaza City on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Renewed Resolve
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Trump’s Tariffs Would Reverse Decades of Integration Between U.S. and Mexico
Trucks passing through a toll on the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas, home to America’s busiest port.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Canada’s Auto Industry Capital Braces for Trump Tariffs
Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, says cities will need help their residents deal with the effects of U.S. tariffs.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Trump’s Halt on Climate Spending Freezes Jobs and Stalls Projects
A solar project in the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona that was partly funded by the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
7 Steps L.A. Could Take to Gird Against Future Wildfires
A neighborhood burns at the onset of January’s catastrophic Los Angeles-area fires.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Who Are the Hostages Released on Saturday?
The family of Ofer Kalderon in Israel celebrating his release on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
U.S. Considers Sending Israel 24,000 Assault Rifles Held Back Under Biden
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s former minister of national security, said in October 2023 that he would give arms to settlements and create civilian militias for the protection of settlers.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
German Opposition Gambles With Far-Right on Immigration, and Loses
Friedrich Merz, German opposition leader and chairman of the Christian Democrats, speaking during a session of the German Parliament in Berlin, on Friday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Hamas to Free Yarden Bibas, Israeli Father Whose Family Was Taken Hostage
Photos of Yarden Bibas and his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel, top, and Kfir.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Trump Will Hit Mexico, Canada and China With Tariffs
President Trump has promised to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China beginning on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Gaza’s Border Crossing at Rafah Reopens to Let Sick and Wounded Leave
Hundreds of Egyptians gathered in front of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Norway Seizes Russian-Crewed Ship Suspected of Cutting an Undersea Cable
Crew members on a French Navy plane patrolling over the Baltic Sea last week as part of a NATO mission to protect undersea cables and pipelines.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Hamas Names 3 Hostages It Says Will Be Freed This Weekend
Aviva Siegel, a former hostage, with a photograph of her husband, Keith Siegel, who is set to be released by Hamas this weekend.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Trump’s Deportations Only Work if Countries Agree to Take Their Citizens Back
Brazilian migrants deported from the U.S. board a Brazilian Air Force flight in Manaus, Brazil, on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
What to Know About Trump’s Military Deportation Flights
A U.S. Air Force plane used to deport migrants on the tarmac this week in Guatemala City.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Egypt Fears Syria’s Revolutionary Fervor Could Be Contagious
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt commemorating Police Day last week in a photograph released by the Egyptian presidency.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Friday Briefing
Emergency personnel at the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 on the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Kremlin Chokes YouTube Service, but Russians Find Ways Around It
YouTube has been at the heart of the Russian internet for years and a staple of daily life for many Russians, streaming everything from old Soviet movies to anti-Kremlin political shows.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
North Korean Troops in Russia Taken off Front Lines
Ukrainian military vehicles near the border of Russia’s Kursk region in January.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
3 Are Arrested in Theft of Gold Helmet From Dutch Museum
The helmet of Cotofenesti, an elaborately decorated solid-gold headpiece from the fifth century B.C., was among the items stolen from the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, over the weekend.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Israel Frees Palestinian Prisoners After Chaotic Hostage Handover
Palestinian militants escorting one of the freed Israeli hostages, Arbel Yehud, to Red Cross officials in Gaza on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Palestinians Gather in West Bank to Welcome Prisoners Released by Israel
Freed Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Friday Briefing: 67 Dead in Washington Air Collision
Search crews on the Potomac River near Washington, yesterday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Syria’s New President Pledges Unity in First Address
People celebrating in the streets of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Wednesday after rebel leader Ahmed al-Shara was named president.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Father Slays New York Girl, 14, in TikTok ‘Honor Killing’
A protest against honor killings in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2016.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Married Russian Figure-Skating Stars Are Among Victims of Plane Crash Near Washington, D.C.
Yevgeniya Shishkova and Vadim Naumov skating in Paris in 1996. They won a world championship and competed in the Winter Olympics.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Zakaria Zubeidi, Militant Who Briefly Escaped Israeli Prison, Is Among Released Palestinians
Zakaria Zubeidi, at center right, arrived in city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Security at ISIS Camps in Syria Threatened by U.S. Funding Freeze
Al Hol detention camp in Syria in 2019. It houses some 39,000 Islamic State members, their families and refugees.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Kyiv’s Mayor Feuds With President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine
Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in front of the city administration building last year. He has engaged in a low-boil feud with the president for several years.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
In Thailand, Faraway Vigil for Hostages Ends in Happy Tears
Wiwwaeo Sriaoun, the mother of Watchara Sriaoun, who was released after 15 months of captivity in Gaza, at her house with another relative in Thailand’s Udon Thani Province on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Who Is Syria’s New Interim President?
Ahmed al-Shara, center, in Damascus in December. Under his stewardship, Syria’s interim government will now face a delicate political balancing act.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Who Are the 3 Israeli Hostages Released Thursday?
Israelis gathered to watch the release of the hostages from what is known as “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
After Maha Kumbh Mela Stampede, Concerns of Cover-Up
A woman standing among the debris from the stampede.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Rescuers in Japan Try to Reach Driver Trapped in Sinkhole For Days
A sinkhole that swallowed a truck near Tokyo has grown in size as rescuers try to reach the trapped driver buried inside.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Salwan Momika, Man Behind Quran Burning in Sweden, Is Killed
Salwan Momika protesting outside a mosque in Stockholm in 2023.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
Pause on U.S. Funding Spreads Fear of H.I.V. Spike Across Africa
The Engage Men’s Health clinic in Johannesburg has been temporarily closed after the Trump administration ordered health organizations to stop distributing H.I.V. medications purchased through a U.S. funding program.
Posted by
Thomas
on February 2025
What Israel’s UNRWA Ban Could Mean for Palestinians