For our Global Societies project, reporters around the world will be writing about societal problems, sustainability and development in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. The series will include features, analyses, photo essays, videos and podcasts looking behind the curtain of globalization. The project is generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The world is preoccupied with containing the coronavirus and its impact on the economy. Pharmaceutical companies are working at full tilt to develop a vaccine that could end the COVID-19 crisis. There is no doubt these...…For our Global Societies project, reporters around the world will be writing about societal problems, sustainability and development in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. The series will include features, analyses, photo essays, videos and podcasts looking behind the curtain of globalization. The project is generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The world is preoccupied with containing the coronavirus and its impact on the economy. Pharmaceutical companies are working at full tilt to develop a vaccine that could end the COVID-19 crisis. There is no doubt these...WW…

Mullah Niazi sits on top of his mountain and waits -- waits for news from his commanders, waits for his fighters and waits for victory. He's been living up here in his mountaintop fortress -- where the shacks are as brown as the mountain and where no motorcycle, car or tank can travel -- for two-and-a-half years. He is waiting for God's rule to once again take hold on the streets of Afghanistan's, just like when he was a spokesman for Taliban founder, Mullah Omar. His patience seems to be paying off.Slowly, Niazi's fighters, who are taking us to him, ascend the final slope. The air is still...…Mullah Niazi sits on top of his mountain and waits -- waits for news from his commanders, waits for his fighters and waits for victory. He's been living up here in his mountaintop fortress -- where the shacks are as brown as the mountain and where no motorcycle, car or tank can travel -- for two-and-a-half years. He is waiting for God's rule to once again take hold on the streets of Afghanistan's, just like when he was a spokesman for Taliban founder, Mullah Omar. His patience seems to be paying off.Slowly, Niazi's fighters, who are taking us to him, ascend the final slope. The air is still...WW…

It's one year before the case is to be taken to the United Nations when Megan Carr boards a plane at the Cape Town airport and slides into her seat. A book is lying in her lap, but she is too nervous to read. Carr is flying to the east coast of South Africa to investigate a series of murders that likely has its roots deep in the country's apartheid history. In Durban, she rents a car and heads north.It's the middle of January 2020. A blond woman with a decisive gait, Megan Carr is wearing jeans and a black top. During the drive, she talks about the threats she has received as a result of...…It's one year before the case is to be taken to the United Nations when Megan Carr boards a plane at the Cape Town airport and slides into her seat. A book is lying in her lap, but she is too nervous to read. Carr is flying to the east coast of South Africa to investigate a series of murders that likely has its roots deep in the country's apartheid history. In Durban, she rents a car and heads north.It's the middle of January 2020. A blond woman with a decisive gait, Megan Carr is wearing jeans and a black top. During the drive, she talks about the threats she has received as a result of...WW…

The day when Tundu Lissu was supposed to die began like any other day in the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma. Shortly after 8 a.m., he ate a quick breakfast in a well-secured housing complex for parliamentarians not far from the National Assembly.In his head, he went over the speech he planned to give later that day. The parliament’s agenda that day included a treaty on the use of a river basin on the border to Malawi. Lissu planned to criticize the government sharply, as he often did.Tundu Lissu is one of Tanzania's best-known opposition politicians, and the most vocal critic of President John...…The day when Tundu Lissu was supposed to die began like any other day in the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma. Shortly after 8 a.m., he ate a quick breakfast in a well-secured housing complex for parliamentarians not far from the National Assembly.In his head, he went over the speech he planned to give later that day. The parliament’s agenda that day included a treaty on the use of a river basin on the border to Malawi. Lissu planned to criticize the government sharply, as he often did.Tundu Lissu is one of Tanzania's best-known opposition politicians, and the most vocal critic of President John...WW…

In September 2013, eight Ukrainians and a Russian departed Georgia on a beat-up freighter, apparently heading for Mozambique. Their ship was already in bad shape before it even left the Black Sea port of Batumi. Called the Rhosus, the vessel was leaking, its alarm system was faulty and so was its rescue equipment.But the cargo on board was extremely volatile: 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a highly concentrated variant, the kind used to make explosives, with a nitrogen enrichment level of almost 35 percent. Seven years later, on August 4, 2020, it would devastate parts of Lebanon's...…In September 2013, eight Ukrainians and a Russian departed Georgia on a beat-up freighter, apparently heading for Mozambique. Their ship was already in bad shape before it even left the Black Sea port of Batumi. Called the Rhosus, the vessel was leaking, its alarm system was faulty and so was its rescue equipment.But the cargo on board was extremely volatile: 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a highly concentrated variant, the kind used to make explosives, with a nitrogen enrichment level of almost 35 percent. Seven years later, on August 4, 2020, it would devastate parts of Lebanon's...WW…