The rush to find a conspiracy around the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins is driven by narrative, not evidence.

In 1997, the former Soviet leader needed money, and Pizza Hut needed a spokesman. Greatness ensued.

As a right-wing terrorist cell went on a seven-year killing spree, did authorities look the other way?

With prices spiralling, poachers are digging for ginseng in the North Carolina hills.

The story of the meeting that led to the creation of ISIS, as explained by someone still on the inside.

David Vincenzetti says his company, which sells spyware to world’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies, is helping to thwart terrorism. Others say it’s a danger to citizens, dissidents, and journalists alike.

A brazen land grab in Zimbabwe and why it’s getting harder to stop multinational corporations.

Kidnapped by rebels when he was 9, Dominic Ongwen grew up to command fighters who slaughtered, raped, and pillaged. Is he guilty of heinous crimes or was he a hostage the whole time?

Inside the Nairobi Westgate Mall massacre.

Creating a new, clean police force in the Ukraine.

The anti-human trafficking stings conducted by Operation Underground Railroad are flashy, exciting, camera-ready. Whether or not they truly help victims is another question.

One of Europe’s poorest countries wanted a road, so U.S. mega-contractor Bechtel sold it a $1.3 billion highway, with the backing of a powerful American ambassador. Funny thing is, the highway is barely being used—and the ambassador is now working for Bechtel.

On Singapore’s attempt to create a more harmonious society using mass surveillance and data analysis.

On children accused of sorcery in Congo.

On the increasingly dangerous situation for journalists in Syria.

Decades later, U.S.-backed dictator Hissène Habré faces justice.

Seventeen-year-old Israel Arenas Durán disappeared after being arrested near his home in Nuevo León. He is one of more than 25,000 who have gone missing in Mexico since 2006.

A technical explanation of the real program to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facilities.

President Bush’s strange friendship with Vladimir Putin.

How Russia consistently undermines the U.N. in order to keep a multi-billion dollar monopoly on the sales of helicopters and airplanes.

On Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh, “the world’s most wanted terrorist not named Osama bin Laden,” whose death five years ago remains a mystery.

The U.N.’s role in creating an epidemic in Haiti.

Elegy for Aleppo.

An alleged rape and one woman’s futile quest for justice in modern China.

A CIA veteran remembers his Soviet nemesis, Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin, who was the chairman of the KGB for a single day during the 1991 coup against Gorbachev, and committed suicide in Moscow in March.