Following the money and the opium in Afghanistan.

The rise of anonymous group suicide in Japan.

Posing for family survival in a society that values boys over girls.

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

On the cult founder, business magnate, pseudonymous internationally shown artist and ferry owner Yoo Byung-eun, who was found dead in the brush amidst empty liquor bottles.

The author walks to his hometown after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995.

Somaly Mam’s harrowing story of her own flight from sexual servitude and the stories of hundreds of girls she rescued from Cambodian brothels brought her fame and helped raise millions for her non-profit. Does it matter if none or few of the stories are true?

When David Sneddon disappeared hiking around western China, officials chalked it up to a drowning. A decade later, it appears he had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea.

Deep in the jungle, the tourists were targetted, but only the porters were hacked by the machetes. Was it a robbery? Or a deeper pattern of violence amongst ancient tribes?

Two men, separated by more than 150 years, discover the folly of attempting Western-style capitalism in Micronesia.

Why do Syrian civilians in a Turkish camp live in relative luxury?

The haunted aftermath of disaster in Japan.

Visiting Cambodia, and a Khmer Rouge prison camp, 30 years after the genocide.

The fight to vaccinate children in the border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of an attempt to eradicate polio worldwide.

Due to global warming, this island nation may cease to exist in 20 years.

Bibek Dhong traveled from Nepal to Malaysia to test cameras for the new iPhone 5. When production ended abruptly, he and his coworkers found themselves stranded for two months without money, food or passports.

Traveling with a sex tourist to the Uzbek city of Tashkent. Excerpted from the forthcoming book If It’s Monday It Must Be Madurai.

“She taught me the tricks of trimming. She taught me to smile when my back ached. She taught me some Bengali words. Sab bhalo. It is all okay.”

A family investigates.

A profile of Chencho Dorji, Bhutan’s first psychiatrist, who has treated “more than 5,300 depressed, anxious, psychotic and drug-addled” people since 1999.

“At first, there is only a little sound, a metallic ping, almost a click.”

A visit to Tokyo’s first co-sleeping cafe, where one can pay a set fee to sleep next to a woman in 20 minute increments, though spooning, being patted on the head, and a change of pajamas are extra.

A profile of lawyer Jacques Vergès, who died yesterday after decades spent defending war criminals, terrorists and dictators.

“Joe’s hand began to tingle, and he called the group together. The toxins would leave his system in 48 hours, he said. He’d be conscious the whole time.”

Playing tourist in the isolated nation.