On the popular iPhone app.

Just the day before, President Barack Obama had signed on and begun sending out photos. This seemed like a real sign that Instagram had arrived. Obama already has accounts on Flickr and Facebook. He (or his people) must have seen something unique and wonderful in Instagram's audience, some way to reach people via that channel that it couldn't through others. When the President joins your network, it's news. And while it's great news, it can be the kind of thing a company isn't prepared for. But as it turns out, Obama is a fractional compared to Justin Bieber.

“For hours, days, I fixated on the patch of sunlight cast against my wall through those barred and grated windows. When, after five weeks, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground utterly broken, sobbing and rocking to the beat of my heart, it was the patch of sunlight that brought me back.”

Three decades ago, Mohamed Siad Barre, commander of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, head of the politburo of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party and the last ruler of a functional Somali state, built vast concrete buildings all over Mogadishu. The beautiful city on the coast of the Indian Ocean, with its Arabic and Indian architecture, winding alleyways and Italian colonial-era villas, was dominated by these monuments. They were Third World incarnations of Soviet architecture, exuding power, stability and strength. The buildings – like the literacy campaigns, massive public works programmes and a long war against neighbouring Ethiopia in the late 1970s and early 1980s – were supposed to reflect the wisdom and authority of the dictator.

An investigation into the practice of putting teenagers in solitary confinement.

Ardelia Ali was raped in 1995. Twenty years later, her attacker was convicted.

An investigation into the abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities in Illinois.

Writing a “stunt memoir” in the waterpark capital of the world.

How an autocratic CEO made the company billions, alienating almost everyone else in the process.

On the American teenager who was kidnapped by Islamic militants while on vacation in the Philippines.

The last great brawling sports team in America—Reggie, Catfish, Goose, Gator, and the Boss—remember their fallen leader.

On the murder of a popular bar owner in a ghost town near the Mexican border.

The unexpected evolution of Olympic medalist Debi Thomas.

The story of a college town and the most devastating tornado in Alabama history.

The story of the Caughnawagas, “the most footloose Indians in North America,” and their gradual assimilation.

A segregated housing development washed away in a flood can still explain why Portland, Oregon, is such a “white” city.

After two people are found dead in Yellowstone National Park, a team of investigators tracks down the unlikely culprit: a grizzly bear.

Not education. Not income. Not even being an expert on racial disparities in health care.

At Facebook’s worst-performing content moderation site in North America, one contractor has died, and others say they fear for their lives.

Indigenous people and illegal miners are engaged in a fight that may help decide the future of the planet.

Stories of African Americans playing in a city that has struggled with racism

The author, on book tour when the pandemic set in, reflects on what could have been worse—and what could be better.

Observers have long warned of rising forced labor in Xinjiang. Satellite images show factories built just steps away from cell blocks.

In Virginia, paramilitarism gets a rebrand.

The joys—and absurdities—of finding oneself abandoned in a desolate landscape.

Daisy Coleman, new to town and a cheerleader, was 14. Matthew Barnett, a 17-year-old football player and the grandson of a longtime politician, was 17. The evidence pointed overwhelmingly toward rape. There was even a video. Yet the charges were dropped. Then the people of Maryville, Missouri, set about running the Colemans out of town.