A prostitution and sex trafficking ring operated on the outskirts of a U.S. Navy base in Bahrain and may have involved 15% of the sailors stationed there.

He sawed out the bottom. Nailed the crate to the telephone pole out in front of the house. New hoop. ... I’d be out there shooting until 10 at night. That’s when I started getting really good. The pole was round so you couldn’t bank the ball in. And you weren’t getting a friendly bounce on a square rim. You had to hit it dead-on, wet.

How the former CEO of McKinsey, who was indicted in the largest insider trading case in United States history, got played.

On the trail of Austin Tice and the late James Foley, freelance journalists who were kidnapped in Syria in 2012.

How modernity – and an eruption of violence – changed “the most remote inhabited island on the Atlantic seaboard.”

The rise of One Direction fanfiction that imagines the band members in relationships – with each other.

A “crude table-tennis arcade game” called Pong and the birth of the video game industry.

Thoughts on the current era of online anonymity.

In Silicon Valley, up all night coding in the dorms with the aspiring Mark Zuckerbergs of tomorrow.

The history of – and recent controversy over – the diagnosis.

The disappointing tenure of Uruguay’s great lefty hope.

On the Final Exit Network, a controversial right-to-die organization, and the death of their client John Celmer.

A profile of thriller writer Harlan Coben and what it takes to succeed as a novelist even when the literary establishment doesn’t acknowledge your existence.

How Indians with the surname Patel came to own 1/3 of the motels in America.

The fatal allure of the Golden Gate Bridge and why it doesn’t have a barrier to thwart potential leapers.

The story of two Canadian artificial intelligence visionaries who became bitter rivals and then both committed suicide in the same month.

On the evolution of Nigeria’s booming film industry, which produces 50 full-length features a week.

An examination of the continued fascination with the 6-year-old beauty queen, 20 years after her murder.

A profile of the comic.

Why did the El Faro cargo ship sail directly into the path of Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 aboard?

“Irrational behavior has always been man’s reaction to the presence of sharks.”

The article that inspired Jaws.

A treasure hunter found the world’s richest shipwreck off the coast of Cape Cod. Or at least that’s what he told his investors.

How a hanger-on at the fringe of San Francisco’s rock scene built the Rolling Stone empire.

The consumer giant looks to social responsibility in the age of big business.

Multiple women share harrowing accounts of sexual assault and harassment by the film executive.