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The Liberian women who took on their traffickers and won

Liberia has been on and off the State Department’s human trafficking watch list for years. In this desperately poor country, people accept jobs from agents to work as domestic servants in other countries. Usually, they are trapped, earning little money and subject to abuse. But several hundred Liberian women used social media to escape their traffickers in 2022.

Two small fishing boats are shown in the near ground with large oil tankers off in the distance.

Iran bypasses Hormuz Strait to export crude oil

Energy
A woman is shown walking and pulling a rollaboard in an airport terminal with the Tokyo Olympics 2020 sign in the background.

Olympics director fired over Holocaust joke

Top of The World
On Jan. 14, 2020, Nadhira al-Harthy became the first Arab woman to reach the summit of Mount Ama Dablam — about 22,000 feet — according to mountain records.

‘Married to the mountains’: Arab women mountaineers set records despite social restrictions, pandemic

Lifestyle
Two people are shown from behind wearing head coverings and looking up at a screen showing with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Gulf Arab leaders sign declaration with Qatar to ease rift

Global Politics
A close-up photo of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wearing headphones

Illiberalism isn’t just rising — it’s spreading (Part I)

Critical State

Why does there seem to be a global rise in illiberal laws that restrict nongovernmental organizations and civic life? Critical State’s Sam Ratner looks at research on how policies that restrict civic life spread.

US President Donald Trump is shown in a close up photo wearing a blue suit and striped tie.

Trump warned Tehran a US attack was imminent, called for talks: Iran

Conflict

Iranian officials told Reuters on Friday that Tehran had received a message from US President Donald Trump warning that a US attack on Iran was imminent but saying he was against war and wanted talks on a range of issues.

Men and women sit around a negotiating table with flags in the background.

Things That Go Boom: In nuclear negotiations, diplomacy can be a slog

Nuclear

Diplomacy is often awkward, stymied by translators, late nights and unsecured yurt communication (yes, that really happened). But diplomacy can also stop a war, as years of secret and not-so-secret negotiations between the US and Iran proved when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was reached in 2015.

members of a battalion lining up in front of a palace

There are 28 other monarchies in the world

Global Politics

Are you obsessing over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding? Well, to help you get your royal fix, here’s some other information about other royal families.

The recovery of what’s believed to be the bell of the Esmeralda, a ship that sailed on Vasco Da Gama’s second expedition to the Indian Ocean, and was lost in 1503

Vasco da Gama’s shipwreck sheds light on the earliest days of Europeans visiting Asia

Development

In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama made history by becoming the first European to reach Asia by sea, ushering in the world’s first episode of globalization. Naval archaeologists have just published their findings into one of his lost ships, providing insights into the earliest days of European imperialism.