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Matthew Bell

The US push for a ceasefire in Gaza rests on a key meeting this week

Israel-Hamas war

The Biden administration is flooding the zone in the Middle East with high-level diplomats ahead of a key meeting on Thursday. Getting a ceasefire for Gaza is the immediate goal. But this is also about bringing down the temperature in a region that’s on edge after Israel assassinated two top leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel has been anxiously waiting to see what sort of retaliation Iran and its regional proxies might unleash against the Jewish state. And the US wants to prevent a wider regional war. 

Netanyahu says stopping the Gaza war now is ‘not an option’

Israel-Hamas war

‘We need to fix the country’: Israelis ponder a post-war future 

Conflict & Justice
Israelis demonstrate outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to call for new elections, Jerusalem, April 1, 2024.

Israelis set up a tent city in Jerusalem to protest Netanyahu and call for new elections

Israel-Hamas war
Israeli soldiers carry a stretcher toward a helicopter near the border with Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023.

Israel and Hamas reach temporary ceasefire agreement

Israel-Hamas war
State of the Union 2015

What Obama didn’t mention in the State of the Union

Global Politics

Yemen? Boko Haram? Syria’s massive refugee crisis? All missed the cut in the president’s speech.

Confetti flies around the ball and countdown clock in Times Square on New Year's Eve in New York January 1, 2015.

We look back at our favorite stories of 2014

Global Politics

A cat detective, a song called Chop My Money, and an interview about the meaning of forgiveness — journalists from The World’s newsroom in Boston pick their favorite stories of 2014.

Mohamed was important in Libyan's revolution, helping to defeat and ultimately capture Muammar Gaddafi. His younger brother missed out on Libya's revolution — so he decided to make his own fame by going to Syria to fight in the violent revolution there.

2014 was the year youth protesters found their voice and hacking became an everyday fear

Global Politics

From the Sony hack to #BringBackOurGirls, here are the top international security, privacy, digital diplomacy online activism and cyber-warfare stories of 2014.

A policeman helps an injured pro-democracy protester to leave after he was beaten by a group of anti-Occupy Central protesters at Hong Kong's Mongkok district October 3, 2014

Government supporters destroy protest camps in Hong Kong

Global Politics

The demonstrations in Hong Kong took a violent turn on Friday when government supporters attacked camps setup by pro-democracy protesters.

A protester walks in tear gas fired by riot policemen after thousands of protesters blocked the main street to the financial district outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014.

Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’ isn’t deterred by clashes with police

Conflict

Days after demonstrations began in the center of Hong Kong, tens of thousands of demonstrators are still in the streets despite the use of tear gas and pepper spray by the police. And, by all appearances, the pro-democracy protesters are settling in for the long haul.