About 10 miles west of the Iraqi border sits the sprawling camp called al-Hol, which was named after a nearby town. After passing miles of empty, green plains and a few checkpoints guarded by armed men, rows upon rows of white tents appear, with some bearing the logos of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR.  A screenshot from drone footage of the white-covered tents at al-Hol camp, a detention center where people with alleged ties to ISIS are being held in northern Syria. Shirin Jaafari/The World Barbed wire and watch towers separate the camp from the outside world. Men in milita ..read more

Rosa Poulbot, a mother of four, has lived in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis for 34 years. Her centuryold house stands on a narrow backstreet just a few minutes walk from the newly constructed Olympic village. The densely populated district of Seine-Saint-Denis is where most of the Olympic Games will be hosted this summer. It’s also one of the poorest districts in Paris and has the highest number of immigrants. Paris won the bid to host this summer’s Olympics, in part, on a promise to rejuvenate the district. On her roof, Poulbot has erected a makeshift white sign that reads (in Frenc ..read more

The US Congress has just passed a bill that could lead to a ban on the Chinese-owned video app TikTok. Europe’s cracking down, too — not just on TikTok but also on its new spin-off platform, TikTok Lite.  The lite version is slightly different from what most TikTok users know the app to be. This new version pays people to watch videos. Jennifer Gay, a TikTok content creator, sits outside the US Capitol, April 23, 2024.Mariam Zuhaib/AP “It’s totally nuts,” Spanish YouTuber Feliking told his 150,000 subscribers earlier this month. “They will literally pay you to watch videos. You’ll accumul ..read more

It’s almost beach season in Turkey and for many visiting Urla — a harbor city that serves as a popular summer destination — no trip is complete without a cold, bubbly drink called gazoz, a soda that gets its flavors from the towns where it’s made. At Ferhat İskit’s café — Gazozcucu — there’s plenty of coffee and tea to offer. But what people really come for is the gazoz. “These are the local sodas of our country,” İskit said, “Every province has its own gazoz.”  Customers enjoy gazoz together. biz_bize_aile_cay_evi/Instagram His collection is proudly displayed, interspersed with 1980s dec ..read more

Mohammed Najjar, his wife Salam Najjar, and their young children live in the West Bank, in a home that overlooks an olive orchard.  Their home is bordered by a highway built primarily as a convenience for Israeli settlers in the West Bank. “The settlers are always around, so I make my kids play inside the house,” Salam Najjar said. “It’s not big, but I have to let them play soccer indoors.” The Najjar house is surrounded by a heavy gauge steel fence.  Mohammed Najjar said he put it up last year when settlers living nearby attacked his house. They torched the two entrances, and then ..read more

In form and content, “Patriots” feels like a historical Shakespearen play. There are dozens of characters, political treachery and, at the center of it all, a large, flawed and, ultimately tragic, character: Boris Berezovsky, played by American actor Michael Stuhlbarg. “It really feels like a modern Shakespeare play,” Stuhlbarg said. “There are remnants of ‘Shylock,’ remnants of “Richard the Third.”” “Patriots” is a play debuting on Broadway on Monday by Peter Morgan, the creator of the Netflix series, “The Crown,” about the British monarchy. Similarly, “Patriots” is based on real characters ..read more

The UN has warned the world that Haiti has reached the brink of collapse.  A transitional council has been created with the goal of stabilizing the country. But heavily armed gangs still control much of Haiti, and Port-au-Prince, the capital, remains unsafe.  Against that backdrop, the Biden administration has resumed deportation of Haitians who have run afoul of US immigration law.  Harold Isaac, an independent reporter based in Haiti, is following all of this and updated The World’s Carol Hills with the latest developments. Carol Hills: We’ll get to the deportation issue in a ..read more

Israel carried out an attack on Iran late Thursday night near the city of Isfahan, Iran’s second-largest metropolitan area. The operation was confirmed by senior US and Iranian officials. It appears to be Israel’s response to Iran’s attack on Sunday, when Tehran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. That attack was in response to Israel’s strike on the Iranian Embassy complex in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on April 1. US officials have urged restraint and deescalation, and on Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was not involved in the attack. “We’re committed to ..read more

Over the next several weeks, nearly a billion voters will decide who controls India’s lower house of parliament and — by extension — who will be the country’s next prime minister. Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking reelection for a rare, third consecutive term. It’s predicted that he will win, and some worry about what that will mean for the future of India’s democracy. Voting started on Apr. 19 and will be conducted in seven phases. It’s expected to last until June 1, and votes will be counted on June 4. A woman shows a voting slip before she casts her vote during the first rou ..read more

National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has been tracing the path of our oldest human ancestors.  He began his trip in East Africa a decade ago and will eventually walk to the southern tip of South America.  The World’s Carolyn Beeler caught up with Paul to learn about his passage through eastern Turkey. Walking east along the Roman road. Join the journey at outofedenwalk.org. Paul Salopek/National Geographic Carolyn Beeler: So, Paul, take us back to 2014. You had just sailed from Cyprus to the coast of Turkey, very near Syria. How prepared were you for this next leg of the journe ..read more