Josmar García, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, showed no doubts when asked to name the most difficult part of his journey through eight countries en route to the United States: “It’s Mexico,” he said. García explained that encounters with immigration authorities and cartel members are common across the country. “You need a lot of money to bribe officials or pay ransom money,” he explained.  “It took me three days to pass the Darién [Gap], and I have been stuck in Mexico for three months.” Lucero Hernández, migrant Other migrants traveling to the US southern border by land agree. Fo ..read more

This month marks six months since the deadly attacks on southern Israel, when Hamas militants entered the country on Oct. 7, leaving about 1,200 people dead and taking about 250 hostages.  The attacks took place on the grounds of a music festival in the town of Sderot and the southern village of Aza, among other areas. Cars that were burned on Oct. 7, 2023, were collected in one lot for forensic evidence.Marco Werman/The World About 100 hostages were released after negotiations with Hamas last November, leaving about 130 in captivity — Israel says about a quarter of those are dead. S ..read more

Top US military leaders testified before the House of Representatives last week and unequivocally urged Congress to pass a bill that would provide significant military aid to Ukraine. The Senate passed such a bill worth tens of billions of dollars in February, but it’s been held up in the House since, and government officials in the US and Ukraine are saying that the delay in military aid is already impacting the battlefield. Yesterday, speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to advance the bill for a vote, along with other national security spending packages. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-L ..read more

In Vancouver, Canada, First Nations designers and models walked the runway to celebrate their style — ranging from coastal northwest tribal patterns to urban streetwear. At the helm is Joleen Mitton, who founded Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week and Supernaturals Modelling — an agency of all-Indigenous models. Mitton is Cree from the Sawridge First Nation and has spent years bringing Native representation to the fashion industry. The most recent edition of Indigenous Fashion Week took place in late November, and Mitton and her team were all hands on deck backstage. Each night, in the hour ..read more

It’s a cliche: Travelers come to the Middle East and are struck by the tension of a multidecade conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. For years, isolated pockets of quiet resistance in Jerusalem have tried to bring together people from both sides of the conflict, but the Oct. 7 attacks seem to have put a lot of that resistance on indefinite hold. But since then, one place is trying again to establish common ground between Israelis and Palestinians: FeelBeit, an event space and bar in Jerusalem. Located on the seam line between east and west Jerusalem, FeelBeit is an Israeli-Palestinian a ..read more

Inside Israel, criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu is widespread.  Some of the strongest critics come from former and current Israeli military, who say Netanyahu has no strategy or endgame for the war against Hamas — Nimrod Sheffer, a former chief of staff of the Israeli air force, is among them. Sheffer told The World that Israelis are enraged by the unprecedented attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and that’s driving the army actions much more than it should be.  “People are seeking revenge. They are looking for revenge first,” he said.  Sheffer said he’s hearing more and more officers ..read more

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Yoaz Hendel was at home outside of Jerusalem when he said he heard the news about the Hamas attack in southern Israel. “No one called me. I took my uniforms. I told my wife that someone called me and I just ran away, went to take a weapon from one of the units very close to here,” said Hendel, a reservist with the Israeli military.  “And I took responsibility for finding Nukhba terrorists in the areas between Be’eri and K’far Aza.” Nukhba is the name of a Hamas commando unit that Israel says led the attacks. Hendel, a 48-year-old former special forces soldi ..read more

The biggest issue in Israel today is the fate of the 133 hostages still being held captive in Gaza. Demonstrators in Israel have held sit-ins and rallies — almost daily — demanding the hostages’ return.  Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was one of the people taken hostage on Oct. 7 at the Nova Music Festival, and he is still being held. His parents Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin have been relentlessly lobbying to get their son home. They recently went to the US to meet with top officials about the hostage crisis.  “I can tell you that right now, the word coming out of Washington is [that] th ..read more

On the outskirts of Ramallah, Palestinian farmer Youssef Shraiteh relies on water for cultivation and for his family’s daily needs at home. His 120-acre plot of farmland has a spring that the village has relied on for years, he said. Up to 60 family members used to grow vegetables, olives, citrus, and all sorts of other fruits on the land. And 30 years ago, the village was connected to a main water system.  But the water supply is erratic, he said.  “Sometimes the pipeline is only open one day every two weeks. And in the summer, every month or two, we experience pain.”  Youssef ..read more

Ahmed Hussein Al Jasem doesn’t remember much about the accident. He only recalls waking up in the hospital in pain. The 14-year-old tripped and fell from the fourth floor of a building under construction — where he was working as a laborer. Both of his legs were broken, his stomach was ripped open and he needed stitches on his head. Today, he can barely walk with the help of crutches. “I saw death with my own eyes,” he said, sitting on a white plastic chair in the courtyard of his home in the Syrian city of Raqqa.  “I saw death with my own eyes.”  Ahmed Hussein Al Jasem, 14, co ..read more