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Mitchell Prothero • Vice
The Syrian civil war crosses into Lebanon.
The idyllic orchard explodes into war. Three rocket-propelled grenades fly toward the border post. A dozen automatic rifles and machine guns release a rain of ammunition; muzzle flashes light up the darkening sky.
"We do this every few days," Hussein laughs. "But so do they," he adds while pointing toward Assad's troops.
The Syrian Army returns fire with machine guns and AK-47s of their own, sending bullets whipping through the grove at the rebels in front of us. Hussein and I are standing a few rows back, but we are still somewhat in the line of fire. I realize I'm uncomfortably close to the front line, even if I'm not right up on it. The bullets that hit the nearby trees aren't aimed at us, but marksmanship is a moot point after you're dead.
STR/AFP/GettyImages
Why Can't India Feed Its People?
Mehul Srivastava • Businessweek
What keeps so many millions of people in India hungry and malnourished?
The vast majority of Indians, especially villagers, are suspended in nutritional purgatory -- they eat enough to fill their stomachs but not enough to stay healthy. In the early 1970s the number of calories the average Indian ate began rolling backward. In 1973 villagers ate just under 2,300 calories a day, according to the National Sample Survey Office, a branch of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. By 2010 that number had dropped to about 2,020, compared with the government floor of 2,400 a day to qualify for food aid. The mismatch manifests itself in some of the world's worst health score cards: Half of all children younger than three years old in India weigh too little for their age; 8 in 10 are anemic.
RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images
Menachem Kaiser • Tablet
What if the crimes in the "worst pedophile case in Jerusalem's history" never really happened?
In the wake of these allegations, the neighborhood underwent an immediately noticeable change of spirit. No one could be trusted. Parents were daily being informed by their children and friends that neighbors they'd known for years, invited over for Shabbat meals, or given charity to, were actually perverted sadistic pedophiles who had been terrorizing their children in ways no one could imagine. At this point, seemingly no family has gone unaffected: In certain sections of the neighborhood, 100 percent of families have children, and often more than one, who have been reportedly abused. I have heard reports of a family with 10 children, all claiming abuse.
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images
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