Photo Essay

History of a Handshake

A short account of the Middle East's longest war.

BY DAVID KENNER | APRIL 23, 2010

The Second Age of Castro

Daily life in Raúl's Cuba.

Photos by AMANDA RIVKIN | APRIL 9, 2010

The World’s Ugliest Statues

When bad art and bad politics meet.

CAPTIONS BY JOSHUA KEATING | APRIL 5, 2010

O Pioneers!

Portraits of Israel’s endlessly controversial outposts, neighborhoods, and settlements.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT | APRIL 2, 2010

All the Presidents' Friends

A short visual history of presidential BFFs, and why Obama needs his own global buddy.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT, PETER WILLIAMS | MARCH 29, 2010

Into the Hornet's Nest

The United States prepares its troops and its allies for the coming offensive in Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual home.

BY ANDREW SWIFT, PETER WILLIAMS | MARCH 17, 2010

Get Yer Anti-Ballistic Missile Shield Here

Where do sheikhs go shopping? Facing the rising threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, they go to weapons shows like the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, where leaders from Cairo to Riyadh are stocking up.

BY DAVID KENNER | MARCH 12, 2010

Photo Essay: The Real Hurt Locker

A look at the actual people behind the controversial Oscar-winning film.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH | MARCH 5, 2010

China's Golf Obsession

Green lawns and sand traps are now replacing ancient villages and tropical forests on Hainan Island, one of China's most pristine spots. Necessary development, or destructive clear-cutting?

BY DAN WASHBURN, PHOTOS BY RYAN PYLE | FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Planet War

From the bloody civil wars in Africa to the rag-tag insurgiences in Southeast Asia, 33 conflicts are raging around the world today, and it’s often innocent civilians who suffer the most.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT, PETER WILLIAMS | FEBRUARY 22, 2010

The Shooting War

An exclusive collection of work by the world's most acclaimed conflict photographers.

MARCH/APRIL 2010

Olympic Outliers

Forget the Jamaican bobsled team. This year, there’s a pack of Olympic underdogs from countries that aren't well known for cold-weather sports.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT | FEBRUARY 10, 2010

Bricks for Bread and Milk

India's capital city has been flooded with a new wave of migrant workers -- children.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT | FEBRUARY 5, 2010

“I Am So Happy He’s Not Dead”

Photojournalist Chris Hondros shares the scenes and stories of the two and a half weeks he spent walking the rubble of Port-au-Prince -- visiting morgues and newly dug mass graves, and meeting survivors in crowded makeshift hospitals.

BY CHRIS HONDROS | FEBRUARY 3, 2010

Afghanistan's Ultimate Sport

What do you call men on horses fighting over a headless goat carcass? Buzkashi -- Afghanistan's national sport, which also just happens to be a powerful metaphor for the country's politics.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT | JANUARY 29, 2010

My Trip to GTMO

One year into his presidency, Barack Obama still hasn't managed to close the controversial U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay. But its days are clearly numbered. Here's how I'll always remember the place.

BY JOSH ROGIN | JANUARY 23, 2010

After the Fall

From the poorest neighborhoods to the presidential palace, Haiti's man-made landscape, now demolished, will never be the same.

JANUARY 19, 2010

Anarchy in the PRC

Overnight megacities, packed freeways, smoggy skies, and angsty rockers in tight leather pants. Photographer Matthew Niederhauser documents the other side of China’s urban boom.

BY MATTHEW NIEDERHAUSER, CHRISTINA LARSON | JANUARY 15, 2010

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The new year has greeted many parts of the world with a freezing Arctic blast. Some have endured frustrating transportation delays, while others have been chilling out, enjoying the surrounding winter wonderland.

BY PREETI AROON | JANUARY 7, 2010

Afghanistan 2009: A Year in Photos

Images from the most-talked about place of 2009.

DECEMBER 31, 2009

The Year in Berlusconi Gaffes

Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy, is his known for his love of the ladies, propensity for offensive comments, and occasional run-ins with the law. Here's 2009, a banner year, in Berlusconi blunders.

BY BOBBY PIERCE | DECEMBER 30, 2009

There Will Be Blood

The religious and political significance of Ashura.

BY DAVID KENNER | DECEMBER 29, 2009

The Decade's Noughtiest Photos

With the first decade of the 21st century coming to a close, it's time to check out the noughty years in photos.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN, BOBBY PIERCE | DECEMBER 28, 2009

To Bow or Not to Bow?

A history of American prostration.

BY JOSHUA KEATING | NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Karzai's Cronies

Meet the unsavory characters surrounding the Afghan president and his new government.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN, DAVID KENNER | NOVEMBER 19, 2009

What Karadzic Did to Bosnia

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is on trial, but whatever the outcome, the pain of war will remain.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN | NOVEMBER 11, 2009

Planet Slum

Norwegian photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen spent six weeks living in the slums of Nairobi, then Caracas, Mumbai, and Jakarta. His remarkable panoramic images take us inside slum families' lives, revealing the profound human impulse to fashion not only shelter but a home.

BY JONAS BENDIKSEN, CHRISTINA LARSON | NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Falling Like It's 1989

Maybe history didn't end in 1989, but the world would certainly never be the same. From Berlin, to Beijing, to Burma, here are some of the most memorable images from a "year of miracles." Part of an FP series, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN | NOVEMBER 4, 2009

Oh, the Places He's Been

One year after his election, a look back at Barack Obama's travels to 15 foreign countries.

BY JOSHUA KEATING | NOVEMBER 2, 2009

No Place to Hide

Refugees fleeing the carnage of Mogadishu find new dangers in Somalia's supposedly safer north.

BY BOBBY PIERCE | OCTOBER 28, 2009