When Iichi Marumo competed in his first international race seven years ago in Moscow, the Japanese speedskater moved down the ice at about the pace of a brisk jog. It took him three times longer to cross the finish line than most of the other skaters that day. It didn’t matter, because Mr. Marumo was … Read more
In most countries, working as a housekeeper or nanny is a relatively safe profession. Yet as we traveled across Kenya and Uganda, from crowded and poor urban neighborhoods to far-flung farming villages, we heard many variations on the same horror story: Young, healthy women set off for domestic jobs in Saudi Arabia, only to return … Read more
Feith Shimila Murunga says her boss groped, beat and raped her. Mary Wanjiru Nyambura says she was thrown from a balcony. Winfridah Kwamboka never even made it back home. East African leaders and Saudi royals are among those profiting off a lucrative, deadly trade in domestic workers. By Abdi Latif Dahir and Justin Scheck Photographs … Read more
President Trump’s executive order on Saturday invoking the Alien Enemies Act targeted Venezuelan citizens 14 years and older with ties to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, saying they “are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” Mr. Trump’s order was quickly challenged in court, but the gang has been a … Read more
A student-led protest movement in Serbia rallied more than 100,000 people for a huge peaceful street demonstration on Saturday in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, defying warnings from the country’s embattled strongman leader that months of unrest were careening out of control into violence. Saturday’s rally, the biggest outpouring of public discontent in Serbia in decades, was … Read more
Roy L. Prosterman, a lawyer who left a lucrative corporate law practice to champion land reform in the underdeveloped world, died on Feb. 27 at his home in Seattle. He was 89. His death was announced by the Seattle land-rights institute Landesa, of which he was a founder. The organization did not specify a cause. … Read more
Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians in Gaza in strikes on Saturday, according to the Gaza health ministry, the latest in a string of Israeli attacks on the enclave that have kept up despite a roughly two-month-old truce with Hamas. Since the cease-fire went into effect in mid-January, the military has conducted constant strikes … Read more
Syrian Druse Pilgrims Enter Israel in a Historic Visit
A delegation of Syrian Druse made a rare visit to Israel over the weekend for a pilgrimage to a shrine as Israel seeks to extend its influence inside Syria after the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Both Israel and Syria have sizable minorities who belong to the Druse sect — an Arabic-speaking religious minority … Read more
Moscow is pressing its offensive to retake the full territory of Russia’s Kursk region from Ukraine as negotiations between the White House and the Kremlin continue over a possible cease-fire in the three-year war. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had retaken two villages outside Sudzha, the main Russian town that Ukraine … Read more