These days it seems like the whole world is looking down on the Middle East. Civil war, drought, refugees and rogue militias paint the region in hues of poverty and pain. You know it’s not the full story - no place can be reduced to a simple stereotype. A stunning series of images from the European Space Agency helps correct this regional tunnel vision. See this part of the planet from a distant vantage point, in remarkable colors and textures that only nature could design. In 1990, the Voyager 1 ...

While Western celebs go all out on Halloween -- minus Lady Gaga of course; it’s Halloween all year round for her -- it’s not celebrated so much in this part of the world! Arab celebs don’t exactly dress up for the occasion , and the only way to see them “in character” is through film, music vids or creative photoshoots. But we demand more! We want to feast our eyes on what they might look like as Avatar or even a Yeti! That’s why we’ve decided to have our very ...

Iraq and Syria are failed states - it’s splashed all over the headlines. Armed militiamen hold power in Yemen, where government authority is also flailing. The remaining gaps in world news (between the battle for Kobani and George Clooney’s various wedding parties ) are filled with the looming Gaza rebuild. But today’s biggest untold story is unfolding in north Africa. Western powers now worry that Libya will soon collapse completely if its weak central government can’t manage the competing militia vying for political control. Media have declared the Islamic State ...

New York City joined the list of cities grappling with Ebola when Médecins Sans Frontières confirmed on Thursday that one of their doctors was infected with the deadly virus. Dr. Craig Spencer had just returned to the United States after volunteering with MSF in the West African nation of Guinea. Back home, he self-monitored for symptoms, and when a fever spiked on Saturday he checked into hospital isolation. Officials immediately retraced his recent city travels, quarantined his fiancée and sought to quell public panic with a consistent media chorus of ...

Suarez during El Clasico

In the wake of Wednesday’s Ottawa Parliament shooting , it might be time to show that it’s not just the men who go to extremes, but the women too. There is a strange phenomenon trending on world news as teenage girls from around the planet swap schoolbooks for semiautomatic weapons and head to Syria to marry terrorist men. It’s a psychotic twist on the classic fairy tale. Step aside White Knight! Now vulnerable girls-cum-terrorista teens pursue violent guys, acting on a major delusion that is crossing global zip codes. This ...