Photos of the Week: Santa School, Snowy Soccer, Dinosaur Lantern
A stranded whale in Chile, a graffiti competition in Spain, an empty Christmas market in Prague, a lighthouse above Lake Superior, a presidential campaign in Gambia, and much more
People’s Choice: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest is inviting the public to vote for their favorite image, selected from a group of shortlisted entries.
2021 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar
Every day until Saturday, December 25, we’ll present one new image of our universe from NASA’s orbiting telescope.
Iran Feels Cornered by the Biden Administration
As nuclear talks resume, Iran is feeling both insecure and uncompromising—a dangerous combination.
A Crackdown on Illegal Gold Dredging in Brazil
Rumors of a gold discovery recently brought hundreds of illegal mining dredges to a river in the Amazon. Officials have set fire to more than 60 of them.
What the Peng Shuai Scandal Is Really About
The disappearance of the Chinese tennis star is an embarrassment to Beijing—and undercuts its campaign to present the Chinese system as a model for the world.
Why the Energy Transition Will Be So Complicated
The degree to which the world depends on oil and gas is not well understood.
Beijing Keeps Trying to Rewrite History
A monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre faces the threat of removal, part of a broader effort in Hong Kong to erase the public memory.
Photos of the Week: Apple Crisp, Squirrel Tea, Floating Pumpkin
A crab migration on Christmas Island, dengue-fever outbreaks in Pakistan, a castle in eastern France, migrants crossing the English Channel, and much more
A Visit to Churchill, Manitoba, During Polar-Bear Season
Carlos Osorio, a photographer with Reuters, has spent the past week in Churchill, Manitoba, taking photos of polar bears, the town, and the frigid landscape.
Cancel Culture Isn’t the Real Threat to Academic Freedom
Like any other institution, the academy is embedded in the power relations of a society.
Buried in Volcanic Ash, Scenes from the Canary Islands
Millions of cubic meters of fallen ash now blanket much of the landscape near the eruption.
Why Is France So Afraid of God?
How the country came to view religion as a threat to national identity
The New Pandemic Division Tearing Europe Apart
France and Austria have modeled two very different ways of encouraging people to get vaccinated.
Photos of the Week: Pelican Bench, Truffle Hunter, Supply Chain
A snowstorm in Moscow, a vintage-car race in England, flooding in British Columbia, smoggy skies in India, big-wave surfing in Portugal, and much more
Record Rainfall Floods British Columbia and Washington State
Images from the Pacific Northwest, hard-hit by heavy rains
An Unlikely Threat to the Western Alliance
A worsening crisis in Northern Ireland carries far greater costs than simply domestic political fallout.
Winners of the 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards
Winners and runners-up from this year’s landscape-photo competition
Xi Jinping’s Terrifying New China
The country is in the grip of the most concerted government campaign to assert greater control over its people in decades.
The Bad Guys Are Winning
If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies—communism, fascism, virulent nationalism—the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.