Silvia Spring

Darkness need not be a deterrent to sightseeing. Across the globe, more and more destinations are keeping their doors open way past sunset. Between 8 and 10 p.m., visitors to the ancient ruins of Tulum on Mexico's Caribbean coast can see the 15 pyramids bathed in shades of red, blue and amber, illuminating the walled city (gzarpa.com).Jerusalem's Old City has also started offering evening tours, taking visitors through the ancient Jewish and Christian quarters, as well as David's Citadel and...

A Malaysian Paradise With Iced Towels

Darkness needn't be a deterrent to sightseeing. Across the globe, more and more destinations are keeping their doors open way past sunset. Between 8 and 10 p.m., visitors to the ancient ruins of Tulum on Mexico's Caribbean coast can see the 15 pyramids bathed in shades of red, blue and amber, illuminating the walled city (gzarpa.com).Jerusalem's Old City has also started offering evening tours, taking visitors through the ancient Jewish and Christian quarters, as well as David's Citadel and...

After a series of Iraq postings, an American aid worker has mixed feelings about the effects of the conflict.

Even in the sheltered walls of an upscale Baghdad preschool, tragedy and loss are everywhere. A teacher's tale.

At first glance on a sunny day, Yarmouk Hospital looks like any medical center in the Middle East. But that impression only lasted until a woman in an abaya approached U.S. Army Maj.

Life is improving at Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital. But it still faces some chronic problems.

Al-Eid Road Group is looking for business.  And what better place to do it than the opening day of the Baghdad Business to Business Expo?  The construction company's 31-year-old commercial manager, Taham Lifta, smartly dressed in a maroon v-neck sweater over a silvery-blue tie, was there to speak to potential clients, but he took the time to show me a couple slide shows from Al-Eid's recent projects on his laptop.  As part of a U.S. Army contract last year, it re-bricked cracked sidewalks on...

As violence surges in Kenya, the turmoil is exacting a grim economic and political toll.

Silly String, tampons, Saran Wrap: U.S. soldiers in Iraq get innovative.

For the troops at Patrol Base Murray, Thanksgiving dinner arrived in 16 green plastic shipping containers around two o'clock in the afternoon. The meal had made the 45-minute truck ride from forward operating base Falcon (moving during the middle of the day, when it's safest) to get here hot for the troops, who lined up quietly with their plastic plates and utensils before moving down the cafeteria-style serving line.

 Soldiers become citizens For some, the shortest path to American citizenship is through Iraq. At least that was the case for the 178 foreign-born service members sworn in yesterday at Balad Airbase, about 70 miles north of Baghdad—in the largest naturalization ceremony to have taken place in Iraq to date.

  The sheik support center As far as regional summits go, the one this morning at the month-old sheik support center in Taji, about 15 miles north of Baghdad, was pretty casual.

Some angry American diplomats are calling it "a death sentence". But as the war of words continues over whether U.S. diplomats can be forced to take assignments in Iraq, their colleagues already here are less than sympathetic toward those reluctant to join them. "I'm doing exactly what I signed up to do," said Patricia Butenis, Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq at a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad this morning. She believes outside fears about the posting stem from...

A trip to Kenya's coast is the perfect way to kick back and relax.

It felt more like a high school graduation than the signing of a peace accord in the Al-Rasheed hotel's wood-paneled auditorium the other day.  Tribal sheiks from Mahmoudiya, a region of southern Baghdad, were wrapping up a three-day reconciliation conference, and each shook hands with the meeting's facilitators before receiving a certificate saying that he had participated.

Growing repression threatens an economic boom.

Gen. Martin Luther Agwai might have the toughest job in Africa. As commander of the new joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, the former head of Nigeria's armed forces will lead the 26,000-strong force that will be deployed to the region next year.

The general in charge of Darfur's peacekeepers discusses the attack on his troops and why he is pessimistic about the road ahead.

The partisans of a united Europe like to hail its most famous successes, like the creation of a central bank, a single currency and a common market. For some reason, though, an achievement that is perhaps no less important gets almost no attention, at least outside Europe: the common university system.

To say that the search for 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort on May 3 while on vacation with her British parents, has attracted attention would be an understatement.

The last thing you'd probably expect to see a Malawian drought victim do is whip out her ATM card and pull cash out of a machine. But that's exactly how some aid recipients in this beleaguered African nation now receive their monthly entitlements.

For the past four months, the forecasts for the nightly patrols of the U.S. Army's 4-73rd Cavalry's Bravo Company have been shockingly consistent: quiet, clear and well below freezing.

When the French police arrested two Austrian on-line-gambling executives on September 15, they did it in the name of protecting France from "the explosion of money games in a heedless manner." Indeed every recent state move to crack down on online gambling, from the United States to Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, has followed the same moral argument: it's all about saving our people from the sins of gambling.The problem is that all of these countries...

What does James McAvoy make of all the adoring Web sites dedicated to his pale, Scottish baby face, his lucid blue eyes and--oh yeah--his acting skills? "I do think, f---ing hell, guys, I hope I'm worth it," says the 27-year-old heartthrob.

It may sound unreal, given the daily images of carnage and chaos. But for a certain plucky breed of businessmen, there's good money to be made in Iraq. Consider Iraqna, the leading mobile-phone company.

Keep a close eye on your magic wand, or somebody will steal it. World of Warcraft and other Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games have recently become the target of criminals who seek in-game currency, or gold, because of its real-world value.

It's not wise to go into business with old friends, or so the saying goes. Yet one of the arguments from investors pouring out of China, India and other rising economies is that they are natural friends to other emerging markets.

George W. Bush might have one of his post-9/11 wishes granted. Shortly after the 2001 attacks, the U.S. president said he'd like to see a plane that could be controlled from the ground in the event of a hijacking.

Martin Amis has always courted controversy. From dramatic feuds with fellow writers Christopher Hitchens and Julian Barnes to his stormy relationship with his father, Kingsley, the 57-year-old Amis has been vilified as much as he's been celebrated.