Ed Caesar

Bashar al-Assad has propped up his regime by exploiting the Middle East’s love of an amphetamine called captagon.

A handful of bouts to decide the title have been classics. The fight between Frazier and Ali at Madison Square Garden in 1971—which took place after Ali had been stripped of his belts because of his refusal to serve in Vietnam—was the first time that two undefeated heavyweights had vied for the undisputed title. It became known as the Fight of the Century, not only for the quality of the boxing but also for its social and political backdrop, not to mention its glamour. (Diana Ross in the locker…

On the Thursday evening that I arrived at La Zambra, in an Uber, the parking lot was already half full. Each car had been allotted a particular spot. I introduced myself to a thirtysomething Brit with a Midlands accent, who was walking the lot, occasionally taking photographs. He called himself Zak, but preferred not to give his surname. He’d arrived in a bright-blue McLaren 765LT Coupe, an aggressive-looking sports car with a four-litre engine for which he had paid five hundred and seventy thou…

In the summer of 2017, Yalke and his best friend from Cherkos, Israel Endale, phoned a broker they knew only as Binyam, who had grown up in their neighborhood. Binyam, who lived in Khartoum, in Sudan, said that he could arrange for their journey to Europe. Starting from Sudan, they’d cross the Sahara, pass through the war-ravaged state of Libya, and then head for Italy on a boat. People often refer to this path as the Central Mediterranean Route. Yalke and Endale told their families of their pla…

Can Professional Cricket Thrive in America?

Drug syndicates and other criminal groups bought into the idea that a new kind of phone network couldn’t be infiltrated by cops. They were wrong—big time.

From Lionel Messi’s penalty kick to Kylian Mbappé’s hat trick, the match was stuffed with so many remarkable incidents, so much tension, such dramatic momentum swings, such joy.

The resurgent Manchester United forward was excellent in England’s 3–0 victory over Wales.

England scored six against Iran in a match that felt heightened by the strange atmosphere in Qatar.

In a country where eating out is seen as more of a luxury than a necessity, it is one of the first expenses that people forgo in hard times.