Some lives look built for a crown. Albert, Duke of York, did not. He was born into the British royal family with all the ceremony that implies, yet he grew up with a problem that ceremony does not solve. He had a stammer. He also had a temper for pressure, in the way many decent… Read More »Albert, Duke of York, and the Quiet Art of Holding Steady

Terminal velocity is the steady top speed an object reaches while falling through a fluid, like air or water.After a short time, the object stops speeding up. It falls at a constant speed instead. This happens because two forces fight each other. When drag grows… Read More »Terminal Velocity

On Sunday, January 4, 2026, we woke up to another headline that should never feel normal. Gunmen raided the Kasuwan-Daji area in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, opened fire on residents, burned the local market, and torched homes. Police said at least 30… Read More »Kasuwan-Daji, Niger State: When a Market Becomes a Battlefield

For years, Venezuela sat in that strange place on our mental map: close enough to be “in the neighborhood,” but distant enough to be filed under later. We heard the headlines—sanctions, elections under a cloud, desperate migration, a state oil company held together with tape… Read More »The Day Venezuela Stopped Being “Far Away”

On New Year’s Eve, we expect noise. We expect crowds. We even expect mild chaos, the kind that feels harmless because it comes with confetti. What we do not expect is an Alpine ski town waking up to body bags. In the early hours of… Read More »The Swiss Ski Bar Fire in Crans-Montana: When “Just a Sparkler” Isn’t

Skydiving has a funny habit. It takes a simple idea and adds a lot of moving parts. Step out of a plane. Fall for a while. Open a parachute. Land. Smile. Do it again. Then one day, a tiny thing catches. A handle. A flap.… Read More »A Door at 15,000 Feet

Thailand dissolved its parliament on Friday and set the country on a fast track to a new election early next year—right as deadly fighting with Cambodia grinds on along a long-disputed border. The mechanics were formal and familiar. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul asked for dissolution.… Read More »Thailand Hit the “Reset” Button in the Middle of a Border War

Europe has a strange new export. It is not wine. It is not cars. It is not cheese. It is interest income. After more than three years of sanctions, about €210 billion in Russian central bank assets remain immobilized inside the EU, with a very… Read More »The Frozen Fortune and the Courtroom Thaw

Northern Japan got another hard shake on Friday, just days after an even stronger quake in the same broad region. Japan’s weather agency said the earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Aomori prefecture at 11:44 a.m. local time. The agency first put the quake… Read More »A Shallow Quake, a Small Tsunami, and a Very Fast Advisory

Kupiansk is not a famous name in most living rooms. It is not a capital. It is not a postcard city. Yet it keeps showing up in the story because it sits where routes and rivers argue with each other. This week, Ukraine says it… Read More »Kupiansk, Again: The Town That Refuses to Stay Quiet