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Virginia

A Kurdish security officer escorts Alexanda Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh

Former ISIS member is found guilty in US federal court

Justice

El Shafee Elsheikh, a former British citizen accused of taking part in a brutal ISIS hostage-taking scheme, has been convicted in a federal court in Virginia of assisting in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans between 2012 and 2015.

Qasim Rashid is a congressional candidate in Virginia. He sees attacks on himself as an opportunity to open up a dialogue with people. 

This Muslim American congressional candidate sees hateful messages as a chance for dialogue

US politics
Ferkat Jawdat, a Uighur living in Virginia, has asked the US government to pressure China to release minorities, including his mother, from "re-education camps." 

‘I just couldn’t sleep’: Uighur activist calls for China to stop targeting minorities

Justice
illustration of a black wood cutter.

In search of refuge during the American Revolution, this enslaved black man joined the British army

A closeup photo of a blonde woman wearing a blue shirt beside her husband, whose face has been blurred for privacy.

Americans’ immigration emergency: Their spouses could be deported or exiled if they seek green cards

A black woman stands with a staff.

Amid 1619 anniversary, Virginia grapples with history of slavery in America

As Virginia marks 400 years since the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colonies, it confronts the problem of silenced voices in history.

A couple is backlit against a stark stone fort interior.

Pirates brought enslaved Africans to Virginia’s shores. Where, exactly, is debatable.

This year marks 400 years since the first Africans were taken from Africa and sold as slaves in the English colonies. It was the largest migration in history: 12 million or more Africans forcibly moved to places across the Atlantic Ocean to be slaves. Today, all of those places are still dealing with the fallout.

A voter carries a 'blue wave' poster at a rally

The US midterms ‘blue wave’ has mixed results for the environment

Politics

The 2018 US midterm elections ushered in a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives — along with new Democratic governors — who pledge to act on climate change. It also ushered out some climate-denying Republicans. Yet overall, the elections had mixed results for the environment.

Wood scraps

The UK’s move away from coal means they’re burning wood from the US

Environment

Europe and the US say wood pellets are a carbon neutral alternative to coal. Many experts say otherwise.

People fly into the air as a vehicle is driven into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

Is Ryan Kelly’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph an American ‘Guernica’?

Arts

There are uncanny echoes of Picasso’s “Guernica” in Kelly’s photograph.

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