Damascus and Aleppo, Syria – Until the fall of the al-Assad regime, the word “dollar” was forbidden in public. Instead, people used anything green – my favourite substitute was “molokhiyeh”, the green leaf eaten in a stew in Arab countries. This was a story I heard many times from Syrians when reporting from Aleppo and Damascus in the days following the regime’s overthrow. Under the former regime, the...

Islamabad, Pakistan – A sharp escalation in hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past week has resulted in the death of at least one member of the Pakistani security forces and dozens of civilians in Afghanistan. This latest round of cross-border fighting stems from what Pakistan insisted was its response to regular attacks by the armed group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad said has found sanctuary across the...