www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/w...

Our story with Zia ur-Rehman reporting from flooded areas in northern Pakistan.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/w...

23 million people, more than half of Afghanistan’s population, are already in need of humanitarian assistance. UN agencies and aid groups are overwhelmed and don’t know how to cope at the Islam Qala border crossing I visited. These are the effects of slashing foreign aid.

And the legendary Idrissa Soumaoro, who trained Amadou, picked "Je pense à toi."

"In it, Amadou sings, ‘I think about you, don’t abandon me.' He didn’t abandon her, but the sad reality is that he has left her. I hope Mariam will have the strength to bear life."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnvJ...

Amadou's son Sam picked "Mogoya," a song he composed for his parents to perform with him. In it he plays the guitar with his father while his mother sings about daily life in Mali and promises that people often fail to keep.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ulA...

I asked them what songs they'd like to remember from the Malian duo. Cheick Tidiane Seck, a keyboard player who knew Amadou since Amadou was 14, picked “Toubala Kono,” a song they wrote together.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOSw...

And the legendary Idrissa Soumaoro, who trained Amadou, picked "Je pense à toi."

"In it, Amadou sings, ‘I think about you, don’t abandon me.' He didn’t abandon her, but the sad reality is that he has left her. I hope Mariam will have the strength to bear life."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnvJ...

Amadou's son Sam picked "Mogoya," a song he composed for his parents to perform with him. In it he plays the guitar with his father while his mother sings about daily life in Mali and promises that people often fail to keep.
www.youtube.com/watch?embeds...

I asked them what songs they'd like to remember from the Malian duo. Cheick Tidiane Seck, a keyboard player who knew Amadou since Amadou was 14, picked “Toubala Kono,” a song they wrote together.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOSw...

On Mali, John details how Russia’s Ministry of Defense was most likely already in negotiations with 🇲🇱’s junta when Wagner showed up… but how Wagner eventually became the face of Russia’s push in the Sahel. A great read.

… John has the best account I’ve read on the role played by Prigozhin and Wagner in the signature of the 2019 Khartoum agreements that aimed to end the conflict in the Central African Republic 🇨🇫