badakhshan province

The author, an Australian who has been researching the lives of women and girls worldwide, risked traveling in Afghanistan by herself, yet she said she would return, despite the problems she met. Here, a woman heading into the village of Ishkashim, near the Tajikistan border. JOHANNA HIGGS

The Chinese government recently announced a near 10% increase in their military budget for 2018. Chinese state media have defended the decision, saying it is part of a modernization program, calling the increase “proportionate and low.”