Large swaths of the Middle East are covered in snow, sparking joy and wonder in a region that doesn't normally witness white winters.

A Yemeni man describes how his life was derailed by the Trump administration's travel ban and hopes President Biden'a order lifting it will help him.

A coronavirus surge is overwhelming hospitals, leading doctors to tell families to care for sick loved ones at home instead. Health workers fear New Year's parties could have led to further spikes.

The story of Lebanese migrants on a doomed boat in September highlights the continuing attempts to get across the Mediterranean Sea — where over 1,000 migrants died in 2020.

People were still disembarking from the plane carrying the officials when the explosion hit, causing a large crowd to scatter. More than 20 were killed. There has been no claim of responsibility.

The pandemic and its many travel restrictions haven't stopped thousands of migrants from attempting the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea this year. More than 1,000 have died at sea.

At the time of the August explosion, politicians promised to bring justice and find those culpable. Now they are placing limits on the inquiry.

Hopes from the Arab Spring have mostly been dashed. But the era led to "a radical change in the way people think about the authorities, the state, and about their rights," says an Egyptian journalist.

The Arab Spring started 10 years ago this month and led to trouble - civil wars or even more repression. But some are holding onto the ideals of free speech and change.

That's the situation in Syria, where bread shortages are now widespread — and the queues for daily rations stretch on and on. The same goes for gasoline.

The U.N.'s World Food Program reports that half of Syria's population has trouble getting food. Syrians say hours-long bread lines sometimes end up yielding nothing.

A symbol of Lebanon's resilience through its long, turbulent history, the country's towering cedars now face increasing threats from wildfire and parasites, both fueled by global warming.

After a year away, an NPR reporter returns to Lebanon to find a country racked by inflation, degraded services and the pandemic and still picking up the pieces from August's explosion in Beirut.

Some of the fighters in Syria's civil war — desperate for jobs and money — are becoming "guns for hire" in foreign wars. Turkey and Russia recruited Syrians for their military ambitions abroad.

ISIS fell more than a year and a half ago, but tens of thousands of women and children still languish in detention camps in Syria. Kurdish officials said they will start releasing thousands of them.

In Lebanon, volunteers have stepped in to do the aid work still needed after the blast that ripped through Beirut a month ago. Many blame the government for inaction.

Syria reports about 3,100 coronavirus infections and 130 deaths. But health workers say the situation is worse and that the regime has been telling people not to discuss it.

As Lebanon reels from multiple tragedies, conservationists are pointing to one bright spot. They say a record number of endangered green sea turtles have come to nest on the country's shores.

The effort was launched after a sniffer dog named Flash signaled to his Chilean search and rescue team that someone might be alive under a pile of concrete and debris.

Since the Aug. 4 blast, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased by some 220%, according to the International Rescue Committee. The country is also coping with damage to medical facilities.