Travel

The kidnapping ordeal of an unlucky German tourist

The kidnapping ordeal of an unlucky German tourist

9 Photos

Two years ago this weekend, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Khaled El Masri, a German man who was held by police near his European vacation destination for having a name that was somewhat similar to one on a list.

He was then locked for months in a secret CIA prison without charges before being dumped on a roadside in a different part of Europe without explanation.

This gallery comprises a visual timeline of some countries, cities and places involved in his journey.


ADDITION: McClatchy published some additional updated information on El Masri’s current state of affairs on Saturday.


Some graphic scenes are described.

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Workers remove 888,245 poppies from the Tower of London by hand

Workers remove 888,245 poppies from the Tower of London by hand

14 Photos

One down….888,245 to go.

The poppy exhibition at the Tower of London has become a national sensation, with some 4 million people expected to have seen it by the time the last of the 888,246 poppies — one for every Commonwealth soldier who died in the First World War — was planted on Nov. 11, the day the war ended in 1918.

The removal is estimated to take 8,000 volunteers around two weeks.
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A walk along the Switzerland border

A walk along the Switzerland border

27 Photos

As Switzerland prepares to vote on a proposal to dramatically limit immigration Reuters photographer Denis Balibouse travelled along the Swiss border from the summit of Breithorn to a stalagmite filled cave and documented the landscapes of this landlocked nation.

Switzerland will vote on November 30 on an initiative from the group Ecopop which proposes a cap on the number of immigrants. The group says it is motivated by concerns about a lack of living space exerting too much pressure on the land and natural resources, rather than by opposition to foreigners. It proposes limiting immigration to just 0.2 percent of the resident population, equivalent to 16,000 people per year. This would represent a cut of more than 75 percent in annual net immigration from current levels. In Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, any voter can trigger a referendum by collecting 100,000 signatures within 18 months.
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Building the New York subway system, 110 years ago

Building the New York subway system, 110 years ago

35 Photos

The first subway line, which connected City Hall with Harlem, opened on Oct. 27, 1904. That four-track line ran under Park Avenue South to Grand Central, across 42nd Street to Times Square, and up Broadway to 145th Street.

“The subway system has come a long way since that fall day in 1904,” said New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco in a news release about the anniversary. “More than 100 years ago, you could only take the subway for that one stretch in Manhattan. Now we can get from the top of the Bronx to the beaches of Far Rockaway with just one swipe of a MetroCard. It’s remarkable how the system has evolved over the years, and we’re excited to show customers what the future will bring with the opening of Fulton Center and the 7 Line extension to the far west side on the horizon.”

Here, we dug up a collection of photos from the Library of Congress and the Detroit Publishing Company that shows the construction and early years of the New York subway system.

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Hiking the trails on Northern Pakistan’s second tallest mountain

Hiking the trails on Northern Pakistan’s second tallest mountain

31 Photos

Reuters Photographer Wolfgang Rattay traveled to northern Pakistan to trek the K2 base camp trail. K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of the ascent. Geographically, Pakistan is a climbers paradise. It rivals Nepal for the number of peaks over 7,000 meters and is home to the world’s second tallest mountain, K2, as well as four of the world’s 14 summits higher than 8,000 meters. In more peaceful times, northern Pakistan’s unspoilt beauty was a major tourist draw but the potentially lucrative industry has been blighted by years of violence. The number of expeditions has dwindled, wrecking communities dependent on climbing for income and starving Pakistan’s suffering economy of much-needed dollars.
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New York City from the country’s tallest residential skyscraper

New York City from the country’s tallest residential skyscraper

9 Photos

From the 75th floor of 432 Park Avenue, the 104-unit condominium tower with its 96 stories will officially tower over the rest of the Western Hemisphere topping out at 1,396 feet. The luxury tower will welcome its first residents next year, giving them a breathtaking view stretching from Central Park to the Atlantic Ocean and from Lower Manhattan, where the Freedom Tower is located, to Connecticut.

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