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In a rough part of the US capital, an endeavor to unlock children’s potential

After earning her master’s degree, Robin Berkley spent more than a decade working on education policy and programming. Once a week after hours, she’d walk from her office across the National Mall to tutor Devin. “I just got really moved by working with children and getting to go from the 50,000-foot ether, where you’re basically trying to support, inform, and influence people at the state level, to seeing the end result,” Ms. Berkley says.

Got a story to tell (or sell)? Better back it up with a tape

Some years ago, I accidentally carried a tape recorder into an interview with a senior national-security official in a secure US government building. US presidents, of course, have been responsible for the most – and probably most consequential – secret recordings of unguarded political conversations.

Can fighting corruption help Arab states sell painful economic reforms?

Across the Arab world, cash-strapped governments are flying the anti-corruption flag. Tunisia, in the midst of year-long anti-corruption campaign, passed a law in July requiring officials and members of Parliament to declare their assets.

The qualities of mediating a US-Iran settlement

Since May, the United States and Iran have appeared on course for confrontation. President Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Iran’s forces in Syria began to threaten Israel. In August, Mr. Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran and sought to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero. Iran then warned of a regional war if the US pushed too hard.

A nearly-cashless Zimbabwe tests the limits of mobile money

Just go to Zimbabwe instead. Here, grocery store cash registers still yawn open when a payment is processed, as if by instinct, but where cash should be there are only empty plastic slots. Signs at gas stations, maternity hospitals, and even informal backyard bars implore customers to pay by EcoCash, a form of digital currency.

France fights flight to big cities with funds for smaller towns

After François Goblé retired this March, the town and surrounding area of 5,000 inhabitants were left with one primary care physician. Cherrueix is just one example of a “medical desert” – where the number of doctors is 30 percent lower than the national average in France. This is especially a concern for elderly patients or those with reduced mobility. It’s also a symptom of a larger problem in France and across the globe: An increasing number of small towns are struggling economically and demographically to remain competitive in the face of urbanization.

Imran Khan’s priority will be fixing Pakistan’s economy, A plan for Greece after major wildfires, As the Syrian war draws to a close, a glimmer of hope, ‘Arab NATO’ should not limit its focus to Iran, Geraint Thomas’s controversial Tour de Franc

“[Pakistani Prime Minister-elect Imran] Khan cannot be faulted for any absence of zeal during the preparatory process, leading up to the polls, to go about [the] task [of fixing the economy],” writes Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury. “In his election manifesto issued early July, he entitled his aspirations as the ‘Road to New Pakistan’.... To his ... contemporary constituency, he explained the model as being similar to the politico-economic culture prevalent in Scandinavia.... Alas, the road to a ‘New Pakistan’ appears to be extremely uneven, unusually steep, and full of potholes.

Readers write: History of China, Middle East players, feminizing of words, small feature, big impact

Regarding the May 17 Books review “ ‘Our Story’ offers a graphic glimpse of a China that no longer exists” (CSMonitor.com): Thank you for this article. Recommended: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz.

How one man left hate behind – and helped others do the same

Christian Picciolini was recruited into America’s first skinhead group, Chicago Area Skinhead, when he was a young teenager. Picciolini is the host and narrator of a new documentary produced by Part2Pictures, “Breaking Hate,” which traces the story of how he helped a Charlottesville protester walk away from the neo-Nazi views he espoused – with the help of Susan Bro, whose daughter was killed in the protests. Q: What originally attracted you to white supremacy?

For people of Charlottesville, a year of reckoning

The best seats are already taken half an hour before the Charlottesville City Council is due to start. There are scattered boos and hisses when she is followed by her predecessor and fellow city councilmember Mike Signer, who stepped down after being widely criticized for his management of last year’s protests and the consequent fallout.