Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Fission expedition: nuclear-site attack in Iran
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An apparent act of sabotage at an Iranian nuclear site, blamed on Israel, has complicated the prospe...
Plagued by uncertainty: German politics
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the country wrestles with another covid-19 wave, the battle to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel i...
Like a tonne of bricks: violence in Northern Ireland
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ostensible reason for continuing clashes relates to a well-attended funeral. But the terms of Br...
Clotting factors: the AstraZeneca vaccine
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
British and European regulators have addressed a possible link with blood clots. Expect more rare si...
Deaths spiral: America’s spike in murders
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Estimates suggest that last year’s rise in murder rates was the greatest in perhaps half a century...
Crown and thorn: Jordan’s royal ruckus
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pressure on the king’s half-brother may represent a mere family feud, but Prince Hamzah’s compla...
He said, Xi said: America-China ructions
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden administration’s early moves suggest no “reset” in relations; we recall a time when ...
Battle acts: France beefs up its forces
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After years of peacekeeping and counter-insurgency campaigns, the country is getting tooled up and t...
Cresting: India’s second covid-19 wave
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Case numbers are on the rise—at a more worrying rate even than the first wave. We ask why, and wha...
Takeaway lessons: Deliveroo’s listing disappoints
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The tepid debut of Britain’s dominant food-delivery app signals doubts not only about the gig econ...
High threat-count: boycotts in China
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Western fashion brands are in Chinese consumers’ crosshairs, the victims of political wranglings o...
The smell of gas: insurgency in Mozambique
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a province that is home to a massive natural-gas project, a long-simmering insurgency has burst i...
Growth and stagnation: Bangladesh’s first 50 years
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The country has empowered its women, established itself as a garment-industry powerhouse and vastly ...
Export-control panel: the EU meets on vaccines
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
European leaders will address the thorny question of vaccine-export controls today. We look at the r...
Can’t take a hike: more economic turmoil in Turkey
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just does not like interest-rate rises. So he has again sacked a cent...
Always be their Bibi? Israel votes, again
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the fourth poll in two years, but a stable government is still far from guaranteed. We examin...
Not-purchasing power: boycotts in Myanmar
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As demonstrations against February’s coup continue, many are trying a subtler form of resistance: ...
Another race question: murder in Atlanta
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A shooting in the city left eight dead, six of them women of East Asian descent. We examine the past...
Forces to be reckoned with: Afghan peace talks
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Negotiations in Moscow may at last forge agreement between the Afghan government and Taliban insurge...
Harms weigh: AstraZeneca vaccine fears
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scattered reports of blood clots have sparked curbs across Europe, even though the jab is almost cer...
Earning them: Stripe’s monster valuation
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The firm got in early providing online-payment software to tech startups. Now it’s the most valuab...
Redrawing the map: a fragmented Syria
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the country marks ten years of civil war, the economy is crippled; it has broken up into statelet...
Casting the net wider: remaking the welfare state
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the Biden administration fires a $1.9trn pandemic-relief bazooka, we consider how governments mig...
Nuclear inaction: the legacy of Fukushima
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The cleanup effort in and around the melted-down power plant is still progressing, but rebuilding co...
Whither permitting? Vaccine passports
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Formalising systems to divide the vaccinated from the unvaccinated is neither as risky nor as useful...
Reconciled to it: America’s stimulus bill
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to a parliamentary contortion called reconciliation, the $1.9trn covid-relief plan is likely ...
Despair and disparities: covid-19 consumes Brazil
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
State and local pandemic responses are scattershot; a national effort is all but nonexistent. A cree...
Rubber-stamping ground: China’s parliament meets
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The National People’s Congress kicked off with two big signals of Beijing’s intentions: a return...
Exit stages left: America and the Middle East
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden administration would like to pull back from the region; America’s strategic interests ha...
Owing to the pandemic: Britain’s budget
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The finance minister has a plan that will keep many safeguards in place—for now. We ask how the co...
A dark picture emerges: atrocities in Ethiopia
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is becoming more certain that war crimes are being committed in the northern region of Tigray. Ye...
Coup fighters: Myanmar’s persistent protesters
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The temperature keeps rising: as demonstrations continue to grow, the army is becoming more brutal. ...
Mutual-appreciation anxiety: Putin and Erdogan
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The presidents of Turkey and Russia make an odd couple; their former empires have clashed over centu...
Hell for Tether: a cryptocurrency crimped
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The notionally dollar-pegged “stablecoin” quietly underpins many crypto-market moves. We ask wha...
Let the games be thin: Tokyo’s Olympic tussles
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Planners are in a corner. Delaying or cancelling the summer tournament looks like defeat; pressing a...
Confirmation biases: Biden’s cabinet picks
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Joe Biden’s top posts are shaping up as Senate confirmation hearings continue—but some...
Contrary to popular opinion: Mexico’s president
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrés Manuel López Obrador roared into office with a grand “fourth transformation” agenda. Ev...
Have I not news for you: Facebook’s Australian battle
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A media code that would obligate tech giants to pay for linking to news stories looks set to pass. I...
Watts the problem: Texas’s energy failings
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Crippling blackouts can be explained in part by the state’s unique energy market, but the disaster...
The next of 1,000 cuts: Hong Kong activists on trial
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is not violent young protesters in the dock: the accused are the architects of the territory’s ...
Desert stands: France in the Sahel
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Terror groups and separatists run riot in the sprawling region, and France has had some success in k...
No Capitol punishment: Trump’s acquittal
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump was all but certain to be cleared in his Senate trial, and so it went. But the few Repu...
Exit-stage plight: Brexit’s costs come due
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stock-trading is shifting to the continent; businesses are bound up in red tape; border issues are s...
The coup is on the other foot: Myanmar
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A power-grab by the army’s commander, Min Aung Hlaing, is not turning out to be easy: the greatest...
Like hell out of a bat: SARS-CoV-2’s origin
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The World Health Organisation unveiled preliminary findings, suggesting the coronavirus probably jum...
Very long covid: the lasting risks to Africa
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So far it seems the continent has weathered the pandemic well. But current numbers mask a future rec...
The art of the done deal: Trump on trial, again
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will make history, but its outcome is assured. We ask w...
Ballot bonanza: Latin America’s year of elections
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ecuador’s elections on Sunday kick off a packed year of polls in the region. Democracy’s foothol...
Cheques notes: getting America’s stimulus right
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Congress is on the cusp of pushing through a $1.9trn stimulus bill. But would it be money well spent...
Rise above the cloud: Amazon’s new chief executive
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Bezos is relinquishing the reins—partly—of the firm he founded. We take a look at Andy Jass...
As a general rules: Myanmar’s coup
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The army already had plenty of political power, but following a landslide election loss it dramatica...
More needles in the haystack: vaccine candidates proliferate
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
That a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in a year is astonishing—and promising candidates ju...
Tug of warheads: the nuclear order
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Successful arms-control diplomacy has kept proliferation at bay for decades. But many states now hav...
Conte’s inferno: political crisis in Italy
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The president is scrambling to pull together a workable government following Prime Minister Giuseppe...
Vials and tribulations: the EU’s vaccine push
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Union’s vaccine rollout was slow and fragmented even before pharma companies warned o...
Party down: Vietnam’s Communist leaders meet
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At this week’s five-yearly congress there will be pride in the handling of the pandemic—but broa...
Vlad tidings: demonstrations across Russia
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny—and an exposé he released alleging deep corruption—...
Biting the hands that would feed: Ethiopia
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are signs that the federal government is obstructing humanitarian aid to the war-torn region o...
Much to repair: Biden’s first day on the job
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The watchword was unity as Joe Biden took office—he struck a calming tone and got immediately to w...
Costly disbelief: covid-19 ravages Brazil again
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Desperate scenes in the city of Manaus may foretell a dire wave throughout the country. A misguided ...
Hell no, we won’t grow: Indian farmers’ mass protests
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hundreds of thousands of farmers have participated in protests around Delhi, demonstrating against l...
Landed, in trouble: Alexei Navalny returns to Russia
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The opposition leader was detained as soon as he arrived—but President Vladimir Putin has no good ...
Bold Wine in new battles: Uganda’s election
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a violent campaign in which the opposition candidate Bobi Wine was extensively intimidated, au...
Two-timer: Trump impeached, again
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some House Republicans broke ranks, joining Democrats to hand President Donald Trump an ignominious ...
Trial ensnarer: human-rights law’s new tool
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
War criminals and their ilk often evade justice solely because of squabbling over who can be tried w...
You don’t say: tech’s Trump bans
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Moves to shutter the president’s accounts and to crimp corners of the internet given to right-wing...
Wrest wing: the bid to oust Trump
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today Democratic lawmakers will begin attempts to remove President Donald Trump. It could fail, or b...
The longer arm of the law: Hong Kong
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A national-security law imposed by Beijing had not, until this week, bared its teeth; the arrests of...
Riot act: Biden confirmed amid chaos
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After previously unthinkable scenes played out in Washington’s legislature, we ask what the violen...
Run-off, their feat: Georgia’s Senate races
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats look set to win both the run-off elections that will determine control of the Senate—and...
Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is no surprise that more-transmissible coronavirus variants are cropping up. We ask how worrisome...
Arms within reach: Israel's vaccination lead
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aggressive purchasing, solid logistics and a competitive health-care system have led to a world-beat...
Isle talk to EU later: a vote on a scant Brexit deal
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s parliament will vote today on its last-gasp agreement with the European Union. But that ...
Cheques, imbalances: America’s fraught stimulus
29 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After months of deadlock, a covid-19 relief package has passed, but the battles continue. We ask how...
Going around the bloc: Europe’s vaccination push
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first inoculations are happening across the continent as part of a co-ordinated push—but level...
Old acquaintance not forgot: the notable deaths of 2020
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a year marked by more than a million and a half deaths, mortality has rarely been so front of min...
Bubbles in the market: Mexico’s Coca-Cola obsession
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the country has been an almighty consumer of the fizzy drink. But amid a woeful covid-1...
Get the lead out: Zambia’s toxic mine
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A site that closed more than a quarter-century ago is still slowly poisoning the residents of Kabwe ...
Rehousing project: Bangladesh’s Rohingya
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country’s refugee camps are packed and squalid, so the government is moving perhaps 100,000 Ro...
And then, winter: ten years after the Arab Spring
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A revolutionary conflagration a decade ago has almost entirely flickered out. We ask what happened t...
This market went a little piggy: a capital-raising frenzy
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Astonishingly, companies have raised more capital this year than ever before. We ask how capital mar...
Joe, College: Biden’s victory affirmed
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s by-the-book electoral-college vote calmed concerns about another Trump-camp bid to overt...
So long, and we’re keeping all the fish: Brexit
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s divorce from the European Union still hinges on sticky matters of fishing rights and the...
Taking the temperature: a climate chat with the UN chief
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of a weekend meeting to assess and bolster the Paris Agreement, our correspondent speaks with ...
If you already joined ‘em, beat ‘em: Facebook gets sued
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
American regulators have put mergers that they approved years ago at the heart of antitrust lawsuits...
Laïcité, égalité, fraternité? France’s secularism bill
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Emmanuel Macron’s draft bill walks a fine line balancing the country’s foundational se...
Granting immunity: America weighs vaccine approval
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Britons receive the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, authorities in America are mee...
Fairly unusual: Ghana’s elections
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a region racked by dodgy polls, the country looks to continue a trend of uncontested handovers of...
Intensive scare: covid-19 ravages America
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Numbers of cases, hospitalisations and deaths are rocketing across the country. We examine the situa...
Your planet, or mines? Kicking the coal habit
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the West market forces are squeezing coal—even as its use rises in Asia. We examine how the wor...
Trans formative: a landmark children’s-rights ruling
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s High Court has ruled that puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria have been ...
Nuclear-war head: assassination in Iran
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist comes at a tricky time: violent retribution may...
No show of force: France’s controversial police-protection bill
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Protesters are raging against a proposed bill that would outlaw posting videos of alleged police bru...
One party to rule them all? India’s fraying democracy
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many of the country’s institutions are being slowly hobbled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s go...
At his majesty, displeasure: Thailand’s anti-monarchy push
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A long string of pro-democracy protests are railing more and more against the king himself—and the...
Tigray area: Ethiopia’s deadly standoff
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The northern region’s surrounded forces are ignoring Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s deadline to dis...
What funds we’ll have: green venture capital
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The boom-and-bust of environmental-technology investing has settled out, and money is flooding in—...
Playing his Trump cards: Biden’s China policy
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The tone of America’s president-elect on China changed markedly through the campaign; his policies...
Undercut a deal: the threat to Afghan peace
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peace talks continue in Doha but on the ground the Taliban are consolidating control. America’s ru...
Quit it cold, Turkey: policy tightens at last
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Now that the economic reins have been taken back from the president’s son-in-law, the country is m...