Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
The next threat: confronting global risks
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Six months on from the first reports of the coronavirus, this special episode examines the catastrop...
States of alarm: America’s covid-19 surge
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An entirely predictable pattern is playing out: the states quickest to exit lockdowns are being hit ...
Council insecurity: the UN at 75
26 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The founders of the United Nations expected it would move with the times. It hasn’t. Can reforms k...
Rush to a conclusion: Latin America’s lockdowns
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After scattershot enforcement of lockdowns, the region has become the pandemic’s new focal point. ...
Leave in peace: Afghan-Taliban negotiations
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A withdrawal agreement struck with America has been damnably hard to implement, but the two sides ma...
Past its Prime? Amazon comes of age
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has been great for sales; for profits, not so much. We examine the e-commerce giant’s...
Isle be damned: Britain ravaged by covid-19
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cosmopolitan, overweight, multi-ethnic: the country’s makeup has made the pandemic more deadly. Bu...
Syria’s condition: Bashar al-Assad
19 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country’s dictator has spent nearly half his time in power waging war on his own people. His p...
Painting the red towns: covid-19 in America
18 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Coronavirus cases are easing in Democrat-held jurisdictions and rising in Republican-held areas. Wha...
Himalayan assault: India and China clash
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first deaths at the contested border in 45 years signal broader geopolitical shifts—and mark a...
No port in a storm: the world’s stranded sailors
16 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pandemic policies seem to have overlooked the key workers who keep the global trade system afloat: m...
A shifting alliance: NATO
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the organisation’s defence ministers meet this week we look at two of its principal challenges:...
Heavy lifting: India’s lockdown tradeoffs
12 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the world’s largest lockdown loosens, we examine how it went wrong and the challenges ahead for...
Spend, sometime: Germany’s economic shift
11 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After decades as the continent’s penny-pincher, the country seems to be splashing out. That isn’...
Haftar be going now: the balance shifts in Libya
10 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tripoli has long been under siege by Khalifa Haftar, a warlord bent on toppling the internationally ...
Cops, a plea: police reform in America
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
George Floyd will be laid to rest today; our obituaries editor reflects on his life and untimely dea...
Say his name, and others’: American protests spread globally
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Far beyond America’s shores demonstrators are calling for justice in their own countries. It’s a...
Not everything in moderation: Twitter v Facebook
05 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The seemingly similar social networks have quite different business models—and that goes some way ...
This, too, shall impasse: Brexit talks resume
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has made negotiations more difficult and changed the political calculus on both sides. ...
Forgoing the distance: covid-19 spreads in Brazil
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Even those who can distance themselves are unsure whether to do so—in part because President Jair ...
An epidemic of hunger: covid-19 and poverty
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic is driving up the number of impoverished people for the first time in more than two dec...
The flames spread: protests in America
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Demonstrations against police violence have only amplified. We ask why George Floyd’s death touche...
Crying foul, again: Black Lives Matter
29 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Protests have broken out in Minneapolis and far beyond, following another black man’s death at the...
Checking their privilege: Beijing’s threat to Hong Kong
28 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China’s parliament voted today to draft legislation that would utterly undermine the territory’s...
Leading nowhere: assessing Trump’s covid-19 response
27 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump’s failures of leadership have compounded the crisis. But America’s health...
Shot chasers: big pharma’s covid-19 boost
26 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has caused a shift in how drug firms are viewed: their capacity for big-money innovatio...
Clear skies with a chance: covid-19’s green opportunity
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Emissions have plummeted as the pandemic slowed the world. It could be a mere blip—but it is an un...
Systemic concerns: China’s party congress
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Legislation signalled at the annual meeting undermines the “one country, two systems” approach t...
Swimming against the currency: Turkey
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A central bank struggling for independence, dwindling foreign reserves to prop up the currency and a...
Politics trumps co-operation: the WHO’s annual meeting
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rhetoric and posturing at the World Health Organisation’s annual assembly reveal an agency under g...
Extreme measures: America’s far right
19 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Extremists are cropping up at protests and expanding their reach online. They see the pandemic as pr...
Carriers and the disease: the airlines set for hard landings
18 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Which firms will fly above the covid-19 clouds? Big, low-cost carriers with strong finances seem lik...
Continental divides: covid-19 strains the EU
15 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What started as a public-health crisis is developing into an existential one. The most fundamental q...
Bibi steps: Israel’s long-awaited government
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After three elections and 16 months, the unity government between sworn rivals Binyamin Netanyahu an...
Fool Britannia? A covid-19 response under scrutiny
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After a series of government missteps, people in Britain—and, increasingly, outside it—are lamba...
Moveable feast: a global food system adapts
12 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The vast network moving food from farm to fork has shifted gears mightily in response to covid-19. B...
Back to the furore: protests set to reignite
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic overshadowed a striking spate of uprisings around the world. In Lebanon economic condit...
Rises and false: markets v the economy
08 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How can stockmarkets be so healthy when many businesses are so unwell? We look at the many risks tha...
Hitting a Vlad patch: 20 years of Putin
07 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Russia’s leader marks two decades in power, he faces almighty headwinds—not only covid-19 but...
Disarming revelation: a chance at a global ceasefire
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many were shocked when armed groups heeded a call for a global ceasefire; given a squabble at the UN...
Degrees of separation: universities and covid-19
05 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many universities were on thin ice financially before the pandemic. Now, with foreign travel slumpin...
Lives v livelihoods: Africa’s covid-19 tradeoffs
04 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Nigeria tentatively lifts its lockdown today, we examine the decisions African leaders face: pand...
Nature, or nurtured? A politicised virus-origin hunt
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists may soon understand how the new coronavirus got its start; that could help head off futur...
Submerging markets: developing economies and covid-19
30 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic is hitting emerging markets particularly hard, and the crisis is likely to widen the ga...
Those who can, teach! The case for reopening schools
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s students are falling behind and lockdown is only exacerbating prior disparities in the...
First, pass the post: Ohio’s vote-by-mail experiment
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The state’s all-postal primaries vote could be seen as a trial run for November’s presidential e...
End transmission: covid-19 in New Zealand
27 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country is aiming for complete elimination of the coronavirus; so far, so good. But renewed free...
Unsteady states: America’s piecemeal reopening
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some governors are co-ordinating mutual lockdown plans, others are already reopening their states. T...
Rakhine and ruin: insurgency in Myanmar
23 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Rohingya genocide was just one of many sectarian flashpoints in Rakhine state; now a slick separ...
Held in cheque: corporate payouts and covid-19
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Even before the pandemic, companies were accused of returning too much money to shareholders. As a r...
Symbols’ status: arrests in Hong Kong
21 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Authorities have re-ignited tensions by arresting some of the democracy movement’s most prominent ...
Restarting Europe’s engine: Germany’s lockdown lightens
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Non-essential businesses are opening; schools soon will be, too. The country’s fortunes are down t...
Gross domestic plummet: China’s historic contraction
17 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The covid-19 pandemic has caused the country’s first GDP dip in more than four decades. What strug...
This sequestered isle: Britain’s covid-19 response
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The prime minister is still convalescing; Parliament is still finding ways to meet virtually. Meanwh...
The gloves are on: South Koreans vote
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s legislative elections in South Korea are the world’s first to take place amid the covid-...
Dis-Kurti-ous: intrigues in Kosovo
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We speak to Albin Kurti, a reformist prime minister, after his ouster—and ask how American officia...
Opening arguments: Europe’s cautious restart
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, some European countries are beginning to switch their economies back on, but leaders face...
The fascists and the furious: remembering the 43 Group
10 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many have forgotten that, even after the second world war, a fascist movement held sway in Britain. ...
What Viktor’s spoiled: ten years of Orban
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Under Hungary’s shape-shifting prime minister the country has essentially become a dictatorship—...
Movement at the epicentre: Wuhan’s lockdown lifts
08 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
People are spilling from the Chinese metropolis where the global outbreak took hold. But controls ac...
States’ evidence: Brazil’s messy covid-19 response
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Jair Bolsonaro still dismisses the disease as “just the sniffles”, so state and local ...
An app for that: covid surveillance
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To keep track of the spread of covid-19, some governments are turning to digital surveillance, using...
Trough to peak: how high will American unemployment go?
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus pandemic has sent America’s mighty jobs machine into screeching reverse. How bad m...
No port of call: coronavirus may sink the cruise industry
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cruise ships had been enjoying a golden era—until covid-19 came along. The pandemic has been a cat...
Wishful thinking: America’s offer to Venezuela
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration makes Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro an offer he seems sure to refuse: an en...
In need of Comfort: New York's covid-19 crisis
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New York is at the centre of America’s—and the world’s—coronavirus crisis. The metropolis ha...
Containment or complacency? Covid-19 in Japan
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Japan has reported a relatively low number of coronavirus cases. But concern is growing. The Olympic...
Life sentences? Prisons and covid-19
27 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Outbreaks among inmates are all but inevitable. Efforts at prison reform that were already under way...
Going to townships: covid-19 threatens Africa
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Governments across the continent have had a head start, but that will not address some worrying syst...
Fiscal firepower: governments’ covid-19 aid
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As American lawmakers reach a deal on the country’s largest-ever rescue package, we examine how pl...
Trial, trial again: the race for covid-19 treatments
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s scientists are swiftly identifying drugs that may help with the pandemic, and setting ...
Continental shift: covid-19 grips Europe
23 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The novel coronavirus is spreading around the world, but its grip on Europe is curiously tight; we a...
Lessons unplanned: school shutdowns spread
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Schools are closing down as covid-19 measures take hold; we look into the social, economic and educa...
Pandemic, meet politics: the US-China spat
19 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Prior tensions have blunted the chances for a co-ordinated response to covid-19—and both countries...
Drawbridges up: lockdowns and covid-19
18 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Borders are closing; suggestions to stay home are becoming mandates. We examine how the national res...
Same old song, and Gantz: fresh coalition talks in Israel
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
He has four weeks to form a government, but Binyamin Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz is likely to fi...
Flight risk: airlines and covid-19
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Travel restrictions that are proliferating worldwide may represent an existential threat to many air...
Coming two terms with it: Putin’s power grab
13 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A resetting of the clock on the Russian leader’s tenure will almost certainly pass into law. That ...
Stimulating discussion: policy responses to covid-19
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s central bank made an emergency cut and released a budget with a whopping £30bn ($38bn) ...
Hollywood moment: Harvey Weinstein’s sentencing
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The disgraced producer’s conviction may seem a clear-cut win for the #MeToo movement, but it’s a...
When in Rome...stay put: Italy on lockdown
10 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The unexpected expansion of quarantine measures are a look into the near future of many countries, e...
A day without women: a vast strike in Mexico
09 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Millions of women will stay home today, protesting against rising levels of violence against them. I...
Nevertheless, she persisted: the futility of restricting abortion
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s Supreme Court is again tussling with the age-old question of abortion rights. Internatio...
Testing times: the world responds to covid-19
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our journalists explore the variance in both policy and preparedness among different countries and r...
Joe through a rough patch:Biden’s super Tuesday
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The former vice-president stormed a raft of primaries yesterday, setting up a two-horse race to the ...
Caught in the middle: Idlib’s humanitarian disaster
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Turkey sees the fall of Idlib as an existential threat; Russian-backed Syrian forces see the provinc...
EU’ve heard this one before: Brexit trade talks
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, Britain’s negotiators are talking tough, threatening a no-deal scenario as a long seri...
Playing with fire: Democrats may get Bern
28 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bernie Sanders's rise in the Democratic primaries has echoes of Donald Trump’s road to the Republi...
Delhi melee: India’s citizenship protests
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Violence in the country’s capital is the worst in decades. The unrest pits the ruling party’s Hi...
Clash pipe: Canada’s widening protests
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Successive governments have overlooked the concerns of indigenous peoples, and that has elevated a s...
Mitigating circumstances: coronavirus spreads
25 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Global markets tanked yesterday as governments reported startling rises in covid-19 cases. Our corre...
Peace-meal: ceasefire in Afghanistan
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For now, a “reduction in violence” is holding, and a long-awaited agreement hangs in the balance...
Clerical era: Iran’s elections
21 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a bid to unite a fractious populace, hardliners barred half of the parliamentary candidates; by s...
Uncut emerald: Ireland’s unification prospects
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Spurred on by demographic shifts, Brexit and the success of the Sinn Fein party in this month’s el...
Many hands light of work: China’s 170m migrant workers
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Strict controls meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus are affecting many of the country’s...
A friend of mines: America’s explosive policy turn
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration’s stance on anti-personnel landmines worries many—but also speaks to a ...
The snails of justice: the International Criminal Court
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sudan’s transitional government has pledged to hand over the country’s brutal former leader to t...
Another man’s Treasury: Britain’s cabinet upheaval
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The dramatic departure of the head of the Treasury reveals Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire—...
Defence on the defensive: NATO under scrutiny
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not just President Donald Trump piling pressure on the alliance. As defence ministers meet in...
Bern turn: New Hampshire’s primary
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg led the pack in New Hampshire. Two candidates have exited the race...