Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Christian Democratic disunion: Germany’s political upheaval
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand-picked successor is out of the running. The ruling CDU party must ...
Trust the process? China’s coronavirus response
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Communist Party is exuding an aura of complete control over the outbreak, but our correspondent ...
From out of left field: Ireland’s election
07 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After the adulation, the discontent. Voters are abandoning the party of the young, progressive leade...
Imperfect call: Trump’s exoneration
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A predictable outcome in President Donald Trump’s Senate trial will have unpredictable effects on ...
Address change: the State of the Union
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump seemed to be going out of his way to rankle Democrats while he pitched his te...
An app-polling delay: Iowa’s caucus chaos
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Technical glitches and “inconsistencies” threw America’s first Democratic caucuses into disarr...
Economic contagion: Hong Kong
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hong Kong’s GDP report released today reflects the squeeze that enormous protests at home and econ...
When one door closes: Brexit day
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The costs of leaving the European Union are likely to outweigh the benefits. But as Britain re-align...
Viral hit: the costs of China’s lockdown
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our correspondent travels to the border of the locked-down Hubei province, finding among the people ...
They went that Huawei: Britain’s crucial 5G call
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Facing pressure from both China and America on allowing Huawei into its next-generation network, Bri...
Showpiece in the Middle East: Trump’s “ultimate deal”
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Palestinian leaders have already rejected the American administration’s peace plan. But the propos...
Spread bet: China’s coronavirus quarantine
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Hubei province and increasingly across China, new-year celebrations are muted. Authorities are tr...
Ill-judged: Poland’s rule-of-law crisis
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Poland's government has been trying to nobble the courts for years. Now the European Union is interv...
On the right track: a trend in diplomacy
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When conflict-resolution efforts falter in official channels, there are unofficial ones. We ask why ...
Justin time, again: Trudeau’s second term
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s prime minister now leads a minority government, and has lost support in the country’s w...
Can I get a witness? Impeachment
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The rules are set, battle lines drawn and the outcome is all but assured. We ask why the Senate tria...
Tripoli crown: the battle for Libya
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend’s peace talks in Berlin were a good start, but the situation is still ripe for a long...
Address the problem: the global housing blunder
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Badly run housing markets are linked to broader ills, from financial crises to the rise of populism....
Checks and Balance: Trailer
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
US editor John Prideaux and his colleagues from across the US and around the world go beyond the hea...
Set for life? Putin’s power-grab
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After Russia’s president proposed vast constitutional change, the whole government resigned. It se...
Going through a phase: US-China trade deal
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Negotiators will sign a “phase one” pact today—but the trickiest issues remain unresolved, and...
A Biden by their decision? Democrats debate
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The race for the Democratic nomination looks much like it did a year ago—but previous contests pro...
Tsai of the times: Taiwan’s defiant election
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China has been getting more aggressive in its claims over the island, but voters have made it clear ...
Scorched-earth policies: Australia and climate change
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Evacuations are expanding as fast as the flames, and worse may yet be to come. We visit the fiery ex...
Will you still feed me when I’m 62? Macron’s pension fight
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
He won a landslide victory campaigning on it, but like French presidents before him Emmanuel Macron ...
Return fire: Iran’s missile attacks
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Attacks on bases that house American troops seem a dramatic retaliation to the killing of Iranian co...
Two heads aren’t better than one: Venezuela
07 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After chaotic scenes in the National Assembly, it seems the country’s legislature has two leaders....
The general and specific threats: Iran
06 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Killing Iran’s top military commander does not seem likely to further America’s aims for the reg...
Negative feedback: reversing carbon emissions
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is increasingly clear that putting less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will not be enough to co...
Made (entirely) in China: a tech behemoth rises
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
No longer content just to assemble devices, Chinese firms want to design them and the infrastructure...
Lifesaver: meet a death-row detective
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Death sentences are occasionally overturned in America; we meet a private detective responsible for ...
Lying in states: fibbing politicians
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lies and politics have always come as a pair, but the untruths keep getting bigger and more frequent...
Old China hands: ageing in the Middle Kingdom
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Next year, China’s median age will surpass America’s, but with just a quarter the median income;...
Exclusionary rule: India’s citizenship law
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Hindu nationalist government’s latest move pointedly excludes Muslims from immigration reform....
Marching orders: impeachment around the world
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
America’s impeachment battle falls along unhelpfully partisan lines—but the process has other sh...
Majority rules: Britain’s new Parliament sits
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Now that the prime minister has a thumping parliamentary majority, Brexit is assured—but on what t...
COP out: the UN climate talks
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Again, the annual COP conference ran long and ended with disappointment. Why can’t countries agree...
Bolt from the blue: Britain’s Conservatives triumph
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A thumping win for Boris Johnson’s Tory party is more complex than it seems; the returns cast a li...
Defending the indefensible: Aung San Suu Kyi
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Myanmar’s de facto leader appeared before the International Court of Justice to answer allegations...
Articles of faith: charges laid against Trump
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
House Democrats have issued their narrowly focused articles of impeachment against President Donald ...
Running into debt: Argentina’s new president
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in decades, a non-Peronist president will peacefully hand over power. But the new...
Oil be going: Canada’s separatist west
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Long-simmering tensions in the oil-rich west of the country have boiled over, and now there’s an i...
Writing on the Wall: a revealing British-election hike
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our correspondent walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall, in northern England, finding shifting party...
Not shy about retiring: strikes in France
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A massive, rolling, national strike begins today, in protest against proposed reforms of the sprawli...
Inquiring minds: impeachment’s next stage
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The House Judiciary Committee will now take up the inquiry into President Donald Trump. But will any...
With allies like these: NATO’s bickering leaders hold a summit
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It will be all smiles at the NATO summit today in London--but many of them will be forced. Behind th...
Terrorist on parole: A jihadist killer fools Britain’s justice system
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Islamic militant who killed two people in London last week was supposedly being monitored by the...
AMLO and behold: Mexico’s president tries to tackle corruption
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president, is wildly popular, in part because of his deter...
Presidential SEAL: Donald Trump puts his stamp on military discipline
28 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump used to lionise generals, but this week he had a falling out with the top brass. Are th...
Global warning: The UN sounds the alarm on climate change
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The UN has just released its annual report on how well the fight to slow climate change is going. It...
Start spreading the cash: Michael Bloomberg runs for president
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, has announced he is running for preside...
Protest vote: Hong Kongers send a message to Beijing
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After almost six months of protests and street battles, Hong Kongers have had a chance to vote in lo...
Bibi in the corner: Binyamin Netanyahu’s indictment
22 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After years of investigations, Israel’s prime minister has been indicted. A fraught legal case wil...
Fuel to the fire: growing unrest in Iran
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After petrol subsidies were slashed, protests of surprising ferocity have flared up across the count...
Settling in: Israel-Palestine policy
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The American administration’s shifting position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank will have ...
Bits in pieces: a fragmenting internet
19 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The early vision for a borderless, unregulated internet has not panned out as its pioneers hoped. Ho...
Head for the Hill: this week’s impeachment hearings
18 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats have a hard task as the hearings’ public stage proceeds: not uncovering new evidence, bu...
Better the devil they know? Sri Lanka’s election
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After multiple suicide bombings in April, much campaigning has been about security. Will Sri Lankans...
Language barrier: Cameroon’s forgotten conflict
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There is widespread terror in the largely Francophone country’s English-speaking region. Both hard...
Umbrellas to firebombs: Hong Kong’s escalating protests
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Molotov cocktails are flying and live rounds have been fired. Once-peaceful pro-democracy demonstrat...
The American Dreamer: DACA in the Supreme Court
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration has long wanted to scrap the “Dreamers” scheme, which allowed illegal i...
Unpresidented: Bolivia’s leader resigns
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After weeks of protests following a disputed election, Evo Morales has stood down. Who is in charge,...
Persistence of division: after the Berlin Wall
08 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend marks three decades since the wall fell, yet stark divides remain between East and West...
Allez, Europe! Macron’s diplomatic push
07 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week our correspondent joined Emmanuel Macron on his visit to China. The French president is st...
Demonstrative: a global wave of protest
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s public-sector demonstrations in Zimbabwe are just the latest in a wave of protests around ...
Stone unturned? Trump’s adviser on trial
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today Roger Stone, a colourful associate of President Donald Trump for 40 years, goes on trial facin...
Facebooklets: breaking up Big Tech
04 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Few politicians are as ambitious about dismantling the tech behemoths as Elizabeth Warren, one of Am...
Impeach-y keen: Trump investigation goes public
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
America’s House of Representatives took its first vote on how to proceed with impeachment proceedi...
Iraq in a hard place: deadly protests continue
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Demonstrations have been growing for a month and show no signs of abating. But would the reforms tha...
May as well: Boris Johnson’s electoral bet
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has at last secured a general election. Just as with his predecessor Th...
Not fare enough: Chile’s protests
29 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The ongoing unrest is no longer about a rise in metro fares; Chileans have risen up to demand that t...
State of disarray: the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The man who brought Islamic State to the world stage with visions of a brutal “caliphate” has be...
Poll dance: Boris Johnson’s election ploy
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s prime minister is making a risky move by calling for a general election in December. Wil...
Calls to action: Lebanon’s continued protests
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What began as protests against a tax on WhatsApp calls has blossomed into surprisingly united and pe...
Putin, he’s back into it: Russia’s growing influence
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Vladimir Putin’s diplomacy regarding northern Syria is just one example of the Russian president’...
The course of Trudeau love: Canada’s election
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Trudeau will remain prime minister, but will lead a minority government. He will probably be ...
Going through the motion: more Brexit contortions
21 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It might have been a clarifying vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit motion; instead, mor...
Irish ayes? A new Brexit deal
18 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson has a newly struck European Union divorce deal in hand. He ...
Antsy about ANC: reform in South Africa
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our journalists interview Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, about his efforts to clean up...
Back to Square one? Tiananmen veterans in Hong Kong
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Amid the growing disquiet in Hong Kong are a few survivors of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Th...
Then there were 12: the Democrats’ fourth debate
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Twelve candidates take to the stage again tonight, with two clear front-runners. We ask how the winn...
The enemy of their enemy: the Kurds ally with Syria
14 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Turkey’s violent strikes on north-eastern Syria came as swiftly as America’s withdrawal. The ove...
PiS prize: Poland’s crucial election
11 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It is at once a story of post-communist success and of populist threats to the rule of law by the go...
Uncomfortable president: Trump’s stonewalling
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The White House is stonewalling the impeachment inquiry. Could that hinder the Democrats’ ability ...
Sorry state: Kashmir on lockdown
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Two months after India’s Hindu-nationalist government stripped the state of Jammu and Kashmir of i...
Just a Kurd to him: Trump’s Syria withdrawal
08 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The president’s sudden talk of departure from a contested strip of the Turkey-Syria border betrays...
Trade disunion: America’s tariff wars
07 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese and American trade negotiators will again be trying to avoid more eye-watering tariffs this ...
Duty call: how Ukraine sees the Trump scandal
04 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A phone call between the presidents has sparked an impeachment inquiry in America. But how do the pe...
Immunisation shot? The case against Binyamin Netanyahu
03 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Political deadlock in Israel is now inextricably intertwined with a case against the prime minister....
Reform over function: Peru’s political crisis
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A long-running dispute between the president and the opposition-controlled Congress has spun out of ...
Party like it’s 1949: China’s National Day
01 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As at the founding of the People’s Republic, the 70th anniversary featured a tightly controlled pa...
Out-of-office messaging: Britain’s Tory conference
30 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lawmakers are back in Parliament while the ruling party is elsewhere, laying out its legislative mis...
Spoiled ballot: Afghanistan’s election
27 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The country is set for another violent and disputed election. But the fact that Afghans will head to...
Call to account: Trump-Ukraine intrigues
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump’s call to his Ukrainian counterpart is under ever-greater scrutiny. An unex...
And the law won: Boris Johnson’s latest defeat
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, Britain’s prime minister has been thwarted, this time for trying to stymie Parliament ...
Aid for abetting? Trump’s Ukraine call
24 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump’s critics say a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart would reveal ...
Madurable: impasse in Venezuela
23 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
International sanctions have crimped the regime, and the country’s people. Yet President Nicolás ...
To all, concern: a climate-change special
20 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As the Global Climate Strike gets under way, we look at all matters climatic. History shows that fer...
I can do that, Dave: AI and warfare
19 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence is making its way into every aspect of life, including military conflict. We...
Ursa minor: Russia-China relations
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the 20th century Russia was the more powerful partner. Take a look at the flows of money and infl...