Hell for Tether: a cryptocurrency crimped
The notionally dollar-pegged “stablecoin” quietly underpins many crypto-market moves. We ask what the currency issuer’s clash with New York authorities means for the wider crypto craze. In many Africa...
25 Feb 202122min
Let the games be thin: Tokyo’s Olympic tussles
Planners are in a corner. Delaying or cancelling the summer tournament looks like defeat; pressing ahead looks like a danger. We take a look at the sporting chances. Britain has decarbonised faster th...
24 Feb 202121min
Confirmation biases: Biden’s cabinet picks
President Joe Biden’s top posts are shaping up as Senate confirmation hearings continue—but some controversial nominations await a vote. We look at who is on the docket. Politics in the Democratic Rep...
23 Feb 202120min
Contrary to popular opinion: Mexico’s president
Andrés Manuel López Obrador roared into office with a grand “fourth transformation” agenda. Even after two years of policy failures and power-grabbing, he remains wildly popular. An eye-catching new r...
22 Feb 202119min
Have I not news for you: Facebook’s Australian battle
A media code that would obligate tech giants to pay for linking to news stories looks set to pass. In response, Facebook pre-emptively took down those links—and a whole lot more. So-called honour kill...
19 Feb 202121min
Watts the problem: Texas’s energy failings
Crippling blackouts can be explained in part by the state’s unique energy market, but the disaster exposes wider failures that must be confronted amid a changing climate. Today’s landing of another Ma...
18 Feb 202123min
The next of 1,000 cuts: Hong Kong activists on trial
It is not violent young protesters in the dock: the accused are the architects of the territory’s democracy. Our correspondent examines the city’s descent into authoritarian rule. In Colombia, activis...
17 Feb 202120min
Desert stands: France in the Sahel
Terror groups and separatists run riot in the sprawling region, and France has had some success in keeping the peace. But how, and when, to draw down its troops? Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Trade O...
16 Feb 202122min
