Bear trapped: the sanctions on Russia

As the economy has deteriorated and the internet has bypassed television, persecution of opponents has become the president’s main tool of political control. Even the pandemic has been harnessed to si...

11 Nov 202119min

Around 2,000 people from the Middle East are at the European Union’s eastern frontier. Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic Belarusian president, promised them passage to the EU. They are pawns in a l...

10 Nov 202121min

Americans born at the bottom of the economic ladder find it harder than past generations—or their peers abroad—to climb to the top. The president has plans to change that. But he’s already having to s...

9 Nov 202120min

Over four days in Beijing, the political and military elite are meeting to recast the past. The revised version will depict Xi Jinping as a giant of the stature of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping—and jus...

8 Nov 202120min

Few imagined when Ethiopia’s civil war began a year ago that the capital, Addis Ababa, would come under threat from Tigrayan rebels. We explain why the tide has turned. At this time of year, India’s d...

5 Nov 202122min

At the global climate summit, more than 100 countries have promised to end deforestation by 2030. Similar promises have been made before, but might this time be different? America’s Supreme Court dive...

4 Nov 202122min

For the first time since the end of white rule, South Africa’s governing African National Congress is set to win less than half the vote, albeit in local polls. We explain its slide in popularity. Aft...

3 Nov 202120min

More than a year after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis policeman, the city votes on an overhaul of its force. We examine America’s shifting debate over police reform. Cryptocurrencies have ...

2 Nov 202121min