Cool heads needed: COP26 begins
World leaders are gathering in Glasgow for the UN climate summit. Can they agree on the path to meeting the goals set in Paris six years ago, to stabilise global temperatures? We weigh up the chances....
1 Nov 202120min
Going critical: Iran’s nuclear programme
The Islamic Republic is closer than ever to a bomb’s worth of fissile material. Talks with America and other countries will resume next month, but hopes of an agreement are fading. Is war inevitable? ...
29 Okt 202123min
Competitive spirit: tech after the pandemic
After a year of breakneck growth, the big five tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft—are coming back down to earth. We look at how the pandemic has changed the industry and sp...
28 Okt 202121min
Winter is coming: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
Two months after the Taliban’s victory, civilians face a looming disaster. Will Western governments dig their heels in, or turn the aid taps back on? India’s government has increasingly turned to high...
27 Okt 202120min
Trouble in Khartoum: Sudan’s coup
Just as the country was moving towards democracy, its generals have overthrown the civilians—again. We look at what sparked the unrest, and why coups in Africa are on the rise. Ecuador declared a stat...
26 Okt 202122min
You shall not pass: standardising vaccine passports
Covid certificates are a global mess, with countries operating a patchwork of incompatible systems. We look at why it’s so difficult to standardise digital health passes. When the results of Uzbekista...
25 Okt 202120min
Flu into a rage: Brazil’s Bolsonaro inquiry
President Jair Bolsonaro’s early dismissal of the pandemic as “a little flu” presaged a calamitous handling of the crisis. We ask how a congressional investigation’s dramatic assessment of his non-act...
22 Okt 202121min
States of emergency: Nigeria
Criminal gangs in north-western states, jihadists in the north-east, a rebellion in the south-east: kidnappers, warlords and cattle rustlers are making the country ungovernable. The new head of Samsun...
21 Okt 202123min
