EPA/Larry W Smith As election day approaches in the US, journalists around the world are working in the most challenging environment of their lifetimes. This will be no ordinary election, not only because COVID-19 has changed the way Americans vote, with 45 million ballots already cast by mail, but alsoContinue Reading
Even before Donald Trump was elected US president in 2016, researchers who study democratic backsliding, the rise of authoritarian regimes and their policies, feared his “America first” agenda would pose a serious threat to democratic norms and the rule of law. In office, the president repeatedly refused to commit toContinue Reading
In a dramatic turn of events after ten days of violence that followed Kyrgyzstan’s disputed and later annulled parliamentary elections, nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov has gone from prisoner to prime minister after the ousting of the sitting president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov. The power grab was orchestrated by a network of nationalistContinue Reading
EU countries are working together to procure a lot of PPE. Shutterstock As the UK-EU deal or no-deal drama limps on, most attention focuses on the economic consequences of a new trade relationship. But UK health security – in the sense of measures to prevent and mitigate health emergencies suchContinue Reading
Throughout Donald Trump’s first term in office, the US president has harked back to the Obama years. From blasting the “horrible” Iran nuclear deal to blaming Barack Obama’s administration for the “obsolete, broken system” that Trump claims has hindered the US response to the COVID-19 crisis, he’s used his predecessorContinue Reading
Hundreds of people have been queueing in the city of Yiwu in eastern China in recent days to get an experimental vaccine for COVID-19. Although the vaccine is yet to complete its clinical trials, it was reportedly given to hundreds of thousands of people in the past few months, andContinue Reading
Have you heard the story about the cowboy who tried to ride two horses at the same time? Everything is fine while the horses happily gallop along in the same direction but as time goes on, each horse wants to head in a different direction. It becomes harder and harderContinue Reading
Luis Arce, former finance minister in the government of Evo Morales, celebrated with his campaign team in La Paz in the early hours of October 19 as an exit poll forecast his victory in the country’s presidential elections. Although the official results will not be announced before October 25, allContinue Reading
The anger was evident in Andy Burnham’s voice as he declared that Greater Manchester would stand firm in the face of any UK government attempt to impose a “tier three” restriction on the northern English city-region without adequate financial compensation. The mayor and other local leaders were unanimous in opposingContinue Reading
Alexey_Erofejchev/Shutterstock.com Alert systems need to be clear and easy for everyone to understand. Yet, to date, the UK’s national alert system has created confusion and been largely ignored. Now, a second local alert level system has been introduced in England. I’m not convinced it will do any better. Other countries,Continue Reading
