Xi silent at congress, but it’s clear who isin charge

Xi Jinping didn't speak at China's Two Sessions meetings this year, but his presence was still felt.

'No closure' Ten years on, the mystery of MH370 is still unsolved

Despite a vast international investigation, relatives of 239 passengers lost on the ill-fated flight are seeking answers

'We're stuffed' Have the Tories given up on winning the next election?

Hours after last Wednesday's budget, the Conservative party's great and good assembled at the medieval Guildhall in London to hear Rishi Sunak address the 50th anniversary dinner for the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank. His party had a clear plan, the prime minister told hundreds of Tory MPS, peers, donors and other assorted luminaries: one centred on higher growth and lower taxes.

A big no, no How a vote on updating the constitution ended in fiasco

Proposals to reword Ireland's 1937 constitution to get rid of outdated language about the role of women and the nature of the family have been comprehensively rejected in a double referendum.

Shore point AUS-built floating aid port for Gaza what could go wrong?

The US plan to build a floating port off the Gaza coast is a bold move, reminiscent of the Mulberry harbours built after D-day in Normandy, but there are serious concerns that what relief it brings will be too little too late for Palestinians facing starvation.

'We used to adorn our street, now all is bleak'

As the holy month of Ramadan begins, food shortages and the fear ofattack continue to afflict Rafah’s displaced families

Blame game Distracted Democrats risk forgetting the greater goal

When an opinion poll in the New York Times found that a majority of Joe Biden's voters believe he is too old to be an effective US president, the call to action was swift. But it was not aimed at Joe Biden.

'Like choosing between a hedgehog or a porcupine' The presidential election rematch no one wants

In past years, the first phase of the general election has involved at least one of the presidential nominees introducing themselves to the public and presenting their case for taking the US in a new direction. But that has been rendered unnecessary this year: former president Donald Trump and president Joe Biden are very familiar to the electorate and are broadly unpopular.

Deportation and coercion How Russia stamps rule on occupied Ukraine

Early voting in Russia’s presidential election had already begun last week in occupied areas of Ukraine, with officials carrying ballot boxes going house to house in some areas, accompanied by soldiers.

Putin's puppets How stagemanaged polls string along the voters

Two election cycles ago, in 2012, Sergei Mironov was loudly playing the role of opposition to Russia’s ruling party, wearing the white ribbon of the protest movement in the State Duma and claiming his run against Vladimir Putin was “serious ”.

A $1bn push for power

Leaked documents have revealed the vast scope and cost of the Kremlin's vote-rigging machinery. With Putin certain to win another six-year term this weekend, why do elections matter so much to the Russian president?

A city of two massacres War leaves deep scars in Geneina

Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state in Sudan, can feel like two cities in one. There are mass graves, abandoned armoured vehicles and homeless children, but also new restaurants, bustling markets and factory-fresh Toyotas, nicknamed Kenjcanjia - meaning stolen in the local dialect- owing to their lack of registration plates.

The schools that stay cool in 40C

Architects use local materials and merge traditional techniques with modern technology to make welcoming spaces

Supporters of Navalny defy Kremlin at final farewell

Alexei Navalny lay in an open casket in a Moscow church last Friday under a bed of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, his face pale in candlelight, surrounded by grieving relatives and supporters.

Ceasefire talks The pathway to a pause in hostilities-and the obstacles

Last week, Joe Biden said he believed that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas could soon be reached.

Lightning in a bottle

Midway through my interview with Annie Clark, AKA the critically lauded, Grammy-winning, art-rock experimentalist St Vincent, a thumbs-up emoji appears next to her head.

George Galloway is not the only one profiting from the pain of Gaza Jonathan Freedland

There has been a lot of talk about George Galloway in recent days, much of it negative and almost all of it true.

AI KNOW JUST WHAT YOU MEAN

Millions of people are turning to AI therapy as mental health waiting lists grow. It's cheap, quick and convenient, but is counselling by chatbots really the right tool to tackle complex emotional needs?

LINE OF DUTY

THE OPENING bars of the Cossack March rang out from the platform speakers at Zaporizhzhia-1 train station, jaunty trumpets transitioning into a rousing military march, heralding the departure of train number four, the 17.53 to Uzhhorod.

New law sparks fear as potential conscripts try to flee

Across Myanmar, the young and middle-aged, both men and women, are desperately searching for ways to flee their homes, after it was announced the military junta will impose a mandatory conscription law from mid-April.

Slow to judge Supreme court moves risk appearance of helping Trump

The US Supreme Court's decision last month to hear Donald Trump's claims that he cannot be prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election marked the court's direct entry into the 2024 presidential election.

The return of Bannon, the unkempt cheerleader of far right

Wearing an olive-green jacket over a black shirt, Steve Bannon blew the doors off a subject most other speakers had tiptoed around.

Anger rises as vaping permeates primary schools

Feeling lost and angry over the death of his father, Lucas Sykes started vaping in 2021 after his friends suggested it would help the grieving process.

How Shōgun broke the mould of depicting the Japanese

Japanese audiences could have been forgiven for bracing themselves when Disney announced Shögun, a 10-part adaptation of James Clavell's classic 1975 novel.

Documentary offers a new lease of life to Bobi Wine

When the Ugandan musician turned-politician Bobi Wine ran for president, his 2020 campaign was thwarted by violent crackdowns by Yoweri Museveni's regime. When the Ugandan musician turned-politician Bobi Wine ran for president, his 2020 campaign was thwarted by violent crackdowns by Yoweri Museveni's regime.

The battle to reclaim social media from 'manosphere'

Influencers such as Andrew Tate have become bywords for \"toxic masculinity\", attracting huge audiences of young men and boys with a mixture of quasi-motivational pep talks, fast cars and demonstrations of sexual prowess.

Live wires How important are Russia's intercepted military talks?

An extraordinary leak of an online call involving Germany's air force chief and three subordinates emerged last Friday, in which they discussed whether it might be possible to persuade a reluctant chancellor Olaf Scholz to approve giving the long-range Taurus missile to Ukraine, and whether the munition could blow up the strategic Kerch Bridge that connects Russia to occupied Crimea.

Two Sessions but only one message: the party rules supreme

China held its most high-profile annual political gathering this week as thousands of delegates arrived in Beijing for the Two Sessions, a closely observed series of meetings that laid out the government's policy blueprint for the year ahead.

The man who was killed looking for food for his daughters

A few weeks before his death, Bilal el-Essi took a photo of a man's body, sprawled under a women's bike in a Gaza City street, a child's pink backpack fallen from the basket.

Held to ransom Rohingya face exploitation at the hands of traffickers

Even as dehydration was getting to their passengers, the traffickers using boats to carry hundreds of Rohingya away from refugee camps in Bangladesh thrust phones into their hands and demanded they ask their relatives for money.