CATEGORIES

Hong Kong Kept Covid At Bay For Two Years. What Went Wrong?

The beds pile up outside Hong Kong’s Caritas hospital. In the cold night, elderly patients lie on gurneys covered with blankets and thermal foil sheets.

Is Electric Car Boom Driving Up Pollution?

Allegations of air and water contamination by one of the largest mines for nickel, a key material for greener motoring

Switzerland At Risk Of EU Blacklist After Credit Suisse Leaks

The fallout from a huge leak of Credit Suisse banking data threatened to damage Swit-zerland’s financial sector on Monday after the European parliament’s main political grouping raised the prospect of adding the country to a money-laundering blacklist.

Darkness falls

The decision by an isolated and angry Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops over the Ukrainian border will change the security architecture in Europe and may well lead to a horrific war

Rare groove The DJ who wants to give away all her records

On a hillside an hour from Madrid lies a sprawling, tropical-hued complex crammed with 1950s Mexican film posters and prowled by the odd decorative monkey and jaguar.

Unsettled Why clients of Epstein should not rest easy

After news of Prince Andrew’s settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, the question of who or what the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sex -trafficking conspiracy will envelop next remains.

‘I am not leaving this house to go to live in some tent'

As conscription papers arrive in Donetsk, people along the border have been told to leave – but not everyone wants to go

‘Whatever horrors they do, they do in secret'

Mazar-i-Sh arif was the most secular and liberal of Afghan cities. But 20 years of corruption and misrule left it ripe for retaking by the Taliban. Will anything be diff erent this time?

This Short-Sighted, Libertarian Dash For The Covid Exit Is Reckless

It was an extraordinary way to end nearly two years of restrictions and lockdowns.

Can Bitcoin Go Green?

A giant Norwegian crypto-mining operation is recycling its waste heat, pushing back against criticism of the famously energy-intensive industry

War games

Amid bleak western intelligence briefi ngs, fading diplomatic hopes and an exodus of foreign nationals from Kyiv, one key question has remained unanswered up to now: exactly how far is Vladimir Putin ready to go to achieve his goals?

‘Open door' Could Sarah Palin make a return to politics?

Removing a white facemask as she took to the witness stand behind a protective screen, Sarah Palin likened herself to the biblical David taking on the mighty Goliath of American media, the New York Times.

Super fly

Cochabamba’s female skateboard collective ImillaSkate has adopted traditional Bolivian clothing as a symbol of resistance. The distinctive look is one way of celebrating their indigenous heritage

Nudge Theory

How gambling-firms keep punters coming back for more

Pécresse makes anti-immigrant play to fend off far right

The rightwing French presi-dential candidate Valérie Pécresse vowed to crack down on immigration as she held her first big rally last Sunday amid competition from the growing far right and defections from her party to the centrist leader Emmanuel Macron.

Fragile states Why do military coups keep happening?

Weak institutions and jihadism are factors behind the frequent overthrow of governments in the region

How a new generation of educated girls defied the Taliban

When the Taliban reached Parveen Tokhi’s home province of Zabul in mid-August and asked to use her school as a temporary barracks, the headteacher was frightened but clear about what she had to do.

Forced out The demise of the Met's ‘tin-eared' trailblazer

Five years ago, the announce-ment that Cressida Dick would be the first female head of Britain’s biggest force seemed a landmark moment for policing and the nation.

Eat me!

Micro-organisms have evolved processes that let them digest plastics. Could they remedy one of Earth’s most pressing problems?

‘Tanks, tanks' On the border with Ukraine, citizens sense onset of war

The military train lurched into the rail depot at Kursk, carrying more snow-dusted main battle tanks, self-propelled artillery and other heavy weapons to within a few hours’ drive by car of the Ukrainian border.

Red poets' society

Between 1982 and 1989, a Stasi poetry-writing group met regularly in Berlin. But was it really just an innocent literary club?

Scholz slated for ‘inaudible' position on Ukraine

Germany’s new chancellor Olaf Scholz is waving goodbye to the honeymoon period of his tenure, as his “inaudible” stance over the brewing crisis on the Ukrainian border is failing to impress not only Russia-hawks abroad but also more ambivalent voters at home.

Cold thaw? Xi and Putin attack west in ‘no limits' unity display

While a full alliance between Moscow and Beijing is unlikely, they want to roll back US influence

The Covid culture wars

It began as a protest against vaccine mandates – but does Ottawa’s truck driver blockade signal the birth of a dangerous new political movement?

PM on the brink as ally calls his exit ‘inevitable'

Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to save his premier ship were undermined last weekend as one of his most loyal backbench supporters said it was now “inevitable” that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the “party gate” scandal .

One year on The striking workers still fleeing from the military

‘For fear of being arrested , we haven’t been able to go home for nine months’

Carrie Johnson No 10 puppet master or easy target?

Some say the prime minister’s wife is pulling the strings at Downing Street while others dismiss such claims as sexist

BREAKING THE ICE

In 1965, Tété-Michel Kpomassie left his village in Togo for a new life in Greenland. Now, at 80, he’s planning to retire to his ‘spiritual home’

Danger Time Partygate Report Adds To Johnson's Jeopardy

PM braced for findings on lockdown breaches, as MPs, ministers and No 10 staff weigh up whether to back him

The Big Story: Russia/Ukraine

The cold front ‘We are ready for whatever happens' | On the precipice Why Russia is so keen to flex its military muscles | Vladimir Putin is a ‘rogue male’ whose wild rampaging must be stopped