The Real Story

China was first country to suffer the effects of Coronavirus, but a few months on, it has contained the worst of the outbreak in a way the United States and most European countries have not. The Chinese economy is bracing for the first year on year economic decline for more than forty years, but western countries are projected to fare even worse. Before the pandemic, the US-China trade war had alr...

Billions of people across the globe are currently under some form of government-mandated lockdown. The aim is to curb the spread of the coronavirus and prevent health systems from being overrun. But forcing people to stay at home for weeks or months on end is resulting in unprecedented economic shocks to societies around the world. With unemployment figures accelerating, so too is the debate about...

The Coronavirus pandemic has not yet impacted Africa as much as other parts of the world. But the situation might be hitting a dangerous turning point. Infection rates in some West African countries are rising quickly and this week the number of Covid-19 cases on the continent surpassed 10 thousand. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister has described Coronavirus as an 'existential threat' and senior UN offici...

Panic buying of food has become a feature of the Covid-19 outbreak around the world, stripping supermarket shelves of some items and prompting limits on the number of products customers are allowed to buy. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation says there could be global food shortages within weeks due to lockdowns and disruptions in areas like shipping and logistics. Governments across the pla...

The number of people ill and dying from Covid-19 is increasing globally, and whole national economies are grinding to a halt. We are living through a time of great insecurity and uncertainty in which many people will experience suffering and loss. But could the coronavirus outbreak provide humanity with new perspectives? Our politicians are being held accountable in real time in a way that hasn’t...

People around the world are facing severe economic problems because of the coronavirus.. The global shutdown has sent stock prices plunging as workers and customers stay at home. The world’s governments are having to mount an economic response unimaginable just weeks ago. The US has promised close to a trillion dollars of stimulus money. In Europe - the French government is adding a fifty billion...

Across the globe, authorities are taking unprecedented steps to curb the spread of coronavirus - as well as the increased levels of public fear and anxiety that accompany it. But do our views on the place of individual freedom and the role of the government in society help dictate how effective those measures will be? As rationing, quarantines and travel restrictions become more common place, ther...

After the results of the Super Tuesday primaries in the United States, two candidates have emerged as front-runners in the battle for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination - Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. But which vision for the future of the party will be the one more likely to deliver electoral success across the nation? One that aims to reach out to swing voters and Republicans, or one...

In 2011, a Nato-led coalition intervened with lethal air power to aide forces taking part in an uprising against Libya’s brutal military leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Shortly after, Col Gaddafi was caught and killed by rebels and there were high hopes the country would become a safer and more open place. But since then, fighting between militias has destroyed much of Libya and two rival governme...

This week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Ethiopia, just months before the planned partial opening of a controversial new dam project that Egypt says will harm tens-of-millions living along the River Nile. Construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia began in 2011 and is expected to start generating electricity within months. But Ethiopia has yet to agree with nearby Egypt how...

Next week, Iranians go to the polls to elect a new parliament. This time around there will be fewer choices on the ballot, after a number of ‘reformist’ politicians were purged from the list of candidates allowed to stand. Popular anger over the country’s dire economy has been spilling onto the streets, with some criticising Iran’s ruling elite, while others blame the United States for withdrawing...

In August 1974, the 37th President of the United States - Richard Nixon - resigned after being told by members of his own Republican party that they could no longer support him. Evidence brought during the process to impeach and remove him had implicated the White House in an attempt to sabotage President Nixon's Democratic rivals. The allegations against President Nixon were similar in nature to...

As the clock strikes 23:00 GMT on Friday, Britain will be out of the European Union. It marks the end of a bitter chapter in the country’s history – and the start of new one. The Brexit referendum of 2016 and its aftermath has dominated UK politics for the past three and a half years. The debates were fierce and the atmosphere acrimonious. Only late last year did the picture stabilise with the ele...

A mysterious new virus has emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan and is rapidly being identified in patients across the globe. Signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. Hundreds have been infected and some deaths have already been reported. This isn’t the first potentially deadly virus to emerge from China. In 2002/3, the Sars v...

Many of the world's rich and powerful will gather at the Swiss resort of Davos next week to discuss the future of the world, including how to make it a more equitable place. According to most estimates, the richest one percent of the world's population owns more than half of its wealth. Overall, the rich have spent billions in projects ranging from healthcare, education and humanitarian assistance...

The state of affordable housing in major cities around the world is an issue of increasing concern to politicians - and of course to the growing population of large cities. Next month, the UN's World Urban Forum will discuss rapid urbanisation and the pressures it brings on cities’ infrastructure and housing. In Germany, Berlin is the first city in German history to impose rent controls. In London...

2019 has been a year of youth activism. From the Swedish climate change protester Greta Thunberg to Hong Kong’s democracy activist Joshua Wong, young people have been making headlines. Millions of school children and college students all over the world marched for a range of causes, whether it was fighting climate change, supporting girls’ education in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, or ending p...

The Prime Minister's core message during the campaign was simple: "Get Brexit done." It worked, with the Conservative Party enjoying its widest margin of victory since its win under Margaret Thatcher in 1987. The United Kingdom now appears set to leave the European Union by the end of January. The opposition Labour Party, meanwhile, had a historically poor showing in the polls, while nationalist p...

The world’s rich linguistic tapestry is unravelling. Around a third of the world’s languages now have fewer than a thousand speakers left. The UN says more needs to be done and, to raise awareness, it declared 2019 the year of indigenous languages. The numbers of languages heading for extinction number in the thousands and are spoken by small tribes and ethnic groups scattered around the world. In...

Iraq has been gripped by mass public protests for weeks. Thousands of people have been taking to the streets in cities like Baghdad, Basra and Karbala to demand an end to corruption and unemployment, and an improvement in public services. The government has responded with force. More than three hundred people have died during the protests. Iraq is the second biggest oil exporter in the Middle East...

Algorithms have become a ubiquitous part of modern lives. They suggest films on streaming services, vet loans for approval, shortlist job candidates, even help decide prison sentences and medical care. But there are questions over the way they are applied. The banking giant Goldman Sachs faced criticism after it was alleged that an algorithm used to determine people's credit score was sexist becau...

The state owned Saudi oil company, Aramco, is considered to be the most profitable business in the world. In the coming weeks it plans to raise billions by selling shares publicly for the first time. Despite the proliferation of green technologies and a rise in environmentalist movements which are calling for an end to fossil fuel dependency, the International Energy Agency believes that global co...

At one point this week air pollution in Delhi was so high that monitors could not record the toxicity because it was off the scale. Schools were closed, vehicles restricted, and people were advised to stay indoors. But the situation in Delhi is not the full picture. Fifteen of the world's twenty most polluted cities are in India. And air pollution is just one of several severe environmental challe...

A law is coming into effect in Russia that will redefine the way internet is governed in the country. Russia says the law will allow internet providers to filter content to ‘protect’ its citizens. It wants Russian data to remain within its border and prevent outside forces from disrupting its internal internet infrastructure. Critics say, the law virtually allows the government to disconnect from...

This week millions of people were out on the streets of Lebanon demanding change. A lack of jobs, crumbling public services, rising living costs and rampant inequality had brought out people from all sections of the society. The proposed budget with more taxes, including one on WhatsApp, is seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back. Since the end of a fifteen year long civil war, Lebanon has r...