Features

Clueless central banks? A trade war? Southern debt? Leading economists on where the next crisis might come from...

Yohann Koshy looks at the impending catastrophe linking the stock market to climate change.

It’s 10 years since the global financial system almost sent the world into a great depression. Yohann Koshy takes stock of what went wrong and where we are now.

Syrian reporter Zaina Erhaim on training citizen reporters and the importance of documenting the Assad regime’s atrocities. Interview by Anton Mukhamedov.

China’s dazzlingly ambitious international investment programme – the Belt and Road Initiative – is well under way, with designs to bring infrastructure to half the planet. Wayne Ellwood on the scale of this juggernaut and its economic and political ramifications.

Violeta Santos Moura reports from Poland, where air pollution claims some 45,000 lives annually. The country’s reliance on coal is the main culprit but it’s an issue bound up in national pride and political manipulation.

Wars in cyberspace are wars on our minds. JJ Patrick on the murky underworld of big data, social media, espionage and the spread of chaos through disinformation.

We’re increasingly relying on social media companies to act like governments and censor dubious content. Jillian York on the failures of this approach – and how to fix it.

Changing habits; Tech takeover; Trust in media; Who owns it?

So many voices online. Surely that means more diversity and media democracy? Not really, explains Laura Basu.

Vanessa Baird writes on the strange mutations of ‘fake news’

Trump has a precursor – and maybe even a mentor – when it comes to waging war on media he does not like. Iris Gonzales reports from the Philippines.

There is no one magic remedy – but lots of strategies. Vanessa Baird writes.

Trust in tatters. Business model busted. And journalism under attack from all sides. So why does Vanessa Baird think that the news media has a bright future?

Pervez Hoodbhoy is one of South Asia’s leading nuclear physicists and an eminent Pakistani academic and intellectual. He talks to Andy Heintz about growing religious extremism and the troubled legacy of international actors in the region.

Nearly 30 years after eco-rebels sent mining company BCL fleeing from Bougainville for wholesale environmental carnage, it is planning its return to the mineral-rich island. But, as conflicts of interest and intrigues develop, locals are less than pleased. Ian Neubauer reports.

Progressive city governments in the Barcelona area have showed the world how turning back privatization is achievable at a local level. But there remain obstacles to be overcome, says Luke Stobart.

Trying to take back failing privatized public services exposes governments to the risk of being sued for gargantuan amounts by foreign corporations. Lavinia Steinfort reports.

A court victory has rewarded civil society efforts to end water privatization in the Indonesian capital but many questions remain unanswered. Febriana Firdaus reports.

With the failures of privatization all too evident when it comes to public resources and services, there is a global upsurge of interest in running things differently.