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Our Top Briefings
Venezuelan opposition leader awarded 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
Moments ago, the Nobel Committee awarded Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to “keep the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness”. She’s currently in hiding as she continues to campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. We’ve shared some initial thoughts on her remarkable win below. […]
Latest Stories
Why the UK and China are fighting over an embassy
The UK’s Keir Starmer won power last year with a to-do list longer than Harry Styles’s One Direction-era hair, but reviving the British economy was right there up the top. So when he met China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 last year, sure, Starmer raised Hong Kong’s detained pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy […]
A military coup in Madagascar
We knew we were overdue for another coup, but our money was on some place like Thailand, where military takeovers drop more often than seasons of Dancing with the Stars. And yet here we are, briefing you on a coup in East Africa’s beautiful island nation of Madagascar. So here’s what you need to know. […]
Pakistan and Afghanistan are taking up arms
Just as one war ended over the weekend, Pakistan and Afghanistan said “hold my chai“. You’ll recall we mentioned on Friday the epic Hollywood potential here, so we’ve channelled our inner Michael Bay for today’s briefing. Smell that? It’s popcorn, as we open with… It’s a classic sepia flashback to happier times: these Afghan and […]
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Meet the Team
The only briefing designed by former diplomats

John
Former diplomat in Beijing and Shanghai. Mandarin speaker. Helen constantly says my jokes are ‘drier than dust’, but she’ll have to do better than that to stop me.

Helen
Former diplomat in Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. Better Mandarin speaker than John, who reminds me that just because I went to Harvard doesn’t mean I’m always right.

Jeremy
Former diplomat in Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Lima. Spanish speaker. Awarded Peru’s Presidential Medal for Distinguished Service for… well, distinguished service.