The World Today

August & September 2015: Dictating the news agenda

The freedom of communication introduced by the internet was supposed to sound the death knell for state censorship. But authoritarian regimes still manage to control the message and how liberal digital media remains compromised. In the first of four articles, we look at how China continues to keep journalists on a short lead.

The French cardiologist, politician and pioneer of micro-levies explains how adding one dollar to every airfare has raised $2.1 billion and can be a painless solution to improve the health of the world’s poor.

How Moscow controls access to western media

After Ukraine, there is a pessimistic view of the alliance’s capacity to protect Latvia and its neighbours from the Kremlin’s probing

Kerry's meeting with Putin in Sochi which the Russians claimed as their diplomatic victory

Moscow is using the unrest in the Middle East to reinforce its media messages about the threat from the West at home

After the Greek radicals’ climbdown on austerity, Spain’s Podemos is rethinking its previous embrace

Four years ago, when Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office by a ‘Facebook revolution’, it seemed social media spelt the end of authoritarian governments. Such cyber-utopianism is now treated with scepticism. In our cover story we look at the mechanisms – some bullying, some more subtle – which governments use to maintain control of the media in the chaos of the digital age.

Articles

As the country falls apart, normal life continues on Syrian state TV

The History of Modern France: From the Revolution to the Present DayJonathan FenbySimon and Schuster, £25

Globally, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people between 15 and 29. It’s time to address this neglected and preventable challenge.

A lunch party at in the Soviet embassy in London in 1941

There are big changes underway in the attitude of French diplomats. But one thing doesn’t change: morale depends on the relations between the foreign minister and the president.

Amid fractured alliances, the era of a united Yemen is coming to an end

Saudi Arabia’s air strikes on Yemen are causing concern among its allies

Also in this issue

The Russian expert on the secret services describes how Vladimir Putin’s regime monitors the internet

José Ramos-Horta, the former president of East Timor and Nobel peace laureate

The United Nation’s peacekeeping operations are in deep trouble after 15 years in which the number of its blue helmets deployed has risen from 20,000 to 120,000.

American and Vietnamese civilians are evacuated from Saigon in 1975

The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Press, $26. UK edition forthcoming

The New Spymasters – Inside Espionage from the Cold War to Global Terror, Stephen Grey, Viking, £20
Why Spy? The Art of IntelligenceBrian Stewart & Samantha Newbery Hurst, £25

There will be shocks but Iran has more incentives to honour the agreement than to subvert it.

The ocean barriers are down, the mountain ramparts are removed from the paths of transport. Flying has advanced from adventure to an ordinary fact of everyday life. War has telescoped time in the development of aviation. Peace must now use the advantages which are offered for the benefit of mankind.