Hungary opened the first cracks in Soviet Communism. Now, the world awaits its elections pitting a right-wing populist leader against a liberal opposition. A street performer in front of a statue commemorating the “Lads of Pest” — youngsters who took up...
Our responses to COVID-19 have been driven by facts and perceptions of risk. As vaccinations increase, is it time for these perceptions to change? A family travels on a motorbike in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after the government ended a lockdown of the city, 6 May 2021....
COVID-19 has hit France and the U.S. to a similar extent. But their approaches to tackling the pandemic have been radically different — as I’ve seen. Elisabeth Wachtel in front of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral In January, I moved from the United States to...
Ping-pong players paved the way for a thaw in relations between China and the U.S. in the early 1970s. I witnessed this pivotal moment in history. Flanked by Chinese border officials, Glen Cowan, a member of the U.S. ping-pong team, waves to newsmen at Lowu, China,...
News Decoder’s correspondents have covered many of the biggest international stories of the past half-century, offering our students an unparalleled historical perspective on complex global events. Jonathan Sharp has tapped his rich professional adventures time and again for News Decoder, producing yarns about covering the Vietnam War and showing U.S. actress Shirley MacLaine around Beijing. In his latest article, Sharp recounts witnessing a pivotal moment in China-U.S. relations in 1971, when a team of U.S. ping-pong players visited China, paving the way to a thaw in relations between the two nations. Sharp skillfully mixes personal anecdotes with an impartial look at history to transport students born more than a generation after the “transformative moment” back in time.
Exercise: Ask each of your students to speak to at least one parent to identify a moment in their youth when they witnessed an important event. After interviewing the parent, the student should write an article mixing the parent’s viewpoint in the first person with third-person background and explanation.
For the fourth time in three decades, a divided Italy has named a technocrat as its leader. Is Mario Draghi a model for nations shouldering huge debts? Street art depicting Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi dressed as a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat,...
News Decoder correspondent Gene Gibbons covered six U.S. presidents. His White House memoir offers portraits of presidents, a queen and a pope. He covered six U.S. presidents as a White House correspondent, and now he has written a memoir that offers an inside look at...
Despite a Brexit deal with the EU, Boris Johnson’s popularity as UK leader has plunged as COVID-19 wreaks havoc, with his foibles on display. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson departs 10 Downing Street for parliament in London, 30 December 2020. (EPA-EFE/ANDY...
Joe Biden and I grew up in the same city. He was upright in school and on the playground. He’ll be a caring leader as U.S. president. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden visiting his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 23 October 2019 (Jason Farmer/The...
A lot of ink has been spilled about Joe Biden’s background, but how many authors played sandlot baseball with the U.S. President-elect? News Decoder correspondent Gene Gibbons covered six presidents while at Reuters, but he grew up with Biden, and his reminiscences of their upbringing in Pennsylvania capture key qualities of the next U.S. leader. It’s the details — the nicknames the schoolmarm gave her students, Biden’s phone call to the same teacher — that enliven the story. Without hyperbole or boasting, Gibbons tells a story that packs a punch and highlights Biden’s journey from a vacant lot — “mostly dirt and cinders” — to the White House.
What makes a global leader? What traits does a leader need to succeed? Does U.S. President-elect Joe Biden have what it takes? U.S. President-elect Joe Biden (R) and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware, 7 November 2020 (EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO)...
Youth in Nigeria, angry over police brutality, have formed a movement that started with street protests and which some see as a potential political force. Youth protest against Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos, Nigeria, 9 October 2020....