by News Decoder | 11 Jun 2019 | Asia, China, Economy, History
By Jane Macartney Emerging from the midnight darkness enveloping Beijing’s main street, a People’s Liberation Army soldier pointed his AK-47 at two young men who were crouched by the roadside to watch massed troops marching on Tiananmen Square. He shouted at them to...
by Atiq Rahimi | 7 Jun 2019 | Asia
Millions of children in Afghanistan work full or part time. After Kabul’s public transit system collapsed, a new form of work emerged: street shouting. A “little shouter” in Kabul, Afghanistan (Photo by Atiq Rahimi) Children all over Afghanistan work, and this...
by David Schlesinger | 7 Jun 2019 | Asia, China, Nationalism, Personal Reflections
It’s been 30 years since China’s army crushed protests in Tiananmen Square. Can Beijing come to terms with its past without remembering? A man tries to pull a Chinese soldier away from his comrades as citizens confront troops heading to Tiananmen Square,...
by Deborah Charles | 28 May 2019 | Decoders, Government, United States
U.S. President Donald Trump calls it the “I-word”. It has lawmakers in Washington in a quandry. So what is impeachment and how does it work? Depiction of the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 (Harper’s Weekly, Wikimedia Commons)...
by Alan Wheatley | 13 May 2019 | Decoders, Europe
It’s unloved and misunderstood. It splits time between Brussels and Strasbourg. Its powers have grown, yet voters shun it. It’s the European Parliament. European Parliament, Strasbourg, France, 5 February 2014 (Wikimedia Commons, by Diliff) Voters from the...