1 🧵Week in Review: From Putin’s musings on immortality to Ukraine’s fight for defense independence, this week’s stories also covered trans sterilization in Europe, Lebanon’s Sufi traditions and Gaza’s firewood crisis: mailchi.mp/newlinesmag/...

4🧵 In this episode of a new season of The Lede, @faisalalyafai.bsky.social considers how the gathering of non-Western leaders reflects a world shifting away from U.S. dominance. newlinesmag.com/podcast/chin...

A new season comes to London! We'll be at the Frontline Club with @yarotrof.bsky.social @christinalamb.bsky.social talking Ukraine, Russia and Trofimov's novel No Country for Love. Join us: eventbrite.com/e/private-li... @newlinesmag.bsky.social @littlebrown.bsky.social

Read this. I guarantee you there's at least one nugget that will make you sit up and say, "They did...what?"

"These are the last days of centrism." It's one of the questions I am most intrigued by as we watch the horror in #Gaza: can our view of the world survive this? Here I ask Omar El Akkad what comes next. Listen @newlinesmag.bsky.social👇

For #AugustReplays I'm bringing back this fascinating conversation with Prof Gerges - we talk Gaza, Syria, the tangled history of authoritarianism. And of course Nasser and Mosaddegh. Listen @newlinesmag.bsky.social: newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-... @fawazgerges.bsky.social @lseir.bsky.social

We start #AugustReplays with one of the biggest political stories of 2025, the apparent cover up of Joe Biden's declining health. Alex Thompson, co-author of “Original Sin” joins me on The Lede. Full episode @newlinesmag.bsky.social: newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

Voting for The Webby Awards ends this week, and @newlinesmag.bsky.social The Lede is currently in the lead. (But CNN are right behind us, coughs.) Take a moment to do the honours, if you can: vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...

Having these raw conversations is genuinely a privilege. Listen here as I ask @arwadamon.bsky.social if there's a part of her that feels guilty if she feels fine in the face of what she witnessed in Gaza. Full episode @newlinesmag.bsky.social smag: newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

1. 🧵 @arwadamon.bsky.social tells @faisalalyafai.bsky.social why she was recently denied entry into Gaza, why wars vanish from the public eye, and the personal cost of her years witnessing conflict. newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

An important and timely conversation with Arwa Damon on today's @newlinesmag.bsky.social The Lede. It's the third conversation I've had with Damon over Gaza, and perhaps the most personal. Listen here and watch out for the video version, coming soon newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

Our podcast episode ft. @arwadamon.bsky.social in conversation with @faisalalyafai.bsky.social about her recent time on the ground in Gaza is up for a well-deserved Webby Award in the "Best Interview" category! Please spend a few seconds voting for it: vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...

New interview loading @newlinesmag.bsky.social.... I'm really excited to share this week's conversation. Stay tuned later this week for the guest.

Join us this Weds at the Frontline Club to discuss a real life murder mystery - the disappearance of @thetimes.com' David Holden in Cairo in 1977. I'll be in conversation with Manu Midolo, Peter Gillman, @scribblercat.bsky.social and Mark Lowen. Join us: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/panel-disc...

We're back at the Frontline Club this Friday, for a fascinating discussion on how AI, algorithms and disinformation are reshaping truth, power and politics. With the brilliant @oliviasolon.bsky.social @vickiturk.bsky.social | @newlinesmag.bsky.social Join us! www.eventbrite.com/e/feeds-fake...

"Once in a while, you get to see something like this happen. Syria can breathe." Back from Damascus @janinedigi.bsky.social joined @kshaheen.bsky.social and I on @newlinesmag.bsky.social The Lede to talk about justice, from Ukraine to the Middle East. Listen in: newlinesmag.com/podcast/afte...

This was such an interesting conversation with @erikmbaker.bsky.social. Entrepreneuralism is baked into the fabric of modern America, but Baker explores with me how its history is surprisingly recent. Listen @newlinesmag.bsky.social👇

Join us on Friday evening at the Frontline Club with @michelawrong.bsky.social and @faisalalyafai.bsky.social hosted by @newlinesmag.bsky.social where I will be talking about Russia, Ukraine and my book Punishing Putin, which will be on sale. Lots to discuss. www.eventbrite.com/e/the-world-...

Tonight in London! Come see us at The Frontline Club, in conversation with Stephanie Baker and Michela Wrong, as we start off @newlinesmag.bsky.social series of events. We'll be talking Russia, Ukraine, Congo, Rwanda, Syria and much more. Tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-world-...

I love how many flag references there are in this Joanna Andreasson illo. I count six (and maybe, if you squint, the shortlived 1960s flag with three stars, one representing Iraq) | Full story by Rasha Elass on Syria's constitution @newlinesmag.bsky.social: newlinesmag.com/essays/a-cen...

What will be the biggest stories of 2025? A @newlinesmag.bsky.social panel argues about what might happen in the US, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and elsewhere. With @kshaheen.bsky.social @dannypostel.bsky.social and Lisa Goldman newlinesmag.com/podcast/look...

NEW: After 15 years, Faris Zwirahn returned to Syria. As he writes in this essay, what he found in Damascus was both familiar and different. The city is the same — but its inhabitants are smiling. newlinesmag.com/first-person...

As the incoming Trump administration prepares to round up, detain & deport immigrants on a colossal scale, @kshaheen.bsky.social @lisang.bsky.social @faisalalyafai.bsky.social & I debate whether immigration is a “real” issue, on the @newlinesmag.bsky.social podcast 🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWw...

“They’ve got a twisted kind of intelligence, and they know exactly how to destroy it all.” Embedded in Omid J.’s quest is a desire not only to protect Afghanistan’s music from the Taliban but to preserve its diversity. newlinesmag.com/reportage/pr...

Thank you to the hundreds of guests and journalists from dozens of publications who joined our @newlinesmag.bsky.social events at The Frontline Club in London this year. New events coming in 2025! #2024wrapped

1. 🧵 On our most recent episode of The Lede podcast — @kshaheen.bsky.social discussed the logical fallacy of leftist “anti-imperialists” supporting the Assad regime while they claim to support Palestine, with Rasha Elass and @faisalalyafai.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

A packed house at the Frontline Club in London for our last @newlinesmag.bsky.social event of the year. Stephen Sackur was in excellent form, gamely answering the questions instead of asking them. More events next year 👏

NEW: Kurdish musician Hozan Cane recalls her ordeal as a political prisoner in Turkey, where she remained incarcerated for two years and 102 days. By Rabia Gursoy for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/ku... #Kurds

🎧 On the new episode of the @newlinesmag.bsky.social podcast THE LEDE, my brilliant colleagues @kshaheen.bsky.social, Rasha Elass and @faisalalyafai.bsky.social discuss this inflection point in Syria's history, how it came to be, and what comes next. newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

When choosing the photo for this episode @newlinesmag.bsky.social The Lede, we considered the dramatic defaced photos of Assad. It would fit the title. But this image of smiling Syrians is better - it shows what the future means, not what the past was. Listen here: newlinesmag.com/podcast/the-...

NEW: For some, the idea that Syrians could free themselves from despotism seems so implausible it’s dismissed outright — like prisoners hesitating to walk out of an open cell door, writes Layla Maghribi in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/argument/lib...

You really should read this piece by @kshaheen.bsky.social if you haven’t

New film from our recent investigation: We travelled 2,000km through Indonesia’s nickel frontiers investigating how a green, battery-powered future is being achieved through increasingly authoritarian means. Published with @newlinesmag.bsky.social.

Israeli media's reactions to the fall of the Assad regime has been a mixed bag, with some compassion & some chauvinism. I wrote about it for New Lines. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/go...

NEW: Indonesia is the beating heart of nickel production for the world’s green transition. But an investigation by @newlinesmag.bsky.social and @thegeckoproject.org reveals the catastrophic environmental and human toll of the lucrative industry newlinesmag.com/reportage/du...

If you're following the #Syria story, here are two @newlinesmag.bsky.social essential reads, by @hhassan.bsky.social and Rasha Elass. Links: newlinesmag.com/reportage/th... newlinesmag.com/argument/ass...

Watching Angela #Merkel's interviews these past few days has been a reminder of how much the 'politically normal' has changed since the main years she was in power... #Germany

A funny moment at last month's @newlinesmag.bsky.social salon in London. This Friday we're back at the Frontline Club for the last - the last - event of the year, with HardTalk's grand inquisitor Stephen Sackur, reviewing a tumultuous year of news. Join us: www.eventbrite.com/e/a-year-of-...

The time traveller who has to explain this to Isaac Newton is really going to struggle… www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If you’re in London, come and discuss the epic year of news that was 2024 - and which is still happening, with immense change in Syria right now. Stephen Sackur has interviewed so many key global players over the years - come and hear him review the year @newlinesmag.bsky.social reserve your spot👇

2024 has been a year of profound and seismic events. To unpack them, next week we're welcoming the grand inquisitor himself Stephen Sackur to the Frontline Club to review the news and personalities of the year | @newlinesmag.bsky.social | Sign up here and join us: www.eventbrite.com/e/a-year-of-...

“Goat Days” marked a turning point in Malayalam literature. It was the first time that any significant writing on the region had cast an Arab as a villain | @newlinesmag.bsky.social | newlinesmag.com/review/the-l...

It's important to dot all your i's and cross all your t's

Kareem Shaheen @kshaheen.bsky.social is here conspicuously silent on whether he was there in a different capacity in the *late* 2010s... (Sign up for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newsletters: newlinesmag.com/subscribe/)

A very well-reported story 👇

“Would it be possible to create a new master spy scheme, this time focused on Trump’s critics? The intelligence agencies were complicit in illegal operations during the Nixon years. Perhaps they would succumb again, with the proper Trump loyalists in place in high leadership positions.” ⤵️

🧵I spoke to @harikunzru.bsky.social on @newlinesmag.bsky.social The Lede, a brilliant novelist I've wanted to sit down with for a while. My first question was about something he said about Trump voters wanting to "smash the hegemony of the coastal elite". Aren't you, I asked, part of that elite?

🎧 Such an engaging, smart conversation between the writer @harikunzru.bsky.social & my colleague Faisal Al Yafai on the @newlinesmag.bsky.social podcast—they cover Trump's return, the shifting ideological coordinates of the moment, Kunzru’s recent novels & much more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYRg...

For my first post on Bluesky, here's a photo from last week of Emma Graham-Harrison speaking at our @newlinesmag.bsky.social event at the Frontline Club in London, alongside Gabriel Gatehouse, Sasha Polakow-Suransky and @lsmwilson.bsky.social.