A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: reflecting on the plague year, ten years after the Arab spring (9:50), and what if CEOs’ memos were clear and honest? (15:30).
The weekend’s top news comes under scrutiny from Monocle’s Tyler Brûlé, Marcus Schögel and Chandra Kurt, with commentary from our editors in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Plus: Christoph Amend of ‘ZEITmagazin’.
As online shopping sees its biggest holiday season ever, hackers are sending fake delivery notices impersonating Amazon, UPS and FedEx, with scams up 72% from last year and 440% from October to November. Clicking a fake shipping notification link can launch ransomware or launch a counterfeit branded site to trick users into entering credit card and personal information to “reroute” a package that never existed.
Georgina Godwin with the weekend’s biggest discussion topics.
From Milan: Salone highlights, interviews and a daily running guide.
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss politics as a noble profession, optimism as a defining American characteristic, and collective sacrifice for the common good. In his final regular appearance on the NewsHour, we celebrate Mark Shields and his storied career in journalism and politics.
NPR reports: Another COVID-19 vaccine nears authorization. A major computer hack poses a ‘grave risk’ to the U.S. And, Congress gets closer to a new coronavirus relief package.
Our last episode of the year is a celebration of science in 2020. First, host Sarah Crespi talks with Online News Editor David Grimm about some of the top online news stories of the year—from how undertaker bees detect the dead to the first board game of death. (It’s not as grim as it sounds.)
Sarah then talks with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic about the Breakthrough of the Year, scientific breakdowns, and some of the runners-up—amazing accomplishments in science achieved in the face of a global pandemic. Finally, Book Review Editor Valerie Thompson joins Sarah to discuss highlights from the books section—on topics as varied as eating wild foods to how the materials we make end up shaping us.
Anne McElvoy asks the former German ambassador to the US, Wolfgang Ischinger, if America can still be relied upon as a “protective uncle” and how it should deal with China.
And, who will succeed Chancellor Merkel in 2021? Anne talks to German cabinet minister Jens Spahn, one of a proposed ‘dream team’ of candidates in the upcoming party leadership contest.
Lawmakers near relief deal with second round of stimulus checks, do Americans trust the vaccine, and drinking red wine and eating cheese could reduce cognitive decline.
