麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces insight, wit and analysis from 麻豆社 correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

Bethany Bell returns to the burnt hillsides of Greece 鈥� and the island of Evia, ravaged by blazing wildfires in 2021. During a year of extreme climate events, Greece suffered what its prime minister called 鈥渢he greatest ecological catastrophe in decades鈥�. Hundreds of millions of euros鈥� worth of damage was done. Woodland, crops, livestock - and homes - were burned to cinders. The Greek government defends its record, saying that despite the devastationthe action it took minimized the loss of human life. But now the temperatures have dropped, the state is counting the cost and trying to reduce the losses if - or when - it happens again.

Salvaging some kind of sustainable future - not just for Greece, but for the whole planet鈥檚 climate 鈥� has been the aim for the COP26 summit in Glasgow in the UK. Big international events like this might be frustrating and unwieldy for some world leaders 鈥� but they can at least offer a brief break from their troubles back home, Take the US President Joseph Biden. Less than a year after he was elected, his public approval ratings are slumping. Anthony Zurcher has been travelling with the presidential press corps over the past week, and wondering how his global performance would be going down with voters in the American heartland.

Around the world, journalism is under threat. Whether by direct threat, legal manoeuvre, or technological hacks - states and individuals have not given up the effort to keep the news under control. And it's getting worse, says Andrew Roy. For the past three decades, he has sent 麻豆社 correspondents around the world, most recently in his role as Head of Foreign News - and he describes some of the pressures brought to bear on them and their work.

Around the world, births, weddings and funerals 鈥� the great rites of passage 鈥� take many forms, as families welcome new members and say goodbye to their loved ones. The symbolism varies and the ceremonies can be simple or very elaborate 鈥� but nearly everyone wants to mark the occasion. And emotions can run very high when the right niceties aren't observed, or some participants feel they're not getting their due. In southeastern Nigeria, Olivia Ndubuisi recently came up against one social obligation which really put a dampener on the party 鈥� at least for a while鈥�.

(Image: Trees in flames as a wildfire burns on the island of Evia, August, 2021. Credit: Reuters/Nicolas Economou)