麻豆社

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

In today's Russia, laws against anti-war protest prescribe heavy penalties - artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko has just been jailed for seven years. Meanwhile, convicted killers are being pardoned and freed, if they'll undertake to go and fight in Ukraine. Steve Rosenberg reports from St Petersburg and Moscow.

The Iraqi people have survived decades of war and insurgency - but now, in peacetime, they're still surrounded by lethal risks. Poor safety awareness and construction standards are a dangerous mix. A string of disasters have killed hundreds of people at a time, and the Iraqi health service often hasn't had the means to treat the injured. Lizzie Porter looks at what has been going wrong.

The recent pact between Spain's Socialist party and Catalan nationalists enabled the left to keep control of government, and PM Pedro Sanchez to be sworn in for another term - even though the centre-right Partido Popular won most votes at the last election. But the Catalan deal has sparked fury across the political spectrum, and as Guy Hedgecoe witnessed in Madrid.

And Guy De Launey revels in sporting glory at last: after decades of fruitless devotion to the Hanshin Tigers, an Osaka-based baseball team who looked like no-hopers for years on end, he's finally been able to enjoy following them through a season for the ages - as they won this year's Japan Series. Why had they languished for so long? It's possible they'd been suffering a sporting curse incurred by Hanshin fans' abuse of a statue of Colonel Sanders, trademark emblem of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

(Image: Sasha Skochilenko at the court hearing in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 16 November 2023. Credit: Reuters/Anton Vaganov)