麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces personal stories, insights, wit and analysis from correspondents and writers around the world.

After the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, mass protests against hijab rules and their enforcement convulsed Iran. But the country's dress code has not been relaxed - and despite widespread defiance, breaking it can still be cause for arrest and imprisonment. After 16-year-old Armita Garavand's death following an alleged altercation with "Guidance Patrol Officers" in Tehran in October this year, the public outrage has been more muted. Yet Faranak Amidi reflects that there are still signs of more routine resistance to be seen on the streets of many Iranian cities.

As the UAE host the COP28 summit on climate in Dubai, Owen Pinnell reports on the darker side of the country's image as an environmental champion. Gas flaring is still going on inside its oil and gas installations - with serious consequences for public health across the region. But the Emirates' harsh laws against bringing the country into disrepute mean many medical staff are afraid to speak openly about the link between the oil industry and bad air quality.

For decades, Finland's had a reputation as a carefully neutral country on good terms with both East and West, and one of Europe's highest standards of living. These days it's a NATO member state which has just sealed off its border with Russia - and where many citizens are worrying over the cost of living and looking for jobs abroad. Richard Dove detected a distinct change in the mood in Helsinki recently.

Cambodia has incorporated - and outlasted - many kinds of foreign influence over the centuries - from religious ideas drawn from India, through French-colonial baguettes and boulevards, to the cultural Americanisation of recent decades. These days, the most visible signs of outside influence are the gleaming new roads, hotels and airports being built with Chinese financing, says Sara Wheeler. Still, the country's distinct local flavour endures...

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman

(Image: Iranian women walk in a street in Tehran, October 2023. Credit: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)