Category: Explainers
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Can a country legally close a strait? Transit passage, territorial seas, and why a clear rule still doesn’t settle what happens in the Strait of Hormuz.
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A sanctioned tanker carrying a million barrels is sinking off Oman and leaking oil ashore. What the “shadow fleet” actually is, and why these ships spill more and pay less.
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New research suggests nearly half of dementia cases may be linked to changeable risks. What “modifiable risk” really means, why it isn’t about blame, and why it’s a policy question as much as a personal one.
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Earth’s molten iron core has reversed direction beneath the Pacific and scientists don’t know why. What the core is, how anyone can tell what it’s doing — and why this is fascinating rather than alarming.
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Kuwait intercepted drones this week; Germany found one carrying explosives by a runway. How drone defence actually works — detection, interception, and the cost imbalance that makes it so hard.
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A ship is hit far away and fuel gets pricier at home. War-risk premiums, rerouting and trader expectations — the three-step mechanism that turns distant danger into your energy bill.
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A German diocese criticised a donor who offered money in exchange for baptisms. Why paying for a sacrament has a name — simony — and why churches have banned it for centuries.
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Ceasefire, truce, sanctions, extradition, executive order, war crime — the words news reports assume you already know, explained plainly, with examples from this week’s stories.
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A Senate committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. What contempt of Congress actually is, what has to happen next, and why the case divides opinion so sharply.
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Nauru is now the Republic of Naoero, matching the national language. Where the island is, and why countries from Türkiye to Eswatini have changed their official names.