The Foreign Desk

As Justin Trudeau marks one year in office, our Toronto bureau chief Tomos Lewis looks back at the highs and lows of the prime minister’s past 12 months.

There are more than 1,500 foreign correspondents based in the US and hundreds more have flooded in to cover the country’s upcoming election. This week we speak to five of them to find out why the election has aroused so much interest at home and how it’s affected their faith in democracy.

Two years after the Umbrella Movement took place in Hong Kong, our bureau chief James Chambers reflects on how to plan – and police – a protest in the city.

Let’s be honest, this has been a horrible American election. And while they are never bloodless discussions about policy, it would be nice to talk about some of the issues that really matter. So this week we do talk about them: healthcare, education and gun control.

Scores of Americans have already voted thanks to many states that facilitate early voting. But once you’ve actually cast your vote, how much it counts really depends on where you are in the country.

Somalia has been without a functioning government for more than 25 years. The fact that it is about to hold a presidential election should be seen as progress but the more you learn about how the election works the less excited you’ll be.

In December Russian president Vladimir Putin will fly to Nagato for a summit with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. Ending Tokyo’s longstanding dispute with Moscow over the southern Kuril Islands will be a top priority. We discuss why.

António Guterres will be the next secretary-general of the UN. His appointment was surprising in a number of ways – for a start, he had the full public support of the Security Council. But it was also surprising because he’s no pushover. What sort of secretary-general will he turn out to be?

Although Turkey has been in Nato for more than 60 years and has its second-largest armed forces it has never felt entirely welcome. As President Erdogan rows with the West and makes friends with Russia, we ask whether his country’s future is in Nato.

Next year one of the most liberal nations in the world, the Netherlands, will hold an election that could see a far-right politician come out on top. We learn how even if Geert Wilders wins it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll become prime minister.