The Foreign Desk

This week an advisory report on land reform in South Africa has recommended changing the constitution to allow the government to seize land without compensation. The aim is to help ease the huge inequalities in land ownership between white and black South Africans; Andrew Mueller explains what the fallout could be.

As the demonstrations in Hong Kong continue, we look at the stand-off between Beijing and the people of Hong Kong, and ask if Hong Kong’s government will ever have any real say in this. We hear from Badiucao, Fernando Cheung, Johnson Yeung, Diane Wei Liang and Monocle’s Hong Kong bureau chief James Chambers.

The UK has a new Prime Minister whose in-tray is dominated by the chaotic Brexit he did so much to bring about. Andrew Mueller discusses what the UK – and the world – can expect from Boris Johnson.

Five years ago this week, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. As the investigation into what happened and Russia’s denial of any involvement continues, we look at the country’s modern propaganda apparatus – MH17 being a tragic illustrative example – and ask what we have learnt. Andrew Mueller is joined by Anna Nemtsova, Stephen Dalziel and Peter Pomerantsev.

After many years of being asked not to climb Uluru, tourists visiting the rock will soon be banned from doing so. Most visitors to Uluru, which is sacred to Australia’s Indigenous people, have respected the request but some Australians seem more determined than ever to climb it. Andrew Mueller wonders why.

The Economic Community of West African States has agreed, again, to adopt a single currency. Andrew Mueller asks what lessons have been learned from the euro and what benefits there might be for those who sign up.

As a reaction to the withdrawal of the US from its nuclear deal with Iran, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that Tehran possesses more than 300kg of enriched uranium, exceeding the previously agreed limit. But with few allies, what options does Iran have if its bluff is called?

Last year in the UK the Home Office recorded a 40 per cent increase in religious hate crimes – of which more than half were directed at Muslims. What does Islamophobia mean now for the people on the receiving end of it? And given the extensive media coverage of Islam this century, why has so little been learned? Andrew Mueller is joined by Salma El-Wardany, Hussein Kesvani and Asma Uddin.

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, we take a closer look at the forces that have shaped LGBT history.

It might feel as though the rest of the world has given up on Somalia. This is not, however, something the rest of the world can afford to do: the country’s perch on the Horn of Africa gives it extraordinary strategic importance. Though the money spent on Somalia has not stopped it being poor – and peacekeeping missions have found little peace to keep – the international community has to stay engaged, especially as a fresh drought threatens famine. What can be done to help Somalia now? And how much headway is Somalia’s own precarious government making? Andrew Mueller is joined by Abdi Samatar, Mary Harper and Hussein Sheikh Ali.