The Story

China has recently changed its two-child policy and is now allowing families to have up to three children legally. It's a move aimed to combat the country's plunging birth rate, but what does this major shift in policy mean for China?

This episode describes the loss of a child. Samaritans is available for anyone struggling to cope and provide a safe place to talk 24 hours a day. Phone: 116 123 Email: [email protected].

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: Didi Tang, Beijing correspondent at The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: BBC, CNN.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

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As athletes and competitors all over the world prepare to descend on Tokyo, locals don't seem to want them to come. With just weeks to go, will the Olympics happen?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests:

-Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor for The Times.

-Matt Lawton, Chief sports correspondent for The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: CNN, France TV sport, BBC.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is medicine sexist, and is female health suffering as a result?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests:

-Professor Jill B. Delston from the University of Missouri, author of 'Medical Sexism: Contraception Access, Reproductive Medicine, and Health Care'.

-Hope Docherty, who suffers with endometriosis. 

Host: Manveen Rana.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fifteen year rule of Benjamin Netanyahu could come to an end this Sunday if a newly formed coalition government survives a vote of confidence. What will it mean for Israel if Netanyahu loses power? And what do we know about the man and the coalition set to replace him?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post. 

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: BBC, ITV, Al Jazeera, Reuters, France 24, PBS.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After an outbreak of conflict back in November last year between the Ethiopian military and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, thousands have been killed, and millions are now displaced. Soldiers from neighbouring Eritrea are also involved and suspected of carrying out some of the most brutal violence on civilians. Now, the UN has warned of an imminent famine, which is endangering the lives of millions in the region. Despite this, the Ethiopian government rejects reports of mass atrocities as politically motivated. In today's Stories of our times podcast, we ask: what's happening in Tigray?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Support helplines:

• the 24-hour freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, on 0808 2000 247.
• the Rape Crisis national freephone helpline on 0808 802 9999 (12-2.30pm and 7-9.30pm every day of the year).

Guest: Fred Harter, reporter for The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, France 24, MSF.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The small, rural Italian town of Vo' Euganeo was sealed off after recording Europe's first Covid death. But now some locals in the village have been dubbed the 'super-immunes' as their blood-tests show that they have an extraordinarily high number of antibodies which have grown rather than fallen as they've contracted the virus. What does this tell us about the fight against Covid-19?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests: 

-Tom Whipple, Science editor at The Times.

-Tom Kington, Rome correspondent at The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One week from today, Boris Johnson has a big decision to make. Is it time to declare 'freedom day' on the 21st of June? Or could the government be walking into another mistake?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests: 

- Henry Zeffman, chief political correspondent, The Times.

- Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge and member of NERVTAG.

- Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at Bristol Medical School, head of Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre and member of the JCVI.

- Robert Read, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Southampton and member of the JCVI.

- Christina Pagel, professor of operational research at University College London and member of Independent SAGE.

- Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and principal investigator of the ZOE Covid symptom study app.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: Times Radio, Channel 4 News, BBC, Sky News.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For much of the pandemic, university students have been confined to their halls for months on end. For some, drugs became a way to pass the time. But as lockdown lifts, will the rise in student drug taking have a more lasting impact?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests:

-Megan Agnew, The Sunday Times Magazine commissioning editor.

-Claire, student.

Host: Manveen Rana.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Biden has launched a 90-day investigation into the origins of the virus, following reports which give fresh life to the Wuhan lab-leak hypothesis. Once regarded as a conspiracy theory, the idea is now being taken seriously by both American and British intelligence. So what changed?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests:

- Warren Strobel, national security reporter, Wall Street Journal.

- Tom Whipple, science editor, The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: ABC, Sky News.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the middle of one of the world's most beautiful rivers, the Drina, there now floats an island of rubbish – with no one taking responsibility. How did a landscape already ravaged by war become blighted by the peace that followed?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: Hannah Lucinda Smith, correspondent for The Times covering Turkey and the Balkans.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips from: BBC.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.