North Korean troops are in combat, likely for the first time since the Korean war in the 1950s. Not in Korea, but in Europe. Because last summer Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in Kursk, Russia. Since then, Russia have retaken most of the
Manchester United is a club used to success. But it is languishing in the league and saddled with debt. This is the story of how one of the world's most successful football clubs fell apart.Reporter: Xavier GreenwoodProducer: Xavier GreenwoodSo
Earlier this year the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, wrote about a group of people he called zealots. And he identified one man in particular who the Prime Minister claimed was costing the country its future. But maybe he's saving it? This is th
Donald Trump has ordered the federal government to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and corporate America has supposedly followed suit. But this has someone else's fingerprints all over it. This is the story of how one man tr
Memecoins started as a fad. A niche but fun way to bet on the longevity of internet trends. But then, days before his second inauguration, Donald Trump launched his own, $TRUMP… and changed the game. The value soared as supporters piled in, bef
Surfing’s ultimate barrier is the 100 foot wave. In Dec 23-year-old Alo Slebir is rumoured to have surfed a 108 foot wave. The problem is no one can agree how big the wave actually was. Reporter: Claudia Williams Producer: Ada Barumé Sound de
Donald Trump promised to release classified files about extraterrestrials. But even if they disappoint the millions of people hoping to find proof of existence of aliens, there is a growing belief in the scientific community that it is only a m
A week before Donald Trump's inauguration, a real estate mogul flew to Jerusalem to meet Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Within days, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was agreed. What happened that weekend and how influential wa
Gareth spent years believing he was a lucky boy. He was the 14-year-old who got the attention of the attractive young science teacher. Now, decades later, he wants the truth to come out about the damage it’s caused him. But his story is not str
Last year we published a podcast series called Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman. Five women accused the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman of sexually assaulting them. Neil Gaiman denied the allegations. It was a complicated an
The flagship policy for several Prime Ministers became the Rwanda plan. But three years, four Prime Ministers and £715 million later, the policy is dead and never really got off the ground. This is how so much money was spent on so little.Repor
For more than two years, Special Counsel Jack Smith investigated allegations of President Trump’s election fraud. His investigation ended last month – not with a trial, but a dense report. Why has nobody paid attention?Reporter: Stephen Armstro
One of the most difficult questions facing a judge in the family court is which parent should have custody of a child. To help them answer that, judges rely on independent experts to provide an impartial voice in the court. But what happens whe
A quick update for the listeners about the delayed publication of this week's episode of the Slow Newscast from Tortoise Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In October 2022 the course of the Russia's war in Ukraine shifted. Intelligence from the USA and UK indicated that Russia could turn to a nuclear bomb to get on top of the war. This is the story of those six days in October, and just how close
Last October, the head of MI5 said Russia was on a mission to cause "sustained mayhem" on European streets. It might be hard to spot at first, but it is there in plain sight. This is the unpredictable, violent world of the modern Russian intell
Jordan Peterson is a controversial figure, but he is also a man with a long-standing appeal to a particular demographic. What does his popularity tell us about a possible crisis in young men today?Reporter: Stephen ArmstrongProducer: Matt Russe
Xavier Greenwood’s childhood memories are dominated by a speech impediment and a thick accent. But was it all in his head?Reporter: Xavier GreenwoodSound design: Dominic DelargyArtwork: Lola WilliamsExecutive Producer: Matt RussellTo find out m
David Bowie's last months were spent fulfilling one final ambition: staging a musical based around his songs. They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. Zelda Perkins not only met hers, she produced the musical he staged in his dying daysReporter
The tech millionaire Bryan Johnson once went viral for infusing himself with a litre of his 17-year-old son’s blood plasma. That experiment failed, but it hasn’t distracted him from his life’s mission: reversing ageing. Now, the self-declared p
The fall of Assad in Syria is a disaster for Iran, so much so that people are beginning to ask if this might finally be the moment when Iran’s pro-democracy movement breaks through. This is the story of one activist’s 25 year fight against the
In June 2024, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore went into space. It was expected to last just over a week. Instead, by the time they'll return, it'll have been more than eight months.This is the story of how two great American institutions - Bo
Eugenia Kuyda thinks she can solve an “epidemic” of loneliness. Her app, Replika, is “the AI companion who cares”, a chatbot that can text you, flirt with you, and promises to love you unconditionally. But Replika is fraught with ethical concer
Out on the high seas, Paul Watson became a hero and pariah of the environmental movement. Now he sits in a remote prison. How should we treat the radicals willing to go to extremes to protect the planet?Reported by: Basia Cummings and Xavier Gr
When Donald Trump declared victory in the US presidential election, he told an adoring crowd that "a star is born". He was referring to Elon Musk.After months of reporting on the billionaire's use of private investigators, Alexi Mostrous asks w