Who we read, how we choose, and how we check.
Around the world
Europe
The European Union and its member countries, the Nordics, the Baltics, the Balkans and the U.K. (Ukraine has its own desk.)
Find the story in broad European sources, then learn what it means locally from a country source. Housing, healthcare, aging, migration, energy, work and elections, not just Brussels or the biggest countries.
Every night
- Deutsche Welle. German public broadcaster, English service
- France 24. French public broadcaster, English service
- euro|topics. Weekday European press review. We use it to find stories and national viewpoints, never as evidence.
- EUobserver. EU policy
One country source a night, rotating
- Notes from Poland
- Yle News. Finland
- ERR News. Estonia
- RTVE Noticias (Spanish). Spain
- RaiNews (Italian). Italy
- Balkan Insight. Some articles are premium
Features and balance
- The Guardian, Europe. Features and analysis; left of center, so never our only lens
- Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) $ (German). Center-right German daily
The Americas
Canada, Mexico and Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
Show how people across the hemisphere live and respond to change, so border politics, crime and presidential fights don’t define the region. We track all four regions every week.
Daily starting points
- CBC News. Canada
- Radio-Canada (French). Canada, French-language
- Animal Político (Spanish). Mexico
- Agência Brasil. Brazil, public news agency
- Buenos Aires Herald. Argentina
- Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. English-speaking Caribbean
Deeper and investigative reporting
- La Silla Vacía (Spanish). Colombia
- Agência Pública (Portuguese). Brazil investigations
- OjoPúblico (Spanish). Peru
- CIPER (Spanish). Chile: pensions, care, public services
- AyiboPost. Haiti beyond the crisis headlines
Weekly Central America and Caribbean sweep
- Confidencial (Spanish). Nicaragua
- El Faro (Spanish). El Salvador and Central America
- Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network. Cross-island stories
Targeted and balance
- elTOQUE (Spanish). Cuba: economy, law, everyday life
- Efecto Cocuyo (Spanish). Venezuela: social issues, rights, migration, fact checks
- Infobae (Spanish). Center-right regional read
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, including Sudan. (Egypt is covered by our Middle East desk.)
We ask three questions: what is changing, how are people experiencing it, and why should an American reader care? Africa should not become a stream of crises or a handful of stories from its three biggest countries.
Regional reading
- Africanews (English and French). Daily regional scan, used to find stories we then trace to the original reporting
- The Continent. Weekly paper by African journalists, our priority read
North Africa
- Morocco World News. Morocco
- TSA Algérie (French). Algeria
- Inkyfada. Tunisia, in-depth reporting
- Nawaat. Tunisia, used selectively
- Alwasat (Arabic and English). Libya
Country watchlist, rotating
- Daily Maverick. South Africa
- Premium Times. Nigeria
- MyJoyOnline. Ghana
- Sud Quotidien (French). Senegal
- Citizen Digital. Kenya
- Addis Standard. Ethiopia
- Radio Okapi (French). DR Congo. Run by the UN mission there; we say so when it matters.
- Dabanga. Sudan, with civilian life kept in view
- Verdade (Portuguese). Mozambique
The Middle East
The Gulf, the Levant, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Turkey, plus what the region’s governments and groups do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and Iran, have their own desks.)
In every story we keep apart what officials announce, what reporters have verified and what people actually experience. Aging, healthcare, water, food, education, culture and work get room alongside politics.
Overview
- The National. UAE-owned, so we pair it with local reporting. Free registration
- Al Jazeera. Partly funded by Qatar’s government; a place to find stories, never the only account of a contested issue
Depth, with one country source a day
- Daraj. Regional investigations, Lebanon-based
- Arab News. Saudi Arabia; a Saudi perspective
- Jordan News. Jordan
- Mada Masr. Egypt
- KirkukNow. Northern Iraq
- Enab Baladi. Syria
- Al-Mushahid (Arabic). Yemen, weekly
- bianet. Turkey
- Hürriyet Daily News. Turkey, broader national reporting
Weekly check on the smaller Gulf states
- Times of Oman
- Kuwait Times
- Gulf Daily News. Bahrain
Used selectively
- Middle East Eye
- Ahram Online. Only for the Egyptian government’s stated position
Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Israeli politics, government, military and society, and life in Gaza and the West Bank.
We read Hebrew reporting directly so the English-language press doesn’t decide which Israeli stories we notice, and we make room for health, housing, aging and daily life alongside security.
Core
- The Times of Israel. English overview; we keep staff reporting separate from opinion and blogs
- Ynet (Hebrew). Daily Hebrew scan. Sponsored content is excluded; some stories are subscriber-only.
- Kan (Hebrew). Israeli public broadcaster
- Shomrim. Nonprofit investigative newsroom, our priority for in-depth stories
Range of views
- Israel Hayom (Hebrew). Right of center, close to the government
- Arutz Sheva (Hebrew). National-religious viewpoint, labeled as such
- Walla (Hebrew). News portal and polling
- N12 (Hebrew). Commercial TV news, for polls and security
- Panet (Arabic). News for Israel’s Arab citizens
Palestinian, humanitarian and Arab sources
- WAFA. The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency; we label it as such
- Wattan (Arabic). Palestinian local news: institutions, schools, health, aid
- Al-Quds (Arabic). Jerusalem Palestinian daily
- UN OCHA, UNRWA, WHO and the ICRC. Humanitarian and aid-access reporting
- Al Jazeera. Owned and partly funded by Qatar’s government; never the only account of a contested issue
- Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas-run; we always say so and treat its figures as claims
Occasional and paid
- The Jewish Chronicle, Israel Briefing. Occasional read
- Haaretz $. Left of center; paid supplement
Iran
Iran’s government, economy and society.
We build the desk from neither government media alone nor exile media alone. Our priorities are household pressures, water, healthcare, pensions, education, culture, and the lives of women and minorities, without skipping major political news.
Core
- IranWire (Persian and English). Diaspora journalists working with citizen reporters inside Iran; we read the Persian edition first
- Shargh (Persian). Daily domestic scan. Licensed in Iran and published under censorship; a source of leads, not confirmation of sensitive claims.
Domestic papers, rotating
- Etemad (Persian)
- Hamshahri (Persian). Tehran city life, water and power cuts
- Donya-e-Eqtesad (Persian). Prices, pensions and the currency
Cross-checks
- BBC Persian (Persian)
- Radio Farda (Persian). Part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, funded by the U.S. Congress; we say so when it matters
- Iran International (Persian). Exile broadcaster, used selectively for protests and security
Official position only
- IRNA. State news agency: what the government says, never proof that it’s true
- Tasnim. Only when the Revolutionary Guards’ claims are the story, labeled as theirs
Ukraine
Ukraine, the war, and its effects on Russia and Poland.
We look beyond Kyiv and beyond battlefield updates to schools, hospitals, older residents, displaced families and public services, and keep a weekly count to make sure we do.
Core
- The Kyiv Independent. Daily English baseline
- Suspilne (Ukrainian). Ukraine’s public broadcaster and its regional network, our priority for local life
- Ukrainska Pravda. Accountability and anti-corruption reporting
- hromadske. Human stories and longer explanations
Regional, rotating
- Nakypilo (Ukrainian). Kharkiv
- Dumska (Ukrainian). Odesa
- Zaxid.net (Ukrainian). Lviv
Official and Russian side
- Ukrinform. State news agency, labeled as the government’s view
- Meduza. Independent Russian outlet in exile
- Mediazona. Independent Russian outlet; the war’s cost inside Russia
- TASS and RIA Novosti. Kremlin claims only, always labeled, never treated as fact
Poland
- Notes from Poland
- Defence24. When weapons are the story
China and Taiwan
Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Daily life, aging, work, the environment and culture, with politics and security when they matter. The desk isn’t only about military tension or U.S.-China rivalry.
Daily
- Sixth Tone. Mainland stories about people; state-owned
- Yicai Global. Economy, work and technology; state-owned
- Focus Taiwan. Taiwan’s national news agency
- Hong Kong Free Press. Independent Hong Kong newsroom
Weekly deeper reading
- The Reporter (報導者) (Chinese). Taiwan investigations
- TaiwanPlus
- The Paper (澎湃新闻) (Chinese). State-owned
- CNA Chinese (Chinese)
Independent checks and official line
- Caixin. Independent-minded business and investigative reporting
- Lianhe Zaobao (Chinese). Singapore Chinese-language daily
- Xinhua. Official line on political stories only, labeled as such
Asia
Japan, the Koreas, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Central Asia.
No country quotas. We look beyond diplomacy and business to aging, healthcare, education, work, migration, climate resilience and culture, and check each week that smaller countries and rural life don’t vanish.
Core
- CNA (Channel NewsAsia). Singapore; our nightly start
- NHK World-Japan. Japan’s public broadcaster
- Yonhap. South Korea; extra caution on North Korea claims
- Rappler. Philippines
- Tempo English. Indonesia
- Scroll. India
Rotating
- Thai PBS World. Thailand
- VnExpress International. Vietnam
- Dawn. Pakistan
- The Daily Star. Bangladesh
- The Kathmandu Post. Nepal
- EconomyNext. Sri Lanka
Specialists and balance
- Mongabay India. Environment
- The Irrawaddy. Myanmar
- Eurasianet. Central Asia
- Sankei Shimbun (Japanese). Conservative Japanese daily
- Hankyoreh. Left-leaning Korean daily
Money, energy and scams
Business and Retirement
Markets, the economy, companies and retirement money.
What changes the economy and household finances, explained plainly. We never recommend investments.
- The Economist $
- The Wall Street Journal $. Opinion labeled as opinion
- Financial Times $
- Bloomberg $
- Fox Business
- Nikkei Asia $
- Handelsblatt $ (German)
- The Information $
- Reuters
- Federal Reserve and Treasury. Official data and statements
Energy
Oil, gas, power, nuclear, renewables and the grid.
Energy security, prices and supply, for informed readers. Every price comes from a named source and date.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. Official data
- International Energy Agency
- OPEC announcements. Official statements
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Reuters, Bloomberg, FT and WSJ energy desks $
- Nikkei Asia energy $
- The Economist, energy and climate $
- Company announcements. Labeled as what the company said
Scams and Fraud
Scams aimed at readers 60 and older, every day.
One real, current scam each day: what it’s called, who it targets, and two or three plain steps to protect yourself, always from an official alert or a documented case.
- Federal Trade Commission
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
- AARP Fraud Watch Network
- Social Security Administration, Inspector General
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Health and Human Services, Inspector General
- State attorneys general and local police
Health, technology and culture
Health, Family and Senior Living
Medicare, chronic disease, caregiving, drug prices and health research, written for older readers.
What is changing in health and in care, and what Americans can learn from other countries. Every research story says whether it matters now, is preliminary, or is years away.
News
- KFF Health News
- Global Health NOW. Johns Hopkins
- Health Policy Watch
- CIDRAP. University of Minnesota, infectious disease
- The Guardian, Health. Features; reporting kept separate from opinion
- AARP Health. Always labeled as an advocacy group
Official and evidence
- CMS (Medicare and Medicaid)
- FDA, CDC and NIH
- Cochrane plain-language summaries
- National Institute on Aging
- The original study. We read the study itself (in journals such as NEJM and JAMA) and check who was studied, its limits and who paid for it
Technology and Science
Phones, computers, chips, outages, online security and science.
Technology as it affects everyday readers. Company claims are paired with independent reporting.
- The Verge
- Ars Technica
- Wired $
- IEEE Spectrum
- Krebs on Security
- Bloomberg Technology $
- Reuters Technology
- Nikkei Asia, technology $
- South China Morning Post, technology $
- The Information $
- FCC, SEC and company filings. Official records
Artificial Intelligence
AI companies, research, regulation and national competition.
A range of perspectives from industry, safety researchers, China, Europe and defense. A company’s own blog is reported as what the company said, never as journalism.
- MIT Technology Review $
- The Information $
- Stratechery $
- Platformer $
- AI as Normal Technology
- Euractiv. European AI policy
- Breaking Defense
- South China Morning Post, technology $
- 机器之心 (Synced) and 量子位 (QbitAI) (Chinese). Chinese AI industry
- Company announcements. Anthropic, Google DeepMind, SpaceX and others, labeled as what the company said
Arts, Culture and Travel
Art and heritage, books and ideas, music and performance, film and everyday culture, plus travel and This Day in History.
How people around the world create, remember and live. We rotate topic and world region every day. No celebrity coverage, and we never sell books or tickets.
Arts and culture
- The Art Newspaper
- Artnet News
- ARTnews
- Apollo
- Gramophone
- Bachtrack
- Variety
- The Hollywood Reporter
- Smithsonian Magazine
- Monocle $
- The Telegraph, Culture $
- The Spectator, The Critics $
- The New Criterion
- The Wall Street Journal, Arts $
- The Guardian, Culture
Travel
- U.S. State Department travel advisories. Always checked first, with the level and date quoted
