The Slow Newscast takes news slowly. We investigate, we report, and every week we try to focus on the stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. Your host is Basia Cummings, once of the Guardian and Huffington Post, who takes stock with the help of colleagues from Tortoise and invited guests.
When Gabby Petito is reported missing in Wyoming her disappearance is widely shared online. When her body is discovered her case seems to mobilise a whole army of digital detectives and citizen journalists all trying to solve the mystery of what happened
The mystery of the immaculate concussion
More than 20 years after emptying the Russian state treasure of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and gold, Andrei Kozlenok breaks his silence with an even more extraordinary tale. But why?
When Andrei Kozlenok went on the mother of all spending sprees, the FBI joined forces with Russian police in an investigation that led to a treasure house under the streets of Moscow, and to the Kremlin
It’s been said often enough: the pandemic has been like a war. Economically, on civil liberties and the deaths it has caused, it’s hard to find a better comparison. And just like a war it places responsibilities on companies that make vital supplies which are different from peacetime – to profit, but not to profiteer
Plenty of people take wrong turns in their lives. But so too can justice systems. John Crilly and hundreds more have been the victims of the legal doctrine of Joint Enterprise and how it has been applied for the past 30 years
President Biden believes his eldest son’s cancer, which claimed his life in 2015, was linked to his time serving in Iraq. It is a belief that makes sense of the loss, and – as has become clear in recent weeks – shapes Biden’s world view
Thousands of children were separated from their parents at the US border under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. This is the story of how, five years later, 300 remain lost in a system designed to swallow them
Grooming gangs, conspiracy theories and the lawless digital politics of Oldham
The story of Rohullah Yakobi, and a 20-year war
Claudia Williams presents a special edition of the Slow Newscast – on a newsletter that both reflected and reshaped celebrity culture
With human rights groups demanding a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, we look back to Moscow 1980, and ask what’s the lesson of the most notorious Olympic boycott in modern times?
In the internet age, anyone with a camera can make and sell porn. But what happens when a shoot goes wrong? In the second episode in our
#PornPlanet series investigating online pornography, we look into the world of porn production
The truth of an origin story has never mattered more: did Covid cross to humans from an animal, or did it escape from a laboratory? The arguments between science, politics and, now, the intelligence services have only grown fiercer. And in the fog of war, the World Health Organisation lost its way
Last month the richest nations on the planet squared up to its greatest public health challenge, how to vaccinate every adult everywhere against Covid. They failed. The story of how and why they came up catastrophically short is a litany of political parochialism, low ambition and poor organisation – with potentially dreadful consequences
How one woman was asked to deal with an allegation of rape by herself
Nick Alexander tells the story of his torturous escape from the ambushed Amarula Hotel convoy – and the question left lying in the dust of the attack: who, really, abandoned them all?
In the second part in our series investigating how 200 civilians were left to die at the Amarula Hotel in northern Mozambique, we tell the story of their harrowing escape
In March, Islamist militants attacked the town of Palma, in northern Mozambique – the site of a $20bn gas project. They besieged a hotel, where more than 200 civilians were taking shelter. Help would soon be on its way, they were told. But the rescue never came. Why? In our new three-part series, we investigate what happened
In little more than a year, the year of the pandemic, Anand Menon lost his mother, father, brother and sister. Here, he speaks to James Harding about the burden of grief
Sophie Bennett took her own life in a care facility that was crumbling around her. Paul Caruana Galizia and Chris Cook investigate what went wrong at a charity led by a famous mental health pioneer
After Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ wedding, there are now two powerful married couples in Number 10. Meet the other: Munira and Dougie
As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, listen to the full story of how we traced its secretive owner to his London mansion
In the East German city of Chemnitz, political extremists aren’t just present – they’re organised. And they’re trying to spread their creed from ramshackle buildings to the rest of the country
California’s largest lake was a giant mistake created by an accidental flood more than a century ago. Today, the Salton Sea is an environmental disaster. But could the communities around the shore of the dying lake be saved by the quest for green energy and the hunt for one of the most sought-after elements on earth?
The death of Shukri Abdi in 2019 has become a cause for campaigners who believe that something unlawful happened. But is that the truth?
The mystery of Gulf Livestock 1, a 12,000-tonne ship that disappeared without a trace.
How an embroidery charity – beloved by its members – tore itself apart at the seams
Who is Keir Starmer? There’s the basic answer: he’s the leader of Britain’s Labour party. But beyond that? Gaby Hinsliff delved into his past to find out more.
Reaching the summit of K2 in winter had never been done before. In January, a group of mountaineers – professionals, amateurs, social media adventurers – attempted it. It ended in #triumph… and tragedy
As he returned to Moscow after months recovering from a nerve agent attack, Alexei Navalny released a remarkable YouTube video – and with it, sowed the seeds for a new Russian revolution by meme
Covid may be losing the vaccine battle. But, as the virus evolves fast to form new variants, the war is most definitely not over
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is one of Britain’s richest men. His decision to move to Monaco after receiving a knighthood has angered those who recommended him and raises questions about how this country’s honours system works
A myth has been made: a tale of wolves on Wall St; a pack of principled amateurs biting the legs of greedy financial giants and bringing them down. But almost everything you think you know about wallstreetbets, GameStop and Robin Hood is wrong.
Last March, Geoff Woolf went into hospital. He returned home 306 days later
They occupied a world of high-rolling hunting parties and complicated gifts – until it went seriously wrong.
How an unprecedented legal case could change the way the courts approach domestic abuse.
The astonishing case of Emily Whelan, and decisions and delays that cannot be undone
How a police force’s failure to notice a pattern led to two tragic deaths
The life and death of 21-year-old Katie Wilding, and her mother’s remarkable fight against the police
Ten former defense secretaries recently signed a letter warning about Trump’s attempts to subvert the US election result. Then, on 6 January, we saw more clearly than ever what they meant
The vaccine is an incredible scientific achievement. But some of the political decision-making behind its rollout is rather less impressive.
A former army base outside Folkestone, Kent, is now the epicentre of the migration story
The past nine months have been marked by trial, error and tragedy, so we held an inquiry into what went wrong – and right
Why did a month-old company land a couple of big-money contracts for PPE? And what does it reveal about the British government’s response to the pandemic?
Inside the rise and fall of The Wing, the feminist empire that got found out
Is Scotland on an unstoppable march to leave the UK?
Fear, delays, mistakes and recrimination. On 31 October, we looked to Boris Johnson’s government for certainty – they served up a nightmare
Can the Chinese Communist Party learn to live with Jack Ma?
Why did a famous author wade into the debate over trans rights?
Evangelicals have been key to Donald Trump’s presidency, and to his bid for re-election
Alistair Darling and Mervyn King, who were both at the centre of the 2008 crisis, talk to James Harding about what’s coming next
Courtroom drama: Happy’s case goes to the top
Part II Happy passes the ‘mirror test’, an examination of intelligence and self-awareness
This is the story of an elephant. It’s a family saga, and a courtroom drama.
It’s about how we live with animals, what we do to them and what they are entitled to expect from us.
Young women are being offered the chance to delay the menopause. The question is: does it work, and does anyone even want it?
Listen now 
