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Explainer
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EXPLAINER: The tech behind Tokyo Olympics’ fast track
Elaine Thompson-Herah has a theory on fast times after running 10.61 seconds to break the Olympic mark of the late Florence Griffith Joyner. “My training,” she said. "Doesn’t matter the track or the shoes.”
EXPLAINER: US, NATO pledge billions to back Afghan forces
ISLAMABAD — The US and NATO have promised to pay $4 billion a year until 2024 to finance…
EXPLAINER: Employers have legal right to mandate COVID shots
Private companies and government agencies can require their employees to get vaccinated as a condition of working there. Individuals retain the right to refuse, but they have no ironclad right to legal protection.
EXPLAINER: Why Olympic beach volleyball players wear bikinis
The attention on the bikinis intensified in Tokyo after a viral social media post misidentified a team that protested a beach handball dress code as playing beach volleyball. Beach handball, which is not an Olympic sport, requires women to wear bikinis, and the European federation fined the Norwegians for wearing shorts as a protest at a competition 5,500 miles away in Bulgaria.
EXPLAINER: This year’s four new Olympic sports, broken down
The Tokyo Olympics are introducing four new sports — skateboarding, surfing, karate and sport climbing. Each traveled its own unique path to the Games. Here, at a glance, are the tales of how these sports reached Tokyo and what to watch for in each.
EXPLAINER: How team of refugee athletes made it to Olympics
The Refugee Olympic Team was created by the International Olympic Committee for the 2016 Olympics to allow athletes to keep competing even if they have been forced to leave their home countries. It had 10 athletes at the Rio de Janeiro Games and is set to include 29 athletes this time in Tokyo.
EXPLAINER: Why Japan ‘rising sun’ flag provokes Olympic ire
Japan considers the “rising sun” flag part of its history. But some in the Koreas, China and other Asian countries say the flag is a reminder of Japan’s wartime atrocities, and is comparable to the Nazi swastika.
EXPLAINER: Could balloons power uncensored internet in Cuba?
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, called this week on the administration of President Joe Biden to greenlight a plan to transmit the internet to people in Cuba via high-altitude balloons when their government has blocked access.
EXPLAINER: How Richard Branson will ride own rocket to space
Just a week shy of turning 71, the London-born founder of the Virgin Group says he's "not apprehensive at all and it is the dream of a lifetime” to ride into space. The longtime fitness fanatic put in extra effort to prepare for the brief up-and-down flight. “I’m in my 70s now so you either let yourself go or you get fit and enjoy life.”
EXPLAINER: Assassination threatens more chaos for Haiti
The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse seemed to have thrown an already turbulent nation into chaos on Wednesday, with a muddled line of succession. Here is a look at the situation:
EXPLAINER: Ransomware and its role in supply chain attacks
High-profile ransomware attacks in May hit the world’s largest meat-packing company and the biggest US fuel pipeline, underscoring how gangs of extortionist hackers can disrupt the economy and put lives and livelihoods at risk.
EXPLAINER: Delta variant exploits low vaccine rates, easing of rules
The latest alarming coronavirus variant is exploiting low global vaccination rates and a rush to ease pandemic restrictions, adding new urgency to the drive to get more shots in arms and slow its supercharged spread.
It’s imminent: After nearly 20 years, US to leave Bagram
The departure is rife with symbolism. Not least, it’s the second time that an invader of Afghanistan has come and gone through Bagram.
EXPLAINER: What is the Catholic Communion controversy?
A committee of US Catholic bishops is getting to work on a policy document that has stirred controversy among their colleagues before a word of it has even been written.
EXPLAINER: Who is Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new leader?
Naftali Bennett, who was sworn in Sunday as Israel's new prime minister, embodies many of the contradictions that define the 73-year-old nation.
EXPLAINER: The US investigation into COVID-19 origins
Once dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 leaked accidentally from a Chinese lab is now receiving scrutiny under a new US investigation.
EXPLAINER: Curbing tax avoidance by multinational companies
How can governments keep multinational companies from avoiding taxes by shifting profits to tax havens?
EXPLAINER: Why ransomware is so dangerous and hard to stop
Recent high-profile “ransomware” attacks on the world’s largest meat-packing company and the biggest US fuel pipeline have underscored how gangs of extortionist hackers can disrupt the economy and put lives and livelihoods at risk.
EXPLAINER: What’s the Senate filibuster and why change it?
Senate Republicans are poised to use a filibuster to derail Democrats’ effort to launch a bipartisan probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The showdown will be the first vote this year when the GOP has used the delaying tactic to try killing major legislation.
EXPLAINER: How did Hamas grow its arsenal to strike Israel?
The unprecedented barrages reaching as far north as the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, coupled with drone launches and even an attempted submarine attack, have put on dramatic display a homegrown arsenal that has only expanded despite the choke hold of a 14-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the coastal strip.
EXPLAINER: How worrying is the variant first seen in India?
Scientists said “it is a realistic possibility that (the variant first seen in India) is as much as 50% more transmissible” than the variant first reported in Britain — whose explosive spread led to the country’s longest lockdown in January.
EXPLAINER: The Supreme Court takes a major abortion case
The US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide a major abortion case that could dramatically alter decades of rulings on abortion rights and eventually lead to dramatic restrictions on abortion access. It's been nearly 50 years since the court announced in its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that women have a constitutional right to abortion. Here are some questions and answers about the case.
EXPLAINER: Why is Gaza almost always mired in conflict?
The latest eruption of violence has raised the specter of another devastating war and once again drawn international attention to the impoverished, densely populated strip. Here's a look at the Gaza Strip and its place in the Middle East conflict.
EXPLAINER: Why the Colonial Pipeline hack matters
A cyberattack on a critical US pipeline is sending ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation's aging energy infrastructure. The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard, shut down Friday after a ransomware attack by gang of criminal hackers that calls itself DarkSide. Depending on how long the shutdown lasts, the incident could impact millions of consumers.
EXPLAINER: What’s behind the clashes in Jerusalem?
JERUSALEM — For weeks now, Palestinian protesters and Israeli police have clashed on a daily basis in and…
Why Patents On COVID Vaccines Are So Contentious
The Biden administration’s call to lift patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor parts of the world get more doses has drawn praise from some countries and health advocates. But it has run into resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and others, who say it won’t help curb the outbreak any time soon and will hurt innovation. Here’s a look at what patents do and why they matter:
EXPLAINER: What Remains As US Ends Afghan ‘Forever War’
After 20 years, America is ending its “forever war” in Afghanistan. Announcing a firm withdrawal deadline, President Joe Biden cut through the long debate, even within the US military, over whether the time was right. Starting Saturday, the last remaining 2,500 to 3,500 American troops will begin leaving, to be fully out by Sept. 11 at the latest. Another debate will likely go on far longer: Was it worth it?
EXPLAINER: China Prepares Space Station Core Module Launch
China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest…
EXPLAINER: What Was With That Weird Oscar Ending?
The pandemic changed many of the usual rhythms and traditions of the Oscars on Sunday night. There was a glamour-filled red carpet but no onlookers or teams of publicists. There were in-person, mask-less winners but not in the usual order, and the speeches were never drowned out with play-off music.
EXPLAINER: Why India Is Shattering Global Infection Records
The world's fastest pace of spreading infections and the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases are pushing India further into a deepening and deadly health care crisis.
Holocaust survivors harness social media to spread knowledge
With short video messages recounting their stories, participants in the #ItStartedWithWords campaign hope to educate people about how the Nazis embarked on an insidious campaign to dehumanize and marginalize Jews — years before death camps were established to carry out murder on an industrial scale.
EXPLAINER: Was officer’s knee on Floyd’s neck authorized?
A critical factor for jurors to consider at a former Minneapolis police officer's trial in George Floyd's death is whether he violated the department's policy on neck restraints when he knelt on Floyd's neck.
Asian Americans top target for threats and harassment during pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic may be connected to the targeting of Asian Americans.
Before the Ever Given: A look at the crises that closed Suez
Nearly 19,000 vessels passed through the Suez Canal last year, carrying over 10% of global trade, including 7% of the world’s oil. While its shutdown this week is historic, the canal is no stranger to disruption. Here’s a look at some major incidents that have closed or threatened the bottleneck in the past.
EXPLAINER: Suez Canal block could hit product supply chains
The cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal is holding up traffic that carries nearly $10 billion worth of goods every day, so a quick clearing of the logjam is key to limiting the economic fallout.
EXPLAINER: Why countries are halting the AstraZeneca shot
The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization say the data available don't suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized. Here's a look at what we know — and what we don't.
Why is Harry and Meghan’s son not a prince?
One of the most dramatic claims in Prince Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey was the allegation that their son was denied a royal title, possibly because of his skin color.
What’s this craze for ‘NFTs’ all about, anyway?
A digital art piece, tweaked using cryptocurrency technology to make it one-of-a-kind, sold at auction this week for nearly $70 million. That transaction made global headlines and buoyed already-mushrooming interest in these kinds of digital objects — known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — that have captured the attention of artists and collectors alike.
How will we know we’ve reached herd immunity?
Herd immunity doesn’t make any one person immune, and outbreaks can still flare up. It means that a virus is no longer easily jumping from person to person, helping to protect those who are still vulnerable to catching it.
What the WHO coronavirus experts learned in Wuhan
WUHAN, China—A World Health Organization (WHO) team has left China after gaining some new insights into the origins…
Explainer: Why India’s farmers are revolting against PM Modi
NEW DELHI—A sea of tens of thousands of farmers riding tractors and horses stormed India’s historic Red Fort…
Explainer: Allergic reactions to vaccines rare, short-lived
Vaccines can sometimes cause allergic reactions, but they are usually rare and short-lived. British regulators are looking into…