The opposition party in Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change, appears to have recorded a clear victory in last week's elections. But the country's embattled president, Robert Mugabe, clings on. Chris McGreal reports.
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, ordered a surprise crackdown on the Mahdi Army Shia militia in Basra last week. At least 300 people were killed before a ceasefire was called by Moqtada al-Sadr. Yet the violence threatened to undercut the gains made by the US military's "surge" policy. Sami Ramadani, a political exile from Iraq and a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University, assesses the consequences of the bloodshed.
Still in Iraq, Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian's Washington correspondent, discusses how Britain's scaling down of its troop numbers there has been regarded at the Pentagon. He also asks whether it is time for Hillary Clinton to bow to pressure from fellow Democrats and end her race for the White House.
Richard Norton-Taylor reports on this week's Nato summit in Bucharest, where George Bush and Vladimir Putin appear on a collision course.
Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International explains how world leaders are complicit in China's dubious human rights record.
The Guardian's environmental editor, John Vidal, meets Jaime Lerner, the visionary architect and mayor of Curitiba in Brazil, a world-famous model of green living and social innovation.
• The podcast was produced by Mat Heywood and Ellie Bury.
