Reading room
World & justice
Accountability questions are not unique to Belfast. These explainers cover cases and decisions from the United States, Latin America and Asia, each written from the public record with sources you can check.
- Alex Murdaugh's finances: the thefts behind the case, and his 2026 retrial orderNot a 'net worth' guess: how lawyer Alex Murdaugh stole from clients, his state and federal sentences, and why his murder convictions were overturned in 2026.
- Hong Kong's 2021 'patriots only' election and its record-low turnoutWhy Hong Kong's December 2021 Legislative Council election, the first under Beijing's electoral overhaul, drew a record-low 30% turnout, and what changed in the rules.
- Ireland's Defence Forces: neutrality, peacekeeping and reformAn introduction to Ireland's Defence Forces: history, military neutrality, decades of UN peacekeeping and the reforms proposed by a 2022 commission.
- Louisiana's prison doctors: the 2021 investigation into restricted licencesWhat a 2021 BuzzFeed News investigation found about doctors with restricted or suspended licences working in Louisiana prisons, and how the state responded.
- Nicaragua's arrest of Cristiana Chamorro in 2021How Nicaragua detained presidential hopeful Cristiana Chamorro in June 2021, the charges, the criticism, and her 2023 expulsion with 221 other prisoners.
- Texas's November 2021 constitutional amendments, explainedWhat Texans voted on in the eight constitutional amendments of 2 November 2021, from religious services and judicial conduct to caregivers, and the results.
- The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11: the 2021 regulatory decisionsHow US regulators authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 in 2021: the FDA decision, the CDC recommendation and the safety monitoring.
- The World Bank's 2020 loan to expand Brazil's Bolsa FamíliaWhat the World Bank's US$1 billion loan approved in October 2020 was for, how Brazil's Bolsa Família cash-transfer programme works, and what happened to it after.
- The true story behind 'Dr. Death': Christopher Duntsch and medical accountabilityHow Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch harmed patients, why it took so long to stop him, his 2017 conviction, and what the case revealed about oversight.
- What lawmakers alleged about Anthony Fauci, a 2021 book and the Wuhan lab grantHow a 2021 book's account of a cancelled NIH grant led Republican critics to accuse Anthony Fauci of misleading Congress, what he said in response, and what followed.