麻豆约拍

Pascale Harter introduces analysis, reportage and essays from correspondents around the world. In this edition:

As Mexico's President-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, prepares to be sworn in, Will Grant sizes up the immense challenges he will face in trying to make life better for Mexicans. The drug wars rage on, his plans to reform law & order look oddly familiar, and corruption still lurks at the heart of political power. Is this just another case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"?

Philippa Stewart reveals how her travels in Guyana's tropical rainforest got her closer to nature than she'd perhaps intended - by introducing a flesh-eating parasite to her own personal ecosystem. Leishmaniasis is a treatable disease, which can cause disfigurement and damage if it's not controlled. But that's easier said than done if you live far from good health care, or can't afford it.

Steve Rosenberg gatecrashes the 100th-anniversary celebrations for Russia's military intelligence directive, the GRU. Abroad it's the subject of whispered speculation about alleged cyber and chemical weapon attacks in the UK, USA and the Netherlands - but as Steve found, on home turf, it's celebrated with alarming gusto and the public are pleased by its fearsome reputation.

And Dany Mitzman trips up on an innovative project aiming to get Italians to think a little harder about the words they speak and write. Social media are reinforcing a wave of "Italish" - hybrid and sometimes mangled expressions from English - but painting the streets with biodegradable wordplay might help turn the tide.

Photo: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President-elect of Mexico, in Mexico City, August 6, 2018 (Carlos Tischler/Getty Images)