The Slow Newscast

In October reporter Hilary Andersson was selected to witness an execution by lethal injection in Oklahoma. Her assignment led her to the case of Tremane Wood, who had spent more than two decades on death row. This is the story of what happens to a man as he waits to die.

In October reporter Hilary Andersson was selected to witness an execution by lethal injection in Oklahoma. Her assignment led her to the case of Tremane Wood, who had spent more than two decades on death row. This is the story of what happens to a man as he waits to die.   This is the first of two episodes. Part two will be available on Tuesday 16 December. To listen to part two you can subscribe to The Observer via the link in the episode description or subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts. Part two will be available for free wherever you get your podcasts on Thursday 18 December.   Subscribe to The Observer: https://observer.co.uk/subscribe

Gianni Infantino is the most powerful man in world football but in the run up to the 2026 men's World Cup, his relationship with US president Donald Trump has grown very friendly. It's led to questions whether Infantino still has football's best interests at heart. Read more of Ada and Rory's investigation here 

The chancellor's statement was supposed to be a gamechanger, but turned out to be an exercise in political survival.

When Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana announced a new political party this summer, it had all the ingredients to be a big success. But a summer of disarray has seen them overtaken by a rival on the left. What happened?

Three years ago travel writer Lydia Gard discovered freediving. An extreme and beautiful sport defined by one objective: to dive as deep as you can on one single breath. It soon became a calling. And then she stumbled on a darker side of the sport. Rumours were swirling that a group of top divers were doping to go deeper. So she decided to investigate. Deep Water is the latest Tortoise Investigates series from The Observer.

With Prince Harry in effective exile and Andrew disgraced, the Royal family is smaller than ever before and at a potential crisis point. Prince William has already signalled his intention to be a different kind of monarch to King Charles. But can the monarchy survive, and what is its purpose?

Over the summer, Epping, a small town on the outskirts of London became the scene of mass protests featuring hundreds of people. Noisy and occasionally violent, the demonstrations attracted crowds from around the country and plenty of media attention. But what really happened in Epping and what does it tell us about where the right in Britain is heading?    

Just outside Gaza, a small, fringe community of Israelis hope to settle the Strip. They hold a powerful sway within Israel's cabinet

The French President and the First Lady of France are taking American right wing commentator Candace Owens to court in Delaware over bizarre claims the First Lady is transgender and the President is part of a CIA-backed mind-control programme, among many other conspiracy theories. But what are the First Lady and French President risking in doing so?

Donald Trump has launched four lawsuits against major media organisations for up to $15 billion over the past year. This is the story of Trump's war on the media and the people driving it.  

Since May, almost 900 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the vicinity of aid checkpoints. So what exactly has happened at these aid sites?

Unite was once the biggest trade union in Britain, and the largest funder - and kingmaker - of the Labour Party.  In the past its reputation has come under scrutiny. Then, in 2021, it elected its first female leader. She promised to clean up the union and restore trust, even if it meant losing the ear of Labour. Has she got the house in order? In our podcast called “An uncivil war inside Unite”, which was released on 30 September 2025, we failed to convey Unite's position that it is in good financial health and that the submission of its accounts has been delayed by a re-audit of the 2021 filing involving the Birmingham project which was overseen by the previous leadership regime. We apologise for this omission

Insiders tell the story of how the US Health Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has hollowed out the Center for Disease Control putting the whole world at risk in the event of another pandemic. 

What happens when you get new blood and new DNA from a complete stranger? This is the story of a woman whose own features began to change following a stem cell transplant.

A  city in Honduras is home to a start-up selling experimental gene therapies for $25,000 a dose. Now, those radical ideas are reaching the United States. What happens when biohacking leaves the libertarian fringes and reaches Capitol Hill?

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine Anna Netrebko was the biggest opera star in a generation. Since the war, due to past support for Vladimir Putin, she has effectively been boycotted by theatres around the world. Except, this autumn, she'll be headlining the Royal Opera House's new season.  

For nearly a decade beekeepers around the world have been saying that there's something very wrong with the honey industry. Prices are down, and so is production, but there's more honey being sold than ever before. So what exactly is in that jar in your kitchen cupboard?

The number of teenage boys killed on our streets has more than doubled in a decade. This is the story of a mother trying to stop it, while dealing with grief and anger for her son.

HS2 should have been a symbol of engineering excellence. Instead half of it has been scrapped and it's still running £50 billion over budget. This is the story of how Britain's largest infrastructure project became its biggest scandal.