Big Take

In Episode 6 of The Sixth Bureau, a series from The Big Take, with spy Xu Yanjun in prison, the US government pursues some of his collaborators. Plus, host Jordan Robertson gets an unexpected call which leads to a big discovery.
The Sixth Bureau from Bloomberg News follows an MSS intelligence officer whose mission was to acquire the crown jewels of American aerospace companies. With aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, he targeted corporate giants. That is, until his sloppiness — and a cunning FBI sting — led to a stunning reversal: Xu Yanjun became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil.
The Sixth Bureau is the story of superpowers, their secrets and how one Chinese spy got caught. Listen to Episodes 1 - 5 here.
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Has Iran laid mines across the Strait of Hormuz? With attacks on gas and oil facilities across the Middle East sending energy prices soaring, a key to restoring global oil supplies is ensuring the Strait of Hormuz is safe for tanker traffic. However, even the possibility that the area has been mined suggests that a recovery could be slow.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s global defense editor, Gerry Doyle, tells David Gura about the challenges of clearing mines — especially before the shooting stops.
Read more:
Mines, Missiles, and the Strait of Hormuz
Mine-Sweeping Drones Don’t Eliminate The Risks For Clearing Hormuz
Hosted by David Gura; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Gerry Doyle; Edited by Jeffrey Grocott.
Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Katie McMurran.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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The Federal Open Market Committee announced this afternoon that it would hold interest rates steady. The decision comes in spite of spiking oil prices and new market uncertainty driven by the Iran War.
On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura sits down with Bloomberg Federal Reserve reporter Amara Omeokwe and Wharton professor and historian Peter Conti-Brown to discuss how the Fed is thinking about the Iran War and its impacts on the US economy — and what could shift its calculus in the months ahead.
Read more: Fed to Hold Interest Rates Steady as Iran War Scrambles the Economic Outlook
Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Julia Press; Reported by Amara Omeokwe; Edited by Tracey Samuelson.
Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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From soaring fuel prices in Pakistan to a shortage of cooking gas in India, Asia is bearing the brunt of the energy crunch sparked by the Iran War.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast we look at how war in the Middle East has pushed Asia to the forefront of a global crisis. Host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Faseeh Mangi about the impact of soaring fuel prices in Pakistan and Clara Ferreira Marques about how the least economically resilient countries are feeling the most pain.
Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Yang Yang, Naomi Ng; Reported by Faseeh Mangi, Clara Ferreira Marques; Edited by Paddy Hirsch.
Fact-checking by Naomi Ng, Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Taka Yasuzawa.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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As the war in Iran draws in more countries, it’s had unlikely benefits for one of Iran’s key allies: Russia.
President Trump has eased some sanctions on Russian oil in his efforts to alleviate the oil squeeze created by the conflict. Meanwhile, the allyship between Russia and Iran has deepened as both countries have shared battlefield intelligence.
On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder talks with US defense and intelligence reporter Natalia Drozdiak about how Russia could benefit from the Iran War — and what it could ultimately mean for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Read more: Putin’s ‘Hidden Hand’ Guides Iran’s Strikes in Widening War
Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Natalia Drozdiak; Edited by Naomi Shavin.
Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Katie McMurran.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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