On Assignment

This week On Assignment goes to eastern Congo to witness the unseen work of containing an Ebola outbreak. Reuters correspondent Clément Bonnerot follows a surveillance officer through Bunia as he searches for missed cases, investigates deaths and navigates the practical challenges of outbreak response. His reporting reveals how limited resources, public mistrust and misinformation can hinder efforts to stop the virus, while highlighting the dedication of the health workers trying to stay ahead of it.

Reuters investigative reporters Steve Secklow and Gavin Finch recently sat down with exiled Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, for a rare and wide-ranging interview. Listen to that interview in this episode of On Assignment and go behind the scenes of how the story and the interview came about.

Read their special report here: Regime change? Inside Reza Pahlavi's faltering bid to lead Iran

Wildfires are blazing across the world. Veteran Reuters photojournalist Michael Blake shares his experience documenting wildfires over the last 40 years. Hear what it is like to travel into the flames when everyone is leaving and how covering the Palisades fires in his own community changed his perspective on capturing these natural disasters.

As AI transforms our lives, companies are racing to build data centers, the physical infrastructure needed to power such a technological revolution. On this week's episode of On Assignment, energy reporter Valerie Volcovici and video journalist Eric Cox travel to Middleton Township, Ohio. There, a new Meta data center and power station have sparked a debate about whether jobs and promises of investment are worth the cost of building this infrastructure. Hear how this small town's fight is being replicated around America and the world.

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As U.S. and Israeli strikes hit targets across Iran, some of the country's most treasured cultural sites found themselves in the blast zone. Reuters reporters gained rare access to historic palaces and the UNESCO-listed heart of Isfahan, documenting shattered windows, damaged mosaics and centuries-old architecture scarred by war. On this episode of On Assignment, Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Michael Pell explains how Reuters combined eyewitness reporting, satellite imagery and forensic analysis to uncover what happened—and why the loss of cultural heritage matters, even amid a conflict measured in human lives.

Further reading

Shattered tiles, trembling domes: An inside look at how the war has damaged Iran’s historic sites