Hack23 · pethers · May 30, 2026 · May 29, 2026 · May 29, 2026
diff --git a/Article-Generation.md b/Article-Generation.md
@@ -664,6 +664,16 @@ For each of the 14 supported languages, the renderer resolves the `<title>` and
 
 Authoritative editorial rule: **localized title and description are highlights of the localized executive brief**. The runtime enforcement of this rule lives in [`scripts/render-lib/aggregator/seo/localized-brief.ts`](scripts/render-lib/aggregator/seo/localized-brief.ts) — a pure-function bounded context whose `extractLocalizedBriefSeo({ briefMarkdown, subfolder })` returns `{ title, description }` candidates derived from `executive-brief_<lang>.md` H1 + BLUF. Banned-phrase H1s (`REPLACE THIS H1`, `Executive Brief Template`, `AI_MUST_REPLACE`, `AI-generated political intelligence`) and bare boilerplate `Executive Brief` are rejected in lock-step with `scripts/agentic/analysis-gate.ts § checkExecutiveBrief`, so a translator stub cannot leak into the SERP `<title>` via the localized cascade. The merger in [`scripts/render-lib/article-merge.ts`](scripts/render-lib/article-merge.ts) overlays the brief-derived fields on top of the per-type agent's `article.<lang>.md` front-matter; each field is independent, so a clean BLUF localizes the description even when the brief H1 is rejected. This is enforced by `scripts/validate-executive-brief-translations.ts` for the brief itself and by `tests/localized-brief-seo.test.ts` + `tests/article-merge.test.ts` for the rendered HTML.
 
+#### On-page lead localization — the body opens in the reader's language
+
+The `<title>`/`<meta description>` cascade above governs **metadata**. The same "localized brief if it exists, English otherwise" rule is applied to the **on-page lead** — the first section a reader actually sees — by [`scripts/render-lib/article-brief-lead.ts`](scripts/render-lib/article-brief-lead.ts), a pure (no-I/O) markdown transform `renderArticleHtml` runs once per target language:
+
+1. **Carrier stripping (all languages).** Because the aggregator splices *every* `.md` sibling into `article.md`, the 13 localized briefs are embedded as trailing `## Executive Brief Sv`, `## Executive Brief De`, … carrier sections. `stripEmbeddedLocalizedBriefSections()` removes **all** of them for every language so no page ships 13 foreign-language brief copies inline (this dropped a representative proposition page from ~428 KB to ~307 KB). The carriers are functionally dead weight in the HTML — the SEO cascade reads `executive-brief_<lang>.md` from disk, not from these embedded copies.
+2. **Lead swap (non-English with a localized brief).** For a non-English target whose `executive-brief_<lang>.md` exists, the body of the first `<h2>` lead section (`## What Happened`) is replaced with the cleaned localized brief (same `cleanArtifactBody()` + `rewriteRelativeLinks()` pipeline the aggregator uses — `normalizeNarrativeTerminology()` is deliberately **not** run so English first-use glosses never leak into localized prose). The lead **heading** stays the language-stable English `## What Happened` (the in-article TOC localizes its label separately, per `section-title-i18n.ts`); only the lead **body** becomes localized. The lead's provenance comment is repointed from `executive-brief.md` to `executive-brief_<lang>.md`.
+3. **English / missing / empty fallback.** English keeps its canonical `## What Happened` lead verbatim. A non-English target with no localized brief (or a whitespace-only one) also keeps the English lead — the page renders English lead content under a non-English `<html lang>` until the next `news-translate` run produces the localized brief, exactly mirroring metadata fallback layer #4.
+
+Localized briefs are also excluded from the artifact list (`resolveArtifactList()` in `scripts/render-articles.ts` and `isReaderGuideEligible()` in `aggregator/reader-guide.ts`) so they no longer appear as Reader Intelligence Guide navigation rows (which would dangle now that the carrier sections are stripped), Article Sources provenance cards, or JSON-LD `isBasedOn` — they are translations of `executive-brief.md`, not independent analytical artifacts. This is covered by `tests/article-brief-lead.test.ts`.
+
 #### `article.md` front-matter (canonical English source)
 
 `scripts/render-lib/aggregator/aggregate.ts` writes the front-matter that the renderer subsequently consumes:

diff --git a/analysis/methodologies/ai-driven-analysis-guide.md b/analysis/methodologies/ai-driven-analysis-guide.md
@@ -208,6 +208,21 @@ Before article aggregation, every workflow must seed the story metadata that wil
 3. Add `## 🌐 14-Language SEO Metadata Seeds` to the executive brief when the workflow has enough evidence. Fill all 14 rows with short localized title angles, description angles and keyword seeds. If a language cannot be human-quality localized, write the English story topic plus the language label and mark it `[machine-assisted — verify]`; do not leave it blank.
 4. Pass 2 must read every language row back and confirm that the title/description is **contextual** (policy object, actor, consequence) rather than a date-stuffed duplicate.
 
+> **The H1 is doing triple duty.** The `executive-brief.md` H1 and BLUF are not "just SEO". The renderer derives the page `<title>`, `<meta description>`, OG/Twitter cards and Schema.org `headline` from them **and** the brief body is now the **on-page lead** a reader meets first. For a localized page the renderer uses `executive-brief_<lang>.md` as the lead (localized if it exists, English otherwise — the same cascade as `<title>`/`<meta description>`), so the localized H1/BLUF must read as a finished, reader-attracting opening in that language, not a literal calque of the English. Write each H1 to earn the click and the first 10 seconds of reading attention.
+
+#### 🪝 Headline tradecraft (write the title to be clicked, not just indexed)
+
+Pass-1 may write a serviceable H1; Pass-2 must sharpen it. A strong title is **specific, consequential and curiosity-opening** without being clickbait:
+
+- **Lead with the named actor and an active, concrete verb** — "Busch government tightens migration detention" beats "New propositions submitted".
+- **Name the stake / so-what** — quantify or sharpen the consequence ("…risking ECHR Article 8 review", "…shifting 12% of the housing budget").
+- **Front-load the highest-DIW finding**, never the document count or the date. The title must match the #1 finding the lede and significance scoring agree on.
+- **Stay inside the SERP-safe envelope** — 50–70 characters renders without truncation (the renderer trims long H1s at a word boundary and strips trailing connectors, so a title that *needs* its tail to make sense will lose meaning at ~70 chars).
+- **No date-stuffing, no admin metadata, no template scaffolding** (`REPLACE THIS H1`, `Executive Brief`, classification badges) — those are stripped/flagged and produce duplicate-looking SERP entries.
+- **Localize the angle, not the words** — each non-English title row should carry the same actor/verb/stake in idiomatic phrasing; a reader scanning the SV or JA page should feel the headline was written for them.
+
+Mini self-check (apply to every language row in Pass-2): *Does it name an actor? An active verb? A concrete stake? Would a non-expert understand the so-what in one read? Is it ≤ 70 chars and free of dates/admin text?* Any "no" forces a rewrite.
+
 Minimum row schema:
 
 ```markdown
@@ -406,7 +421,7 @@ Score your own output against this rubric before commit:
 
 #### Article and SEO handoff
 
-Before running `scripts/aggregate-analysis.ts`, ensure `executive-brief.md` has a publishable H1 and BLUF that can become `<title>` and `<meta description>` without repair: actor-first, active verb, no literal date, no admin metadata, 55–70 character title target and 140–200 character one-sentence description target. `synthesis-summary.md §Narrative Direction & Article Decision` should agree with that H1/BLUF so `article.md` reads as one coherent intelligence article.
+Before running `scripts/aggregate-analysis.ts`, ensure `executive-brief.md` has a publishable H1 and BLUF that can become `<title>` and `<meta description>` without repair: actor-first, active verb, no literal date, no admin metadata, 55–70 character title target and 140–200 character one-sentence description target. `synthesis-summary.md §Narrative Direction & Article Decision` should agree with that H1/BLUF so `article.md` reads as one coherent intelligence article. Apply the same bar to every `executive-brief_<lang>.md`: its H1/BLUF is the localized page's **on-page lead** (the first thing a SV/DE/JA/AR reader sees) as well as that page's localized `<title>`/`<meta description>` — so each localized brief must open with the same reader-attracting, actor-and-stake headline in idiomatic prose, never a literal calque. Run the 🪝 Headline-tradecraft self-check (Step 2B) against every language before aggregation.
 
 
 Read every file you produced in Steps 3–5. For each one, **improve every section**:

diff --git a/scripts/render-articles.ts b/scripts/render-articles.ts
@@ -230,6 +230,14 @@ function resolveArtifactList(rc: RenderCase): readonly string[] {
         if (rel === 'pass1' || rel.startsWith('pass1/')) continue;
         walk(full, rel);
       } else if (/\.(md|json)$/i.test(e.name) && !/^article(?:\.[a-z-]+)?\.md$/i.test(e.name)) {
+        // Skip localized executive-brief translation carriers
+        // (`executive-brief_<lang>.md`). They are translations of the
+        // English `executive-brief.md` — consumed by the SEO cascade and
+        // the localized on-page lead — not independent analytical
+        // artifacts, so they must not appear in the Reader Intelligence
+        // Guide, the Article Sources provenance grid, or JSON-LD
+        // `isBasedOn`.
+        if (/^executive-brief_[a-z-]+\.md$/i.test(e.name)) continue;
         out.push(rel);
       }
     }

diff --git a/scripts/render-lib/aggregator/reader-guide.ts b/scripts/render-lib/aggregator/reader-guide.ts
@@ -148,6 +148,11 @@ export function selectReaderGuideArtifacts(available: ReadonlySet<string> | read
     const base = file.includes('/') ? file.slice(file.lastIndexOf('/') + 1) : file;
     if (base === 'README.md') return false;
     if (/^article(?:\.[a-z-]+)?\.md$/i.test(base)) return false;
+    // Localized executive-brief translation carriers are derivative of
+    // `executive-brief.md` (which already represents the lead). They are
+    // not independent analytical sections, so they must never appear as
+    // Reader Intelligence Guide navigation rows.
+    if (/^executive-brief_[a-z-]+\.md$/i.test(base)) return false;
     return true;
   };
 

diff --git a/scripts/render-lib/article-brief-lead.ts b/scripts/render-lib/article-brief-lead.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+/**
+ * @module Infrastructure/RenderLib/ArticleBriefLead
+ * @category Intelligence Operations / Supporting Infrastructure
+ * @name Localized executive-brief lead substitution + carrier stripping
+ *
+ * @description
+ * The aggregated `analysis/daily/$DATE/$SUB/article.md` is an
+ * English-canonical document. It opens with the English executive brief
+ * (the `## What Happened` lead section) and — because the aggregator
+ * splices *every* `.md` sibling into the body — also embeds the 13
+ * localized briefs (`executive-brief_<lang>.md`) as trailing
+ * `## Executive Brief Sv`, `## Executive Brief De`, … carrier sections.
+ *
+ * Those carrier sections were never meant to render inline: they bloat
+ * every published page (each carries the full brief in a foreign language)
+ * and they leave a non-English reader meeting the *English* lead before
+ * their own-language summary. The SEO cascade already localizes the
+ * `<title>` / `<meta description>` from `executive-brief_<lang>.md`
+ * (see `aggregator/seo/localized-brief.ts`); this module brings the
+ * on-page **lead** into lock-step with that cascade.
+ *
+ * {@link localizeExecutiveBriefLead} is a pure (no-I/O) string transform
+ * applied by `renderArticleHtml` to the article-markdown body per target
+ * language. It:
+ *
+ *   1. removes every embedded `## Executive Brief <Lang>` carrier section
+ *      for **all** languages (English included); and
+ *   2. for a non-English target with a localized brief, replaces the body
+ *      of the first `<h2>` lead section (`## What Happened`) with the
+ *      cleaned `executive-brief_<lang>.md` content so the reader's first
+ *      screen is entirely in their own language. When the localized brief
+ *      is absent, the English lead is left in place (the same "localized
+ *      if exists, English otherwise" rule the SEO cascade follows).
+ *
+ * The localized body is cleaned with the **same** pipeline the aggregator
+ * uses for the carrier sections — `cleanArtifactBody` (front-matter / H1 /
+ * admin-byline strip + `##` → `###` heading demotion) followed by
+ * `rewriteRelativeLinks` — so the swapped-in lead is byte-identical to
+ * what the aggregator would have embedded. Crucially it does **not** run
+ * `normalizeNarrativeTerminology`, whose English first-use annotations
+ * (`Riksdag document #… (HD…)`, `Lede`, confidence glosses) must never be
+ * injected into localized prose.
+ *
+ * @author Hack23 AB (Infrastructure Team)
+ * @license Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import type { Language } from '../types/language.js';
+import { LANGUAGES } from './constants.js';
+import { buildGithubBlobUrl } from './url-helpers.js';
+import {
+  cleanArtifactBody,
+  rewriteRelativeLinks,
+} from './aggregator/cleaning/structural.js';
+
+/**
+ * Title-cased single-segment language codes for the 13 non-English
+ * locales, matching `prettifyFallbackTitle('executive-brief_<lang>.md')`
+ * in `aggregator/order.ts` (e.g. `sv` → `Sv`, `no` → `No`, `zh` → `Zh`).
+ * English is excluded — its brief renders as `## What Happened`, never as
+ * a `## Executive Brief <Lang>` carrier.
+ */
+const LOCALIZED_BRIEF_TITLE_SUFFIXES: readonly string[] = LANGUAGES
+  .filter((l) => l !== 'en')
+  .map((l) => l.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + l.slice(1));
+
+/**
+ * Matches an embedded `## Executive Brief <Lang>` carrier section: the
+ * heading line through every following line up to (but excluding) the
+ * next `<h2>`. Mirrors the line-anchored sweep used by
+ * `stripBodyDuplicateSections` so `###`/`# `/code-fence lines inside the
+ * section are consumed while the next `## ` boundary stops the match.
+ */
+const EMBEDDED_BRIEF_SECTION_RE = new RegExp(
+  String.raw`^##\s+Executive Brief (?:${LOCALIZED_BRIEF_TITLE_SUFFIXES.join('|')})\b[^\n]*\n(?:(?!^##\s)[^\n]*\n?)*`,
+  'gim',
+);
+
+/**
+ * Strip all embedded `## Executive Brief <Lang>` carrier sections from an
+ * article-markdown body. Applied for every language, English included.
+ */
+export function stripEmbeddedLocalizedBriefSections(content: string): string {
+  const stripped = content.replace(EMBEDDED_BRIEF_SECTION_RE, '');
+  // Collapse the blank-line run left where the carrier block used to sit.
+  return `${stripped.replace(/\n{3,}/g, '\n\n').trimEnd()}\n`;
+}
+
+interface LeadBounds {
+  readonly headingLine: string;
+  readonly firstH2: number;
+  readonly secondH2: number;
+}
+
+/** Locate the first and second `## ` (h2) line indices in a markdown body. */
+function findLeadBounds(lines: readonly string[]): LeadBounds | null {
+  let firstH2 = -1;
+  let secondH2 = -1;
+  for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i += 1) {
+    if (/^##\s/.test(lines[i]!)) {
+      if (firstH2 === -1) {
+        firstH2 = i;
+      } else {
+        secondH2 = i;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  if (firstH2 === -1) return null;
+  return { headingLine: lines[firstH2]!, firstH2, secondH2 };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Replace the body of the first `<h2>` lead section with `localizedBody`,
+ * keeping the original heading and repointing the provenance comment at
+ * `executive-brief_<lang>.md`.
+ */
+function replaceLeadSectionBody(
+  content: string,
+  lang: Language,
+  localizedBody: string,
+  subfolderRepoRelPath: string,
+): string {
+  const lines = content.split('\n');
+  const bounds = findLeadBounds(lines);
+  if (!bounds) return content;
+
+  const sourceRel = `executive-brief_${lang}.md`;
+  const sourceUrl = subfolderRepoRelPath
+    ? buildGithubBlobUrl(`${subfolderRepoRelPath}/${sourceRel}`)
+    : sourceRel;
+
+  const before = lines.slice(0, bounds.firstH2);
+  const after = bounds.secondH2 === -1 ? [] : lines.slice(bounds.secondH2);
+
+  const leadBlock = [
+    bounds.headingLine,
+    `<!-- source: ${sourceRel} :: ${sourceUrl} -->`,
+    '',
+    localizedBody.trim(),
+    '',
+  ];
+
+  return [...before, ...leadBlock, ...after].join('\n');
+}
+
+export interface LocalizeExecutiveBriefLeadInput {
+  /** Article-markdown body (front-matter already removed). */
+  readonly content: string;
+  /** Target language. */
+  readonly lang: Language;
+  /** Raw `executive-brief_<lang>.md` markdown when one exists on disk. */
+  readonly localizedBriefMarkdown?: string;
+  /** Repo-relative analysis folder, used to rewrite relative links. */
+  readonly subfolderRepoRelPath?: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Localize the on-page executive-brief lead and strip embedded carrier
+ * sections. See the module JSDoc for the full contract.
+ */
+export function localizeExecutiveBriefLead(
+  input: LocalizeExecutiveBriefLeadInput,
+): string {
+  const stripped = stripEmbeddedLocalizedBriefSections(input.content);
+
+  // English keeps the canonical `## What Happened` lead verbatim.
+  if (input.lang === 'en') return stripped;
+
+  const brief = input.localizedBriefMarkdown;
+  if (!brief || brief.trim().length === 0) return stripped;
+
+  const cleaned = rewriteRelativeLinks(
+    cleanArtifactBody(brief),
+    input.subfolderRepoRelPath ?? '',
+  );
+  if (cleaned.trim().length === 0) return stripped;
+
+  return replaceLeadSectionBody(
+    stripped,
+    input.lang,
+    cleaned,
+    input.subfolderRepoRelPath ?? '',
+  );
+}
diff --git a/scripts/render-lib/article.ts b/scripts/render-lib/article.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ import {
 } from './article-aside.js';
 import { enrichArticleMarkdownWithPoliticalContext } from './political-context.js';
 import { applyScannabilityTransforms, transformProgressiveDisclosure } from './article-scannability.js';
+import { localizeExecutiveBriefLead } from './article-brief-lead.js';
 
 /**
  * CSS selectors identifying the voice-assistant TTS-readable regions of
@@ -544,7 +545,12 @@ export async function renderArticleHtml(input: RenderArticleInput): Promise<stri
   const modifiedIso = new Date().toISOString();
   const articleType = { type: articleTypeId, label: localizedArticleTypeLabel };
 
-  const cleanedContent = stripBodyDuplicateSections(parsed.content);
+  const cleanedContent = localizeExecutiveBriefLead({
+    content: stripBodyDuplicateSections(parsed.content),
+    lang: input.lang,
+    localizedBriefMarkdown: input.localizedBriefMarkdown,
+    subfolderRepoRelPath: input.subfolderRepoRelPath,
+  });
 
   const enrichedContent = enrichArticleMarkdownWithPoliticalContext(cleanedContent, input.lang);