A real-life Bollywood tragedy becomes a political farce
A fallen star. A villainous girlfriend. An outspoken heroine. Inept cops. Three-letter agencies. It’s a blockbusterAsiaSep 17th 2020 editionSep 17th 2020WHAT STORY should top the news? That covid-19 cases are rising by nearly 100,000 a day? That the economy shrank by a shocking 23.9% last quarter? Or perhaps that an increasingly bellicose China is massing troops…
Suga Yoshihide emerges from the back room as Japan’s next leader
He will struggle to match the global standing of his predecessor, Abe ShinzoWHEN JAPANESE politicians pondered life after the record-breaking tenure as prime minister of Abe Shinzo, conversations revolved around a short list of potential successors. Suga Yoshihide’s name rarely came up, despite his powerful position as Mr Abe’s chief cabinet secretary (CCS), a role…
Rwanda arrests the man who shielded people from genocide
Sep 3rd 2020THE LAST time Trésor Rusesabagina spoke to his father was on his birthday, when the latter called from his home in San Antonio, Texas, to wish his son well. “He hadn’t been anywhere for ages because of lockdown and I thought he was just hanging out, watering his plants.”On August 31st Trésor woke…
Egypt looks to prosecute millions of non-voters
ASSEMBLY-LINE justice is nothing new to Egypt. Since 2013, when Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi led a coup against an elected government, judges have presided over trials with enough defendants to fill a jumbo jet. At a hearing in 2014 more than 500 people were sentenced to death for killing one policeman. But that exercise is Lilliputian compared…
How has trade survived covid-19?
Sep 12th 2020WASHINGTON, DCIN QUENTIN TARANTINO’S “Kill Bill: Volume 2”, an action drama, the protagonist, played by Uma Thurman, punches her way out of a coffin. Global trade in goods has performed a similar death-defying stunt during the covid-19 pandemic. In April things looked dismal. Some predicted global trade would slump by more than 30%…
Ports are highly exposed to climate change and often ill-prepared
Sep 12th 2020IN MID-JANUARY a storm gathered over Lake Michigan. Gale-force winds dragged water up and dumped it on Milwaukee. The city was “pummelled”, says Adam Tindall-Schlicht, the director of its port, which was badly damaged. Dock walls were ripped off and washed inland. The trade routes the port serves, including those for steel from…
Do dreams reflect reality?
Sep 3rd 2020THAT DREAMS contain hidden meanings is an old idea. The Biblical Book of Genesis, written down about 2,500 years ago, describes how Joseph, son of Jacob, interpreted the Egyptian pharaoh’s dreams of fat and thin cattle as predicting years first of plenty and then of famine. In China, meanwhile, the most popular work…
Elon Musk’s vision of the future takes another step forward
Sep 2nd 2020IN IDLE MOMENTS, people sometimes dream about the future. Of cars that can drive themselves. Of travelling to other planets. Of moving objects by the power of thought. Whichever particular dream you have, though, Elon Musk is probably trying to make it real. Self-driving cars and travel to Mars are the provinces of…
A domestic worker takes on her Singaporean boss—and wins
Sep 19th 2020THE CASE should have been thrown out. The police investigation was botched. The accuser’s testimony was riddled with inconsistencies. But on March 20th last year Parti Liyani, an Indonesian maid accused by her Singaporean employer of attempted theft, was convicted and sentenced to 26 months in jail. That is where she would be…
Suga Yoshihide, Japan’s new prime minister, promises continuity
HISTORICAL ROLE models say a lot about political leaders. Suga Yoshihide’s is Toyotomi Hidenaga, the younger brother and right-hand man of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the better-known warlord who united Japan in the 16th century. As Abe Shinzo’s loyal chief cabinet secretary for nearly eight years, Mr Suga played a similar behind-the-scenes part, excelling at mobilising Japan’s…