Sudan joins a wave of Arab states recognising Israel
KHARTOUM, THE capital of Sudan, holds a symbolic place in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was there in 1967 that the Arab League declared their “three nos”: no peace with Israel, no recognition, no negotiations. Unity was short-lived. Egypt said yes to peace in 1978, followed by Jordan in 1994. But for half…
Internet’s ‘Hot’ Celebrities and how they are telling you to Vote
The US Presidential elections are just days away and Americans all over the world are bracing themselves for the outcome. Celebrities are using their social media influence to encourage every registered voter to exercise their rights and to vote wisely. A multitude of tactics have been used by celebrities for years and, each time, the…
Kill one unwanted species and another arises
Oct 31st 2020IN THE HIERARCHY of conservationists’ concerns, animals often seem to trump plants. For example, feral rats that live on islands after having been introduced accidentally by passing ships are excoriated because of the damage they do to local wildlife. More than 100 island-based animals have been exterminated or are imperilled by these rodents—birds…
Stopping some fishing would increase overall catches
Oct 31st 2020IN 2018, THE most recent year for which relevant data are available, people consumed more fish than they did either pork or beef or poultry. Humanity’s appetite for the sea’s bounty has more than doubled since 1990. Fish, whether wild caught or farmed, now make up nearly a fifth of the animal protein…
If China’s economy is so strong, why isn’t its currency stronger?
CHINA, AS ITS leaders like to observe, has fared better than any other big country this year. It has all but halted the covid-19 pandemic, got its economy back on track and, to top it off, reaped a cash windfall from abroad. The last has stemmed from a surge in its trade surplus, thanks in…
What next for the EU’s fiscal rules?
THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN question, a 19th-century diplomatic teaser, was said to be so complicated that of the three people who had ever understood it, one had forgotten it all, another was dead and the third driven mad. Readers of the European Commission’s 108-page “Vade Mecum” on the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the European Union’s fiscal…
Sri Lanka’s president is amassing personal power
Oct 31st 2020NEVER SAY Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves things to chance. After decisively winning the presidential election last November, putting family in charge of important government departments, suspending Parliament and finally winning postponed elections in early August in a landslide for his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and supporting parties, still the president insisted that “obstacles”…
Singapore’s government helps old food hawkers but not young ones
SOME COUNTRIES build palaces or temples as monuments to their greatness. Singapore builds hawker centres. In these open-air food courts lined with stalls and formica tables it is possible to taste Singapore’s history. Dolloped unceremoniously on a plate or banana leaf or scooped steaming into a plastic bowl, dishes such as roti prata and Singapore…
The battle over where to put Israel’s new airport
BIRD-WATCHERS in northern Israel are spoiled for choice. Griffon vultures, imperial eagles and long-legged buzzards swoop over the Golan Heights. Cranes, cormorants and kingfishers congregate in the wetlands around the Sea of Galilee. And flying over them all are the biggest birds in the sky, Israel’s F-16 fighter jets, which climb steeply from the runways…
A disputed election leads to violence in Guinea
“LONG LIVE democracy, long live peace,” said Kabinet Cissé, the head of Guinea’s electoral commission, as he announced on October 24th that Alpha Condé had won a third term as president. But on the streets of Conakry, the capital, there was little sign of peace—perhaps owing to a lack of democracy. Wounded protesters lay next…