Evidence mounts: a new coronavirus variant is more transmissible
Dec 23rd 2020VIRUSES reproduce abundantly, and with imperfect fidelity, so mutations are commonplace among them. Most such mutations, though, have little or no effect on how a virus spreads or how deadly it is. And, until recently, SARS-CoV-2, the covid-19 virus, has been no exception to that rule.Regrettably, this seems to be changing. A new…
A new coronavirus variant may derail pandemic-control efforts
More transmissible than other strains, it may require stricter lockdownsDec 20th 2020VIRUSES ARE the fashionistas of the microbe world. They change their appearance constantly but such changes are usually small, transient and of little practical significance for how they spread or how deadly they are. SARS-CoV-2, the covid-19 virus, has so far been no exception.…
Wall Street’s latest shiny new thing: quantum computing
Dec 19th 2020THE FINANCE industry has had a long and profitable relationship with computing. It was an early adopter of everything from mainframe computers to artificial intelligence (see timeline). For most of the past decade more trades have been done at high frequency by complex algorithms than by humans. Now big banks have their eyes…
Is a wave of supply-chain reshoring around the corner?
Dec 16th 2020Editor’s note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hubSUPPLY-CHAIN managers have had a stressful few years. From Sino-American trade wars and Brexit to covid-induced restrictions on medical exports and travel, there has been a…
Jobless Cambodians are catching rats to feed Vietnamese city dwellers
SLUNG OVER Pen Keo’s shoulder is a big wicker basket containing wire-mesh traps, which he lays, one by one, on a rice field where rats are known to scamper. There are so many traps there already, it is difficult to find space for his. In Takéo, a rural province in southern Cambodia, rat-catching serves two…
Pakistan has fenced itself off from Afghanistan
THE TRIBESMEN outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul huddle into their woollen shawls and wait. A few years ago, grumble Abdul Haq Barakzai and his friends, a trip to Pakistan for medical treatment was as straightforward as slipping a border guard a few hundred rupees. As well as the main crossing at Torkham, a rich…
Israel’s covid-19 vaccination campaign leads the world
What can other countries learn from its efforts?LESS THAN three weeks after Israel launched its covid-19 vaccination drive, more than 1.2m of its citizens, about 14% of the population, have received the first of two jabs. It is far ahead of the rest of the world. Bahrain, which comes second in terms of vaccination per…
Evidence mounts that Eritrean forces are in Ethiopia
FIRST COME muffled sobs, gradually growing louder with each new voice that joins the chorus. A woman in a black shawl begins to wail, her body rocking towards the portrait of a smiling young man in the middle of the room. Abraham was 35 years old when he was shot, says an older brother who…
Katy Perry Used to Impersonate Zooey Deschanel to Get Into Clubs
Recently, Katy Perry confessed to Zoey Deschanel on Instagram Live that she used to pretend to be her in order to get into clubs. According to the Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) singer, it all began when she first relocated to Los Angeles as “a nobody” and her illustrious dead ringer was “just getting so huge…
Congress Finally Legalizes Smokey Bear Impersonations
The latest $2.3 trillion spending bill rescinds criminal punishment for utilizing Smokey Bear’s similitude without permission from the government. The $2.3 trillion, 5,593-page government spending bill approved by Congress yesterday is riddled with jewels — $900 billion in COVID-19 relief aid, $10 million for “gender programs,” for two new Smithsonian museums $1 billion, the establishment…