Soldiers have killed hundreds of civilians in Tigray
IN LATE NOVEMBER Hailay Haileselassie said goodbye to his children and drove towards Edaga Hamus, a town in the mountainous northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where his ageing parents live and his father is a priest. As churchgoers gathered in his father’s church on November 30th, the familiar murmur of prayer was replaced by the…
Hydrogen goop could be a more convenient fuel than hydrogen gas
Feb 27th 2021ON PAPER, HYDROGEN looks like a dream fuel. Coal, oil and natural gas generate planet-warming carbon dioxide when burned. Hydrogen produces pure water. Hydrogen crams more energy into less space than batteries do (though, admittedly, less than petrol or diesel do). And an empty tank can be refilled with hydrogen much faster than…
The newest Mars rover videoed its own landing
Feb 27th 2021ON FEBRUARY 18th “Perseverance”, a one-tonne NASA rover, landed on Mars. The miracles of modern technology meant that, for the first time, footage of the event could be transmitted back to Earth. By February 22nd viewers could watch the spacecraft carrying the rover descend by parachute. As it approached the surface it began…
The prices of sports cards and odd collectibles are booming, too
Feb 27th 2021THE S&P 500 may be setting new highs, but to really take the measure of market exuberance look no further than Nyan Cat. The animated meme, encoded cryptographically into what is known as a “non-fungible token” (and which is unique and distinct from unencrypted versions of the animation that can be found with…
The pandemic has pushed working mums out of the labour force
Feb 27th 2021Washington, DCLAST SPRING, when covid-19 first began to spread in America, employment sank like a stone. The number of 25- to 54-year-olds in work shrank by 13% between January and April 2020. By January this year it was still 5% lower than a year ago, with larger falls among low-income and black households.…
Indonesia’s government pushes back against Islamic dress codes
MOST TEENAGERS starting at a new school want to fit in. But not Jeni Hia. On her first day at a public high school in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, the 16-year-old was the only girl whose hair was uncovered. Indonesia has the world’s largest population of Muslims: 235m, some 87% of its…
The Indian government’s toolkit for persecuting critics
Feb 27th 2021THE JUDGE who granted bail to Disha Ravi on February 23rd was doing Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, a favour. The jailing of the 22-year-old environmentalist a week earlier had made his government look mean and, more damaging still, silly. For the supposed sin of sharing a Google document that listed ways for…
Why does it cost so much to be an African MP?
Feb 27th 2021COTONOU, KAMPALA AND MAIKUUARINDA GORDON KAKUUMA had many reasons for running for office. It was his “passion”; he was keen to give back to his country, Uganda; and he wanted to help “my people”. It was also “to satisfy my ego”, the MP adds, with a laugh.Listen to this storyYour browser does not…
Binyamin Netanyahu appeals to Arab voters in Israel
ARAB ISRAELIS are voting “in droves”, said Binyamin Netanyahu, as he tried to scare his religious and nationalist base into voting in 2015. Four years later Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, tried to place cameras in polling stations. Critics saw this as a ruse to scare off Arab voters. Last year he tried to deter…
Attorney whose pants caught fire during arson trial gets arrested
The Miami attorney who drew global ill fame after his trousers lit on fire during an arson trial has been detained on a cocaine charge.32-year-old Stephen Gutierrez, whose law license is presently rescinded, was pulled over Tuesday night and jailed on a felony cocaine charge. He was pulled over for operating a vehicle without a…