A new fuel for jets and missiles is on the cards
May 15th 2021THE LATEST buzzword in the world’s aerospace skunk works is “hypersonic”. Speed and surprise have always been essential to warfare, and what better way to wrong-foot an enemy than by arriving unexpectedly on his doorstep in the form of an aircraft or missile travelling at Mach 5?Listen to this storyYour browser does not…
Doubts are growing about therapy for gender-dysphoric children
May 15th 2021GENDER MEDICINE was once an obscure specialty. Patients with gender dysphoria were typically middle-aged men wishing to live as women. Things are different now. First, there are many more patients. Referrals to a specialist clinic attached to the Free University of Amsterdam rose 20-fold between 1980 and 2015. The Gender Identity Development Service…
Who bears the burden of a corporate tax?
May 15th 2021JOE BIDEN wants to rebuild America, and he reckons that American firms can help foot the bill. Central to the president’s grand infrastructure-investment push is a plan to raise the tax rate on corporate income from 21% to 28% (though he has hinted he may settle for less). Although the administration pitches its…
David Swensen, an influential investor, died on May 5th
May 15th 2021STARTING IN THE 1980s, the endowments of a handful of big American universities began to divert their investments away from publicly traded equities and bonds towards “alternative” assets, such as venture capital and private equity. David Swensen, who died on May 5th aged 67, perfected the approach. Referred to variously as the endowment,…
In the Maldives, an ominous rise in intolerant Islam
May 15th 2021THE INDIAN OCEAN’S most exquisite building must be the Old Friday Mosque in Malé, the capital of the Maldives. It was built in the 17th century from interlocking coral blocks. Inside, the carved-wood panelling and lacquerwork represent ravishing embellishments by master craftsmen who happily borrowed from Arabia, Persia and South Asia to make…
Private firms in Indonesia are starting their own vaccination effort
IN TIMES OF hardship, Indonesians turn to each other for help. That is the idea behind gotong royong, or mutual assistance, the Javanese name for a custom in which villagers help build each other’s houses or clean up after a natural disaster. It is therefore unfortunate that the organisers of a private vaccination scheme have…
The reinvention of Africa’s biggest lake
THE OLD fishermen at Cape landing site in central Uganda can remember when they first came, in the 1990s, to this sliver of rock that lies between a forest and the lake they call Nnalubaale. There were nine settlers then. Now there are more than 600: sinewy boat-hands, gleeful children and stiff-backed women drying silver…
Muhammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia plays the diplomat
May 15th 2021AS A YOUNG buck, Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, thought he could take on the world. He charged into Yemen, detained Lebanon’s prime minister and had his people chop up a mild-mannered dissident, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Turkish city of Istanbul. When Western countries, such as Canada and Germany, criticised his…
Should Israel’s Military Rethink Their Choices on the Iron Dome?
Published on May 12, 2021 by AnneIsrael’s Iron Dome has protected the country against missile attacks for years. The Iron Dome in Israel is the biggest of its kind in the world. No other countries in the world use the same air defense system, meaning it is one of a kind.The tension between Israel and…
Jaleel White on past mentor Bill Cosby: ‘He is paying the appropriate price’
During TV One’s Uncensored, Jaleel White spoke his mind regarding his onetime mentor, deposed sitcom star and comedian Bill Cosby.White, known for his role on Family Matters as Steve Urkel, talked about nearly snaring a role on The Cosby Show as the youngest child (Keisha Knight-Pulliam played Rudy, however, the role was originally cast as…