What does the ECB’s new target mean in practice?
Jul 17th 2021FOR MOST of its 23 years of life the European Central Bank (ECB) had the fuzzy inflation target of “below, but close to, 2%”. No one knew what precisely that meant, but the consensus among economists was that the bank was aiming for inflation in the region of 1.7-1.9%. In any case stubbornly…
The 2020 Olympics will be memorable, but not in the way Japan hoped
CLOUDS GATHERED over Komazawa stadium in Tokyo as the Olympic torch arrived on July 9th. Because of the pandemic, the traditional public relay was replaced by a small ceremony behind the stadium’s closed doors. Protesters outside held signs that read “Protect lives not the Olympics” and “Extinguish the Olympic torch”. As Kyogoku Noriko, a civil…
Why nerves are jangling on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan
AT FIRST SIGHT it looks an unremarkable place. Open savannah scattered with thatched-roof homesteads. Bumpy and unpaved roads. Upturned soil that appears rocky and blackened.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.But then come Sudanese soldiers. One is on a tractor. Another walks through a…
A general, a warlord and an economist vie to run Sudan
A STALWART OF the previous regime, now in charge of dismantling it. A camel-rustler turned warlord, now ensconced in a palatial home. And an avuncular economist, who once was a communist.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.These are unlikely bedfellows. Yet they are entrusted…
Will cutting unemployment benefits in America ease labour shortages?
Jul 17th 2021AS AMERICA REOPENS for business, labour shortages continue to worsen. Firms are advertising over 9m vacancies, the highest on record. Bosses complain they are unable to find people to serve drinks, staff tills or drive trucks. So in an attempt to eliminate the shortages, half of states are ending a $300 weekly top-up…
Inflation in America and Britain rises by much more than expected
CONSUMER PRICES rose by 5.4% in the year to June in America, and by 2.5% in Britain—both well above economists’ expectations. Speaking to Congress on July 14th Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, argued that America’s inflation surge is temporary. A small number of huge price rises, such as those for used cars, are…
Japan is struggling to keep covid-19 at bay at the Olympics
WHEN THE world’s best athletes gather for the Olympics every four years, they do a lot more than run, jump and swim. In a memoir published after the previous Tokyo games, in 1964, Dawn Fraser, an Australian swimmer, pulled back the curtain on life inside the Olympic bubble. “Olympic morals are far more loose than…
Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa dynasty is not as secure as it appears
Jul 15th 2021SINCE WINNING the presidency in a landslide nearly two years ago, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has worried not that he has too many relatives in government, but that he has too few. One of the 72-year-old’s elder brothers, Mahinda, himself president for ten years until a surprise election defeat in 2015, is prime minister. Another,…
Jordan’s jailing of a courtier exposes fissures in the kingdom
Jul 15th 2021FOR KING ABDULLAH it is like old times. On July 19th he will be back in the White House, the first Arab leader to meet the new president. Gone are the cast of old antagonists, Donald Trump and his chum, Binyamin Netanyahu. President Joe Biden has ditched Mr Trump’s “deal-of-the-century” for Arab-Israeli peace,…
Israel is being forced to choose between America and China
THE ADVISORY Committee to Inspect National Security Aspects of Foreign Investments is the dull title for one of the more secret and sensitive bodies in the Israeli government. Its membership is unknown and meetings are held under a blanket of opacity. It is essentially a committee to assess deals with China. It was set up…