Turkmenistan’s horse-loving dictator is grooming his son
NORTH KOREA is not the only supposed success story in Asia’s fight against covid-19. In the middle of the continent, on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan too has seemingly managed to go the past two years without a single recorded infection. Under President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (pictured) its lucky citizens have been living…
Fighting returns to Beirut’s streets in an echo of the civil war
FOR MANY Lebanese, the scenes in Beirut on October 14th harked back to their country’s darkest days. Gunmen crouched behind cars and fired wildly at apartment blocks or rushed out from cover to launch rocket-propelled grenades. Frantic parents searched for safe routes to collect children from school. Residents cowered in hallways and bathrooms. The guns…
The IMF decides to keep its boss
IT TOOK 24 days and seven bureaucratic steps to start a business in Beijing, according to the World Bank’s report on the ease of doing business in 2017. But an investigation released last month concluded that the bank’s leaders, including Kristalina Georgieva, its former second-in-command, had pressed staff into doctoring the report to flatter China.…
Germany’s workers are in the strongest position in 30 years
A HIGHLY SKILLED workforce, harmonious labour relations and restrained wage growth: all have long underpinned Germany’s economic success. But, as the recovery from the ravages of covid-19 continues, the three pillars are looking wobbly. A shortage of skilled workers is becoming more acute. Pay is rising against the backdrop of higher inflation. And some disgruntled…
Rodrigo Duterte may pass on his job to his daughter
THE LIST of 97 politicians who registered to run for president of the Philippines by the deadline of October 8th was missing one crucial candidate: the front-runner. An opinion poll conducted last month found that 20% of respondents wanted Sara Duterte, the mayor of Davao City, to replace Rodrigo Duterte, her father and the current…
India’s high-tech governance risks leaving behind its poorest citizens
ACQUIRING A DRIVER’S licence in Delhi, India’s capital, requires a single 20-minute visit packing in a computerised exam and a brisk, efficient road test. The applicant’s phone pings as she exits the centre: “Congratulations! Licence will arrive by post within 24 hours.” At 8.30am the following morning a courier delivers the sleek, chip-enabled new card.Listen…
Burkina Faso opens trial for the assassination of Sankara
AFTER BARELY four tumultuous years of revolutionary government, Thomas Sankara was gunned down in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, in 1987, during a coup. It was hatched by his erstwhile best friend, Blaise Compaoré, who has said that he did not order the killing, but who then ran the show until he in turn was turfed…
Iraq’s dismal election prompts militias to threaten violence
Oct 14th 2021ELECTIONS ARE supposed to be a smooth way to change power. In Iraq they seem to heighten hostilities. The vote on October 10th split the Shia majority between two snarling blocs. Muqtada al-Sadr, a gruff cleric-cum-militiaman popular with working-class Shias, emerged as the front-runner, with more than 70 of parliament’s 329 seats, a…