South-East Asia’s regional club faces its greatest tests yet
Oct 30th 2021FOR A SECULAR grouping, the summitry of the ten-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which this week it is Brunei’s turn to host, has a decidedly sacramental quality to it. For one, in non-pandemic years there is always a cathedral—some shiny convention centre, often freshly built. And there is a creed to…
The Democrats target companies with giant profits but tiny tax bills
Oct 30th 2021WASHINGTON, DCON THE FACE of things, it seems both absurd and unfair that large American companies regularly whittle down their tax bills, taking advantage of every loophole on offer. One study found that at least 55 big companies incurred no federal taxes at all on their profits in 2020. A proposal being discussed…
How our NFT auction went
Oct 30th 2021“DOWN THE rabbit hole”, were the words on our cover on decentralised finance in September. To illustrate it Justin Metz, a visual artist, looked to the first edition of “Alice in Wonderland” for inspiration. On 25th October we put a non-fungible token (NFT) of that cover up for sale. A little over a…
Australia’s climate policy is all talk and no trousers
Oct 30th 2021THERE IS A “uniquely Australian” way to tackle rising temperatures, believes Scott Morrison, the country’s prime minister. After weeks of being hassled to beef up his climate commitments, his conservative coalition government on October 26th at last pledged to reduce its emissions to “net zero” by 2050—but without addressing the tricky matter of…
What does India’s government have against Bollywood?
Oct 30th 2021IF BOLLYWOOD IS India’s secular religion, then the Khans—Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh—are its holy trinity. The three actors, who are unrelated, have for three decades sat at the top of India’s colossal Hindi-language film industry, their films, their characters and their personas wallpapering the country’s imagination. They are, perhaps as much as…
A language-teaching app tests tongues with Zulu and Xhosa
Oct 28th 2021IN 1991 AMERICAN audiences had an introduction to Xhosa, one of South Africa’s most click-filled languages, when Miriam Makeba (pictured) appeared on “The Cosby Show”. When the celebrated South African singer started flicking her tongue as she said her name, four-year-old Olivia asked, “Oh I’m sorry, do you have a cold?”Listen to this…
No sex please, we’re condors
Oct 30th 2021FEW ANIMALS have come closer to extinction, and yet survived, than the Californian condor. Thousands died as a result of flying into electrical cables or being poisoned by lead shot from discarded game-animal carcasses. By 1982, there were only 22 left. These relicts were rounded up and brought into a captive-breeding programme that…
Why currency volatility could make a comeback
Oct 30th 2021FOREIGN-EXCHANGE markets were once a hotbed of lively, speculative activity. But today traders seeking an adrenalin fix must turn to assets like cryptocurrencies instead. Barring a brief surge early in the pandemic—and isolated goings-on in the Turkish lira—currency markets have gone quiet. Macro-trading funds no longer strike fear into central bankers and finance…
As energy prices spike, governments reach for the dirtiest tool in the box
“THIS REFORM will increase our energy security…and it will help us combat the threat posed by climate change.” Those hopeful words were uttered by Barack Obama, then America’s president, at the end of a meeting of the G20 group of countries in Pittsburgh in 2009. The gathered leaders had agreed to phase out subsidies for…
Afghanistan’s economy is collapsing
FIRST THE children lost their bedridden father. Then they lost their grief-stricken mother. Then they were left to fend for themselves in west Kabul. In normal times their plight would have been tragic. In today’s Afghanistan, where more than half the population is running short of food, it was deadly. Neighbours said they helped out…