Omicron causes a less severe illness than earlier variants
Jan 1st 2022WITH ITS ability to escape immunity induced by past infections and vaccines, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in South Africa on November 9th, has been tearing around the world, causing record numbers of cases of covid-19 as it does so. Australia, Britain, Denmark, France, Italy and South Africa are at the…
In 2022 a Moonrush will begin in earnest
Jan 1st 2022DURING THE cold-war space race between the Soviet Union and America, the latter’s Apollo Moon missions were mostly about making a political and technological point. Having made it, they duly ceased. Now, approaching half a century after astronauts last walked on the Moon, a new age of lunar exploration is dawning. This time…
New research counts the costs of the Sino-American trade war
Jan 1st 2022THE INITIAL two-year segment of the “phase one” trade deal between America and China comes to an end on December 31st. Neither country is in a mood to mark the occasion. Mutual antagonism is as fierce as ever; a new American law banning goods made with forced labour in Xinjiang is the latest…
Is a greener, faster and more decentralised alternative to Bitcoin possible?
Jan 1st 2022SAN FRANCISCOCRYPTO IS THE key to paradise, particularly the financial kind. That, at least, is what the fans argue. Greedy intermediaries, such as banks, will be replaced by smart contracts (self-executing rules) that run on blockchains (distributed databases). This will give rise to efficient and innovative financial services, collectively called “decentralised finance” (DeFi).Listen…
A presidential pardon catches South Korea by surprise
Dec 29th 2021OFFICE WORKERS around Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul breathed a collective sigh of relief just before Christmas. Ever since Park Geun-hye, a former president, was sent to prison for corruption and abuse of power in 2017 her supporters had been staging noisy protests in the middle of South Korea’s capital, calling for her…
Why Brahmins lead Western firms but rarely Indian ones
Dec 29th 2021WHAT DO THE chief executives of Adobe, Alphabet, IBM, Match Group (which owns Tinder), Microsoft, OnlyFans (a subscription service featuring content creators in various stages of undress) and Twitter have in common? All seven happen to be of Indian origin. That is not surprising considering the abundance of subcontinental talent drifting into Western…
Arab autocrats love writing, and ignoring, constitutions
KAIS SAIED’S birthday is not until February, but his speech on December 13th contained an early gift to himself. Tunisia has been in crisis since July, when Mr Saied, the president, suspended parliament and much of the constitution. He told his constituents that Tunisia’s democracy was broken (many of them agreed) and portrayed himself as…
Middlemen are the invisible links in African agriculture
AS A CHILD Sowedi Lwanga used to collect and sell the loose coffee that had fallen outside the hulling factory where he lived in Mityana, central Uganda. He started a trading business when he was still in secondary school. Coffee is a “common man’s charter”, he says. “You jump out from your bed, you [pick…
Why capital will become scarcer in the 2020s
Dec 28th 2021THE TROUBLE with the 12-month outlook, an obligation at this time of year, is that the forecasts will be wrong. Of course they will. In financial markets there are so many ways to err—on direction, timing or speed of change. A year is both too long and too short. Too long, because the…