Has the pound become emerging-market money?
STERLING WAS once the world’s dominant currency. As the American dollar took its crown, it became second-tier but remained elite, and for decades was content with its lot. Yet lately the pound’s shine seems to have dulled again—so much so, says Kamal Sharma of Bank of America, that it has been “acting [like] emerging-market (EM)…
HDFC Bank’s merger marks a milestone for India
OUTSIDE INDIA, the union of two entities that share a banal acronym in their name might seem an exercise in bureaucracy. But in the case of the acquisition of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) by HDFC Bank, announced on April 4th, that appearance would be deceptive. The size of the deal, at $60bn, is by…
A legal defeat could end Imran Khan’s innings as prime minister of Pakistan
A no-confidence motion is imminentFOUR DAYS of constitutional deadlock in Pakistan have ended with legal defeat for the prime minister, Imran Khan. The former cricket star has fooled countless batsmen with fast-paced balls that swung deceptively in the air. But his latest political trick has not fooled the Supreme Court. Faced with a no-confidence vote…
North Korea is testing ICBMs again. Nuclear weapons may be next
A heated exchange between the two Koreas hints at rising tensionsAT A CEREMONY on April 1st Suh Wook, South Korea’s defence minister, boasted that South Korea could “accurately and swiftly strike any targets in North Korea”. Kim Yo Jong, a high-ranking North Korean official and the sister of Kim Jong Un, the country’s dictator, quickly…
Infographic Maker 101: Snap-up an Infographic for Your Social Media in Minutes
Social media is an important aspect of any business today. The stage is set for people to have the opportunity to interact with their favorite brands, products, or services in so many ways. You should be able to take advantage of this chance without breaking a sweat. When it comes to social media, you will…
Sri Lanka’s default could be the first of many
THE ECONOMIC fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now includes a sovereign default. On April 12th Sri Lanka said that it would suspend payments on the $35bn its government owes foreign creditors. Surging food and energy prices, the result of wartime disruption to commodity markets, have dealt a heavy blow to an economy that was…
Xi Jinping’s bold plan for China’s next phase of innovation
THINGS ARE looking bright for Zhuzhou. The city of 4m people in landlocked Hunan province has often caught the runoff of industrial business from the more populous provincial capital, Changsha, to its north. In the 1990s it became a regional hub for chemicals and metals production. But that caused horrible environmental destruction; more than 1,000…
AUKUS, a strategic submarine pact, turns to missiles
America, Australia and Britain will co-operate on hypersonic missilesSIX MONTHS ago America and Britain said they would help Australia acquire the crown jewels of the defence world: nuclear-powered submarines. The AUKUS pact, announced on September 15th, reflected Australia’s fear of China’s growing power; America’s willingness to break old taboos to counter it; and Britain’s eagerness…
India’s vaunted strategic autonomy is a mirage
The country remains economically and militarily dependent on outsidersIN THE EARLY evening of March 9th a supersonic cruise missile blasted skyward from a site in northern India. Within 200 seconds it had streaked across the Pakistani border. When it smacked to the ground just minutes later, it was 124km inside the territory of India’s nuclear-armed…
Why single women in Egypt find it hard to rent a flat
Scandalised landlords ask intrusive questionsWHEN LAYLA (not her real name), an Egyptian woman, got divorced in her mid-30s, her parents assumed she would move back home. But she wanted to share with female flatmates. “What are we, Americans?” her mother wailed. No woman in her family had ever lived on her own, widows included, or…