The CIA blames MBS for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
The Biden administration is fed up with Saudi Arabia’s ruthless crown princeIT WAS hardly a fitting epitaph for one of the Arab world’s best-known journalists—three pages of dry, bureaucratic prose that revealed nothing new. On February 26th America released an intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by the Saudi government…
Prices in the world’s biggest carbon market are soaring
Feb 24th 2021AS FINANCIAL MARKETS become cheerier about the pace of vaccinations and the chances of a speedy economic recovery, the prices of stocks, commodities and all sorts of assets are rising. So too are carbon prices in Europe, home to the world’s largest emissions-trading system. Prices have surged by 60% since November; on February…
Lady Gaga offers $500,000 for the return of her dogs taken at gunpoint
After her French bulldogs were stolen in a lurid attack on Wednesday night, Lady Gaga is offering a reward of $500,000 for their return.At approximately 9:40 pm, two people approached The Edge of Glory singer’s dog walker in central Los Angeles near the 1500 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue. The victim — defined as…
Dusting the upper atmosphere could help counter climate change
Feb 27th 2021IF ALL GOES well, a balloon will soon rise from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. It will drift high into the upper atmosphere, where nothing will happen. The balloon will then return to Earth. Nevertheless, a collection of environmental groups—including the Swedish branches of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and the…
Why the sacking of Petrobras’s boss spooked markets
THE PRESIDENT of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, likes to call his University of Chicago-educated economy minister, Paulo Guedes, his “Posto Ipiranga”, a chain of full-service petrol stations. The nickname charmed markets during the election campaign in 2018, but Mr Guedes’s reform agenda has lost ground to populist moves aimed at winning re-election. When on February 19th…
Can China’s new carbon market take off?
Feb 27th 2021HONG KONG AND SHANGHAICHINA IS THE world’s biggest polluter. Its cars and factories release almost twice as many lung-harming carbon particles each year as in those in America. The country’s leadership has certainly been sending strong messages on cutting emissions. But its plan to reduce the carbon intensity of GDP by 65% by…
Asian countries are learning to cope with Chinese bullying
Feb 27th 2021HONG KONG, SEOUL and SYDNEYIF YOU ARE Australian and love lobster, it is the time to indulge. Fishermen are almost giving lobsters away off the back of their boats. High-class restaurants and banqueting halls in China once provided by far the biggest market for lucrative live exports, until the Chinese authorities instituted a…
South Korea’s government has failed to make housing cheaper
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD around Nowon station, on the north-eastern edge of Seoul, looks much like any other suburb of South Korea’s capital. Multi-storey buildings house cramming schools, coffee shops and fast-food stalls that sell tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) to hungry students during their short study breaks. There is a multi-screen cinema and a cluster of banks.…
Soldiers have killed hundreds of civilians in Tigray
IN LATE NOVEMBER Hailay Haileselassie said goodbye to his children and drove towards Edaga Hamus, a town in the mountainous northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where his ageing parents live and his father is a priest. As churchgoers gathered in his father’s church on November 30th, the familiar murmur of prayer was replaced by the…
Hydrogen goop could be a more convenient fuel than hydrogen gas
Feb 27th 2021ON PAPER, HYDROGEN looks like a dream fuel. Coal, oil and natural gas generate planet-warming carbon dioxide when burned. Hydrogen produces pure water. Hydrogen crams more energy into less space than batteries do (though, admittedly, less than petrol or diesel do). And an empty tank can be refilled with hydrogen much faster than…