Hecklers outnumber gay-festival-goers in South Korea
Sep 5th 2019INCHEONGETTING TO THE recent “Queer Culture Festival” in Incheon was a challenge. Upon emerging from the subway, participants had to pass through a large crowd of protesters who wept, prayed loudly and told passers-by that they would burn in hell. One man had painted his face and bare feet red and wheeled a…
Far more would-be refugees arrive in Australia by plane than by boat
Sep 5th 2019SYDNEYNO AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT wants to look weak on “border security”. Since 2001, when John Howard, a conservative prime minister, turned back a ship which had rescued hundreds of asylum-seekers from a sinking vessel, most of them have policed the country’s borders with ferocity. Asylum-seekers who arrive illegally by boat are carted off to…
Afghan drug barons are branching out into methamphetamines
Sep 5th 2019ISLAMABADDRUG PRODUCERS in Afghanistan have a new line. The country responsible for growing around three-quarters of the world’s opium, as well as mountains of hashish, is diversifying into methamphetamine. The amount seized by the Afghan authorities is increasing exponentially, says the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime. Police hauled in a meagre 4kg…
Ethiopia has caught gambling fever
Sep 5th 2019ADDIS ABABAGETABALEW SEIFE is beginning to feel suspicious. Four times a week he saunters into the same bar in downtown Addis Ababa and puts down a bet. He often punts on Manchester United, his favourite football club. But he almost always loses. “I think Manchester United is somehow supporting the betting companies,” he…
Israel’s Arab citizens could hold the key to political change
Sep 5th 2019RAMLEIT IS EASY to spot the Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Ramle, one of Israel’s few “mixed” cities. The Jewish ones consist mainly of tall, fairly new apartment buildings, with neat pavements. Arab areas, clustered around the city’s old centre, are haphazard and dilapidated. Naif Abu-Swiss, an independent city councillor, insists that things…
The battle of Botswana’s big men
Aug 29th 2019SANKUYO“ELEPHANTS EXCITE most children,” says Timex Moalosi, the chief of Sankuyo, in northern Botswana. “But not ours.” Since the country’s former president, Ian Khama (pictured, left), suspended game-hunting in 2014, pachyderms have besieged the village, stomping crops and scaring kids. The destruction upset residents, as did the loss of income from selling permits…
Kimbanguists believe Congo’s suffering is a sign of the apocalypse
Aug 29th 2019GOMATHERE IS A reason that men with machetes keep killing people in Congo and that Ebola has infected close to 3,000 people there. These are signs that the end is nigh, claims Reverend Eddy Kybantu of the Kimbanguist church, a branch of Christianity. Simon Kimbangu, who founded the church in 1921, said Congo…
13 People Shot At House Party Honoring A Man Killed By Gun Violence
At least 2 persons began shooting in the early hours of Monday morning at a house party that was meant to honor a gun violence victim. 13 people were shot in total.Reportedly, a 37-year-old man has been charged in linkage to the shooting. No one was killed, however various victims are in critical condition, accordant…
Elon Musk wants to link brains directly to machines
Jul 18th 2019SAN FRANCISCOELON MUSK, perhaps the world’s most famous entrepreneur, is sometimes referred to as “the Trump of technology”—not for political reasons, but because of his habit of making, at short notice, spectacular pronouncements that stretch the bounds of credibility. On July 16th he was at it again, unveiling a new type of brain-machine…
Is it time to go back to the Moon?
Jul 18th 2019ON MARCH 26TH Mike Pence, America’s vice-president, gave a speech at the US Space & Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, in which he told his audience that he was bringing forward, “by any means necessary”, the target date for America to send astronauts back to the Moon. The previous deadline had been 2028.…