Magical spells are a booming business in Myanmar
MIN KYAW THEIN is just 26, but he has a commanding presence. In his home in a suburb of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, he sits…
Lockdowns in Asia have sparked a stampede home
Apr 2nd 2020DELHI AND SINGAPOREEditor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic…
Mozambique’s mysterious conflict is intensifying
MICHAEL SMELLED trouble before he saw it. In January the 28-year-old from Bilibiza, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo…
Abe Shinzo draws closer to declaring a state of emergency
Apr 4th 2020BARELY TWO weeks ago, the notion that Tokyo’s summer Olympic games should be postponed on account of the coronavirus…
South Koreans at US military bases are furloughed
THE COMMANDER did not mince words. Furloughing half of the 9,000 South Koreans who work for the American military forces in the…
Why more Indonesian teens are giving up dating
IT WAS LOVE at first like. When Natta Reza, a dashing Indonesian busker, discovered the young woman’s account on Instagram,…
Thailand’s economy was suffering before the virus
DESPITE COUPS, floods and mass protests, visitors have flocked to Thailand in recent decades. Almost 40m of them arrived last…
Some African governments are enforcing lockdowns brutally
DURING APARTHEID in South Africa, policemen who wanted to control crowds often reached for the sjambok—a vicious, three-foot-long…
Why covid-19 has spread among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox
THIS WAS to be the week when Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, finally won. After three inconclusive elections…
A lost year in Saudi Arabia
THE YEAR had got off to a good start for Saudi Arabia. After a sluggish stretch the non-oil economy was growing, and officials…