Private tutors are illegal in North Korea, but thriving
Dec 12th 2019SEOULSOUTH KOREA’S overworked children are well-known for finishing the school day and heading straight to hagwon…
Japanese schools are struggling with foreign pupils
Dec 12th 2019TOYOHASHIWHEN HIROKO TSUKIHI instructs her pupils to write down “water” in kanji, the ideograms derived from…
Australia’s government plans to water down ferocious libel laws
Dec 12th 2019SYDNEYIT WAS THE sort of story that was bound to cause a sensation. In 2017 the Daily Telegraph, one of Australia’s…
The Vietnamese football club that defies China
Dec 12th 2019HANOIIT IS JUST a practice match, but the footballers are wearing their full kit anyway. As the shadows stretch across…
As Lebanon’s economy drowns in debt, Syria’s begins to sink as well
Dec 12th 2019BEIRUTOVER THE past two months everyone in Lebanon has become an economist. Walk down the street and you will probably…
Foreign powers are piling into Libya
Dec 12th 2019ALGIERSTHE WOUNDS of Libyan militiamen defending the UN-backed “government of national accord” (GNA) in Tripoli…
Eskom is turning out the lights in South Africa
Dec 12th 2019JOHANNESBURGIN RECENT DAYS the only thing darker than South Africans’ homes has been their humour. On December…
In much of Africa the family is bank, business and welfare state
Dec 12th 2019KAMPALAA GAGGLE OF children play outside Dorothy Nabitaka’s front door on the outskirts of Kampala, the Ugandan…
Brunei’s ultra-rich monarch adopts harsh Sharia punishments
THE MOST famous person to have been accused of theft in Brunei is Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of Sultan Hassan Bolkiah….