Thailand’s generals plan to remain in charge, whatever voters say
“WE WILL TAKE good care of the price of rice in the market,” declares Uttama Savanayana, the leader of the Palang Pracharat…
In remote parts of Indonesia, voters feel let down
THE MAIN market in Ambon, the capital of the Indonesian province of Maluku, is a riotous affair. Stalls sprawl from the pavement…
The president of the Philippines wants to rename his country
RODRIGO DUTERTE, the perpetually disgruntled president of the Philippines, is unhappy about the name of his country. “I want…
Japan says transgender people must be sterilised
SHOULD TRANSGENDER people be sterilised before they are recognised? Earlier this year Japan’s Supreme Court decided that the…
Air strikes on Pakistan may win Narendra Modi India’s election
THE STARTER’S gun has been fired on the biggest democratic exercise on Earth: an Indian general election. The Election Commission…
Afghans worry about the return of Shia fighters from Syria’s civil war
ALIREZA QANBARI has still not told his parents the truth about what he did when he left Afghanistan for Iran. The 23-year-old…
Tanzania’s leader, the “Bulldozer”, runs off course
SEDITION AND statistics are two words that crop up with increasing regularity in the utterances of officials loyal to Tanzania’s…
Syria’s broken schools will make it difficult to fix the country
AFTER EIGHT years of civil war, Syria’s education system is a wreck. Nearly 3m school-age children, a third of the total, do…
Press freedom in Ethiopia has blossomed. Will it last?
ESKINDER NEGA founded his first newspaper, Ethiopis, in 1993. After seven issues it was forced to close, the first paper charged…