Ethiopia and Eritrea put an end to two decades of conflict
FOR a cold war it could turn surprisingly hot. Countless skirmishes occurred over the course of the nearly two decades following…
Violence and claims of election-rigging overshadow Pakistan’s election
“FOR the first time in our history, fair elections are going to be held,” insisted Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesman for the opposition…
Malaysia’s ruling party may be gone, but its racial policies survive
THE headquarters of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a party founded to defend the interests of Malays, Malaysia’s…
Djibouti risks dependence on Chinese largesse
DJIBOUTI was the last of Europe’s African colonies. France clung to this sliver of Red Sea coast until 1977; even today it occasionally…
A tsunami strikes a poor part of Indonesia
JUST after 5:30pm on September 28th, a three-metre-high tsunami struck Palu and Donggala, two cities on Sulawesi, an island in…
Congo’s Kabila chases an unconstitutional, unpopular re-election
LAST month residents of Binza Delvaux, a neighbourhood of Kinshasa, the lively capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, awoke…
South Korea’s fertility rate is the lowest in the world
IN THE cherry-tree-studded hills a couple of hours south-east of Seoul sits a bungalow-style school building made of dark bricks….
A floating electricity plant divides Lebanon
print-edition icon Print edition | Middle East and Africa Sep 27th 2018 | BEIRUT FOR decades Lebanon has failed to produce enough…
Iran’s anaemic economy is pushing people over the edge
SIX months after the last round of protests over their country’s anaemic economy, Iranians are at it again. But unlike the demonstrations…