Crime, weak economies and corruption are pushing them to move abroad WHEN PEOPLE vote with their feet, they usually make an informed choice. Venezuelans, for example, have many compelling reasons to leave Venezuela. Its government admits that it killed 5,287 people last year for “resistance to authority”, inflation has reached as high as 2,700,000% and by …
Israel is taking the threat of an attack by Hizbullah seriously AN EXPLOSION AND subsequent fire in the early hours of August 25th in Beirut’s Dahiye neighbourhood led to fevered speculation. Were they caused by two quadcopter drones, one of which was captured in a shaky video moments before? Were the drones Israeli or Iranian? Was …
A wave of nativist ire has left Syrians with nowhere to turn THE CONCRETE walls ringing the Al-Awdah camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon appear cheerful. Pink hearts adorn one segment, SpongeBob SquarePants another. The walls, though, are the only remaining traces of 178 homes that were demolished in June, ostensibly for building-code violations. “It’s an …
As NATO draws down forces, the Taliban have reclaimed much of the country ON AUGUST 19TH Afghans will take to the streets to mark 100 years of independence from Britain. They have more to protest about than to celebrate: their country has not known peace for 40 years. Afghanistan’s modern woes began in earnest in 1979, …
No reason why not, though both pacifists and the opposition may object IN THE 1950s Nobusuke Kishi, then Japan’s prime minister, tried to change the constitution that America had imposed on the country in the aftermath of the second world war. He failed. Now his grandson, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s current prime minister, is trying to do …
Fast growth is not raising the incomes of the poor EXCEPT FOR the glow of a mobile phone behind the watermelons, the fruit-and-vegetable shop on a busy Cairo street looks deserted. The owner says his wares are 25% more expensive than last summer. As prices rise, buyers skimp: regulars who used to buy a kilogram of …
Convergence is slowing even as the trend towards global opening may be ending FOR A RICH economy, a growth rate beginning with a five would be cause for ecstasy. For India, it is a huge disappointment. Its most recent quarterly growth figure translates into an annualised rate of only 5.8%, the fourth consecutive quarterly slowdown. That …
Peter Pomerantsev’s new book chronicles the age of disinformation This is Not Propaganda. By Peter Pomerantsev. PublicAffairs; 256 pages; $28. Faber & Faber; £14.99. REREAD PETER POMERANTSEV’S first book today and you experience a sense of vertigo. Published in 2014, “Nothing is True and Everything is Possible” is a memoir of working in Russia’s television industry in the …
European countries defend the Uighurs of Xinjiang, Muslim countries don’t FOR THE PAST three years China’s government, citing national-security concerns, has run relentless campaigns against the culture and religion of the Uighur people, 11m Muslims who speak a Turkic language and live in Xinjiang, China’s north-westernmost corner. Mosques have been shut. Men are forbidden to grow …
In the Middle East, even your holidays are political A COUNTRY THAT draws 39m foreign tourists each year is on the brink of anarchy, if you believe the Saudi media. “Turkey is not safe for travel,” blared a recent headline in a Saudi newspaper. The kingdom’s embassy in Ankara has warned of rising petty crime aimed at Saudi …
As the country navigates a historic period, it is losing its skill at interpreting the past WHATEVER YOU think about recent events in Britain, you cannot deny that they qualify as historic. The country is trying to make a fundamental change in its relationship with the continent. The Conservative Party is in danger of splitting asunder …
The skull was dug up in the 1970s, but only now identified EARLY HUMAN fossils are so rare that each new discovery may rewrite the textbooks. A chance find two years ago in Morocco, for example, pushed the origin of Homo sapiens back to at least 315,000 years ago, from a previous minimum of 260,000 years based on …