The Economist
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Korean Air’s “nut rage” sisters step down
FOUR years ago, Cho Hyun-ah, an executive at Korean Air made headlines around the world when she threw a fit because she was served macadamia nuts in …
South KoreaA typical American birth costs as much as delivering a royal baby
A ROYAL birth is always heralded with great fanfare, and the arrival of the Duchess of Cambridge’s third baby on April 23rd was no exception. Throngs …
Royal BabiesThe West’s bombing of Syria meets some approval from Muslims
ON THE streets of west European cities, secular leftists, politically active Muslims and radically minded Christians (a rarefied constituency, but …
Middle EastDonald Trump is more popular than ever with white evangelicals
IN CASE anyone should think American white evangelicals are actually in favour of extra-marital affairs with porn stars, Robert Jeffress, a …
Donald TrumpMost banks won’t touch America’s legal pot industry
IT IS often said that markets hate uncertainty. America’s marijuana industry is no exception. Earlier this year Jeff Sessions, the country’s …
CannabisKendrick Lamar's Pulitzer moment
ON MONDAY Kendrick Lamar, a 30-year-old rapper from Compton, Los Angeles, won the Pulitzer prize for music. It was an extraordinary moment, and not …
Rap & Hip-HopAmericans will no longer have to sign for credit-card purchases
AMERICANS, and people who travel to America, have good reason to celebrate this month. By the end of April, the four major credit-card networks in …
Identity TheftHiral Tipirneni is unlikely to win a special congressional election in Arizona
THE Democratic wave that propelled the party to surprise victories in special elections in Alabama and Pennsylvania seems unlikely to reach Arizona’s …
Political ScienceEuropeans remain welcoming to immigrants
FOR those who believe that migration can, if managed properly, make a country materially and culturally richer, recent developments in European …
EuropeKremlin-backed fake news targets Britain
IT WAS Britain, not Russia, that poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter, to stoke Russophobia. Or perhaps Ukraine targeted the former spy, to frame …
Nerve AgentsWhere Syria’s despot Bashar al-Assad is likely to strike next
IF THE cruise missiles that slammed into Syria on April 14th rattled President Bashar al-Assad, he did his best not to show it. Hours after America, …
Middle EastHow long will Latin America support “American values”?
THE last time the leaders of 30-odd countries from the Americas met, in Panama in 2015, the presidents of the United States and Cuba, longtime …
Conflicts of InterestMullahs rig the price of moolah in Iran
FOR the second time in as many months, Iran’s “dollar patrol” is on the streets. The country’s currency, the rial, has lost a third of its value on …
South AsiaRobots can assemble IKEA furniture
IN 1997 it was chess. In 2016 it was the ancient game of Go. Now it seems computers have mastered a task that stretches the human brain to its limit. …
RoboticsArmenia’s unpopular president makes himself prime minister
“I BELIEVE that one person must not aspire to the reins of power more than twice in a lifetime,” Serzh Sargsyan, then president of Armenia, declared …
EuropeThe Colombian guerrillas who won’t give up their guns
JUAN MANUEL SANTOS chose his words carefully after signing a peace deal with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas in 2016, officially ending a 50-year-long …
South AmericaAmerica is on track to admit the fewest refugees in four decades
DURING the Iraq war, Suleiman’s family worked closely with the American army in Mosul, as interpreters. When Islamic State took the city over—and its …
ImmigrationA Russian created Telegram. Now Russia is trying to block it
TELEGRAM, a sleek online messaging service founded in 2013, has 200m users worldwide. About 15m of them are in Russia, the homeland of its founder, …
PrivacyThe racist origin of state laws on juries is encouraging change
TWO of the jurors who sat in judgment at Willie Dunn junior’s murder trial in 2011 thought he had a plausible claim to self-defence, and voted to …
New OrleansHow African governments try to control what is said online
IN THE West, when celebrities post revealing videos on Instagram, they may find themselves mocked by tabloids and gossip websites. In Tanzania they …
AfricaAsia’s appetite for endangered species is relentless
EVEN the Minahasan people, who pride themselves on eating bushmeat, call the collection of stalls at Tomohon, in the highlands of North Sulawesi, the …
ExtinctionPakistan’s most popular television channel is under attack
RANA JAWAD pinches the bridge of his nose. For much of the past month the director of news at Geo TV, Pakistan’s most popular channel, has marshalled …
Human RightsSean Hannity shares a lot with Donald Trump, including an attorney
WHEN Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was raided by the FBI last week, it was the biggest story in America. But the news moves fast in …
Donald TrumpBritain’s ambitious apprenticeship reforms are in trouble
IN 1563 Parliament passed the Statute of Artificers, to “banish idleness, advance husbandry, and yield unto the hired person...a convenient …
EconomicsEmmanuel Macron’s ambitious plans for Europe are running aground
WHEN France’s president speaks about Europe, his remarks are directed in part at Germany. Before his election in 2017 Emmanuel Macron went to great …
EuropeAn alarming rise in mental-health sectioning in Britain
“I CAN’T remember how many times I was sectioned,” says Hannah MacDonald, a former nurse. She recalls much of the first time, though. During therapy …
Mental HealthDonald Trump alienates farmers
“EVERYONE in pork production is more anxious than they have been for 20 years,” says Jimmy Tosh, a pig farmer from north-western Tennessee. As for …
AgricultureHigh prices in America’s cities are reviving the suburbs
JUST as Cody Butler and Joey Trombetta were searching for a spot to open a second branch of their Austin-based fitness boutique, Heat Bootcamp, they …
Urban DesignPoland’s ruling Law and Justice party is doing lasting damage
FOR a glimpse of Poland under the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, tune in to the news on the state television channel, Telewizja Polska (TVP). …
EuropeMis-labelled Ibérico ham makes Spanish foodies squeal
ON A spring morning in Extremadura, a few miles from the border with Portugal, a herd of brown Ibérico pigs is gambolling in the <i>dehesa</i>, the open …
Foodies