The Economist

Syria’s civil war: Closer to the capital

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Posted by admin 41 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

At the broken heart of the regime A TERRIFIED girl hurried past but most onlookers stared blankly at the bloody aftermath of a car-bomb in Damascus on April 8th, the latest to rock the centre of Syria’s capital. Many of its people have got used to the violence since Damascus became ever more embroiled in the conflict. In recent weeks Bashar Assad’s regime has launched bigger missiles at the reb

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Nigeria’s Zimbabwean farmers: Nothing like chicken feed

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Posted by admin 41 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

SEVEN years after 18 white Zimbabwean farmers settled on a chunk of land in Nasawara state at the invitation of the then governor, only one family is still there. All the others have given up in despair. Bruce Spain, aged 35, and his father Colin, 66, together with their doughty wives and a pair of toddlers, are hanging on—but only just.On flat, dry scrubland two hours’ drive east of Abuja, the c

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Nigeria: Lurching ahead

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Posted by admin 41 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

LIKE a heavyweight boxer who has gone too many rounds, Nigeria sometimes seems punch-drunk. One minute it acts like a champion by virtue of the size of its girth and the smile on its face, the next it could be flat on its back, groaning in anguish. On the whole, the country is tottering along, acclaimed as much for its massive potential as for its actual achievements. It is still a sick man al

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Unrest in Yemen: Southern grumps

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Posted by admin 41 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

WALKING through the streets of Aden, you could be forgiven for thinking that the local people who want South Yemen once again to become a separate country are on the verge of success. The flag of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, as the south was styled when it was independent, festoons the walls of the decaying port city, once its capital. Since four southerners demonstrating

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Côte d’Ivoire: Will the guilt be shared?

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Posted by admin 41 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

Mourning at last RELIGIOUS leaders, the minister of justice and other assorted dignitaries emerge one by one from behind the black tarpaulin. Some gaze expressionlessly ahead. Others’ grim faces betray the morbid spectacle they have just witnessed inside. Many wear surgical masks.Two years earlier, four young men were executed outside the nearby turquoise and white mosque. The conflict that fla

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Palestinian reconciliation: Could it really happen?

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Posted by admin 48 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

THOSE who want rival Palestinian factions to let bygones be bygones should have been cheering. On April 2nd Khaled Meshal, who engineered repeated but now dormant deals over the years between Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, and the old guard of Fatah that dominates the West Bank, won his battle for re-election as Hamas’s leader. While that vote was going on, Sa

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Oman’s new port: Sleepy no more

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Posted by admin 48 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

UNTIL recently Duqm was a dusty fishing village and little else. Home to Bedouin tribes, it lies some 450km (280 miles) south of Muscat, Oman’s capital, in the poor and empty Wustah governorate. But the earthmoving bulldozers are now working flat out. In the next decade, Duqm is supposed to be turned into a vast port and international business hub.A dry dock, said to be the second biggest in t

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Dissent in Egypt: No joking matter

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Posted by admin 48 days ago (http://www.economist.com)

IN A recent television show, Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian satirist, gave special thanks to President Muhammad Morsi. The Egyptian leader provided such a wealth of comic material, he said, that the comedian’s team of jokers could cut production costs and get rid of half his staff.Not long after, Mr Youssef got another official boost. Egypt’s public prosecutor, a recent and controversial appointment