Adoptions are declining

SHOULD state-funded adoption agencies be able, for religious reasons, to turn down prospective parents? An increasing number of states say they should, or are beginning to consider it. South Dakota has had such a law since March; Alabama’s governor signed a version in May; the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has a bill on his desk awaiting signature. Opponents argue that such laws discriminate against couples who are non-Christian, gay or unmarried. These proposed laws also reflect a mismatch in the supply of infants and demand for adoptions.

As the teenage pregnancy rate has fallen and the stigma attached to single motherhood has faded, the number of babies placed for adoption has declined. In 1971, 90,000 children were placed. By 1975 the number had fallen by half, mainly because of the legalisation of abortion in 1973. In 2014, only 18,000 infants under the age of two were placed for adoption.

Meanwhile, adopting from abroad has also become harder. According...Continue reading

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Measuring racial bias in police forces

IN HIS 14 years policing the streets of Montgomery County, Maryland, Sergeant Robert Sheehan has witnessed deadly shootings and stopped big-money cannabis deals. But on a sunny afternoon it is the windows of a passing car that raise his suspicion. Maryland law dictates that car windows should be no more than 65% opaque. He stops the black Chevrolet, whose driver is female and black, and by using a special meter he proves that the car breaks that law.

Debate on racial bias in policing tends to be dominated by the shootings of unarmed black men by police officers. Though terrible, such shootings are not common enough to allow the crunchers of big data sets to get to work. Routine traffic stops, on the other hand, occur about 50,000 times a day across America. They are the most common form of contact with the police: one in eight drivers was stopped in 2011.

Until recently these data have mostly been kept under lock and key. But a team of academics from Stanford University’s Open...Continue reading

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The promise and pitfalls of privatising public assets

DONALD TRUMP ran for office promising to spur the private sector to rebuild America’s roads, bridges and airports. But it seems that Republicans want to start their modernisation in the sky. On June 21st House Republicans unveiled a bill that would privatise air-traffic control, a policy the president announced earlier this month. If the administration is to be believed, this is just one of many privatisations that could increase efficiency and encourage infrastructure investment. Could such a national sell-off work?

Unlike much of the world, America has never seen a big push to privatise. That is partly because America did not see a wave of nationalisations after the second world war, as countries like Britain did. As a result, it has few public assets, like airlines or telephone companies, that are obvious candidates to be sold. An exception is land owned by the federal government, which covers 28% of the country. Another is the Tennessee Valley Authority, a public electrical utility...Continue reading

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The race in Georgia’s sixth district

She could Handel it

TOWARDS the end of the marathon election in Georgia’s sixth congressional district, Jon Ossoff was in Cobb County for a “Juneteenth” celebration—commemorating the abolition of slavery—in the company of John Lewis, a fellow Democrat who represents much of nearby Atlanta. The Economist asked Mr Lewis if the race was worth the more than $50m spent on it, making it easily the costliest in congressional history. “It’s worth everything,” Mr Lewis said. “We’re talking about the future of America.” The moment captured the oddity and excitement of the contest, and previewed what, for Democrats, was ultimately bitter disappointment.

To begin with, compare the two men. Mr Lewis is a revered civil-rights leader. Composed and eerily disciplined, Mr Ossoff is a 30-year-old political novice: an unlikely champion of his party’s hopes, though that is what he became, in a vote that came to be seen as a referendum...Continue reading

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Why nationalists are so bad at foreign policy

NATIONALIST politicians come in many varieties, from blustering to downright scary, but most share a common flaw. They forget, or do not care enough, that foreigners have politics, too. The marrow-deep hopes, fears and grievances of their own citizens fascinate them. But all too often, nationalist and populist leaders behave as if other countries are bloodless technocracies, guided by coolly weighed interests.

President Donald Trump is guilty of just this error whenever he predicts that other governments will bend to his will because they know what is good for them. Whether demanding that allies pay more for their own security, browbeating commercial rivals, or menacing geopolitical adversaries, Mr Trump seems sure that once foreign rulers realise he is serious about putting America first, and calculate the costs of defying him, they will swallow their pride and obey. He is oddly incurious about foreign publics.

A European ambassador recently told Lexington an...Continue reading

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Why cutting even wasteful spending is so hard

HE WAS known as “Mr Social Security”. Eric Conn, a disability lawyer fromPikeville, Kentucky, gained notoriety in his impoverished part of Appalachia for his ubiquitous billboards and flashy TV commercials, which featured Rolls-Royces, beauty queens and a 19-foot replica of the Lincoln Memorial. But what earned Mr Conn his nickname was his uncanny ability to secure Social Security payouts for nearly 100% of his clients. Mr Conn’s luck has since run out. In March, the 56-year-old lawyer pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of $550m in federal disability benefits, the largest case of Social Security fraud in the country’s history.

Although scams like these outrage lawmakers and taxpayers alike, they represent just a small fraction of the billions in excessive, unnecessary and illegal payments made by the federal government. In the past decade these improper payments have increased by more than 250% (see chart). Donald Trump has vowed to cut them in half over ten years. Past efforts...Continue reading

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Is partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional?

THE Supreme Court will hear a case in the autumn that puts a new spin on an old scourge: partisan gerrymandering. In recent years the justices have cracked down on electoral districts drawn by politicians along racial lines. A ruling in 2015 held that Alabama had violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection guarantee by packing too many black voters into state electoral districts, diluting their influence in neighbouring areas. Last month, in Cooper v Harris, the court reprimanded North Carolina for doing the same in two legislative districts. But the justices have looked the other way when districts are drawn with party advantage rather than race in mind. Partisan gerrymandering may be “unsavoury”, as Justice Samuel Alito puts it, but it has not yet been held to offend against the constitution.

Gill v Whitford, one of the most important cases the justices will hear next term, calls Justice Alito’s view into question. The timing is key....Continue reading

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Israel’s artists are celebrated abroad; less so at home

IT WAS a red-letter day for Hebrew literature. On June 14th David Grossman, one of Israel’s most celebrated authors, won the Man Booker International Prize for “A Horse Walks Into a Bar”. Also on the shortlist of six was another Israeli, Amos Oz. For a small country whose politicians normally gush over any international accolade, the response was uncharacteristically terse. It took Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, nearly 24 hours to post a single sentence of congratulation.

Mr Netanyahu’s reticence is indicative of a cold war between right-wing nationalists and the country’s left-leaning cultural elite, epitomised by Mr Grossman. The two men clashed in 2015 when Mr Grossman was among a group of writers who renounced their candidacy for the Israel Prize for Literature after Mr Netanyahu tried to remove some judges whom he claimed were “anti-Zionist”.

Mr Grossman received the Booker for one of his least political books. But for more than three...Continue reading

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A Zambian opposition leader fights treason charges for not stopping his car

Failure to park lands a man in the dock

TRAFFIC offences rarely undermine democracy. In Zambia, however, the government’s pursuit of a high-profile traffic offender has done just that. On April 8th a convoy of cars carrying Hakainde Hichilema, the main opposition leader, did not stop on the side of the road to make way for a motorcade carrying Edgar Lungu, the president. Two days later police raided Mr Hichilema’s home and whisked him to prison. On June 8th a magistrate sent the case to the High Court, where Mr Hichilema (pictured) and five others face charges of treason for allegedly putting the president’s life at risk. Mr Hichilema, a businessman, denies the charge, saying it is motivated by “hatred” and “political competition”.

In politics, as on the road, Mr Hichilema has not been giving way to his rival. He continues to dispute the results of a presidential election held last August. Official tallies gave him 47.6% of the vote and Mr Lungu...Continue reading

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Syria’s multi-sided war escalates yet again

ON JUNE 18th the unexpected happened. For the first time since America’s involvement in the skies over Kosovo 18 years ago, an American fighter plane shot down a hostile jet. America targeted the Syrian plane after it bombed American-backed forces battling to drive the jihadists of Islamic State (IS) from their capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The downing of the Syrian plane and a string of recent air strikes and skirmishes between ground forces backed by America and Iran, have opened a new chapter in the multi-sided Syrian war. This raises concerns of further escalation in a conflict that has already sucked in neighbours and regional powers. Russia, enraged by the attack on the regime it supports, threatened in retaliation to track American warplanes with its missile systems should their pilots stray west of the Euphrates river. And Iran, which already supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s dictator, with ground troops, escalated its involvement on June 18th by firing a...Continue reading

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In Africa, city elections are where the action is

Who’s the boss?

AT A street corner in Kangemi, a neighbourhood of tin-roofed shacks and new brick tenements in the west of Nairobi, men huddle into what are called street parliaments. Standing several deep, they debate politics, each man speaking in turn, with a moderator at the centre. “We are done with these thieves,” says Jeremiah Mukaiti, a 53-year-old caretaker. “We need change.” Others pipe up with similar complaints. “The government is doing nothing. They steal money, and their promises come to nothing,” says Cyrus Injiloa, a 36-year-old security guard.

Much of the talk is about the general elections, which are scheduled for August. Voters will pick from candidates running for president right down to those standing as municipal councillors. Uhuru Kenyatta, the president, will probably win a second term; no incumbent Kenyan president has ever lost an election.

Go down a level, however, and politics is far more competitive,...Continue reading

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Understanding Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince

FROM the moment he was named deputy crown prince in April 2015, Muhammad bin Salman seemed destined for the throne. The favourite son of King Salman, aged only 29 at the time, was handed control of the kingdom’s economy and made responsible for its defence. His youthful face was plastered on billboards around the kingdom—but with him, always, was the image of his older cousin, Muhammad bin Nayef, who as crown prince stood between the king and his favoured successor.

That is no longer the case. On June 21st King Salman dismissed the crown prince and replaced him with Muhammad bin Salman, who sealed the changeover by kissing his cousin’s hand as the former crown prince left the Safa palace in Mecca (see picture). “I pledge allegiance to you through the best and the worst,” said the demoted prince. Video of the exchange went viral. The authorities are keen to give the impression of an orderly transition. State media reported that 31 of the 34 princes in charge of succession approved...Continue reading

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The challenges of getting a (real) passport in Africa

AFRICANS who want to travel have long endured gigantic hassles when trying to obtain visas, not just to rich countries but also to other African ones. Ugandans now face an extra hurdle before they even reach a foreign embassy. On June 12th the government said it was running out of new passports and would ration them. They will be issued only to people suffering medical emergencies, or needing to travel for government business or to study. Everyone else will have to wait, possibly for months.

Uganda says the shortage is because of a surge in demand. It is not the only country where getting identity documents has proved difficult. Until last year Zimbabweans would spend nights sleeping outside the passport office to avoid losing their place in the queue. At one point, no more were issued because the ink ran out. Nigerians, too, faced a passport drought when the company printing them slowed supplies as it haggled with the government over the price.

The shortage is...Continue reading

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Why Diageo Is Paying $500 a Bottle for George Clooney's Tequila

Unfortunately for big liquor groups, craft distilling is following the trail blazed by craft brewing

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India’s raucous democracy is becoming more subdued

THE candidate that India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put forward for the largely ceremonial post of president looks like a canny choice: Ram Nath Kovind, a longtime devotee of a Hindu group allied with the party, but also a dalit—the bottom rung in India’s caste system. He should appeal both to the party’s religiously motivated base, but also to other dalits, who make up close to 20% of the population. Given the strength of the BJP and its allies in Parliament, which elects the president, his ascent is all but assured.

The BJP is always looking for ways to shore up its support, but not all of them are so positive. When Mr Kovind’s nomination was announced, Rana Ayyub, a journalist critical of the party, lambasted the choice on Twitter. It took a spokesman for the party less than eight hours to file a complaint with the police, claiming that she was stirring up hatred on the basis of caste—an offence in India—even though the tweet had made no mention of...Continue reading

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A Sweetheart Deal to Bailout Italy's Banks

Intesa Sanpaolo has proposed a takeover of two small banks’ good assets, but the deal is almost too good to be true

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Finland tests a new form of welfare

Mr Jarvinen, benched too long

JUHA JARVINEN, an unemployed young father in a village near Jurva, in western Finland, brims with ideas for earning a living. He has just agreed to paint the roofs of two neighbours’ houses. His old business, making decorative window frames, went bust a few years ago. Having paid off debts, he recently registered another, to produce videos for clients.

Mr Jarvinen says that for six years he hoped to start a new business but it was impossible. The family got by on his wife’s wages as a nurse, plus unemployment and child benefits. He had a few job offers from local businesses, which are mainly in forestry, furniture and metalwork. But anything less than a permanent, well-paid post made no sense, since it would jeopardise his welfare payments. To re-enroll for benefits later would be painfully slow.

Mr Jarvinen’s luck turned in January, when he was picked at random from Finland’s unemployed (10% of the...Continue reading

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What Could Go Wrong in the Fed's Stress Tests

The Federal Reserve will reveal on Thursday which of the 34 banks it tests have passed hypothetical negative scenarios while maintaining required capital levels.

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The Supreme Court says offensive trademarks are protected speech

“HATE speech”, activists on college campuses like to say, “is not free speech”. Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, made the point last month in reference to a man who uttered anti-Muslim slurs before killing two people who challenged him. “Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment”, Mr Wheeler said. For decades, the Supreme Court has politely disagreed. And once again on June 19th, in a unanimous ruling regarding a Portland-based rock band, the justices clarified that offensive or hateful speech falls squarely under the First Amendment umbrella.

Matal v Tam involves a dispute over a name. Simon Tam, front man for The Slants, “the first and only all-Asian American dance rock band in the world”, sought to trademark the band’s name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). With references to urbandictionary.com and other sources, the PTO rejected the application, telling the band its...Continue reading

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Adobe Is a Bright Spot in the Cloud

Adobe has proven that the cloud can have a silver lining. The cloud software company has grown per-share earnings on a year-over-year basis every quarter for the last three years -- and that’s based on generally accepted accounting principles.

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Disappointment for the Democrats in a fiercely fought congressional race

TOWARDS the end of the marathon election in Georgia’s sixth congressional district, Jon Ossoff was in Cobb County for a “Juneteenth” celebration—commemorating the abolition of slavery—in the company of John Lewis, a fellow Democrat who represents much of nearby Atlanta. The Economist asked Mr Lewis if the race was worth the more than $50m spent on it, making it easily the costliest in congressional history. “It’s worth everything,” Mr Lewis said. “We’re talking about the future of America.” The moment captured the oddity and excitement of the contest, and previewed what, for Democrats, was ultimately bitter disappointment.

To begin with, compare the two men. Mr Lewis is a revered civil-rights leader. Composed and eerily disciplined, Mr Ossoff is a 30-year-old political novice: an unlikely champion of his party’s hopes, though that is what he became, in a vote that came to be seen as a referendum on Donald Trump and the Republican agenda. Judging by the volume of lacerating tweets he dispatched, Mr...Continue reading

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A new Hungarian liberal party challenges the autocratic Viktor Orban

IN A smoky open-air bar at the back of a youth hostel in Budapest, one of Europe’s youngest political parties is hatching plans for a democratic revolution. Its leader, Andras Fekete-Gyor, a bearded, focused 28-year-old, jabs his right hand for emphasis as he lays out his plans for the party, Momentum. An audience of about 70 people, most of them young, are perched on stools and reclining on sofas, drinking beer and listening intently. For some Hungarian dreamers, this scene represents one of the most promising political developments in years.

Momentum burst onto the scene with a petition drive last winter, when it collected more than 250,000 signatures and forced the government to abandon its extravagant bid to host the 2024 Olympics. The games would simply provide an opportunity for corruption, Momentum argued. The group has since turned itself into a political party, ahead of elections in early 2018. Most of its leaders were born as communism collapsed. Many have studied...Continue reading

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One Almost-Certain Risk for Investors in the Health-Care Bill

As investors struggle to understand the overhaul of the Affordable Care Act, one area to watch is insurance deductibles, which are likely to rise and could increase pressure on the health-care industry to control costs.

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Quitting Tobacco Stocks Is Easier at These Prices

Another big investor is giving up cigarettes. Regret has stalked similar decisions in the past, but the timing looks better this time.

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MSCI Inclusion Should Intensify Scrutiny of Chinese Shares

China has won a longed-for trophy with admission of its domestically-listed stocks to MSCI’s global benchmarks. Don’t hold your breath that it will lead to a more open market.

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Rampaging Oil Bears Are Missing Half the Picture

Oil has a U.S. supply problem, but unlike in previous downturns, demand still looks firm—for now.

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A new Supreme Court case could rejigger electoral lines for the 2020 election

LATER this year the Supreme Court will hear a new spin on a scourge almost as old as the republic: partisan gerrymandering, a trick whereby politicians pick their voters rather than the other way around. In recent years, the justices have cracked down on districts that are drawn using predominantly racial lines. A ruling in 2015 held that Alabama violated the 14th amendment’s equal-protection guarantee by packing too many black voters into state senate districts and diluting their influence in neighbouring areas. Last month, in Cooper v Harris, the court reprimanded North Carolina for doing the same in two bizarrely shaped legislative districts. But the justices have looked the other way when oddly drawn districts clump voters based on party rather than race. Partisan gerrymandering may be “unsavoury”, as Justice Samuel Alito puts it, but has not been held to offend the constitution.

Gill v Whitford, one of the most important cases the justices will hear next term, calls Justice Alito’s statement into...Continue reading

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Trump Plan a Potential Bonanza for Trust Banks

Custody banks like Bank of New York Mellon and State Street would benefit from Trump’s deregulation plans.

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The rebellion of Venezuela’s top prosecutor

TRAITOR. Madwoman. Striptease artist. Fascist. Leaders of Venezuela’s populist regime have recently hurled these insults and more at Luisa Ortega Díaz, the country’s attorney-general. It matters not that she extols the regime’s founding father, Hugo Chávez, as “the most humanist man to have existed on the planet”. Her former comrades now see her as a dangerous turncoat. “This woman could cause a civil war,” says Pedro Carreño, the vice-president of the PSUV, the socialist ruling party.

Ms Ortega, a former professor of criminal law, is becoming more dangerous to Venezuela’s repressive government. On June 8th, she filed a motion at the supreme court denouncing as illegal a scheme by Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, to convene an all-powerful constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. The puppet court rejected the suit on June 12th, calling her application “inept”. On the same day she filed another motion arguing that 13 of the 32...Continue reading

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The outrageous death of Otto Warmbier complicates American policy on North Korea

“HOW safe is it? Extremely safe!” So read the guidance for North Korea on the website of Young Pioneer Tours when Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old American student, signed up for a five-day trip to North Korea in December 2015. The travel company based in China is one of a handful that offer tightly marshalled circuits around mostly beautified bits of the impoverished gangster state. “Despite what you may hear,” it continued, “North Korea is probably one of the safest places on Earth to visit.”

Mr Warmbier was arrested the following month at the airport in Pyongyang, as he was leaving, and accused of attempting to steal a propaganda placard. This counts as an “anti-state crime” in North Korea, since without political slogans to inspire them, workers might slack off. He was tried in March 2016, and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour. “I have been very impressed by the Korean government’s humanitarian treatment of severe criminals like myself,” he said during...Continue reading

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Barclays' Criminal Conundrum: Plead or Fight?

U.K. authorities filed charges against Barclays and former top executives for fraud related to fee payments to Qatari backers when it received capital infusions in the teeth of the financial crisis. It is the first criminal case against a crisis-era bank chief.

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What Virtual Reality Needs to Get Real

High-end VR hasn’t created a large enough installed base of customers for game publishers to commit major development dollars. And without must-have games, virtual reality just won’t break out of its niche.

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Avocado Toast Looks a Better Bet Than Australian Housing

Australia’s housing market is particularly vulnerable as Chinese buyers are stymied by capital controls.

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The Fed's Poor Record on Soft Landings

There are two things investors should keep in mind about the Federal Reserve: One, it is in a tightening cycle. Two, tightening cycles almost always end badly.

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The Dark Side of Good News in Biotech

Deal making is a staple of the biotech industry, but betting on mergers and acquisitions is much harder than it looks for investors.

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Amazon Shops Locally, But Spreads Fear Globally

The tech giant’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods has set alarm bells ringing around the world—perhaps prematurely.

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Amazon and Alibaba Use Same Means to Different Ends

In buying Whole Foods, Amazon is following a trail blazed by Alibaba for some time.

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China's Ghost Cities Keep Up Property-Market Spirits

Top-tier cities are feeling the chill from tighter consumer credit, but smaller property markets are on a roll.

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Legg Mason: A Survivor in the Active-Manager Massacre

Legg Mason is capturing decent inflows as other active managers suffer, but its shares are up and future growth is uncertain.

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Emmanuel Macron wins a majority, though not a record one

THE final piece of France’s electoral puzzle fell into place on Sunday evening, when voters handed Emmanuel Macron’s party a solid majority of seats in the National Assembly. After polling stations closed on June 18th, it soon became clear that La République en Marche! (LRM), the president’s political movement, had won about 359 of the 577 seats. This gives the Mr Macron a handsome working majority with which to start work on his programme of reforms.

It was a measure of how quickly expectations in France have shifted that LRM’s final result was considered in some ways disappointing. After first-round voting on June 11th, polls suggested that LRM might grab over 400 seats. The abstention rate, at fully 57%, was historically high for a second-round parliamentary vote, possibly because voters considered the result a foregone conclusion. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left Unsubmissive France party, who...Continue reading

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Viktor Orban finds a new target: international NGOs

IN A speech in 2014 that substantiated his liberal opponents’ worst fears, Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, said he planned to turn the country into an “illiberal state”. On June 13th Hungary’s parliament took its latest step in that direction, passing a law that requires NGOs which receive foreign funding to register with a court, and to declare the fact on websites and official publications. The law applies to all groups that receive more than €24,000 ($29,000) a year from abroad. The law is part of a concerted campaign by Mr Orban against liberal and human-rights organisations, especially those supported by George Soros, a Hungarian-born billionaire and philanthropist. State and pro-government media have spent months railing against Mr Soros and his Open Society Foundation, painting Mr Soros's support of more generous European asylum policies as a liberal plot to flood the continent with migrants and destabilise Hungary.

The law has already provoked...Continue reading

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Who will survive Brazil’s political cull?

KNOWN, like Donald Trump, as the presenter of a local version of “The Apprentice”, a reality-television show, João Doria entered Brazil’s political firmament last year when he was elected mayor of São Paulo by a huge margin over his nearest rival.

He has the smooth charm of a professional communicator and, with his lithe build and V-necked navy-blue cashmere sweater, a metrosexual air. He is a workaholic who sleeps little. He recently received Bello at the city hall at 8.15pm, with two further meetings ahead.

“I am in politics, but not of politics,” he says. “I am a manager.” In his first five months in office he cut waiting lists at hospitals by persuading them to schedule tests and operations around the clock. His education policy consists of putting computers in schools by cadging donations from tech firms. He sent demolition teams to clear out Cracolândia, an area where drug addicts lived on the street. Critics say he merely dispersed the problem.

At...Continue reading

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A battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle

Amazon's Margin-Crusher Invades the Grocery Store

Amazon.com’s purchase of Whole Foods is a rounding error for the giant online retailer. For the struggling grocery industry, it is the biggest shift in a century.

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Grab the 30% Off Coupon on Kroger

It is clearance season in the stock market’s grocery aisle, but investors should take another look at Kroger before leaving it on the shelf.

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Italy is drifting back to its old fragmented politics

IN CONTRAST to France, where the political system has been upended by the overwhelming victories of Emmanuel Macron and his new party, voters in Italy on June 11th opted mostly for the devils they know.

In the first round of local elections in more than 1,000 municipalities, candidates representing decades-old parties of the right (Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and the more radical, populist Northern League) did particularly well. The biggest loser was Beppe Grillo’s upstart Five Star Movement (M5S). The anti-establishment, Eurosceptic M5S failed to reach the run-offs in any of the 25 provincial capitals that were up for grabs, including Mr Grillo’s native Genoa.

So are Italians, like other Europeans, tiring of Eurosceptic populism? Perhaps. But the Northern League is at least as Eurosceptic and populist as the M5S, and it would be foolhardy to write Mr Grillo’s party off. Besides, local issues and individual personalities had a big influence on the...Continue reading

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A feud erupts between Singapore’s prime minister and his siblings

“WE FEEL big brother omnipresent. We fear the use of the organs of state against us,” declared Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang, two of the three children of Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s prime minister for 31 years, in a statement announcing Lee Hsien Yang’s intention to move away from the city-state. They say he is leaving because of a rift with their brother, Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s current prime minister, over their father’s will. They accuse their brother of misusing his position and harbouring political ambitions for his son; they say they “worry for Singapore” as a result. Lee Hsien Loong, in a brief statement released shortly after that of his siblings, denied the claims.

The dispute centres on the house in which Lee Kuan Yew lived from 1945 until his death in 2015. He wanted his daughter, Lee Wei Ling, who was living in it at the time of his death, to stay there for as long as she wished, and for it to be demolished thereafter, largely for fear...Continue reading

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Australia battles Chinese political influence

WHEN Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, urged China earlier this month to respect “the sovereignty of others”, many took it as criticism of China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. But the comment might just as easily have been a reference to Australia’s political parties. All of them face questions about donations from businessmen linked to China’s government. A parliamentary inquiry in March called for a ban on political donations from foreign sources. Mr Turnbull has endorsed the idea, as has Labor, the main opposition.

Yet on June 5th, three days after Mr Turnbull’s speech, a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reinflamed the controversy. Two years ago both Labor and the Liberal-National alliance, which Mr Turnbull heads, are said to have ignored a warning from the domestic spy agency against accepting donations from two Chinese property developers: Chau Chak Wing and Huang Xiangmo. Mr Chau is an Australian citizen and Mr...Continue reading

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Sri Lanka debates its antiquated Muslim family laws

TO AVOID being married at 17 to a stranger, the Muslim schoolgirl from Sri Lanka’s north-west tried to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of her mother’s diabetes pills. While she was recovering in hospital, her parents went ahead and registered the marriage. The union took place under the version of Sri Lanka’s family law that applies only to Muslims. It does not require the bride’s consent and does not specify a minimum age for marriage. Instead, it merely stipulates that children under 12 can only be married with the approval of a quazi, or Muslim family judge. The penal code, helpfully, exempts Muslims from prosecution for statutory rape providing the victim is married to the perpetrator and is 12 or older.

Unions of other Sri Lankans fall under the General Marriage Registration Ordinance, which sets the minimum age at 18. Muslim marriages and divorces, and interfaith ones involving a Muslim, are governed by the Muslim Marriage and Divorce...Continue reading

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Why North Korea is testing so many missiles

IT IS as if Kim Jong Un wants to be seen to be flinging his explosive toys about with ever more abandon. In recent months his rocketmen have fired off missiles in one test after another, often with the young, overfed dictator gleefully looking on. During his first two years in power (2012 and 2013), North Korea launched just eight missiles in total. Over the following three years, there were 15 tests a year on average. The tempo has risen again this year, with five firings since May 10th, when Moon Jae-in was inaugurated as president of South Korea. Rumours of a fresh underground nuclear test, which would be North Korea’s sixth, are growing. Korea-watchers are increasingly wondering what’s behind the ballistic frenzy.

A simple answer is that only vigorous testing can advance a country’s missile programme—and that Mr Kim sees the ability to launch nuclear-tipped missiles as the key to his regime’s survival in the face of American hostility. Rocket failures can be as important in...Continue reading

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