THE billboards almost seem to taunt motorists crawling through traffic below. They hawk luxurious town houses and villas with sumptuous pools in compounds that sound like Californian suburbs: Palm Hills, Eastown, Allegria. “Welcome to the greener side of life,” oozes one sign. But this is not California. It is Cairo, Egypt’s chaotic and crowded capital. The road is lined with …

MARY (not her real name) was 16 when she became pregnant. The father sold chips by the road near her home in northern Tanzania. She felt special when he gave her money. But when her belly swelled, he ran off. At school she was caned in front of teachers, pupils and her own shamefaced parents. Then she was expelled. “I …

“FOR shopping,” says a man, laying $65,000 on a table. “Thank you,” says Kwesi Nyantakyi, the president of the Ghana Football Association, scooping it into a plastic bag. The bribe was a set-up, secretly filmed for a documentary by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an undercover journalist. So was a sponsorship deal which Mr Nyantakyi appears to negotiate, taking a cut through …

A veteran of two types of campaign LAST month residents of Binza Delvaux, a neighbourhood of Kinshasa, the lively capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, awoke to discover a huge poster in the local market. It showed Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila, with the caption “Our Candidate”. Around the same time, crude advertisements started appearing on television stations praising the …

THE war in Yemen has entered what may be a decisive phase. Early on June 13th convoys of Yemeni fighters, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), advanced north along the coast towards Hodeida. The city is held by the Houthis, Shia rebels who seized the capital, Sana’a, in 2015. Emirati jets and warships supported the attackers. …

Voters’ wishes to ashes WHAT would politicians the world over like to do when they lose an election? Annul the results and burn the ballots, of course. In Iraq such dreams come true. On June 6th outgoing MPs voted to hold a recount of Iraq’s election and sack the head of the electoral commission. They were furious that a populist …

A handshake-salute mix-up and a lavish send-off and return were just some of the incidents uniquely captured by the North Korean media.

Father’s Day is just a few days away, but it’s not too late to get dad something he’ll love. Of course, the best gifts are both thoughtful and practical, and if your dad loses his charging cords as often as ours do, no gift will fit the bill better than some backup Lightning and USB-C cables. And right now, Amazon …

Father’s Day is just a few days away, but it’s not too late to get dad something he’ll love. Of course, the best gifts are both thoughtful and practical, and if your dad loses his charging cords as often as ours do, no gift will fit the bill better than some backup Lightning and USB-C cables. And right now, Amazon …