The Economist Asia Edition October 29, 2022

More than 230 people have been killed and over 12,000 have been arrested, according to tallies by human-rights groups, as protests rage on in Iran. The movement against the ayatollahs’ regime has largely been led by women. In response to the violence, America has lengthened the list of individuals and groups subject to sanctions. The ruling clerics seem uncertain whether to give ground or crack down more fiercely. Israeli defence forces killed five Palestinians in a raid into the West Bank city of Nablus, where an Israeli soldier had been killed earlier this month. A sixth Palestinian was killed in a later incident. Opinion polls preceding the Israeli election scheduled for November 1st show no clear favourite. The two leading contenders are blocs led by Yair Lapid, the incumbent prime…

Adidas’s, a German sportswear-maker, joined Balenciaga, a fashion label owned by Kering, a luxury-goods conglomerate, in cutting ties with Kanye West, a rapper and fashion designer, for his antisemitic remarks. The decision is set to cut Adidas’ annual profits in half this year. European natural-gas prices fell below €100 ($100.8) per megawatt hour for the first time since Russia cut supply in June, as lower demand amid mild weather and large amounts of gas in storage helped to ease concerns about winter shortages. Demand for gas in Italy, a large consumer, sank by a tenth in August and September compared with the same months a year ago. Chinese stocks fell sharply following the confirmation of President Xi Jinping’s historic third term as the Communist Party’s leader. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon…

AMERICA’S MIDTERM elections are less than a fortnight away. When voters go to the polls on November 8th, surging prices will be uppermost in their minds. Annual inflation is running at just over 8%, nearly a 40-year high and the hottest in many voters’ lifetimes. For decades, inflation was quiescent enough that most Americans could ignore it. Now the cost of the weekly shop is dominating voters’ daily lives—and fuelling their ire. Joe Biden’s colossal economic stimulus in early 2021 first set inflation on its feverish trajectory, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent prices spiralling further. Voters may soon punish him for it, among other perceived excesses (see United States section). According to the Pew Research Centre, a polling firm, four-fifths of Americans say the economy will be “very important”…

DICTATORSHIPS TEND to fall the way Ernest Hemingway said people go bankrupt: gradually, then suddenly. The omens can be obvious with hindsight. In 1978 Iran’s corrupt, brutal, unpopular regime was besieged by protesters and led by a sick old shah. The next year it was swept away. Today Iranian protesters are again calling for the overthrow of a corrupt, brutal regime; this time led by a sick old ayatollah, Ali Khamenei. As Ray Takeyh, a veteran Iran-watcher, put it, “History…is surely rhyming on the streets of Tehran.” Pessimists caution that mass protests have rocked Iran’s theocracy before, notably in 2009 and 2019, and the regime has always snuffed them out by shooting, torturing and censoring. Yet there are reasons to think that this time may be different; that the foundations…

THE DAY after President Xi Jinping was granted a precedent-trampling third term as chief of the Communist Party on October 23rd, state media had nothing but praise for him. China was embarking on a “new journey”, said the papers, one “full of glory and dreams”. Alas, the journey has got off to a rough start. On October 24th global financial markets were full of worry and disappointment. Foreign investors dumped China’s shares and its currency (see Finance section). Mr Xi’s re-coronation at the end of the party’s five-yearly congress came as no surprise. What shocked investors were the men surrounding him in the new leadership team (there were no women). He has packed the Politburo and its powerful seven-member Standing Committee with apparatchiks whose primary qualification is not their expertise,…

BRITAIN WAS not the only G7 country to gain a new prime minister in the past week. On October 22nd Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as the head of Italy’s most right-wing government since the second world war. She has moved fast. Less than a month after her Brothers of Italy won more seats than any other party in a general election, Ms Meloni strode into the Quirinal Palace, an opulent former residence of popes, for her swearing-in ceremony. She has deftly put together a coalition government that looks as though it may last longer than Italians, and these days Britons, are used to. Liberals will not cheer. Many recoil at her party’s opposition to abortion and gay unions (though she has promised not to change the status quo on…