The Economist Continental Europe Edition August 7, 2021

The WHO made a plea to rich countries to delay giving out booster shots of vaccines until the end of September so that supplies can be diverted to poorer countries, where the vast majority of people have not been inoculated. New York became the first city in America to require proof of vaccination for customers entering restaurants, gyms and other indoor venues. Enforcement will begin on September 13th. More cities in America, including Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, reintroduced rules either requiring or recommending that people wear masks in public indoor spaces. Louisiana said that everyone over five, regardless of vaccination status, should wear one in public. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, rejected a mask mandate. Hospitalisations from the disease and new cases are at their highest in the state since the…

Politics The Taliban intensified their assault on Afghanistan’s cities, with fighting raging in Herat, the country’s thirdlargest, Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, and Kandahar. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at the home of the defence minister in Kabul. The jihadists have been emboldened by the imminent withdrawal of American forces from the country. Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysia’s prime minister, lost his majority in Parliament when 11 lawmakers from a coalition partner withdrew their support. Mr Muhyiddin has clung on to power despite a slim majority by forestalling a vote of confidence. He has promised to reconvene Parliament in September and face a no-confidence motion then. Covid-19 continued to rage across South-East Asia. Indonesia crossed 100,000 recorded total deaths from the virus. Daily infections in Thailand and Malaysia are…

Politics The Taliban intensified their assault on Afghanistan’s cities, with fighting raging in Herat, the country’s thirdlargest, Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, and Kandahar. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at the home of the defence minister in Kabul. The jihadists have been emboldened by the imminent withdrawal of American forces from the country. Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysia’s prime minister, lost his majority in Parliament when 11 lawmakers from a coalition partner withdrew their support. Mr Muhyiddin has clung on to power despite a slim majority by forestalling a vote of confidence. He has promised to reconvene Parliament in September and face a no-confidence motion then. Covid-19 continued to rage across South-East Asia. Indonesia crossed 100,000 recorded total deaths from the virus. Daily infections in Thailand…

The WHO made a plea to rich countries to delay giving out booster shots of vaccines until the end of September so that supplies can be diverted to poorer countries, where the vast majority of people have not been inoculated. New York became the first city in America to require proof of vaccination for customers entering restaurants, gyms and other indoor venues. Enforcement will begin on September 13th. More cities in America, including Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, reintroduced rules either requiring or recommending that people wear masks in public indoor spaces. Louisiana said that everyone over five, regardless of vaccination status, should wear one in public. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, rejected a mask mandate. Hospitalisations from the disease and new cases are at their highest in the state…

THE GREAT hope of the 1990s and 2000s was that the internet would be a force for openness and freedom. As Stewart Brand, a pioneer of online communities, put it: “Information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time.” It was not to be. Bad information often drove out good. Authoritarian states co-opted the technologies that were supposed to loosen their grip. Information was wielded as a weapon of war. Amid this disappointment one development offers cause for fresh hope: the emerging era of opensource intelligence (OSINT). New sensors, from humdrum dashboard cameras to satellites that can see across the electromagnetic spectrum, are examining the planet and its people as never before (see Briefing). The information they collect is becoming…

THE GREAT hope of the 1990s and 2000s was that the internet would be a force for openness and freedom. As Stewart Brand, a pioneer of online communities, put it: “Information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time.” It was not to be. Bad information often drove out good. Authoritarian states co-opted the technologies that were supposed to loosen their grip. Information was wielded as a weapon of war. Amid this disappointment one development offers cause for fresh hope: the emerging era of opensource intelligence (OSINT). New sensors, from humdrum dashboard cameras to satellites that can see across the electromagnetic spectrum, are examining the planet and its people as never before (see Briefing). The information they collect is…