JUST A STRAND of Elvis’s hair would do. Pluck out his DNA and it could be copied millions of times using a technique called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). That was the business plan pitched in the 1990s by Kary Mullis, an American biologist. Mullis had helped develop PCR in the 1980s; in 1993 he shared a Nobel prize.
TopNATO is drafting new plans to defend Europe
WHEN THE boxer Mike Tyson was asked ahead of a fight whether he was concerned about an opponent’s plan, he was blunt: “Everybody has a plan ‘til they get punched in the mouth.” With NATO it has been the other way around.
TopAmerica has a shortage of lab monkeys
AMERICAN AUTHORITIES arrested Masphal Kry, an official in Cambodia’s forestry administration, last November when he was heading to an international meeting about trade regulations for endangered species in Panama.
TopIndia, an aspiring digital superpower, keeps shutting down the internet
ON JULY 1ST Elon Musk caused a stir by limiting the number of tweets visible to Twitter users in a single day. Perhaps he was inspired by the High Court of Karnataka, a big south-Indian state, which the day before had issued its own argument for restricting tweets.
TopThe world this week:Business
Elon Musk said he would launch a new artificial-intelligence platform called TruthGPT as a rival to ChatGPT and other generative-AI bots, somewhat contradicting his recent call for a moratorium on developing such technology.
TopThe world this week:Business
Oil prices rose sharply after OPEC+ announced a surprise cut to production. The cartel said it wanted to support stability in the market, which is another way of saying it didn’t like the dip in oil prices in mid-March. It also wanted to deter speculators who have been betting on softer oil prices.
TopJustice in India is growing ever more partisan
WHEN INDIANS think of how the law works, speed is not what comes to mind. An average case in the lower courts takes five years to settle. Three-quarters of prison inmates are not sentenced offenders, but awaiting trial.
TopCambodia’s strongman, Hun Sen, plans his succession
HIS HOURS-LONG speeches lack the pizzazz of yesteryear. He is said to tire more easily on his early-morning treadmill. Though still a stripling of an autocrat at 69 years of age, the shadows are lengthening on the rule of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister.
TopThe jeepneys of the Philippines refuse to pull over
THE JEEPNEYS of the Philippines are at once a national treasure and a dirty menace. When American troops went home in 1946, they left behind hundreds of military jeeps. Filipinos fitted them with benches, daubed them with gaudy illustrations and began charging commuters for lifts around town.
TopIndian cows (and buffaloes) are going online
SIX COWS munch on dry grass in a barn in Vajeghar, a village some five hours from Mumbai. Ajay Shilimkar, a dairy farmer, beams as he introduces them to your correspondent. One, named Laali, is his most recent acquisition.
TopAn ode to Tokyo’s Nakagin Capsule Tower
THE NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER stands out from its unremarkable neighbours in Tokyo’s Shimbashi distr...
TopSouth Korean millennials battle to get hold of Pokémon snacks
Earlier, after waiting an hour for a delivery van to arrive at another shop, he had found the prize that millennial South Koreans are hunting for obsessively: Pokémon bread.
TopRussian tourists stranded in Asia are running out of cash
NOTHING BREAKS the spell of a beach holiday as abruptly as news that it is impossible to go home, as many Russians know through hard experience.
TopSouth Korea’s president-elect starts with an unpopular personal project
ARRANGED IN TWO straight lines as if in formation, protesters outside South Korea’s defence ministry pumped their fists in time with a martial beat.
TopA new film on Kashmir has found a fan in Narendra Modi
INSIDE CINEMAS, “The Kashmir Files” starts with a disclaimer: “This film... does not claim accurateness or factuality of historic events.” Outside the cinema, in contrast, the relentlessly violent drama is being promoted with what might be called a very big claimer.