May 2024

Middle East

Iran and Israel came to the brink of war after their forty-five year shadow conflict spilled over into open combat. Israeli forces were widely suspected to be behind an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed several intelligence officers last month. In retaliation, Iran sent a massive barrage of cruise missiles and suicide drones towards Israel. Further crisis was averted after Israel’s high-tech Iron Dome system – assisted by British and American jets – intercepted 99% of the projectiles. Tensions remain high but have not escalated as feared.

Israeli forces are preparing for a final assault on the Palestinian city of Rafah, where nearly a million refugees have gathered. Reports of mass graves in areas evacuated by the IDF have sparked international controversy: each side blames the other for them. Rolling protests against Israeli actions in Gaza across the west have escalated this month, particularly in London and New York.

Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah have met for discussions in Beijing. Hamas controls Gaza, while Fatah controls the West Bank; the two have been in a complicated frozen conflict since 2007. China is increasingly working as a neutral broker in the Middle East crisis, as the United States is perceived to favour Israel.

Lord Cameron, the British foreign secretary, has finished a mammoth tour of Central Asia, with stops in the ‘five Stans’ – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and even reclusive Turkmenistan, as well as Mongolia. The trip is meant to drum up goodwill towards Britain in a strategically vital region after a Foreign Office report decried a broad lack of attention to the area in government: no British cabinet member had visited Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan before; and none has been in Uzbekistan since 1997. Whether it pays off remains to be seen.

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban have an unusual new priority – tourism. The hardline group, who returned to power in 2021, are promoting the country as a destination for international travellers. While most airlines avoid Afghan airspace, flights are available from Middle Eastern hubs like Dubai. Visas are exceptionally difficult to acquire – most Afghan embassies are still staffed by representatives of the pre-2021 government – but the Taliban have mooted the idea of a visa on arrival in the future. Taliban spokesmen have said that their target markets are China and Japan.

India’s six-week election – the world’s largest – has kicked off. The next month will see nearly a billion people vote, all using simple electronic voting systems. Narendra Modi of the BJP, the current prime minister, is seeking a third term.

A teenage chess prodigy from Tamil Nadu has become the youngest ever contender for the World Chess Championships. Dommaraju Gukesh, 17, will face off against the current world champion, Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren, later this year. Gukesh has been lionised in the Indian press as a symbol of the country’s rising status in the niche world of international chess.

Torrential rain hit Guangdong, in southern China, leading to flooding. 110,000 people were successfully evacuated; so far, four have died and ten remain missing. The manufacturing province, at the heart of China’s economy, is always subject to heavy rain during the monsoon season, but climate change appears to be leading to more intense rainfall each year.

Shenzhou 18, a manned Chinese space mission, took off from a cosmodrome in Gansu. Its crew of three took over the Tiangong space station from their predecessors from Shenzhou 17, who have since landed safely in Inner Mongolia. Over the next six months, the taikonauts will conduct experiments with fish, as well as plant stem cells.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has reported a ten-fold increase in profit this year, after massive global progress in artificial intelligence led to a surge in demand for their high-end memory chips. The chaebol, which represents a significant chunk of Korea’s economy, reported a $4.8 billion profit in the first quarter of this year.

The Japanese yen has hit a 34 year low, after a flash crash on international currency markets. At its worst, the yen was trading at 151 to the dollar. Analysts have pointed figures at the bungling of stimulus programmes by the Bank of Japan; others think it is a natural correction after a year of artificial pumping of Japanese stocks by western investors. The crash has turned Japan into a top destination for wealthy tourists looking for deals on shopping and holidays. Chinese and American tourists are best positioned by the relative strength of their currencies, but even British visitors could be in for a good deal, despite sterling’s own weakness.

Spring temperatures have spiked across Southeast Asia. Thailand is suffering most from the extreme heat: meteorologists have declared that temperatures in Bangkok will not get below 30 degrees Celsius – including at night – for at least the rest of the month. Daytime temperatures in parts of the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia have all reached 40 degrees Celsius, causing widespread heatstroke and damaging rice crops. While humidity has remained high, rain is not falling as expected; current conditions should normally be seen in high summer, not spring.

20 soldiers have died after an ammunition dump exploded in the Cambodian province of Kampong Speu. The cause is so far unclear, but it may be tied to the heatwave.