Since the military removed the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February, a bold protest movement has been bravely standing up to the junta. Initially the response from the generals was less violent than feared, but now the crackdown has got bloodier. Last Sunday at least 18 people were killed, and on Tuesday police fired stun grenades to disperse crowds. Our reporter in Yangon and our south-east Asia correspondent Rebecca Ratcliffe have been talking to those holding the line for democracy.
The fact that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi was long-suspected even before last week’s declassification of a US intelligence report confirmed it. The release of the report coincided with a new US “Khashoggi policy” that will impose sanctions on individuals who engage in “counter-dissident” activities for foreign states. But, write Martin Chulov and Julian Borger, the lack of sanctions for Bin Salman himself reflect the power and importance of Saudi Arabia in the region and the risk that, if US-Saudi relations rupture further, the Kingdom will look east to China and Russia.
Last summer, tens of thousands of English schoolchildren were left disappointed after being awarded their exam grades by an algorithm. One promising student from London, Josiah Elleston-Burrell, saw his dreams of becoming an architect shattered by a grade he was certain was unfair. The writer Tom Lamont followed Elleston-Burrell’s battle to get to a top university and chronicles the decisions made by the UK government that left so many students upset and in limbo. Last week it was confirmed that this year’s students will have their grades set by their schools.
Also in this week’s magazine, film editor Catherine Shoard interviews Sacha Baron Cohen, for once speaking as himself, who tells her the mission behind bringing back Borat ahead of last November’s US election. We also have a heartbreaking piece from Mexico where Meaghan Beatley meets the woman trying to track the country’s epidemic of femicide, and trying to bring the men responsible to justice.
