Blast from the past: a long-awaited verdict in Lebanon
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2020
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For 15 years, the truck-bomb killing of a former prime minister went unpunished. But an even more devastating recent blast overshadowed a court’s ruling on the culprits. Chinese students hoping to study in America have been caught in the middle of the countries’ rising animus—not for the first time. And the origins of all the hair in Nigeria’s wildly popular wigs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:09.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:18.0 | Soon after, the first Chinese citizens graduated from American universities in the mid-19th century, |
| 0:23.0 | political mistrust between the countries took hold. |
| 0:27.0 | Now the world powers are at odds once more and China's students are again caught in the middle. |
| 0:33.0 | And in Nigeria, there's endless appetite for wigs made of real hair. |
| 0:38.0 | Vietnamese locks are priced for their bounce. |
| 0:41.0 | Mongolian ones are said to be easy to curl. |
| 0:44.0 | We look at a curious supply chain involving Indian pilgrims, bathroom drains, and the occasional goat. |
| 0:51.0 | First up, though. |
| 0:58.0 | A verdict that had been long awaited in Lebanon was handed down yesterday. |
| 1:05.0 | A UN-backed court in the hagg passed judgement on four men tried in absentia for the assassination of former Prime Minister Raffick Hariri, who was killed by a truck bomb in 2005. |
| 1:17.0 | The trial chamber, therefore, finds Salim Jamil Ayash guilty as a copepotrator of Count One, conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act. |
| 1:31.0 | One defendant was found guilty, all the other three were acquitted. |
| 1:35.0 | All four are members of his bula in his lamest paramilitary group and political party. |
| 1:41.0 | 15 years ago, the assassination sent shockwaves across the Middle East and marked a turning point in Lebanese politics. |
| 1:48.0 | There were fears that yesterday's verdict could deepen long-running sectarian tensions, but many Lebanese have more pressing concerns. |
| 1:58.0 | Some are now calling for a sustained uprising against Lebanon's government whose negligence they blamed for last week's devastating explosion. |
| 2:07.0 | Last week, the cabinet quit in the wake of the blast that destroyed Beirut's port. |
| 2:12.0 | The country's politics is paralyzed while parliament haggles over a successor. |
| 2:17.0 | In a bankrupt country, reconstruction is going to be a struggle. |
... |
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