Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

For nearly two weeks, Saudi Arabia has observed a ceasefire in Yemen,

suspending its side in a long and messy war.

It was supposed to be a compassionate measure, as COVID-19 threatened an already broken country.

In truth, there's more to it than that.

And the theme of vengeance has been a driving force in art since the Greeks,

particularly in times of social upheaval.

Now there's a resurgence, featuring lots of female vigilantes,

writing the wrongs of sexual abuse and domestic violence.

But first, Europe's largest economy has begun tentative steps towards reopening. From today, smaller non-essential stores in Germany will begin trading again. Schools will restart early next month.

Germany has recorded a similar number of cases to some of the hardest-hit countries in Europe,

but has had many fewer deaths.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, a former scientist, has been widely praised

for clearly communicating details of epidemiology as she's laid out her policies.

But another reason for Germany's numbers so far, as with other countries that have largely escaped

dramatic scenes and high death tolls, is its focus on testing.

Germany has tested extremely widely.

Tom Nuttall is our Berlin Bureau Chief.

It's actually quite hard to get very reliable data on this,

but it looks like Germany is testing about 100,000 people a day.

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