麻豆社

Stories from India, Germany, Afghanistan and France.

In India the government鈥檚 reputation is being battered by its failure to avoid, and then cope with, a second wave of Covid. The global economic power-house has reversed its stance and accepted emergency humanitarian aid from other countries for the first time in many years. The health service had all but run out of oxygen supplies. Images circulated of people dying as over-stretched hospitals turned them away. All this, after Mr Modi had assured his own people, and the world, that under his governance, Indians had successfully come together to combat the virus. But was the prime minister, instead, more focussed on division? The former 麻豆社 India Correspondent, Mark Tully who鈥檚 lived and worked in India for much of his life, considers where the current crisis sits within India鈥檚 history and Mr Modi鈥檚 place in it.

After a slow start Germany鈥檚 vaccination campaign is now gathering pace. The German government had kept to the time-table of the EU roll-out, rather than going it alone, putting it behind countries like Israel. However, around 30 per cent of the population has now had at least one dose And infection rates are falling steadily. So the German government has agreed to lift some restrictions for vaccinated people. But as the scramble for vaccine appointments intensifies, that is sparking new emotions 鈥� and some new words in the German language, as Damien McGuinness in Berlin has been discovering.

In Afghanistan, female entrepreneurs have tended to have a tough time getting their business ideas off the ground. They don鈥檛 normally get the same support as their male counterparts and only a tiny number of women entrepreneurs succeed in launching their own businesses. However, that number was growing 鈥� until the pandemic hit. There鈥檚 also nervousness ahead of the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan that some sort of power sharing deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government could curtail freedoms which have been hard-won by women. Charlie Faulkner went to meet one determined shop owner in the capital Kabul.

Last Wednesday marked 200 years since the death of Napoleon Bonaparte 鈥� one of France鈥檚 most revered military generals, who eventually met his defeat in the Battle of Waterloo. Opinion was sharply divided as to whether the anniversary should be commemorated or not. He鈥檚 hailed by some as a pillar of national history. For others, he was a despot. President Macron went ahead with a largely positive speech saying that his decision to restore slavery six years after it had been abolished, was a 鈥渂etrayal of the spirit of the enlightenment鈥�. Julia Buckley has visited a small museum in the Dordogne, that sidesteps elements of a life that was, as Mr Macron put it, 鈥渁n ode to political will power鈥� and focuses on the smaller lesser known aspects of Napoleon.

(Image: People queuing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in Ahmedabad, India, 01 May 2021. Credit: Reuters/Amit Dave)