This complexity can make it hard to identify illegitimate operators. Some students end up saddled with debt and no closer to being a doctor. Rashed, 32, from Trinidad, cried with happiness when he was accepted into All Saints University College of Medicine in St Vincent. He had been rejected by nearly 50 other medical schools. But the school, which later changed its name to Richmond Gabriel University, suddenly moved all courses online and told students that a new campus was opening in Curaçao. It never did. In April, one of the founders appeared in court in Chicago to face federal charges of fraud and embezzlement related to the city’s Loretto Hospital. Rashed says he is “totally broke”. He has managed to enroll in a different, accredited medical school. His peers at SGU and Ross are a mainstay of America’s medical system. The allure of a career in medicine in the United States will probably get more like him into trouble. ■ Sign up to El Boletín, our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//the-americas/2026/07/16/the-biggest-schools-training- americas-doctors-are-in-the-caribbean
Argentina v England is one of the most intense rivalries in sport The two countries have not played each other in over two decades July 16th 2026 THE SUMMER of 1966 is remembered differently in two of the world’s football powerhouses. For England it was euphoric: on home turf they beat West Germany in the final to win their first—and so far only—World Cup title. For Argentina it was different. Their exit from the tournament after losing to England in the quarter-finals is a bitter memory. The contested game, in which Argentina’s captain had to be forcibly removed from the pitch, saw England score a disputed goal. England’s coach called his opponents “animals”. The game is known as el robo del siglo (the robbery of the century) in Argentina.
Six decades on, with a German coach, Thomas Tuchel, at the helm, England came as close to reclaiming the title as they have ever been. The squad lost to Argentina, the reigning world champions, 2-1 in a semi-final on July 15th. The game in Atlanta was the first time the teams had faced each other in two decades. It was still testy and foul-ridden throughout. Lionel Scaloni, Argentina’s head coach, had insisted that it was “a football game and that is all”. Every Argentine knew that was not true. Atlanta’s police force increased security ahead of the game. Opposing fans entered from different ends of the stadium. Such was the depth, even after a long hiatus, of perhaps the most intense transcontinental rivalry in sport. Argentina and England have now played six times at the World Cup since it began in 1930. Although animosity took off in 1966, 1986 was the year it transcended sport. Argentina had invaded the Falkland Islands four years earlier, laying claim to the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic over which both countries assert sovereignty. Argentina lost the 74-day war. Nearly one thousand people died. The Falklands remain British territory today. When the two countries played each other in the quarter-final in Mexico City in 1986, emotions ran high. Argentine striker Diego Maradona scored two historic goals, one using la mano de Dios (the hand of God, pictured), punching the ball into the net. Argentina went on to win the tournament. Maradona later admitted to the handball, and claimed that it was revenge for Las Malvinas, as the Falklands are known in Argentina. Tension persisted in games in 1998 and 2002. The territory remains a sticking point. Javier Milei, Argentina’s populist president, who has previously been criticised for a lack of support for the cause, has become more vocal. In April, after a leaked memo showed that the United States could review its position on British sovereignty of the islands, Mr Milei said they would “always be Argentine”. After their win, some Argentine players celebrated by holding up a banner that read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.” They and the fans have been singing “The Fourth Star”, an anthem that has gone viral online. One lyric goes: “For the Malvinas, for Diego (Maradona) and for Leo’s last run
(Lionel Messi, Argentina’s star player); Argentina I want to see you become back-to-back champions.” Glory is on offer in the final against Spain on July 19th. But an Argentine win won’t change anything in the Falklands. ■ Sign up to El Boletín, our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//the-americas/2026/07/15/argentina-v-england-is-one-of- the-most-intense-rivalries-in-sport
Is Aung San Suu Kyi dead? An unreliable America is drawing Asia’s middle powers closer Haunted houses are in demand in Japan A real but selective crackdown on Cambodia’s scam industry An incomplete list of falling objects in India
Is Aung San Suu Kyi dead? Myanmar’s jailed leader has not been seen since 2022 July 16th 2026 TAICHITO HAD followed Aung San Suu Kyi everywhere. But the dog was not allowed to accompany Myanmar’s leader into prison after a military junta overthrew her government five years ago. Last month, the floppy-eared mongrel died at her home in Yangon, the former capital, aged 15, still awaiting her return. He had been a gift from Kim Aris, her son, on her release from an earlier spell in prison in 2010. “I think he was the best thing I ever gave her. He was very faithful to her,” says Mr Aris in an interview in London. Mr Aris has a bigger worry, however: his aged mother has disappeared. He has been travelling the world in recent months, pushing presidents and ministers to demand that Myanmar’s military government provide “proof of
life”. The last official appearance of Ms Suu Kyi, who would now be 81, came at the conclusion of her show trial at the end of 2022. Since then, the army has consistently refused her lawyers’ requests to see her. Reports of sightings in Myanmar’s prison system have trickled out of the war-torn country in recent years, but are impossible to verify. Ms Suu Kyi ranks as one of the world’s most famous political prisoners. She spent many years under house arrest while leading peaceful democratic protests against Myanmar’s military regime during the 1980s to the 2010s, and won the Nobel peace prize in 1991. After her party finally came to power in 2015, however, her reputation was damaged by her defence of the armed forces’ treatment of the Rohingyas, a persecuted Muslim minority. In 2021 a military coup removed her from power, before sending her to prison. The military government claimed in April that it had moved Ms Suu Kyi to house arrest, but has turned down repeated requests from diplomats who ask to visit. Pressed by diplomats about her condition, regime officials invariably reply that she is in good health, but say little else. A photo published at the time of her supposed move to house arrest showed her chatting with a policeman and an army officer inside an unidentifiable building. There is no indication that it is of recent vintage, however, and Mr Aris doubts its authenticity. He says that if she is indeed under house arrest, it is not at her home in Yangon and that her house in Naypyidaw, the new capital, has been torn down.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the man who led the coup against her, had himself declared president in March. He has been asked about Ms Suu Kyi at least twice recently. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, brought her up in talks with him in Delhi last month. And in May, Julie Bishop, the UN special envoy on Myanmar, asked to see her when she met the general. Diplomats privy to those conversations say that he responded with anger at the mention of her name. Some of those briefed on these conversations worry that the coup-leader’s reaction could indicate that he is unable to produce the requested proof of life—because she is either dead or in bad shape. Others are sceptical. “To keep that under wraps would be impossible,” says Morgan Michaels, a Myanmar expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think- tank in London. The general’s profound dislike of his political rival, as one ambassador puts it, may be sufficient explanation for her isolation. Foreign ministers from other members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have repeatedly raised Ms Suu Kyi’s welfare with their opposite number in the junta, including at a meeting in Bangkok on July 12th. The generals want to fully rejoin ASEAN, which suspended Myanmar from high-level meetings after the coup. They also want their seat at the UN. Myanmar has been represented there since the coup by an official
of the ousted civilian government. Releasing Ms Suu Kyi, or just giving foreign diplomats access to her, might melt opposition in both institutions to normalisation. Doing either would have less predictable consequences inside Myanmar. Ms Suu Kyi has consistently advocated non-violent resistance. Since the coup, a nationwide campaign of armed groups representing many of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities has emerged to challenge military rule; for the first time they have joined forces with revolutionaries from the Burman ethnic majority. But Ms Suu Kyi, a Burman nationalist who in office gave minorities short shrift, lacks support from many armed groups. Freeing her would be “the easiest way to break up” unity among them, says a foreign diplomat who has been working to stitch them together. Mr Michaels sees the armed forces as less worried about the armed uprising than they are about non-violent movements of the sort that Ms Suu Kyi has advocated since 1988. She retains an almost talismanic power over many members of the Burman majority, who continue to take personal risks to show their fealty. The diplomatic focus on Ms Suu Kyi’s plight risks eclipsing that of Myanmar’s 55m people, who continue to suffer under the junta. She is but
one of 14,517 political prisoners confirmed to be held by the government, says the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an advocacy group. Medical care in prison is poor, air conditioning in the sweltering hot season unavailable. (Ms Suu Kyi is reported to have refused an air- conditioned cell because others do not have one.) This year alone, the AAPP confirmed the deaths of over 60 political prisoners in custody. Even as Mr Aris seeks news of his own mother, he says she would not want their plight to be forgotten. ■ For exclusive coverage of Asian politics, economics and security, sign up to Asia Bulletin, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//asia/2026/07/13/is-aung-san-suu-kyi-dead