The Monocle Minute

Ramadan starts tomorrow and has been brutally ushered in by two bomb blasts in as many days in Indonesia. The Muslim holy month usually sees a spike in terrorism activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan but the deadly attacks on Indonesia’s second city of Surabaya come as a cruel reminder to the world’s largest Muslim country of the sustained threats in Southeast Asia. Isis was quick to claim responsibility for the first of the deadly suicide blasts, carried out at churches by members of the same family and bringing to an end a relatively peaceful two-year period. Last year the national government used new powers to ban a radical Islamic organisation called Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia. As voters head to the polls next month in state and local elections they will be looking for a robust response from candidates.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza yesterday as they protested the US embassy’s transfer from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The controversial embassy move is in keeping with the Trump administration’s growing preferential treatment towards Israel – it recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last year, breaking with western and UN foreign policy. Many are now questioning how the US can act as an impartial mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some Israelis are unsurprisingly ecstatic about the growing US support for its territorial claims. The most effusive (and bizarre) display of gratification has been from Jerusalem’s football team, which has renamed itself Beitar Trump Jerusalem in honour of the US president.

Japan’s tourism industry is booming, but not quite enough for Japan Airlines it would seem. Yesterday the country’s flag-carrier airline announced that it would launch an international low-cost offering in summer 2020. The company’s president Yuji Akasaka hopes the move will help Japan reach its tourism target of 60 million visitors a year by 2030 – it is making good progress: in 2010 and 2017 it had 8.6 million and 28 million visitors, respectively. Japan Airlines will begin by setting up a subsidiary company in July that will fly Boeing 787-8s from mid to long-haul destinations in Asia, Europe and the Americas to Narita Airport – which is building a new runway that’s due for completion around 2028. The airline is proving itself as the comeback kid of the aviation world after filing for bankruptcy in 2010 – the new low-cost carrier will mark a considerable return to form.

New York is continuing to pick up the pieces after the abrupt departure of its attorney-general Eric Schneiderman after he was accused of violent behaviour by a number of women. While plenty of theories abound – including suggestions that Donald Trump had long known about the accusers – the state’s most pressing concern is who to pick as Schneiderman’s successor. With lawmakers gathering this week to discuss an interim attorney-general before a long-term replacement is voted on in November, many are calling for Barbara Underwood – currently occupying the position since Schneiderman’s resignation and, aptly, the first woman to hold the position – to stay on until later in the year. While she’s ruled out running in November, should she change her mind she would have a fight on her hands: 15 candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring.

Should a bad TV season get a second chance? The makers of ‘Arrested Development’ have remixed and rereleased their fourth season and Robert Bound takes a look at it with the critics Karen Krizanovich and Toby Earle. Plus, they review new TV series ‘Patrick Melrose’ and ‘Safe’.

Monocle Films travels to Copenhagen and Mexico City with Audi to see how cities and their citizens are facing the challenge of building sustainable mobility in urban settings.