1. Desperate measures A Dubai-based firm has a solution to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) water shortage. It thinks it can tow an iceberg 9,000km from Antarctica to its coast, a process it expects to take an entire year. It says an iceberg contains enough water for 1m people over five years, and seems to think the iceberg will create a microclimate that will bring rain to the beach of Fujairah. UAE inhabitants don’t appear too concerned about its drought — the area is one of the world’s biggest water consumers per capita. 2. Policing Japan’s streets A single murder by gunshot was recorded for the whole of 2015 in Japan, where crime rates have been falling for 13 years. Surprisingly, the size of the country’s police force has swelled. The Economist says beat cops, known colloquially as omawari-san (Mr Walk-around), are a fixture in neighbourhoods. Japan has 259,000 officers — 15,000 more than a decade ago. Tokyo also has the world’s biggest police force — a quarter bigger than the...
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