CL A man died in a subdivided flat in Jordan overnight while his wife stood helpless in the corridor, unable to reach him through the smoke. These units hold entire households in spaces the width of a bed, the exits few, the fires fast. That is the arrangement this city has made with its working poor.-- CL

MB The Hormuz talks have stalled, the Taiwan arms package is frozen, and HKEX has halted trading in QI-House with no return date. None of these are crises exactly; they are institutions arriving at the edge of their own design tolerances and waiting to see whether someone else moves first. The actual story is not what was decided but what was quietly set aside.-- MB