How to Survive the Monk Parocades

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Monk parocades have knocked out power for 41,000 customers on Long Island in about 50 separate incidents. The birds shouldn't be in America. They originate in Argentina and southern Brazil where they're pests to farmers. But these cute and sociable birds also make really great pets. So they've been exported all over the world to be kept in avaries and cages as chatty companions. And here in America, they breed in the wild in more than 20 states, including cold spots like Chicago.

If there is one thing Facebook’s parent company does well, it is aping other social-media features and platforms—and it is a propitious time to steal Twitter’s thunder. Deeply indebted Arab countries desperately need loans from the IMF, but have good reasons to balk at the fund’s terms (10:00). And New Yorkers love their invasive parakeets; the birds’ enormous nests, less so (18:41).

For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer