The future of Thai politics may depend on one rising problem: staggering inequality.

In 2012, Vorayuth Yoovidhya, the 27-year-old scion of Red Bull’s billionaire founder, sped through Bangkok’s streets in a Ferrari. According to police, he was going over 100 mph when he hit and killed a police sergeant, dragging the man more than 100 yards. Authorities followed a trail of brake fluid to Vorayuth’s home and found him drunk. In a politically contentious time — Thailand would see a coup two years later — it was a unifying issue for the public who wanted to see Vorayuth in a courtroom. Rich kids getting away with murder seemed an apt metaphor for Thai society.

Economic inequality has long been a rallying issue for political parties in Thailand. That includes recent campaigning in the election planned for later this month — the first held since 2014’s coup d’état, and one that’s already been postponed five times. Unfortunately for the ruling military junta, fixing inequality isn’t something it can boast about. Lurking behind Thailand’s idyllic beaches and peaceful temples are some troubling statistics. In 2018, Thailand was the most unequal country in the world, with the richest 1 percent owning 67 percent of all wealth.

Shamorie Ponds leads St. John’s into March, with the future of New York City basketball in his hands.

With 10 seconds left and St. John’s trailing by one in a pivotal February Big East clash, there was zero debate over who would get the rock. Everyone inside Carnesecca Arena, the on-campus Queens, New York, home of the Red Storm, knew the ball was going to Shamorie Ponds. Sure, junior transfer Mustapha Heron was hot and Marvin Clark had nailed four 3-pointers, but now it was crunch time. It was time for the man recruited for exactly these moments to give the Johnnies a bucket with their season on the line.

Seven seconds left.

After fighting through a mugging from two Butler defenders to collect the ball at the top of the key, Ponds pivoted and drove right, muscling his way to the goal for a foul and crashing to the floor. He rose holding his left shoulder — his shooting arm — but proceeded to tie the game at the free-throw line. He missed the second free throw, then added three more points and an assist to clinch the 76–71 St. John’s victory in overtime.

Letting Americans sue foreign companies doing business in Cuba could become a new source of tension between America, Europe and China.

The United States and Cuba — which eked out its 60th year of revolution in January — have brokered respectable changes in the recent past. President Barack Obama rewrote Cold War policy that governed the decades-long stalemate. Embassies reopened, air travel recommenced and an economic-development vision was put in place. Obama even traveled to Havana to meet with Raúl Castro. Something new was afoot.

Or so it seemed. Critically, the rapprochement did not abrogate the U.S. embargo against Cuba, nor did it nullify the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, otherwise known as the Helms-Burton Act. A retaliatory measure against the Cuban government for having shot down two planes of the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, the law swiftly passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Bill Clinton. Among the many stipulations of Helms-Burton is Title III, which authorizes lawsuits to be filed in U.S. courts against financial entities “trafficking” property seized from Americans in 1959, including those from Cubans who subsequently became U.S. nationals. Properties deemed nonresidential and minimally valued at $50,000 at the time of confiscation would be considered fair game.