Divided over the colour of Cleopatra's skin
With reference to Hamza Hendawi and Maan Jalal's piece Calls for Netflix to be blocked in Egypt amid anger over casting of black Cleopatra (May 17): Casting a coloured actor (David Gyasi) to play Achilles on the Netflix series Troy: Fall of a City didn't go down well a couple of years ago, and here we go again. As Bassem Youssef says in this report, this is a sensitive topic and whenever there is talk about casting a black actor, people assume it's about racism and rewriting history. I will watch closely the casting decisions of creatives in the next series about, say, Napoleon or Churchill. It will be interesting to watch the French and English reactions.
Hany Adel Ghaith, Abu Dhabi
The problem of guns in America
With reference to the report Farmington shooting: Teenager kills three and injures six (May 16): It’s becoming normal to read about shootings in America more often than not. I’m confused that no one in high places is doing the obvious. The lobby of gun shop owners and manufactures of ammunition seems to be too strong to allow gun safety laws to come into play.
Belinda Wallington, Muscat, Oman
The US should just stop issuing weapons without strict licenses and background checks. The human cost is unjustifiably high.
Ateeq Ahmed, Bangalore, India
A record attempt and a great day for Nigeria
With reference to the report Hilda Baci: Nigerian chef sets 100-hour cooking record (May 15): We love Hilda and we are all proud of her.
Adebanjo Daniel, Ibadan, Nigeria
Nobody knew her until she decided to do something unthinkable. Many congratulations to her. But as even President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted Monday was a great day for Nigeria.
Toye Joshua, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
High command culture in India
With regard to Chitrabhanu Kadalayil's op-ed India's top political parties need to address power imbalances within (May 16): This article was meaningful and thought provoking. The recent election results in Karnataka and the aftermath of selecting the chief minister of the state due to the high command culture was nicely articulated. As the author has rightly put it, parties must address the power imbalances within and not rely only on the high command, as has been the norm for decades. It will be interesting to see if anything changes in the coming year before the national elections.
K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India
