tension

Across the country, fear and tension about environmental threats were boiling beneath the surface.

Over the next four years, the incoming IOC president is likely to have to show diplomacy to contend with tensions between the US and China over a doping case involving 23 Chinese swimmers.

In May, Israel’s ambassador to the UN wrote to the secretary-general to complain about Syrian violations, including “armed presence in the area of separation” which “only heighten tensions in our already volatile region”.

But tensions will arise because his ally, Morocco, has its own ambitions for strategic leadership across West Africa.

But then the rough thing is that when you are put under tension or conflict, stuff starts to surface.