The Economist | Independent journalism
Cash for kids | Why paying women to have more babies won’t work
Economies must adapt to baby busts instead
Leaders
Rishi Sunak’s election call makes no sense, but is good news
Whether an act of political genius or lunacy, Britons should welcome it
By Invitation
Olaf Scholz on why Vladimir Putin’s brutal imperialism will fail
Germany’s chancellor says Europe needs more military muscle
Leaders
A president’s death gives Iran’s regime a choice
It will probably choose to keep alienating voters and antagonising the West
The world in brief
President Joe Biden greeted William Ruto, Kenya’s president, in Washington, DC, making him the first African leader to make a state visit to America in 16 years...
Identity and Democracy, a group of far-right parties in the European Parliament, expelled Alternative for Germany after one of its MEPs said that the SS, a Nazi paramilitary force, were “not all criminals”...
America’s Department of Justice and 30 state and district attorneys-general launched an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster...
Writing for The Economist, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, says that defending Ukraine from Russian aggression is “an indispensable investment” in Europe’s security...
Geopolitics helps reignite New Caledonia’s anti-colonial unrest
Emmanuel Macron makes an emergency dash to the troubled Pacific island
Criminal gangs are showing their muscle as Mexico’s elections loom
The next president must make the country safer
What does it mean to recognise Palestinian statehood?
Ireland, Norway and Spain will be the latest to do so
What’s behind Britain’s earthworm cataclysm?
Their numbers may have declined by a third
Video
This week
The most important political stories this week
Ebrahim Raisi dies in a helicopter crash, Rishi Sunak calls a general election in Britain—and more
The most important business stories this week
Nvidia’s revenues hit $26bn in the latest quarter, a Russian court freezes assets belonging to Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit—and more
KAL’s cartoon
A lighter look at the week's events
Letters to the editor
On disinformation, digital payments, South-East Asia, Italy, Ravel’s “Boléro”, Tesla cars
World news
The ICC’s threat to arrest Binyamin Netanyahu has shocked Israel
America and Israel have reacted with outrage at the implied equivalence between Israel and Hamas
War and climate change are overwhelming Somalia
It has already been battered by three decades of conflict
Even Xi Jinping is struggling to fix regional inequality
Will China’s vast hinterland ever catch up with its wealthy coast?
Time is running out to fix America’s student-aid mess
The risk of a sharp drop in college enrolment is rising
Strife in the Middle East
Iran’s new leaders stand at a nuclear precipice
The world’s atomic watchdog fears a terrifying regional arms race
The revolt against Binyamin Netanyahu
His war cabinet and generals want a new plan—and a new boss
The Israeli army is caught in a doom loop in Gaza
And the refusal to plan for the day after the war is fuelling a crisis with America
Israel has seen arms embargoes before
But this time it will struggle without American military support
Business, finance and economics
Can Nvidia be dethroned? Meet the startups vying for its crown
A new generation of AI chips is on the way
At long last, Europe’s economy is starting to grow
Now for the hard part
Free exchange: Diego Maradona offers central bankers enduring lessons
Recent years ought to have reduced the importance of a skilful feint. They have not
A new age of sail begins
By harnessing wind power, high-tech sails can help cut marine pollution
The war in Ukraine
Ukraine’s desperate struggle to defend Kharkiv
It is holding off Russia’s attack — for now
Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-year term ends on May 20th
But he has no plans to step down or call an election during wartime
What are the Russian “turtle tanks” seen in Ukraine?
Wrapping vehicles in corrugated metal might protect them from drone attacks
Sergei Shoigu’s sacking points to yet more attrition in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin wants Russia’s armed forces to be better supplied
Stories most read by subscribers
Featured read
How did the Founding Fathers want Americans to behave?
A journalist tries to figure out what it means to “live constitutionally”
America’s election year
A mano-a-mano contest between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump
The hush-money trial hinges on the testimony of the former president’s former fixer
In brief
Nikki Haley will vote for Trump; Biden confirms 200th judge
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
US election 2024
Can you build a Trump voter?
Try our tool—and see which attributes make voters more likely to pick one candidate over the other
Trump v Biden: who’s ahead in the polls?
The Economist is tracking the race to be America’s next president
India’s election
Who could replace Narendra Modi?
A leadership struggle is brewing in India’s ruling party
Banyan: Narendra Modi ramps up the Muslim-baiting
Is the Indian prime minister confident, or worried?
1843 magazine | Rahul Gandhi is on the march. But where is he heading?
He wants to be the champion of Indian liberalism. First he needs to save his party from irrelevance
Even disillusioned young Indian voters favour Narendra Modi
They worry about their future, but do not blame the BJP
Other highlights
The controversial cult of the host club in Japan
Why women pay men in make-up to flatter them
Today’s AI models are impressive. Teams of them will be formidable
Working together will make LLMs more capable and intelligent—for good and ill
The hit series “Bridgerton” has set off a string-quartet boom
It is a surprising example of how popular culture can shape consumer habits
What if calling someone stupid was a crime?
Lionel Shriver imagines cancel culture going to even greater extremes
Weekly edition: May 25th 2024
Cash for kids: Why policies to boost birth rates don’t work
Where next for Iran?
The death of the president changes the power dynamic
Meet Nvidia’s challengers
A new generation of AI chips is on the way
How to save South Africa
The rainbow nation needs an alternative to decline under the ANC
Britain’s election surprise
Rishi Sunak’s election call makes no sense, but is good news
Special reports: May 11th 2024
Worlds apart
The American-led financial order is giving way to a more divided one
The global financial system is in danger of fragmenting
How crises reshaped the world financial system
The movement of capital globally is in decline
National payment systems are proliferating
The fight to dethrone the dollar
How the financial system would respond to a superpower war
Sources and acknowledgments
