The Economist | Independent journalism

The new economic order | The liberal international order is slowly coming apart

Its collapse could be sudden and irreversible

Business

Is America Inc’s war for talent over?

Competition has cooled—for now

Leaders

How to pacify the world’s most violent region

The iron-fist approach will not solve Latin America’s gang-violence problem


Asia

Singapore has achieved astounding economic success

Can Lawrence Wong, its incoming PM, oversee further growth?




The world in brief

The Israel Defence Forces gathered on the outskirts of Rafah, the only major city in Gaza that has not yet been assaulted by their ground forces...

America sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait, 12 days before the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te...

Hangzhou, a megacity in eastern China, lifted restrictions on buying residential property...

TikTok said it will introduce features to identify and label AI-generated videos...


How Kristi Noem missed her shot to be vice-president

A failure to do things by the book

How countries rank by military spending

Our analysis shows how NATO allies match up against their rivals

The chilli pepper has set fire to the internet in China

Thanks to Mao, the once-derided pepper quietly revolutionised Chinese palates

This week

The most important political stories this week

Xi Jinping visits France, Serbia and Hungary, Israel carries out air strikes on Rafah—and more

The most important stories in the business world this week

Disney’s Disney+ and Hulu streaming services make a $47m quarterly profit, Tesla’s sales of cars made in China drop again—and more


KAL’s cartoon

A lighter look at the week's events


Letters to the editor

On Britain’s refugee policy, Reform UK, transmission markets, San Marino, Taylor Swift


World news

Why the Biden administration is rushing to produce regulations

An obscure law creates pressure to issue rules that can’t be undone in a hurry


Visiting Europe, Xi Jinping brings up an old grievance

In marking the bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade, Mr Xi is sending a message to America


Emmanuel Macron’s urgent message for Europe

The French president issues a dark and prophetic warning


Business, finance and economics

Schumpeter: Does Perplexity’s “answer engine” threaten Google?

Taking aim at one of the best business models of all time

Big tech’s great AI power grab

Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are on the hunt for new energy sources


The movement of capital globally is in decline

Geopolitics is altering its trajectory


Bartleby: How not to work on a plane

Hours without interruption and work to do. What could go wrong?


Strife in the Middle East

Israel and Hamas are not that far from a ceasefire agreement

But does Israel’s prime minister actually want to reach a deal?

Why are Arab armed forces so ineffective?

Governments are splashing the cash, but that may do little to burnish their armies’ reputations


University protests about Gaza spread to the Middle East

But Arab students are looking to America for inspiration


Israel’s prime minister does not know where to go

Binyamin Netanyahu may be losing the plot


Video

Stories most read by subscribers

Featured read

Why Beethoven’s ninth appeals to democrats and despots alike

Since its first performance 200 years ago, few pieces of music have won such varied devotees

The war in Ukraine

How Ukrainian farmers are using the cover of war to escape taxes

“Black grain” infuriates exporters playing by the rules

A fresh Russian push will test Ukraine severely, says a senior general

An interview with Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence


Russia’s gas business will never recover from the war in Ukraine

Hopes of a Chinese rescue look increasingly vain


Who is supplying Russia’s arms industry?

New research traces the origin of crucial imports


Disinformation

How to counter disinformation

More co-ordination is needed, and better access to data


Disinformation is on the rise. How does it work?

Understanding it will lead to better ways to fight it


The vocabulary of disinformation

From AI-generated news to verification


India’s election

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


How strong is India’s economy?

It isn’t the next China, but it could still transform itself and the world


Radio Modi: How India’s prime minister sweet-talks the nation

We analysed hundreds of Narendra Modi’s broadcasts. They reveal a meticulously cultivated image


America’s election year

Joe Biden is practising some Clintonian politics

But he needs to do more than crack down on “junk fees” to woo swing voters

In brief

Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump trial; Greene and Johnson meet

Our daily political update, featuring stories that matter


Interactive 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



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Other highlights

These books reveal why the brain is the biggest mystery of all

Eight of the best books on brains and consciousness—human, octopus and other

1843 magazine | “It’s been a very long two weeks”: how the Gaza protests changed Columbia

The camp has been cleared. But the faculty of the Ivy League university remains deeply divided


Jeremy Clarkson, patron saint of the Great British bore

He who speaks for the bore speaks for Britain


Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck

The documentary-maker and wife of Francis Ford Coppola died on April 12th, aged 87


The new economic order

Weekly edition: May 11th 2024

The new economic order