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Middle East & Africa

Beirut after the blast: the crunch of glass, acrid smoke and stairs slick with blood

Lebanon was in a mess even before the blast, thanks to a squabbling, inept government

Related

From the archive: Lebanon’s political system leads to paralysis and corruption

Leaders

Forced sales are the wrong way to deal with Chinese tech

America needs to sort out its own data-privacy regime

Highlights
The Americas

Argentina reaches a deal with its foreign creditors

That is good news. It will take much more to overcome the economic and health crises

Britain

John Hume’s vision of peace in Northern Ireland is only half-fulfilled

He did more than anybody else to end the bloodshed, but mutual respect between Catholics and Protestants remains elusive

From our columnists
Asia

Banyan: Even in death, Lee Teng-hui is helping shape Taiwan’s identity

He oversaw the island’s democratisation and in death is riling China again

Daily chart

The Beirut explosion is the latest tragedy linked to ammonium nitrate

Dangerous handling of the chemical, used as a fertiliser and in bombs, has killed thousands of people around the world

Moreover
Books & arts

The benefits of learning an instrument in lockdown

Today’s music students have access to past and present masters online

The Economist’s coverage of the coronavirus

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Weekly edition

How to cope with middle age

August 1st 2020
The Economist cover image for the August 1st 2020 edition
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Readers’ favourites

Asia

Atomic-bomb survivors seek new ways to keep their memories alive

Briefing

Google’s problems are bigger than just the antitrust case

Finance & economics

Free exchange: The fear of robots displacing workers has returned

Graphic detail

Twitter’s algorithm does not seem to silence conservatives

The platform’s recommendation engine appears to favour inflammatory tweets

Podcasts

Sound reasoning on current affairs, business and finance, science and technology, and global issues.

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In context: The airline industry

Leaders

Airlines have a chance to emerge from the crisis leaner and greener

But that will require governments to reduce the power of incumbents

Business

Air travel’s sudden collapse will reshape a trillion-dollar industry

The pandemic has knocked the airline-industrial complex harder than it has most sectors

Business

Airlines blame covid-19 for rowing back climate commitments

Business

Virgin looks for help

Special report: The Midwest

A region with outsized punch

America’s Midwest matters out of proportion to its size, says Adam Roberts

The urban prairie

For the region to prosper, its bigger cities must flourish

Separate, downtrodden

The region has particular problems with segregation and policing

America’s Mittelstand

Advanced manufacturing can thrive, as Grand Rapids shows

From rustbelt to brainbelt

How higher education can drive prosperity

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Economist Films

Authoritative insight on news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.

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