The Economist | World News, Economics, Politics, Business & Finance

Israel and Hamas

All of our coverage of the conflict in one place

The best of the year

Our annual guides to the finest cultural treats

Boss Class

Our podcast on management asks how to motivate staff

Leaders

Lessons from the ascent of the United Arab Emirates

How to thrive in a fractured world

Business

With Sam Altman’s return, a shift in AI from idealism to pragmatism

The lasting consequences of a head-spinning week


Europe

Geert Wilders’s election win leaves the Dutch in an awful quandary

Will the cordon sanitaire against the far right hold?




The world in brief

A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday morning...

Core consumer prices in Japan rose by 2.9% year on year in October, up from 2.8% in September...

Britain’s consumer-confidence index, which gauges the public mood about personal finances and the wider economy, increased by more than expected in November...

More than 30 people were arrested during riots in Dublin on Thursday following a knife attack outside a school that injured four people, including three children...


What survey data reveal about antisemitism in America

The views expressed by Elon Musk in a short message are more widespread than you think

Bagehot: What kind of legacy does Rishi Sunak want to leave behind?

Outgoing British governments can bequeath a total mess or embed their preferences

Deaths in Gaza surpass 14,000, according to its authorities

More than a third of the dead are children

A new way to predict ship-killing rogue waves

And a way to figure out how, exactly, AI works its magic

Israel and Hamas

All of our coverage of the conflict in one place

The best of the year

Our annual guides to the finest cultural treats

Boss Class

Our podcast on management asks how to motivate staff

This week

The most important political stories this week

Israel and Hamas agree temporary truce, the Dutch election produces a shock result—and more

The most important stories in the business world this week

Revolt at OpenAI, Binance fined $4.3bn—and more


Letters to the editor

On secondary legislation, Costa Rica, flying lawn chairs


KAL’s cartoon

A lighter look at this week’s events


AI

Schumpeter: The many contradictions of Sam Altman

Is the boss of OpenAI a genius or an opportunist?

Inside OpenAI’s weird governance structure

Why investors had no say in Sam Altman’s sacking


The Sam Altman drama points to a deeper split in the tech world

Doomers and boomers are fighting for AI dominance


Your job is (probably) safe from artificial intelligence

Why predictions of an imminent economic revolution are overstated


War between Israel and Hamas

Inside Hamas’s sprawling financial empire

Why Israel is powerless to dismantle the group’s finances

What happens to Gaza after the war?

No one wants responsibility for running and rebuilding the ruined enclave


Many Arab governments would like to see Hamas gone

And they worry that the war in Gaza will upset their economic plans


Mapping Israel’s war in Gaza

Our satellite tracking of the conflict with Hamas, updated regularly



Explore our full coverage

World news

Spending on infrastructure has fallen in real terms in America

That is despite a huge push by the Biden administration

Does a civil-war-era ban on insurrectionists apply to Donald Trump?

So far, America’s judges have been reluctant to involve themselves in the 2024 election



Did America thwart an Indian assassination plot?

Canada is not alone in worrying about Indian killers


Thanksgiving reads

The World Ahead Business in 2024

Travellers face another year of disruption in 2024

Demand is recovering faster than supply, which means delays and higher prices

What “Squid Game: The Challenge” reveals about the state of TV

Reality television is more important than you might think


The obesity pay gap is worse than previously thought

It affects men as well as women, and is wider for the well-educated


The best films of 2023, as chosen by The Economist

They featured cattle barons, chefs, composers, physicists and whistleblowers


Business, finance and economics

Why house prices have risen once again

Across the rich world, they have brushed off higher rates. Can that last?

Britain’s chancellor offers tax cuts and fiscal trickery

A pre-election giveaway from Jeremy Hunt


Ray Dalio is a monster, suggests a new book. Is it fair?

The founder of the world’s largest hedge fund comes under scrutiny


Is Japan’s economy at a turning point?

Wage and price inflation is coinciding with an exciting corporate renewal


Great reads

The Economist’s pick of the best television shows of 2023

Exceptional comedies, crime dramas, and psychological thrillers have come to the small screen this year

1843 magazine | Sorry you feel that way: why passive aggression took over the world

From Slack to the dinner table, honesty really is the best policy


Chaguan: Xi Jinping repeats imperial China’s mistakes

Lessons of a loyalty test that stifled innovation


How maths can help you win your favourite games

A global history of gaming is educational and filled with practical tips


Ukraine’s long war

The World Ahead Europe in 2024

The war in Ukraine may be heading for stalemate

Some big decisions will need to be made

The World Ahead Europe in 2024

Vladimir Putin cannot keep funding his war for ever

But after winning Russia’s presidential election in March, he will try


From Gaza to Ukraine, wars and crises are piling up

How diplomats and generals are running out of bandwidth



Visual storytelling

Inside a month of America’s school shootings

The hidden impacts of gun crime are devastating and poorly understood

Mapping Israel’s war in Gaza

Our satellite tracking of the conflict with Hamas, updated regularly


Western values are steadily diverging from the rest of the world’s

People’s principles were expected to align as countries got richer. What happened?


Large, creative AI models will transform lives and labour markets

They bring enormous promise and peril. But how do they work?


Stories most read by subscribers

Featured read

Elinor Otto did not realise what giant strides she was making for women

The longest-working “Rosie the Riveter” died on November 12th, aged 104

Climate report: Some progress, must try harder

Weekly edition: November 25th 2023

Climate report: Some progress, must try harder