The Economist | World News, Economics, Politics, Business & Finance
Israel and Hamas
All of our coverage of the conflict in one place
Republican primaries poll tracker
Can anyone beat Donald Trump?
The Weekend Intelligence
This week: a feathery parable of America’s divisions in the 21st century
Leaders
Technology is helping Santa Claus come to town more efficiently
A letter to shareholders of Father Christmas Global Inc
United States
The deaths-of-despair narrative is out of date
Drugs and suicide are no longer killing more working-class whites than they are other Americans
Christmas Specials
The truth about the passenger jet Putin’s men shot down
Investigating MH17, the crime that presaged the war in Ukraine
The world in brief
After concentrating their efforts for weeks on northern Gaza, Israel’s armed forces announced on Sunday that they would increasingly turn their attention to fighting Hamas in the south...
A US Navy destroyer patrolling the Red Sea shot down four drones flying towards it from the Houthi-controlled part of Yemen, according to America’s armed forces...
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said he would veto a budget proposed by the new liberal government, led by Donald Tusk...
A senior official in Ukraine’s defence ministry was arrested, for allegedly embezzling nearly $40m by buying artillery shells at inflated prices...
1843 magazine | Cornel West’s quixotic presidential bid is a danger for Joe Biden
His record of pro-Palestinian activism might attract lefty Democrats—if he can get on the ballot
Charlemagne: At Christmas, Europeans look less united than ever
There is no single market for how to celebrate the holidays
AI is stalking the last lions of Hollywood
The first actors to lose their jobs to artificial intelligence are four-legged
“Ferrari” is the latest example of Hollywood’s love of brands
Like superhero franchises and sequels, films about famous products are safe choices
Israel and Hamas
All of our coverage of the conflict in one place
Republican primaries poll tracker
Can anyone beat Donald Trump?
The Weekend Intelligence
This week: a feathery parable of America’s divisions in the 21st century
Christmas specials
How the young Winston Churchill escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp
And what his unlikely tale reveals about imperialism
Why economists love “Robinson Crusoe”
The classic yarn of a shipwrecked sailor reveals a lot about scarcity
A tale of penguins and prejudice is a parable of modern America
When two male penguins hatched an egg in Central Park, they set off an enduring controversy
Wine and climate
Global warming is changing wine (not yet for the worse)
New vineyards are popping up in surprising places; old ones are enduring
Cultural picks of the year
The best books of 2023, as chosen by The Economist
This year’s picks transport readers to mountain peaks, out to sea and back in time
The best films of 2023
They featured cattle barons, chefs, composers, physicists and whistleblowers
The best television shows of 2023
Exceptional comedies, crime dramas, and psychological thrillers have come to the small screen this year
The best albums of 2023
Throwback sounds such as folk, punk and soul dominate our list this year
Strife in the Middle East
The US Navy confronts a new Suez crisis
Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping threaten global trade
Israel isn’t sure what to do about the hostages in Gaza
Every option is fraught with danger
Israel and Palestine: How peace is possible
A peace process can go wrong in many ways, but a real possibility exists that it could go right
The plight of Christians in Bethlehem and Jerusalem predates the latest Gaza war
Their number is continuing to dwindle
Business, finance and economics
Delivery robots will transform Christmas
Santa’s hi-tech little helpers
Which economy did best in 2023?
Another unlikely triumph
Economists had a dreadful 2023
Mistaken recession calls were just part of it
Schumpeter: Can anyone bar Europe do luxury?
The old continent enjoys a unique blend of heritage, skills and strategy
World news
A supposed haven in Sudan falls to a genocidal militia
The worse of two bad factions is winning the war
Javier Milei implements shock therapy in Argentina
His government plans to cut spending by 3% of GDP. Will society tolerate it?
Europe is struggling to find the money
Rows over budget rules have been bitter
Why are Indians shunning the country’s shiny new metro lines?
Costly fares, inconvenience and poor planning all play a role
American journalism
1843 magazine | When the New York Times lost its way
America’s media should do more to equip readers to think for themselves
Can you have a healthy democracy without a common set of facts?
America’s presidential election is a test of that proposition
Donald Trump is the conservative media
No institution that enjoys the trust of Republican voters can successfully stand up to him
American journalism sounds much more Democratic than Republican
Whether this reflects bias or reality is in the eye of the beholder
Cryptocurrencies
Why bitcoin is up by almost 150% this year
Introducing the cockroach theory of crypto
How the young should invest
Markets have dealt them a bad hand. They could be playing it better
Another crypto boss falls
Changpeng Zhao may face jail, while his firm pays a $4.3bn fine
Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall is complete
The erstwhile crypto king is convicted of seven counts of fraud
Ukraine, Russia and the long war
Ukraine’s army is struggling to find good recruits
Russia is suffering immense casualties—but it has the edge in manpower
Ukraine takes an important step towards EU membership
The EU’s leaders agree to open accession talks with it—but Hungary blocks a big aid package
Vladimir Putin is running Russia’s economy dangerously hot
Extravagant war spending is fuelling inflation
Putin seems to be winning the war in Ukraine—for now
His biggest asset is Europe’s lack of strategic vision
Visual storytelling
Vladimir Putin is dragging the world back to a bloodier time
His attempt to conquer Ukraine ignores the lessons of history
Inside a month of America’s school shootings
The hidden impacts of gun crime are devastating and poorly understood
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?
The World Ahead 2024
Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation
Ten trends to watch in 2024
2024 will be stressful for those who care about liberal democracy
America will need a new vocabulary to discuss its presidential election
Europe needs to step up support for Ukraine
Don’t give up on peace in the Middle East
The world must try to break a vicious cycle of insecurity
China’s leaders will seek to exploit global divisions in 2024
Demand for “green” metals will redraw the global mining map
Don’t count on a soft landing for the world economy
Generative AI holds much promise for businesses
A cricket World Cup comes to America
Stories most read by subscribers
Featured read
The life-giving, death-dealing power of corn
Maize fed ancient civilisations, then wiped out 100,000 American Southerners. What went wrong?
Weekly edition: December 23rd 2023
Holiday double issue
On safari in south Sudan
The planet’s biggest conservation project is in its least developed nation
Global warming and wine
New vineyards are popping up in surprising places; old ones are enduring
Penguins and prejudice in America
When two male penguins hatched an egg in Central Park, they set off an enduring controversy
China’s new love of the beach
China’s beach culture is a microcosm of society
Special reports: November 25th 2023
The new economy net zero needs
It is vital to climate stabilisation, remarkably challenging and systematically ignored
