Jan 27th 2024

Will AI transform the emerging world?

The world this week

Leaders

American immigration

How the border could cost Biden the election

To keep Trump out of power, the Democrats need to make an offer on immigration policy

AI for all

AI holds tantalising promise for the emerging world

It could help boost human capital, and ultimately growth

Unchaining a tiger

Vietnam needs a new leader

Doubts about the health of Nguyen Phu Trong have become a political liability

Private assets, public interest

The risks to global finance from private equity’s insurance binge

Funding pensions with private assets holds promise—but needs scrutiny

Mainstream Meloni

Giorgia Meloni’s not-so-scary right-wing government

Liberal fears have so far proved overblown

Electoral lawfare

African governments are using courts to sway elections

The abuse of judiciaries is harming democracy. Here’s how to stop it

Letters

On diversity, equity and inclusion, Chinese cars, presidential hats, Holocaust victims, Norse sagas, movies

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Jews and Muslims

A Muslim faith leader calls for stronger moral leadership in the Middle East

Briefing

Chatbots for the bottom 4bn

Could AI transform life in developing countries?

Optimists hope it will ease grave shortages of human capital

Asia

Strong tailwind, no rudder

Few countries are better placed than Vietnam to get rich

Lunar landing

Japan lands on the Moon

As may be prescribed

India tightens the screws on online dissent

Banyan

South Korea’s ban on praising the North is ridiculous

China

China and Taiwan

A new diplomatic struggle is unfolding over Taiwan

Easy questions only

At a UN review, China basks in the flattery of friendly countries

Westerners out, Chinese in

Hong Kong is becoming less of an international city

Skip, skip, scandal

Why skipping ropes are so expensive in China

Chaguan

Xi Jinping looks abroad for confidence

United States

Bordering on disaster

America’s immigration policies are failing

Texas hold’em

The bold Texas plan to stop migrants has hit a wall

Trouble down south

America’s border crisis in charts

MAGA mania

After winning New Hampshire, Trump is cruising to the nomination

Here be dragons

Why politicians are obsessed with mythical Chinese land grabs

Breaking news

The rise of the TikTok news anchor

Lexington

Why America’s political parties are so bad at winning elections

Middle East & Africa

A region on fire

The ever-expanding Middle East war

Anything but Hamas

Can the Palestinian Authority be beefed up?

Putting the rule in rule of law

How to nobble a political rival in Africa and get away with it

Holy split

Russia’s plan to seduce Christians in Africa

The Americas

North American politics

The prospect of a Trump presidency looms over Mexico’s elections

So, so, so scandalous

Colombia’s first avowedly left-wing president is mired in scandal

Narcojustice

Can Ecuador free itself from the grasp of the drug lords?

Europe

So far, so good

Giorgia Meloni has proved the doubters wrong

Fresh Bürger

Germany strikes a brave new deal on immigration

Constitutional horse-trading

Geert Wilders makes a show of respecting the law

Happy Austrians, glum Germans

Many Austrians feel their way of life is under threat

Learning from the east

Europe’s new plan to safeguard its economy

Charlemagne

The EU’s €50bn package for Ukraine is a far cry from its rhetoric

Britain

Nuclear energy

Britain wants to make nuclear power plants cheaper to build

Snakes (and tortoises, rhinos and gibbons) on a plane

How to transport a rhino

Howay the Sauds

Football attracts Saudi investment to England’s north-east

Hard choices

The ethical quagmire of a fetus-harming epilepsy drug

Penny slain

Britain’s least valuable coin is in terminal decline

Property tax

Britain’s council tax is arbitrary, regressive and needs fixing

Bagehot

Britain’s Labour Party is backed by a pro-growth coalition

International

Isolationist America

The world is bracing for Donald Trump’s possible return

Business

Upsetting the cart

What could bring Apple down?

Bartleby

Why you should never retire

Picking losers

Why America’s controls on sales of AI tech to China are so leaky

The Modi paradox

India’s businessmen like Narendra Modi. They also fear him

Schumpeter

Can MSCI drag private markets out of the shadows?

Finance & economics

Going for broke

Wall Street titans are betting big on insurers. What could go wrong?

Buttonwood

Investors may be getting the Federal Reserve wrong, again

Burger prices

What Donald Trump can learn from the Big Mac index

Gourmet commodities

Why sweet treats are increasingly expensive

Ballpark figures

How American states squeeze athletes (and remote workers)

Free exchange

The false promise of friendshoring

Escaping the dragon

As China’s markets suffer, what alternatives do investors have?

Science & technology

Caffeine and the climate

Can scientists save your morning cup of coffee?

Polyglot machines

Why AI needs to learn new languages

Aesop’s ecological fables

How ants persuaded lions to eat buffalo

Magnets. This is how they work

Scientists have found a new kind of magnetic material

Culture

After the fire

Against the odds, Notre Dame cathedral will reopen this year

Sing it again

“Mean Girls” and the rise of the film-turned-musical-turned-remake

The comeback kid

Which colour and material is most in vogue in 2024?

The gates of Salt Lake

Mormonism is America’s homegrown religion

Anti-totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt’s message on freethinking is as relevant as ever

Oh, gods

The modern relevance of 3,000-year-old religious sculptures

The Economist reads

The Economist reads

What to read to understand El Salvador and the Northern Triangle

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

The wrath of God