Feb 10th 2024

Who is in control? Xi v the markets

The world this week

Leaders

Weapons systems

Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future

They are reshaping the balance between humans and technology in war

China’s confidence shock

Has Xi Jinping lost control of the markets?

As a property crisis drags the economy into deflation, confidence is seeping away

The arsenal of hypocrisy

House Republicans are helping Vladimir Putin

Their cynicism over Ukraine weakens America and makes the world less safe

What happens when populists lose

Donald Tusk tries to restore Poland’s rule of law

Repairing the damage done by the last government will take grit and patience

Indonesia’s election

What Jokowi’s inglorious exit means for Indonesia

The outgoing president is playing kingmaker to a controversial ex-general

Letters

On China and Taiwan, royalty, artificial intelligence, activist investors, philanthropy, retirement

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Indonesia’s election

A presidential candidate sees daunting challenges at home and abroad

Artificial intelligence and democracy

An AI-risk expert thinks governments should act to combat disinformation

A post-populist perspective

Kyriakos Mitsotakis on how to escape the grip of populism

Briefing

Dissipating dreams

China’s well-to-do are under assault from every side

Their agonies at the hands of markets and the state will reshape the Chinese economy

Asia

Indonesian politics

A controversial general is likely to be Indonesia’s next leader

Pay the writers

South Korea’s writers and directors play Squid Game

Force for change

Izumi Kenta wants to shake up Japan’s opposition

G’day, goodbye

Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration is being tested

Rule of Modi

Are India’s corruption police targeting Narendra Modi’s critics?

Banyan

Singapore cracks down on Chinese influence

China

Spend more, please

Can China’s consumers save its economy?

Pay up

Protests are soaring, as China’s workers demand their wages

Shrouded in secrecy

An espionage case hurts Chinese relations with Australia

Chaguan

Xi Jinping’s chaos-loving friends

United States

Poll positions

Trump’s lead over Biden may be smaller than it looks

Deliberative or disgraced?

What the death of America’s border bill says about toxic congressional politics

Citizen Trump

A court rejects Donald Trump’s claim to absolute immunity

Shh! Legislation in progress

Congress might just pass an astonishingly sensible tax deal

Direct democracy

Florida too may have an abortion referendum in November

Generalising

State attorneys-general are shaping national policy

Lexington

This is not a story about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl

Middle East & Africa

Antony Blinken’s shuttle diplomacy

Israel scorns America’s unprecedented peace plan

America’s reverse-Goldilocks strategy

Why Iran is hard to intimidate

Israel’s obstructive settlers

America is trying to peg Israel’s settlers back

House and home

How to house the world’s fastest-growing population

How to stay in power

Democracy is under attack in Senegal

The Americas

El Salvador

After Nayib Bukele’s crushing, unconstitutional victory, what next?

The C word

Mexico’s president and his family are fighting claims of corruption

Pensions bonanza

Andrés Manuel López Obrador splashes out as elections loom

Europe

A party in a death spiral?

A mounting crisis of confidence confronts Olaf Scholz

A moment in the sun

Madrid is booming. Growing while keeping its cool will be the tricky part

Silencing the Kremlin’s critics

Vladimir Putin extends his crackdown in Russia

Return of law

Poland is trying to restore the rule of law without violating it

Charlemagne

Europe is importing a solar boom. Good news for (nearly) everyone

Britain

A pill wind

How Britain lost its war on drugs

Royal bodies

What Charles III’s illness says about monarchs and mortality

Not so soft

Britain’s economy will need rate cuts sooner rather than later

Eyes right

A tiny right-wing party tries to menace Britain’s Conservatives

Remembrance row

The controversy over Britain’s planned Holocaust memorial

Death to Britain, but not just yet

Iran is targeting its opponents in Britain

Bagehot

The former prime minister who fascinates the Labour Party

Business

Discomfort level

America’s economy is booming. So why are bosses worried?

Out of the nick, in time

Samsung’s boss avoids prison, again

Team players

Media companies club together for a joint sport-streamer

Bittersweet life

Can Giorgia Meloni reinvigorate Italia SpA?

Bartleby

Fairness: the hidden currency of the workplace

TsarGPT

Vladimir Putin wants to catch up with the West in AI

Schumpeter

Musk v Zuckerberg: who’s winning?

Finance & economics

Buttonwood

The dividend is back. Are investors right to be pleased?

Spring fever

Are NYCB’s troubles the start of another banking panic?

Capital punishment

Bankers have reason to hope Trump triumphs

Running out of road

The false promise of Indonesia’s economy

Fanning the flames

China’s stockmarket nightmare is nowhere near over

Free exchange

Universities are failing to boost economic growth

Science & technology

Ukraine’s drone war

How cheap drones are transforming warfare in Ukraine

Very small things

NASA’s PACE satellite will tackle the largest uncertainty in climate science

A long and winding road

The first endometriosis drug in four decades is on the horizon

They’re on a roll

Ancient, damaged Roman scrolls have been deciphered using AI

Baby AI

Scientists have trained an AI through the eyes of a baby

Culture

Chronicling the past

When is it too soon to write history?

Size doesn’t matter

Small, but mighty: how cuteness has taken over the world

Labour pains

Lessons for Keir Starmer from Britain’s first Labour government

Name that toon

Chinese animated films are booming

Back Story

The meaning of the hysteria over Taylor Swift

The Economist reads

The Economist reads

What to read about Pakistan

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

Backwards up the Khyber