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Our latest newsletter covers a complex and consequential region

The US in brief

Arrests at pro-Palestine protests; Trump’s gag order

The Intelligence

Today’s podcast: Is Generative AI built on theft?

China

How Chinese networks clean dirty money on a vast scale

These shadowy “banks” are becoming the financiers of choice for transnational criminal gangs

Business

Disney, Ford, Microsoft and the age of the quasi-merger

How to build a global business empire in the 21st century


Culture

Why South Korean pop culture rocks and North Korea’s does not

Dictatorship stifles creativity and joy




The world in brief

Israel has not substantiated its claim that a “significant number” of employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency are members of terrorist organisations, according to an independent review commissioned by the UN...

Joe Biden condemned pro-Palestinian activists for acts of “blatant” anti-Semitism during protests at Columbia University, referring to reports of harassment...

The euro zone’s Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed in April to its highest level in 11 months, according to S&P Global...

Joe Biden told Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, that American weapons will arrive “quickly”...


For its next phase of growth, India needs a new reform agenda

With the right changes, it can become an engine of global growth

How to fix Britain’s barmy VAT regime

Britain’s second-most important tax is riddled with holes

A conservative strategist on how Joe Biden can win

Sarah Longwell says “double-haters” will decide the election

Sign up to Middle East Dispatch

Our latest newsletter covers a complex and consequential region

The US in brief

Arrests at pro-Palestine protests; Trump’s gag order

The Intelligence

Today’s podcast: Is Generative AI built on theft?

The war in Ukraine

Finally, America’s Congress does right by Ukraine

Disaster has been dodged. But the political malaise that delayed the Ukraine funding bill remains

The House of Representatives gives Ukraine its best news in a year

$61bn of aid is on the way. It should have an almost instant effect


Two years of war have impoverished many Ukrainians

The elderly, the displaced and the disabled are the worst affected


Ukraine is ignoring US warnings to end drone operations inside Russia

Its superdrones can reach targets as far away as Siberia


Generation Z

Reasons to be cheerful about Generation Z

They are not doomed to be poor and anxious

Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich

Millennials were poorer at this stage in their lives. So were baby-boomers


How worried should people be about Generation Z?

Two new books fit into a familiar pattern of the old fretting about the young


What is screen time doing to children?

Demands grow to restrict young people’s access to phones and social media


India’s election

India’s democracy needs a stronger opposition

The Congress party is set for a drubbing in the world’s biggest election

Radio Modi: How India’s prime minister sweet-talks the nation

We analysed hundreds of Narendra Modi’s broadcasts. They reveal a meticulously cultivated image


Gandhi v Modi: crunch time for Congress as India prepares to vote

The Economist joins the most prominent opposition politician on the campaign trail


Five charts that show why the BJP expects to win India’s election

Narendra Modi’s party is eyeing another big victory


Strife in the Middle East

Israel responds to Iran’s barrage with a symbolic strike

Both sides have a chance to de-escalate their conflict, at least for now

Iranians fear their brittle regime will drag them into war

Ultra-religious hardliners are gaining power and yearn for confrontation


A trauma surgeon on why Gaza is the worst of war zones

It is like stepping back into the 19th century, says David Nott


Israel’s use of AI in Gaza is coming under closer scrutiny

Do the humans in Israel’s army have sufficient control over its technology?


America’s election year

1843 magazine | Robert F. Kennedy junior doesn’t care if he condemns America to Trump

He’s a tree-hugging conspiracy theorist – and he’s running for president

In brief

Arrests at pro-Palestine protests; Trump’s gag order

Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter


Interactive US election 2024

Can you build a Trump voter?

Try our tool—and see which attributes make voters more likely to pick one candidate over the other


Trump v Biden: who’s ahead in the polls?

The Economist is tracking the race to be America’s next president



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Stories most read by subscribers

Featured read

1843 magazine | Inside the Kenyan cult that starved itself to death

During covid-19 a preacher lured thousands of people into a remote forest. Then he told them to stop eating

Business, finance and economics

How American politics has infected investing

Beware: taking a stand can be expensive

Schumpeter: What is weighing on CEOs’ minds this earnings season?

Shareholder letters are proving to be bleakly prophetic



America’s moves against Chinese biotech will hurt patients at home

The motives behind the BIOSECURE act are muddy


World news

The push to decriminalise abortion in Britain heats up

But campaigners should be careful what they wish for

After a year of war, Sudan is a failing state

Half a million may starve without urgent help


Chaguan: The dark side of growing old

A coming wave of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will test China to its limits


The German chancellor’s awkward meeting with China’s boss

It is time for Xi Jinping to accept that Germany isn’t America’s puppet


Other highlights

Locust-busting is getting an upgrade

From pesticides to drones, new technologies are helping win an age-old battle

America is uniquely ill-suited to handle a falling population

Which is a worry, because much of it is already shrinking



Käthe Kollwitz, a pioneering German artist, finally gets her due

Major exhibitions in Frankfurt and New York showcase her portrayals of the scars of war


Reasons to be cheerful about Generation Z

Weekly edition: April 20th 2024

Reasons to be cheerful about Generation Z