The Economist 18 - 24 May 2024
English | eBook | Size: 51.72 MB

Leaders
Democracy
Is America dictator-proof?
The many vulnerabilities, and enduring strengths, of America's republic

No news is bad news
Canada's law to help news outlets is harming them instead
Funding journalism with cash from big tech has become a fiasco

Biden's baleful barriers
America's 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs: bad policy, worse leadership
The global trade system is disintegrating as you read this

The challenge posed by China
Xi Jinping is subtler than Vladimir Putin—yet equally disruptive
How to deal with Chinese actions that lie between war and peace

A trillion-dollar AI arms race
Big tech's capex splurge may be irrationally exuberant
Beware of overhype and overbuild

Five more years?
Volodymyr Zelensky's presidential term expires on May 20th
What does that mean for his country?

Briefing
In the worst case
Why America is vulnerable to a despot
Its democratic system is not as robust as it seems

Asia
Heirs in races
Who could replace Narendra Modi?
A brutal civil war
The military dictatorship controls less than 50% of Myanmar
Justice in Kazakhstan
The murder that aroused a nation
Self help
Taiwan wants to prove that it is serious about defence
A fragile grid
Taiwan, the world's chipmaker, faces an energy crunch
Banyan
Narendra Modi ramps up the Muslim-baiting

China
An autocratic bromance
The Xi-Putin partnership is not a marriage of convenience
Where Sun never sets
How Taiwan still hangs on to property in bits of China

United States
Spreading like a weed
Marijuana is already legal for a majority of Americans
Bombs, away
The Biden administration is trying to walk a fine line in arming Israel
Hush puppy
A mano-a-mano contest between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump
High-speed rail
The world's slowest bullet train trundles ahead in California
Stacking the deck
Can playing cards help catch criminals?
The kids are still alright
After a season of Gaza protests, America's university graduates are polarised but resilient

Middle East & Africa
Slag to riches
How a Russia-linked mine may keep the ANC in power
Somalia's never-ending crisis
War and climate change are overwhelming Somalia
The Hamas-Israel conflict
On Independence Day Israel is ripping itself apart
Israel in Gaza
The Israeli army is caught in a doom loop in Gaza
American arms to Israel
Israel has seen arms embargoes before

The Americas
Nothing to see here
Facebook turned off the news in Canada. What happened next?
Elections in the Dominican Republic
Luis Abinader is poised for a thumping re-election win
When the levee breaks
Huge floods in Brazil's south are a harbinger of disasters to come
The other 19,999
Why Mexico's largest-ever election matters

Europe
Three-body problem
Germany's government is barely holding together
Time's up
Volodymyr Zelensky's five-year term ends on May 20th
Active measures
Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe
Gabriel Attal
Meet Gabriel Attal, France's young prime minister
What's in a name?
Turkish women should soon be allowed keep their maiden names
Charlemagne
The EU's best-laid plans for expansion are clashing with reality

Britain
A new kind of threat
Spies, trade and tech: China's relationship with Britain
The politics of students
Advisers to British government: don't mess with graduate visas
Free speech and protest
Antisemitism is on the rise in Britain
Pick your projection
What police commissioners tell you about the British election
Levelling the terrain
Is Britain levelling up?
Bagehot
The narcissism of minor differences, Labour Party edition

International
From grey zone to red zone
Taiwan's new president faces an upsurge in Chinese coercion

Business
Storing up trouble
App stores are hugely lucrative—and under attack
Clocked off
China's youth are rebelling against long hours
Bartleby
How to be a good follower
Through the floor
Can Home Depot's "amazing era" return?
Hot property
Meet the Swedish firm trying to shake up heat pumps
Marque to market
How not to name a new car
Schumpeter
What do Joe Biden and the boss of Starbucks have in common?

Finance & economics
Go get 'em
America is in the midst of an extraordinary startup boom
The 100% manoeuvre
Biden outdoes Trump with ultra-high China tariffs
Farewell to the GOAT
How Jim Simons revolutionised investing
Buttonwood
Joe Biden, master oil trader
India's economy
Narendra Modi's flagship growth scheme is off to a sluggish start
Sleepless in Shenzhen
The property firm that could break China's back
Free exchange
Diego Maradona offers central bankers enduring lessons

Science & technology
Generative AI
Today's AI models are impressive. Teams of them will be formidable
Disinformation
A Russia-linked network uses AI to rewrite real news stories
Coral hazard
The Great Barrier Reef is seeing unprecedented coral bleaching
Reef-building
Some corals are better at handling the heat

Culture
Money and faith
God™: an ageing product outperforms expectations
Honey, will you be home for dinner?
#Tradwives, the real housewives of the internet, have gone viral
Back Story
The trial of Donald Trump, considered as courtroom drama
Mass tourism
Venice's new admission fee cannot curb overtourism
Originalist to the core
How did the Founding Fathers want Americans to behave?
A literary life
Alice Munro was the English language's Chekhov

Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary
Life is too short to stuff a mushroom
Shirley Conran wrote a bonkbuster to teach schoolgirls about sex

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