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The US in brief

Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump trial

Dateline

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Britain's general election

Explore The Economist's forecast for Britain's looming election

Asia

An interview with Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s next PM

He will be just the fourth person to hold that position

United States

Plenty of circumstantial evidence at Donald Trump’s trial

But prosecutors will need Michael Cohen to seal the deal


Finance & economics

How Ukrainians are using the cover of war to escape taxes

“Black grain” infuriates exporters playing by the rules




The world in brief

Israel and Hamas reported fighting in eastern Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1m displaced Palestinians are sheltering...

Russia bombed energy facilities across Ukraine...

Sweden’s central bank cut its main interest rate for the first time in eight years, going from 4% to 3.75%...

Parliamentary and presidential elections began in North Macedonia...


The movement of capital globally is in decline

Geopolitics is altering its trajectory

How countries rank by military spending

Our analysis shows how NATO allies match up against their rivals

Anne Innis Dagg resolved to know everything about the world’s tallest creature

The zoologist and campaigner for equality died on April 1st, aged 91

The US in brief

Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump trial

Dateline

Try The Economist's history quiz

Britain's general election

Explore The Economist's forecast for Britain's looming election

World news

Visiting Europe, Xi Jinping brings up an old grievance

In marking the bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade, Mr Xi is sending a message to America

Why China’s companies are recruiting their own militias

Officials want to keep things calm in an era of slowing growth


Donald Tusk mulls which of the previous government’s plans to axe

The Polish populists’ projects were often preposterous, but not always


Emmanuel Macron’s urgent message for Europe

The French president issues a dark and prophetic warning


Strife in the Middle East

Israel and Hamas are not that far from a ceasefire agreement

But does Israel’s prime minister actually want to reach a deal?

Why are Arab armed forces so ineffective?

Governments are splashing the cash, but that may do little to burnish their armies’ reputations


University protests about Gaza spread to the Middle East

But Arab students are looking to America for inspiration


Israel’s prime minister does not know where to go

Binyamin Netanyahu may be losing the plot


Business, finance and economics

Big tech’s great AI power grab

Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are on the hunt for new energy sources

Bartleby: How not to work on a plane

Hours without interruption and work to do. What could go wrong?


Hedge funds make billions as India’s options market goes ballistic

The country’s retail investors are doing less well



Video

Stories most read by subscribers

Featured read

Who is Angela Rayner?

The deputy leader of the Labour Party alarms businesses in Britain. Should she?

The war in Ukraine

A fresh Russian push will test Ukraine severely, says a senior general

An interview with Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence

Russia’s gas business will never recover from the war in Ukraine

Hopes of a Chinese rescue look increasingly vain


Who is supplying Russia’s arms industry?

New research traces the origin of crucial imports


Ukraine’s draft dodgers are living in fear

Ever more conscripts are needed against Russia’s offensive


Disinformation

How to counter disinformation

More co-ordination is needed, and better access to data


Disinformation is on the rise. How does it work?

Understanding it will lead to better ways to fight it


The vocabulary of disinformation

From AI-generated news to verification


India’s election

1843 magazine | Rahul Gandhi is on the march. But where is he heading?

He wants to be the champion of Indian liberalism. First he needs to save his party from irrelevance

Even disillusioned young Indian voters favour Narendra Modi

They worry about their future, but do not blame the BJP


How strong is India’s economy?

It isn’t the next China, but it could still transform itself and the world


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


America’s election year

Joe Biden is practising some Clintonian politics

But he needs to do more than crack down on “junk fees” to woo swing voters

In brief

Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump trial; Greene and Johnson meet

Our daily political update, featuring 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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Other highlights

These books reveal why the brain is the biggest mystery of all

Eight of the best books on brains and consciousness—human, octopus and other

1843 magazine | “It’s been a very long two weeks”: how the Gaza protests changed Columbia

The camp has been cleared. But the faculty of the Ivy League university remains deeply divided


Jeremy Clarkson, patron saint of the Great British bore

He who speaks for the bore speaks for Britain


Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck

The documentary-maker and wife of Francis Ford Coppola died on April 12th, aged 87


Europe in mortal danger: An interview with Emmanuel Macron