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The US in brief
Police clear protests at USC; Cuellar indicted
Dateline
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Britain's general election
Explore The Economist's forecast for Britain's looming election
Business
Big tech’s great AI power grab
Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are on the hunt for new energy sources
China
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
The world in brief
Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire deal for Gaza proposed by Egypt and Qatar and that the “ball [is] now in Israel’s court”...
Xi Jinping met Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, and Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, in Paris as he kicked off a two-day state visit to France...
Columbia University in New York said it would cancel its main commencement ceremony on May 15th following weeks of pro-Palestinian student protests...
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan held him in contempt for a tenth time for violating his gag order, and threatened jail time should infractions continue...
Who is Angela Rayner?
The deputy leader of the Labour Party alarms businesses in Britain. Should she?
Banyan: Meet the maharajas of the world’s biggest democracy
Indian officialdom still treats citizens like subjects
Hedge funds make billions as India’s options market goes ballistic
The country’s retail investors are doing less well
Latin America’s farmers are cashing in on hot hot-cocoa prices
They aim to spend the windfall improving their technology to expand production
The US in brief
Police clear protests at USC; Cuellar indicted
Dateline
Try The Economist's history quiz
Britain's general election
Explore The Economist's forecast for Britain's looming election
World news
Emmanuel Macron’s urgent message for Europe
The French president issues a dark and prophetic warning
America’s federal district courts may soon be harder to manipulate
For once Democrats and (some) Republicans see eye-to-eye on judicial reform
Japan and South Korea are struggling with old-age poverty
Their problems may be instructive for other countries
Turkey’s President Erdogan faces a new challenge from Islamists
Religious voters think the president is not tough enough on Israel
Disinformation
The truth—and lies—behind Olena Zelenska’s $1.1m Cartier haul
The anatomy of a disinformation campaign
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
Business, finance and economics
America’s fiscal outlook is disastrous, but forgotten
On the campaign trail, both main candidates largely ignore the problem
Bartleby: How not to work on a plane
Hours without interruption and work to do. What could go wrong?
Buttonwood: What campus protesters get wrong about divestment
Will withdrawing money hurt Israel?
China mulls a bold test of taxation without representation
With revenue declining, its leaders must figure out how to collect more money
Video
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Espionage scandals are hurting Germany’s far right
Charges of Chinese and Russian influence mar Alternative for Germany’s European campaign
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
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
Strife in the Middle East
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
How much do Palestinians pay to get out of Gaza?
Middlemen are profiting from Gazans’ desperation
The Middle East has a militia problem
More than a quarter of the region’s 400m people live in states dominated by armed groups
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
Police clear protests at USC; Cuellar indicted
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
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
Other highlights
True tales of secrecy, opacity and outright thievery in art
Two outsiders tried to crack the art business. They did not like what they found
For a colossal challenge, try tower-running
The sport, which involves hurrying up high-rises, is ascendant
Japan and South Korea are struggling with old-age poverty
Their problems may be instructive for other countries
Why China’s companies are recruiting their own militias
Officials want to keep things calm in an era of slowing growth
Weekly edition: May 4th 2024
Europe in mortal danger: An interview with Emmanuel Macron
The new science of disinformation
More co-ordination and better access to data are needed to fight lies
Uncle Sam's fiscal profligacy
America’s reckless borrowing is a danger to its economy—and the world’s
Conflicts on campus
Should American universities call the cops on protesting students?
Feeling horny: dragons meet erotic fiction
Novels starring hot fairies are selling millions of copies
Special reports: May 11th 2024
Worlds apart
The American-led financial order is giving way to a more divided one
The global financial system is in danger of fragmenting
How crises reshaped the world financial system
The movement of capital globally is in decline
National payment systems are proliferating
The fight to dethrone the dollar
How the financial system would respond to a superpower war
Sources and acknowledgments
