Oct 12th 2024

The Trumpification of American policy

The world this week

Leaders

An echo and a choice

The Trumpification of American policy

No matter who wins in November, Donald Trump has redefined both parties’ agendas

Paradise lashed

How Florida should respond to Hurricane Milton

Storms like it raise uncomfortable questions about the state’s future

Shock horror

How high could the oil price go?

Geopolitical risk is rising. But so is the supply of oil

A sting in the tail

The front line of the tech war is in Asia

The two superpowers are vying for influence. China will not necessarily win

A bad deal

Britain should not hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Once again, the Chagossians have been denied a say

Letters

On Ukraine, policing, food chains, Azerbaijan, European reforms, kindness, the Labour government, martinis

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

The Israel-Hizbullah war

Lebanon needs a new army in the south, says Yair Lapid

The Israel-Hizbullah war

The framework that ended Lebanon’s war in 2006 could help end this one too, says Tarek Mitri

Briefing

Shrinking coattails

Who will control the next Congress?

The new president is much less likely than usual to see allies take charge on Capitol Hill

Asia

Digital domination

America v China: who controls Asia’s internet?

A glitch in the matrix

Asia is weighing data-centre ambitions against sustainability

Going nuclear

Kazakhstan’s referendum on nuclear energy could benefit Russia

A quieter tiger?

Is India’s economy slowing down?

Doing the locomotion

New railways could transform South-East Asia

Banyan

Has Narendra Modi lost his mojo?

China

Immigration

How to escape from China to America

United States

Policy brief

What America’s presidential election means for world trade

Policy brief

The US tax code will change next year; the presidential election will determine how

Policy brief

Donald Trump is preparing an assault on America’s immigration system

Policy brief

On energy and climate, Trump and Harris are different by degrees

Policy brief

Both candidates pledge to fortify America. How big will they go?

Policy brief

America’s presidential election marks a fork in the road for Ukraine

Policy brief

Will the next president follow Israel into war with Iran?

Policy brief

The next American president will be a China hawk

Lexington

Shirley Chisholm is still winning

Middle East & Africa

War in the Middle East

Israel has these four options for attacking Iran

Tehran’s calculus

Iran’s leader must choose how to fight his war with Israel

Waiting for war

The threat of an Israeli attack is reviving Iranian nationalism

Hizbullah’s role in Lebanon

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon may bolster support for Hizbullah

Family matters

How to send a cake from New Jersey to Accra

Off to a good start

South Africa’s coalition government has improved the vibes

The Americas

Stubborn brutality

The beating of Argentina’s former first lady fits a shameful pattern

Not the end of it

American women go to Mexico for abortions

Conservation in Latin America

The drug lords’ side-hustle: smuggling macaws, jaguars and frogs

Europe

The French budget

France stares into a “colossal” budgetary abyss

Struggling back

Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation

A tale of a nail

Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse

Holding on

Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine

Alive or dead?

The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors

Charlemagne

Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill

Britain

Scalpel, please

The story of one NHS operation

Grayday! Grayday!

The Sue Gray saga casts doubt on Keir Starmer’s managerial chops

Oceans apart

Britain has agreed to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Modern life is rubbish

The biography of a British recycling bag

Property and technology

Can software help ease Britain’s housing crisis?

The pulses quicken

Britain’s obsession with baked beans

Bagehot

Britain’s last imperialists

International

Elections everywhere

Over a billion have voted in 2024: has democracy won?

Business

Power couple

Big tech is bringing nuclear power back to life

A digital makeover

Can Mytheresa make luxury e-commerce a success?

Under fire

Can Israel’s mighty tech industry withstand a wider war?

A titan departs

Ratan Tata, a consequential and beloved figure in Indian business

The standards war

China is writing the world’s technology rules

Bartleby

When workplace bonuses backfire

Schumpeter

Masayoshi Son is back in Silicon Valley—and late to the AI race

Finance & economics

The other wall

How America learned to love tariffs

Worst-keg scenario

Could war in the Gulf push oil to $100 a barrel?

C-BAM!

Europe’s green trade restrictions are infuriating poor countries

When the smoke clears

Can markets reduce pollution in India?

Buttonwood

Why have markets grown more captivated by data releases?

Hammered

China’s property crisis claims more victims: companies

Keeping up with the neighbours

How bond investors soured on France

Free exchange

Can the world’s most influential business index be fixed?

Science & technology

The 2024 Nobel prizes

AI wins big at the Nobels

Flying fish

Meet Japan’s hitchhiking fish

Still waters

Noise-dampening tech could make ships less disruptive to marine life

Culture

From witchcraft to woke

How humans invented good and evil, and may reinvent both

Missives from a neurosurgeon

How complicated is brain surgery actually?

Song of myself

Why you should read Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

“Unleashed” and mildly unhinged

Boris Johnson shows how not to write a political memoir

Johnson on language

Americans are chuffed as chips at British English

Back Story

Is TV’s next sure-fire hit, “Disclaimer”, a must-watch or a dud?

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

Two towers of white spray