May 30th 2020

The American way

The world this week

Leaders

The American way

How the world’s most powerful country is handling covid-19

Contrary to what many Americans think, the death rate in America is about the same as in Europe

Dragon strike

China has launched rule by fear in Hong Kong

The rest of the world should worry, too

Europe’s bail-outs

Government handouts threaten Europe’s single market

The dangers of Europe’s bail-outs

The summer holiday will be back

How tourism will survive the pandemic

Foreign adventure, discovery and hedonism are on hold. They will be back

Face it

The case for mandatory masks

In places where covid-19 is still rife, governments should require people to wear face coverings in crowded public spaces

Letters

On Bolivia, bio-weapons, covid-19 research, food, “The Leopard”

Letters to the editor

Briefing

100,000 and counting

America’s covid-19 experience is tragic but not that exceptional

The epidemic could get worse

United States

Cyber-defence

America rethinks its strategy in the Wild West of cyberspace

A YouTube mystery

Google’s removal of anti-Beijing comments raises political eyebrows

Native America

What connects casinos, the first Thanksgiving and the Trump administration?

College blues

Could a fifth of America’s colleges really face the chop?

Lexington

The vulnerability of African Americans to the coronavirus is a national emergency

The Americas

A tropical tragedy

Brazil’s losing battle against covid-19

Death and taxes

Mexico’s missing mummy mystery

Bello

Why a president from the 1980s offers lessons for Colombia today

Asia

Running out of juche

Standoffish North Korea discovers the limits of self-reliance

Bye degrees

Australia’s foreign-student bubble has burst

Mountain claimers

A border dispute between India and China is getting more serious

Aygay angslay

Gay people in Myanmar have adopted a secret language

Banyan

Asian countries try to build travel “bubbles”

China

Rule by fear

China’s national-security bill for Hong Kong is an attempt to terrify

Chaguan

China’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy gamble

Middle East & Africa

Soldiers of misfortune

Why African governments still hire mercenaries

Where dead men vote

Burundi’s rigged election

Dial it up

The covid-19 crisis is boosting mobile money

Devaluation gardens

Hobbyists hope to halt hunger in Lebanon by growing their own crops

The revolution will be televised

The battle over state TV in Iran

Europe

The visible hand

Europe’s habit of propping up firms may outlast the pandemic

The virus detectives

Germany’s contact tracers try to block a second covid-19 wave

To your good stealth

A beery European spy club is revealed

Paris masked

Covid masks give the French a new way to be chic

Into the trough

Eastern Europe’s covid-19 recession could match its post-communist one

Charlemagne

The EU’s recovery fund is a benefit of Brexit

Britain

Brexit

Deadlock looms at Brexit talks next week

The dog business

Rising puppy prices

Politics

The damage Dominic Cummings has done to Boris Johnson

Back for summer

English schools reopen, but not without a fight

Carmaking

Lotus benefits from its Chinese connection

Manufacturing

How covid-19 is changing carmaking

Sad summer

Holiday resorts need tourists but don’t want them

Bagehot

Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson: united by a shared contempt for rules

International

Lonely planet

What awaits tourists when they re-emerge from lockdown?

Still grounded

How China emerges from lockdown will affect global tourism

Business

Chinese diaspora Inc

South-East Asian tycoons’ high-wire act

Godfathers depart, too

Why Asian business dynasties struggle with succession

AI manoeuvres

Business lessons from the Pentagon

Don’t worry, it’s all under control

How big oil is trying to win back investors

Bartleby

Working life has entered a new era

Back to basics

The Renault-Nissan alliance hunkers down

Things get hairy

The global grooming industry gets cut down to size

Schumpeter

The e-commerce boom makes warehouses hot property

Finance & economics

More money, more problems

Can private-equity firms turn a crisis into an opportunity?

Private equity

Will covid-19 halt the rise of private equity in Europe?

The thin red line

China’s economists debate deficit monetisation

Buttonwood

What is the link between inflation and equity returns?

A change of plan

For the first time in 30 years, China has no GDP target

No fear of floating

The World Bank lands Carmen Reinhart as chief economist

Crisis measures

The pandemic could lead statisticians to change how they estimate GDP

Free exchange

The legacy of Alberto Alesina

Schools brief

Softening the blow

Climate adaptation policies are needed more than ever

Science & technology

Face masks and the coronavirus

Masks probably slow the spread of covid-19

Antifouling technology

A new robot may help keep ships’ bottoms clean

Space flight

Crew Dragon’s launch is postponed

Crackle, pop, snap

Self-destructing glue solves a sticky environmental problem

Books & arts

Still lives

It takes planning, not just talent, to be remembered as a great artist

Clash of the titans

When Theodore Roosevelt took on John Pierpont Morgan

A breed apart

The Habsburgs’ marriages consolidated lands as well as faulty genes

Perish and publish

Behind the scenes of “A Confederacy of Dunces”

Johnson

Is music a language, as Stevie Wonder sang?

Home Entertainment

The world of “Twin Peaks” chimes eerily with the mood of the lockdown

Home Entertainment

Take over the world in “Civilization”

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Garbage in

How to spot dodgy academic journals

Obituary

The wisdom of the forest