Aug 10th 2024

Will the economy swing the election?

The world this week

Leaders

A week of violence

How to respond to the riots in Britain

Punish the thugs. Stand up for immigration. And improve local services

Growth scares

Will America’s economy swing the election?

It is not entering recession, but it is slowing down. That is bad news for Kamala Harris

Leaders

Is Tim Walz the right vice-presidential running-mate for Kamala Harris?

Progressives like him, but the presidential candidate will need to find ways to win over moderates

A desperate dissolution

Banning the opposition won’t save Thailand’s unpopular regime

Once again, the army pretends its critics are anti-royal

Glass half full

Why Ethiopia and Nigeria must press on with reforms

Currency liberalisation alone is not enough

People power

Bangladesh has ousted an autocrat. Now for the hard part

A caretaker leader, Muhammad Yunus, must try to rebuild democracy

Letters

On nutrition and IQ, the Paris Olympics, Kamala Harris, Mark Zuckerberg

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation, says Muhammad Yunus

Venezuela

The real winner of Venezuela’s election urges the regime to face facts

Briefing

Pursuing happiness

Can Kamala Harris win on the economy?

A visit to a crucial swing state reveals the problems she will face

Nevada gets lucky

Swing-state economies are doing just fine

They would be doing even better if the Biden-Harris administration had been more cynical

The left-behind

America’s “left-behind” are doing better than ever

But manufacturing jobs are still in decline

United States

Minnesota nice

Tim Walz’s life story is appealing, but his record is complex

Pouches of resistance

Why do conservatives in America love Zyn?

Head to head

Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump in our nationwide poll tracker

The Irish hello

A short-term work visa shows the benefits of immigration

Yes in God’s backyard

Can churches fix America’s affordable-housing crunch?

Turning pro

How the Trump campaign has become more professional

Lexington

The wisdom in calling Donald Trump weird

The Americas

Venezuela’s election

How the mad, bad Maduro regime clings to power

Perfume of the Pacific

Colombia prepares for a vanilla boom

Asia

A second liberation

Can hope beat hatred in Bangladesh?

Democratic deficit

Thailand’s top court tramples over the country’s democracy

Is the future female?

Could Kamikawa Yoko be Japan’s next prime minister?

Banyan

India cannot fix its problems if it pretends they do not exist

China

Selling the farm

One way to turbocharge the Chinese economy

Digital papers please

China’s new plan for tracking people online

Increasingly caffeinated

China is now the world leader in coffee shops

Revolution-coloured glasses

How China views the popular uprising in Bangladesh

Chaguan

China develops a divorced dating scene

Middle East & Africa

Swinging back to the centre

South Africa’s foreign minister wants better relations with the West

Soldiers of misfortune

Why South Africa’s army is floundering in Congo

Iran v Israel

Iran’s frightening new playbook for war

Up with extremism

Hamas’s pick of Yahya Sinwar as leader makes a ceasefire less likely

Europe

Pushing hard

Russia’s bloody summer offensive is hurting Ukraine

Late arrival

How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?

Shell and shock

Ukraine surprises with a high-stakes raid into Russia

Flatlining

Can anything rouse Germany from its economic slumber?

Dog gone

Turkey’s president refuses to let sleeping dogs lie

Choose the snooze

The siesta is still a serious business in Europe’s south

Britain

The haters

The evolution of Britain’s extreme right

Attitudes to immigration

Are Britain’s rioters representative of views on immigration?

Insanity and asylum

How hotels became targets for British rioters

One weird trick

How should Britain handle £200bn in quantitative-easing losses?

House-building

Would building 1.5m homes bring down British house prices?

Sea change

Plankton are much more interesting than you might think

International

Tipping the balance

Why the war on childhood obesity is failing

Business

Swiped out

Why people have fallen out of love with dating apps

Industrial involution

China’s manufacturers are going broke

Code-breaking

China is overhauling its company law

Bartleby

What can Olympians teach executives?

Searching questions

A court says Google is a monopolist. Now what?

Schumpeter

A history-lover’s guide to the market panic over AI

Finance & economics

Cigarettes, coffee and panic

The stockmarket rout may not be over

Marching on

A global recession is not in prospect

Burgernomics

The Big Mac index: where to buy a cheap hamburger

Sour taste

How Chinese shoppers downgraded their ambition

Buttonwood

Why Warren Buffett has built a mighty cash mountain

Bitter pills

Africa’s two most populous economies brave tough reforms

Free exchange

Should central bankers argue in public?

Schools brief

Artificial intelligence

How AI models are getting smarter

Science & technology

Keeping your marbles

How to reduce the risk of developing dementia

Gendered medicine

Do women make better doctors than men?

Soft power

New batteries are stretchable enough to wear against the skin

Purple patches

Lavender extract makes excellent mosquito-repellent

Terraforming Mars

Engineered dust could help make Mars habitable

Culture

The souls in a new machine

These are the two new books you need to read about AI

Gross-out

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is revolting, but popular

On the make

The mysterious people who have shaped the books people read

Fight club

Humans have engaged in warfare throughout their existence

New fiction

What should you write about your homeland when you cannot return?

The best of times is now

Why history podcasts are booming now

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

Out of Stalin’s terror