Aug 17th 2024

Footloose and fancy degree: How countries compete for talent

The world this week

Leaders

Footloose and fancy degree

America is sabotaging itself in the global battle for talent

Some countries are much more serious about attracting the highly skilled

The new nuclear threat

Reluctantly, America eyes building more nuclear weapons

The superpower faces more adversaries, new technologies and less-confident allies

Fighting back

The rights, wrongs and risks of Ukraine’s Kursk incursion

Ukrainian forces should be careful not to overreach

A coin toss for the White House

Our forecast puts Kamala Harris and Donald Trump neck and neck

We relaunch our presidential-election model for a transformed race

Billions or trillions?

Time to shine a light on the shadowy carry trade

Transparency will help to avoid financial blow-ups

Letters

On Donald Harris, Burberry, sickle-cell disease, Vienna, Katherine Parr, reading books

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Economic development

Indermit Gill on what China and India must do to join the rich club

American politics

Kamala Harris must define herself before Donald Trump does it for her

Briefing

Economic self-harm

Talent is scarce. Yet many countries spurn it

There is growing competition for the best and the brightest migrants

United States

On the eve of escalation

America prepares for a new nuclear-arms race

The Gaza question

Can Kamala Harris win Michigan without Arab-American voters?

Too close to call

Our new forecast for America’s presidential election

God and grades

Pious pupils in America perform better

Solo and the city

Studio flats are now affordable in many more American cities

Trump v Kemp

Donald Trump plays with fire in Atlanta

Lexington

Why the 2024 Chicago convention is not the 1968 convention

The Americas

Law of the jungle

A bold plan to close the deadly Darién Gap unravels

The lawless roads

Peru’s crazy drivers offer a data deluge for self-driving cars

Asia

Extended uncertainty

What if South Korea got a nuclear bomb?

The need for speed

Bangladesh’s new ruler is in a race against time

Banyan

Taiwan braces for America’s election

Heeding the call

Kishida Fumio, Japan’s prime minister, stands down

Thai politics

Thailand’s prime minister is sacked. What next?

The anniversary of the exit from Kabul

Afghans are suffering. Don’t expect any tears from the Taliban

China

Study hard, be rich, get ahead

China’s wealthy elite rigs its university arms race

Thousands of bodies for sale

A gruesome corpse scandal sparks outrage in China

Chaguan

How China thrives in a world of turmoil

Middle East & Africa

Byte the bullet

Iran’s electronic confrontation with Israel

Putting in a time of war

The bunkers on Beirut’s golf course are in the crosshairs

Conscription

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox still won’t fight, invoking scripture

A new age of austerity

The lessons of Africa’s tax revolts

Vroom vroom!

Cheap Asian motorcycles are transforming African cities

Europe

Into the breach

What next after Ukraine’s shock invasion of Russia?

Freedom on the line

Ukraine’s convicts take the fight inside Russia

Stop the war

Anti-war parties are set to clean up in eastern German elections

The fungus is just starting

How a Spanish province became the world’s truffle leader

Charlemagne

The great cover-up: Europe is losing its penchant for public nudity

Britain

Immigration policy

Britain has many levers for controlling migration. Which ones should it pull?

The morning after

Britain’s justice system has responded forcefully to the riots

Subterranean assets

Britain’s government is mapping underground cable and pipes

A privy counsel

Winston Churchill’s urinal shows Britain’s hang-up with heritage

Crude realities

Britain’s oil and gas industry faces an uncertain future

Say cheese!

NHS dentistry is decaying

International

Star wars: a new hope

Can Donald Trump’s Iron Dome plan keep America safe?

Business

The new stakeholderism

Patriotism is replacing purpose in American business

Hitting the road

The global tourism boom is shifting to Asia

Less plain sailing

From Taylor Swift to Star Trek, niche cruises are on the rise

Aiming high

Hindenburg widens its attack on Adani

Use it or lose it

Startups are finding novel ways to recycle carbon

Bartleby

How to take proper breaks from work

Ground down

Can Chipotle’s boss turn Starbucks around?

Schumpeter

How bosses should play politics: the cautionary tale of Elon Musk

Finance & economics

War finance

Vladimir Putin spends big—and sends Russia’s economy soaring

Don’t push it

How vulnerable is Israel to sanctions?

The danger list

Europe’s economic growth is extremely fragile

Buttonwood

How to invest in chaotic markets

Next-door vigilante

What is behind China’s perplexing bond-market intervention?

Free exchange

Why companies get inflation wrong

Schools brief

Applications for AI

LLMs will transform medicine, media and more

Science & technology

Backprop in the brain

AI scientists are producing a host of new theories of how our brains learn

Rays of hope

Exposure to the sun’s UV radiation may be good for you

Sleeper species

Climate change could reawaken harmful invasive plants

Carbon-based artforms

Why a new art gallery in Bangalore is important for Indian science

Culture

In defence of the “dirty documentary”

Reality TV is irritating but irresistible

Mad, bad and dangerous to know

Two centuries after his death, why is Lord Byron still seductive?

Wanna bet?

A famous forecaster takes on the establishment

Dollar Bill

What Bill Gates reveals about other billionaires

Cables from Kabul

Three years ago this month America withdrew from Afghanistan

Back Story

On some holidays, beauty and bloodshed are entwined

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

Running the peaks