Jul 8th 2017

Why Germany’s current-account surplus is bad for the world economy

The world this week

Leaders

The German problem

Why Germany’s current-account surplus is bad for the world economy

The country saves too much and spends too little

Containing Kim Jong Un

America cannot stop North Korea from building long-range missiles

But it can deter Pyongyang’s despot from using them

The great unbanking

Swingeing fines have made banks too risk-averse

It is time to rethink anti-money-laundering rules

Dawn of the pre-tiree

What to call the time of life between work and old age?

To get the most out of longer lives, a new age category is needed

The war against Islamic State

No one knows what will replace the so-called caliphate

The twin perils facing America in the Middle East after victory in Mosul and Raqqa

Letters

Letters to the editor

Briefing

Vorsprung durch Angst

The good and bad in Germany’s economic model are strongly linked

Germany is admired for its stability but derided for persistent trade surpluses

United States

Spot the governor

State governments are shutting down more frequently

Notes from underground

New York’s subway is creaking

As goes Maine

The Republicans’ chances of replacing Obamacare are receding

The longest flush

California mounts an offensive in the bathroom wars

Trump memes

The origin of the specious

Last ride home

The story of a shooting in Atlanta

Lexington

The decline of the American teenager's summer job

The Americas

Enemies wanted

The Brazilian army is turning into a de facto police force

Head count

Archaeologists discover a gruesome tower of skulls in Mexico City

Graveyard of the pipelines

Turmoil in British Columbia could endanger a Canadian climate pact

Bello

Colombia’s future involves fewer terrorists and more ecotourists

Asia

The wrong kind of fireworks

North Korea’s long-range-missile test alarms Washington

Counted but not yet heard

Aboriginals want more than a mention in Australia’s constitution

Tokyo blows

An electoral defeat puts Japan’s prime minister on the back foot

The high life

Why 80% of Singaporeans live in government-built flats

China

The end of the beginning

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are not so friendly after all

Man bites dog

China’s growing market in dog meat

Banyan

There is a gulf between Hong Kongers and the Communist Party

Middle East & Africa

Last days of the caliphate

Islamic State nears its end

Rough in the Rif

Morocco’s unrest is worsening

Uneasy sits Qaboos upon the throne

The sultanate of Oman is taking a kicking

Turning blockbusters into booty

Ethiopia’s ingenious video pirates

Deep trouble

South African mining is in crisis

Europe

The Merkel doctrine

Germany is not the new leader of the free world

Heated protest

Turkey’s embattled opposition is marching to Istanbul

Heated debate in Hamburg

As America quits, Europe tries to lead on climate change

The tasks of Jupiter

Macron’s ambitions run into economic reality

Charlemagne

Estonia is trying to convert the EU to its digital creed

Britain

The tipping-point

Britain has got away with trimming public-sector pay—for now

Have your fishcake and eat it

A spat about seafood shows the compromises that Brexit will force

Splendid isolation?

Tight budgets and imminent Brexit threaten Britain’s armed forces

Monopoly games

Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Sky poses a dilemma for ministers

Boozy business

Vodka, vomit and “Victorian” conditions: Mike Ashley in court

Fees high, foes fume

Two decades since their debut, tuition fees still spark arguments

Bagehot

Jeremy Corbyn and the bourgeois dream

International

Rolling up the welcome mat

A crackdown on financial crime means global banks are derisking

Special report

The new old

Getting to grips with longevity

Footloose and fancy-free

Retirement is out, new portfolio careers are in

Rock around the clock

Ageing rock stars go on and on

Don’t call us silver

Pensioners are an underrated and underserved market

Your money and your life

Financing longevity

Tablets for every problem

New technology for old age

A blessing, not a burden

The joys of living to 100

Business

Get real

A reality check for virtual headsets

Screen test

Hollywood studios dip their toes in virtual reality

Brace position

Why Brexit could entail a hard landing for low-cost carriers

Russian brawl

Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov falls from grace, again

We can be heroes

Food-delivery firms like Delivery Hero are thriving

Half empty

Craft beer in America goes flat

Down the aisle

Who would buy Air India?

Schumpeter

Detroit’s car firms try to match Silicon Valley

Finance & economics

A hazy future

The City of London prepares for Brexit

Pepped up

The EU proposes pan-European pension products

Acquirer acquired

An American payments firm goes online and buys British

Buttonwood

Markets worry about central banks

Jeepa’s creepers

A new trade deal between the EU and Japan

Payday lending in Japan

Wanna buy some cash? It will cost you

A long reckoning

BNP Paribas faces accusations over the Rwandan genocide

Free exchange

Economists argue about minimum wages

Science & technology

Wide-eyed and lensless

Cameras are about to get a lot smaller

Detecting explosives

A new device to help train sniffer dogs

Additive manufacturing

A better way to make drinks and drugs

Failure to croak

Is the post-dinosaur world the Age of Frogs?

Books & arts

Class act

Evgeny Kissin is the world’s most acclaimed classical pianist

Racism in Australia

The poison that eats away at your being

The Thucydides Trap

Will America and China go to war?

Johnson: Dialectology

Twitter is useful for many things—including (unexpectedly) for studying dialects

Economic & financial indicators

Output, prices and jobs

Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates

The Economist commodity-price index

The Economist poll of forecasters, July averages

Markets

Obituary

Liberated