Sep 7th 2019

Assad’s hollow victory

The world this week

Leaders

Syria will poison the region for years to come

Bashar al-Assad is on the verge of retaking Idlib province, the last rebel stronghold. But that will not end the chaos he has wrought at home and abroad

British politics

Boris Johnson’s Unconservative Party

The Tories’ tightening embrace of radical populism sets Britain up for a dangerously polarised election

What Mario Draghi should do to perk up Europe’s economy

Mario Draghi and the ECB confront a slowing euro zone

As the risk of recession in Europe rises, the ECB must act

A superclassic crisis

Blame populists, not reformers, for Argentina’s latest fiasco

The economy has suffered from the legacy of the past and fear of the future

Mind control

Artificial intelligence and war

As computers play a bigger role in warfare, the dangers to humans rise

Letters

On Hungary, the great auk, Brexit, Hong Kong, language, conservatism

Letters to the editor

Briefing

Wings over prayers

Syria’s war is drawing to a close. But the pain will go on

Bashar Assad rules the ruins of a nation he has bombed and gassed into submission

Another migrant crisis

Turkey tightens restrictions on Syrian refugees

Despite official denials, many are being sent forcibly back to Syria

United States

Bureaucratic blight

The federal bureaucracies were already creaking

First in flight

There is more to North Carolina’s special election than Donald Trump

Wonk-in-chief

Elizabeth Warren’s ideas get noticed. Michael Bennet’s are better

Daddy lessons

Republican states loosen their gun laws following mass shootings

Dire straights

Straight pride struggles to catch on

[Insert your own Star Wars pun here]

Donald Trump unveils Space Command

Lexington

Trumped by the Taliban

The Americas

FARC, the sequel

Will Colombia return to war?

Tragedy in the Caribbean

Slow-moving Hurricane Dorian devastates the northern Bahamas

Bello

Will South America’s “pink tide” return?

Asia

Changing of the guard

Relations between Thailand’s army and king are becoming one-sided

Meth in the madness

Afghan drug barons are branching out into methamphetamines

Winging it

Far more would-be refugees arrive in Australia by plane than by boat

Pride and protest

Hecklers outnumber gay-festival-goers in South Korea

Banyan

An election campaign in Sri Lanka stirs old ghosts

China

Carrie Lam’s blues

Hong Kong’s leader has made a concession to protesters

From the party, with love

China releases a movie drama featuring its belt-and-road project

Chaguan

Gay Chinese take a modest first step towards civil unions

Middle East & Africa

Stony ground

Why Pope Francis struggles in Africa

All bets are on

Ethiopia has caught gambling fever

The other Israelis

Israel’s Arab citizens could hold the key to political change

Europe

Kremlin v people

Repression in Russia no longer works as well as it did

Meltdown averted

Germany’s ruling parties have escaped electoral disaster

Hands to yourself

Volunteers are nabbing Venice’s pickpockets

In the black

How the capital of Poland’s coal belt is reinventing itself

Charlemagne

The new European Commission will be the most political yet

Britain

The future of the right

How Britain’s staid Conservative Party became a radical insurgency

Johnson’s baby takes a bath

A tumultuous week for Boris Johnson suggests an election is on the cards

A warning blast

Without Scotland, the Tories may struggle to win a majority

Cupboard love

Brexit-related food stockpiling is on the rise

Left-behind places

A new index finds neglect in Britain’s banlieues

An Olympic generation

A British baby boom grows up

Bagehot

British politics goes into the upside down

International

BRAC to the future

How BRAC, the world’s biggest charity, made Bangladesh richer

Business

The digital assembly line

Technology firms vie for billions in data-analytics contracts

German business

Deutschland AG worries about the rise of the hard-right AfD

Bartleby

People are working longer for reasons of choice and necessity

Prodigal son

Samsung’s boss thought he was out of the woods. Not so fast

About face

Chinese netizens get privacy-conscious

Le maillot jaune

Peloton covets recurring revenue

Schumpeter

Popenomics

Finance & economics

Force of circumstance

In Argentina, Mauricio Macri's dying government mimics its opponents

Buttonwood

Why yields are the best guide to future stockmarket returns

Expelling the poison

After three Chinese banks are bailed out, how many more are at risk?

Consider the lobster roll

Why Americans pay more for lunch than Britons do

Balancing act

Part-time jobs help women stay in paid work

Free exchange

Martin Weitzman died on August 27th

Science & technology

Battle algorithm

Artificial intelligence is changing every aspect of war

Books & arts

Campaigning in prose

Even when they say nothing new, candidates’ books can be revealing

Tilting at windmills

Salman Rushdie’s new novel is a metafictional romp

A killing field

Poland’s forgotten heroism and suffering

Laughter in the dark

A bold new play about Alexander Litvinenko’s murder

Johnson

Languages are a battleground for nationalists

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Continent of discontent

Nearly a third of Latin Americans want to emigrate

Obituary

Cries from a handkerchief