The aliens among us: How viruses shape the world

The viral universe

Viruses have big impacts on ecology and evolution as well as human health

The postmaster always rings twice

More mail-in voting doubles the chances of recounts in close states

Our kind of people

America’s black upper class and Black Lives Matter

Old soldiers

War heroes no longer dominate American politics as they once did

From iPhones to aircraft carriers

American national-security maximalism can be self-defeating

The hydroxychloroquine of energy policy

Drilling in Alaska’s national wildlife refuge makes no sense

Lexington

Democrats set factionalism aside for the big push against Donald Trump

Paid fellowships in the United States

Anxious isles

The pandemic’s indirect hit on the Caribbean

No more Morneau

The resignation of Canada’s finance minister hurts and helps Trudeau

Peace talks without peace

Why the stalemate in Myanmar persists

Street cred

Audacious student protests are rocking Bangkok

Virtual respect for the dead

Covid-19 has made it hard for the Japanese to visit family graves

Calls waiting

The internet is patchy on Pakistan’s north-west frontier

Banyan

South Korea’s liberal rulers unleash their inner authoritarians

Worlds apart

Changes to China’s hukou system are creating new divides

Chaguan

China’s rulers will pay a high price for repression in Hong Kong

The strong, silent type

The United Arab Emirates has become a force in the Middle East

Who’s next?

The Arab countries most likely to recognise Israel

A rite old mess

Iran’s clerics argue over how to hold the festival of Muharram

Wait a minute Mr Postman

Why African countries issue stamps celebrating English cricketers

Oil on protected waters

An oil spill off Mauritius threatens protected ecosystems

A coup that was coming

What next for Mali?

Hanging on, for now

Alexander Lukashenko is trying to beat protesters into submission

Welcome to politics

Italy’s populist Five Star Movement is becoming a more normal party

Alexei Navalny in peril

Russia’s opposition leader is in a coma, seemingly poisoned

Balking at Balkan babies

The Balkans are getting short of people

Charlemagne

Covid-19 is threatening Europe’s Schengen passport-free zone

The economy

Mass unemployment threatens Britain

Clothes, image and Instagram

How social media made Gymshark

Covid-19

Britain’s government axes Public Health England

Exams

The A-level results U-turn

Ethnicity and politics

Black Lives Matter in Northern Ireland

Media and society

Britons are increasingly avoiding the news

Labour Party

Labour’s left wing is trying a new strategy to gain influence

Bagehot

How the British government rules by algorithm

Angst in the Aegean

A row between Turkey and Greece over gas is raising tension in the eastern Mediterranean

Partying like it’s 1999

Initial public offerings are back in Silicon Valley

Power play

Epic Games takes on Apple

Believe the hypercar

Rimac is making a big name for itself in battery-powered transport

A big-sum game

Tencent Video battles iQiyi in China’s streaming wars

Weekend plans

IG Metall is pushing for a four-day week

No more quarter

America closes the last loophole in its hounding of Huawei

Schumpeter

Forced labour in China presents dilemmas for fashion brands

Navigating the storm

Can Dubai enter the premier league of financial centres?

Cloth of gold

Why the economic value of a face mask is $56.14

Conforming to norms

China’s monetary stimulus is unusually restrained

Buttonwood

Bubble-hunting has become more art than science

Free exchange

America’s fiscal federalism is less superior than you might think

Hidden figures

Why does low unemployment no longer lift inflation?

Covid-19

When covid-19 becomes a chronic illness

Twentieth-century fox

Albert Murray was a bard of America’s racial complexity

Johnson

How a contested region became a model for multilingual coexistence

A river and a nation

An enchanting trip down the mighty Magdalena

Home Entertainment

For your summer getaway, try an imaginary city

Unmoored

In “Sisters”, love and danger are grippingly entwined

Drifting apart

A rift in democratic attitudes is opening up around the world

Passion plays

Julian Bream died on August 14th