Aug 5th 2021

The people’s panopticon: Open-source intelligence comes of age

The world this week

Leaders

The people’s panopticon

The promise of open-source intelligence

It is a welcome threat to malefactors and governments with something to hide

Chipmaking

The chip shortage is a self-solving problem

Government subsidies will lead to overcapacity and waste

Democracy in Africa

Zambia’s election is crucial, but it’s not a fair fight

Hakainde Hichilema deserves to be elected, but the world should prepare for a rigged vote

Unstablecoins

Why regulators should treat stablecoins like banks

Cryptocurrencies are not yet a threat to the financial system, but the dangers are growing

Vaccine development

Scientists’ pandemic response could be even faster next time

New research suggests mass vaccination can be scaled up more quickly

Letters

On life sentences, Syria, germs, eggcorns

Letters to the editor

Briefing

Trainspotting, but with nukes

Open-source intelligence challenges state monopolies on information

Academics, activists and amateurs are making imaginative use of powerful tools

United States

Rough sleepers

The pandemic has made homelessness more visible in many American cities

Shontel Brown’s victory

A primary in Ohio shows the strength of mainstream, moderate Democrats

Fall from grace

Findings of sexual harassment put Andrew Cuomo in jeopardy

Phantom firearms

Taking aim at ghost guns

Lexington

The great American carnival

The Americas

Bolivia’s woes continue

Is Evo Morales staging a comeback in Bolivia?

You say pirozhki, I say empanada

In Uruguay few descendants of Russian émigrés want to leave

Asia

Moving story

Pacific countries face more complex problems than sinking

The urban jungle

Snake sightings are becoming increasingly common in Mumbai

Tokyo 2020

Japan breathes a sigh of relief as the Olympics end without disaster

The second horseman

The Burmese army is making a bad pandemic worse

Banyan

Malaysia’s politics are rotten from the top

China

Controlled growth

China’s efforts to lift Xinjiang’s economy may smother it

Middle East & Africa

Into the abyss

A year after the Beirut blast: still no bottom to Lebanon’s crisis

Off to an interesting start

Ebrahim Raisi takes office, as Iran and the West face off

Victory by default

Zambia heads towards a pivotal election

Rationed out

Refugees in east Africa go hungry as funds dry up

Europe

Not working

Spain has a two-speed economy with high unemployment

Forget the border

Belarus is making the rest of Europe nervous

Up in smoke

Turkey’s deadly fires raise the heat for Erdogan

The wolf’s return

A martial-arts star’s comeback is a boost for Chechnya’s dictator

Charlemagne

The black-cod theory of European integration

Britain

Britain’s boat people

A country with few asylum-seekers wants even fewer

Britain’s Olympic success

How Britain became an Olympic power

Farms and cybersecurity

Farmers are being targeted by cyber-criminals

Farewell to furlough

Paying workers to stay home during the pandemic protected jobs

Guid money after bad

Scotland counts the cost of industrial bail-outs

Bagehot

Is Britain becoming more meritocratic than America?

International

Well-founded fears

At 70, the global convention on refugees is needed more than ever

Business

Veni, Nvidia, vici

Will Nvidia’s huge bet on artificial-intelligence chips pay off?

Pinned by chips

Semiconductors pose an unwelcome roadblock for carmakers

A green and level field

The EU’s proposed carbon tariff gets a mixed reaction from industry

Bartleby

Chief executives are the new monarchs

Schumpeter

The many sides to Gautam Adani

Finance & economics

The disaster scenario

What if bitcoin went to zero?

Here comes the sheriff

The SEC sets its sights on the crypto “Wild West”

Temporary income hypothesis

Does perishable e-money represent the future of fiscal stimulus?

Evergrave

As more defaults loom, China’s finance regulators face a dilemma

Free exchange

America’s roaring recovery might carry lessons for future recessions

Schools brief

Defined by their boundaries

Cells and how to run them

Science & technology

Combating future viruses

Predicting viral evolution may let vaccines be prepared in advance

A non-binary burial

An intriguing reinterpretation of an ancient grave

Ancient geometry

The Babylonians used Pythagorean ideas long before Pythagoras

Automatic goods handling

Robots are poised to start unloading lorries

Culture

Sport

Roger Federer, Lionel Messi and the pursuit of greatness

An underground operation

The remarkable tale of the tunnel under the Berlin Wall

Horological history

Throughout history, clocks have rarely been just a matter of time

Star-crossed lovers

Elif Shafak’s new novel captures Cyprus’s tumultuous history

Johnson

A new book explores “cultish” language

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Green goals

How climate targets compare against a common baseline

Obituary

The weed of paradise