Sep 10th 2022

The man who would be Trump

The world this week

Leaders

Win or lose, Jair Bolsonaro poses a threat to Brazilian democracy

All the signs are that he will lose an election and say he won it

Crunch time

How to deal with Europe’s energy crisis

Russia is turning off the gas. Power cuts loom. What should governments do?

Meet our midterm model

Republican candidates are doing much worse than they should

The party’s embrace of extreme positions and infatuation with Donald Trump are to blame

The mighty dollar

The dollar is as strong as ever. Isn’t it?

Technology is undermining the clout of the global reserve currency

From lavatory to laboratory

How spying on sewage could save lives

Wastewater surveillance is a cheap tool to spot health problems, but it is open to abuse

The in-tray from hell

Can Liz Truss fix Britain?

The new prime minister must eschew pantomime radicalism if she is to succeed

Letters

On children in war, Australia, credit cards, the Republicans, gene therapies, the European Union

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Health

Invest in health-care technology to make pregnancy safer in Africa, says Temie Giwa-Tubosun

Russia and Ukraine

How to prevent a crisis at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, according to a Fukushima veteran

Russia and Ukraine

Russia’s crony capitalism disincentivises economic reform, says Konstantin Sonin

Briefing

Trump’s tropical disciple

Jair Bolsonaro is poised to lose the Brazilian election

He will not go quietly

Essay

The view from a tent in the Arctic

The Alaskan wilderness reveals the past and the future

United States

Split decision

The Democrats are likely to lose the House but keep the Senate

High and dry

A water crisis in Mississippi’s capital is a harbinger of worse

The best medicine

American hospital food is fast improving

Abortion and the midterms

The demise of Roe v Wade has fired up the Democrats

Reading between the bars

More American prisoners are receiving a tech-based education

Biden’s gamble

Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree on one thing

The Americas

Second time’s a charm

Common sense prevails as Chileans reject a new constitution

Bello

Questions surround a gun attack on Argentina’s vice-president

Asia

Big plans for the ‘stans

Two new railway lines could transform Central Asia

A noisy noise annoys Hanoi

Loudspeakers in Vietnam’s capital will blare propaganda once more

More travel chaos

Long delays at Western consulates are ruining Asians’ travel plans

Banyan

The clout of Ohtani Shohei, Japan’s greatest baseball star

China

Greasing the ladders

Zero-covid is making it tougher for Chinese strivers to get ahead

Shaking with frustration

Public patience with zero-covid is wearing thin in China

Travelin’ man

Xi Jinping will at last venture abroad again

Too rich for some

China’s government bites down on expensive mooncakes

Middle East & Africa

An unenriching debate

Never-ending nuclear talks with Iran are bordering on the absurd

HoneyZoom

Lebanese seeking civil marriages are getting wed online

Make way for the prince

The ancient city of Jeddah is being bulldozed

Local heroes

Game developers draw on African stories to create new worlds

Who’s counting?

An unofficial tally exposes Angola’s dodgy election

Europe

Preventing the big chill

Europe scrambles to protect citizens from sky-high energy prices

Western wind

Ireland’s dreams of exporting wind power are plausible

Breakthrough

Ukraine’s army pierces Russian lines near Kharkiv

Big Brothers

Meet the hard-right party likely to win Italy’s election

Thursday’s children

The war has thrown Ukraine’s surrogacy industry into crisis

Charlemagne

Norway is profiting embarrassingly from war in Europe

Britain

Wasp in a bell jar

What kind of prime minister will Liz Truss be?

Crisis? What crisis?

A weaker pound does not spell disaster for Britain

Eat up

The cost-of-living crisis in Britain is not just about energy

Taking a leaf out of your book

Books are physically changing because of inflation

Self-harm in Britain

The profile of suicide victims in Britain is changing

Bagehot

Meet Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer. He’s rather odd

International

Where there’s muck, there’s data

How covid-19 spurred governments to snoop on sewage

Business

Help still wanted

Why businesses are furiously hiring even as a downturn looms

Mr Smith goes to Silicon Valley

Why economists are flocking to Silicon Valley

Bartleby

Why the fuss over quiet quitting?

Wrinkle treatment

The ugly truth about young beauty brands’ business model

Generating controversies

Some European power companies are on the brink

Schumpeter

Starbucks and the perils of corporate succession

Finance & economics

Post-crash cryptocurrencies

The future of crypto is at stake in Ethereum’s switch

China’s financial system

The digital yuan offers China a way to dodge the dollar

Buttonwood

Emerging-market stocks are struggling in an intangible world

Pretty green

Why the dollar is strong and why that is a problem

Free exchange

Europe’s energy market was not built for this crisis

Science & technology

Weather

Heatwaves and floods around the world may be a taste of years to come

Parasites prevented

A new malaria vaccine shows promising results

One foot in the grave

Humans were performing amputations earlier than thought

Zooming in

Making the invisible visible

Culture

Progress and its discontents

Bradford DeLong reconsiders the 20th century’s economic history

Frame the swamp

A hit Brazilian telenovela is updated for a different age

New British fiction

Ian McEwan’s new novel is the story of a single life

A life of crime

Lucy Worsley takes on the mystery of Agatha Christie

Masters and commanders

In war, the key tussles are often between generals and leaders

Johnson

Some words have two opposite meanings. Why?

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Global normalcy index

The world is almost back to pre-covid activity levels

The Economist explains

The Economist explains

Will China’s economy ever overtake America’s?

The Economist explains

Who is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner?

Obituary

A piece of cloth