The new geopolitics of big business
The world this week
Leaders
A chance for renewal
Getting rid of Binyamin Netanyahu would help Israel clean up its politics
But he won’t easily give up his office to Naftali Bennett
House of pain
Someone has to foot the bill for empty offices
Even small drops in occupancy rates will have a big effect on rents and prices
Brazil’s dire decade
Jair Bolsonaro is not the only reason his country is in a ditch
The political system that helped him win office needs deep reform
Killing reform
Violent crime is rising in American cities, putting criminal-justice reform at risk
What should be done about it?
Letters
On Mexico, covid-19 vaccines, green investing, endowments, Charles Dickens
Letters to the editor
Briefing
The land that ambition forgot
Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
American and Chinese businesses have left their European counterparts in the dust
Europe
One roof, three faiths
A Christian, a Jew and a Muslim walk into the same house of worship...
The price of success
A law to break the Mafia’s code of silence lets a killer go free
A celebrity with power
An interview with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky
Britain
Defending the realm
Boris Johnson seeks a state fit for crisis
Back with a bang
MPs are returning to Parliament in a rebellious mood
An F for effort
England’s school catch-up tsar resigns in protest
Middle East & Africa
The stench of misrule
An ex-president is on trial, but graft still blights South Africa
Mount Nyiragongo’s fury
Thousands of Congolese have fled Goma, fearing lava and deadly gas
Beethoven at dawn
Jordanians wake to an irritating tune blared from gas trucks
United States
Reality bites
Liberals and crime spikes
Political science
Congress is set to make a down-payment on innovation in America
Covid racial disparities
Hispanic Americans are most vulnerable to covid-19
The hunger wanes
Fewer Americans are going hungry
Lexington
Who owns the national pastime?
The Americas
A scofflaw’s offer
Venezuela’s strongman wants better relations with the United States
Rushing for the exit
Covid-19 is inspiring separatism in Argentina’s winelands
Asia
They’ll never take our kimchi
South Korea’s cultural spats with China are growing more intense
Run the jewels
India plans to remake Lakshadweep for tourism
Regulating online content (1)
India’s government goes after Twitter and its ilk
Regulating online content (2)
Indonesia adds another weapon to its speech-suppressing arsenal
China
A third is the word
China rapidly shifts from a two-child to a three-child policy
Fast track to the throne
China will soon open a new stretch of rail across Tibet
International
Let’s talk about sex
A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities
Special report
The economy
A dream deferred
Corruption and crime
Sliding back
The Amazon
Money trees
Politics
In need of reform
Evangelicals
Of Bibles and ballots
The prospects
Time to go
Business
Electric shock of the new
How to be the next Tesla
When to mind your business
LEGO unveils its first LGBTQ set
Feeling animated
Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime’s global popularity
The best-laid battle plans
America both helps and hinders China’s military-industrial complex
Schumpeter
The big-pharma firm that saw the future
Finance & economics
Shaky foundations
What a work-from-home revolution means for commercial property
The clumsy cartel
As oil demand picks up, OPEC’s discipline will be tested
Failure to land
What could break Hong Kong’s property market?
Serving a higher purpose
The Chinese state is pumping funds into private equity
Divergence, big time
Covid’s unequal effect on companies
Paradise lost
Twilight of the tax haven
Fighting for the scraps
Will poorer countries benefit from international tax reform?
Free exchange
What are the limits to government borrowing?
Science & technology
Inventing the future
A growing number of governments hope to clone America’s DARPA
Programmes by programs
Composing by computer
A brooding problem
Cicadas, insecticides and children
Forensic science
Testing alibis is not as straightforward as it seems
Horticulture
The origin of watermelons
Culture
Return of the repressed
A new exhibition illuminates the history of Dutch slavery
Noise pollution
Humans are imperfect, inconsistent decision-makers
How the West was won
The postal service enabled America’s westward expansion
Economic & financial indicators
Graphic detail
Bias in, bias out
Demographic skews in training data create algorithmic errors
Obituary
The colours of dawn