Israel’s agony and its retribution
The world this week
By Invitation
Israel and the Palestinians
Nimrod Novik on the false premises and failure of vision that led to the Hamas attacks
Israel and the Palestinians
The Palestinian cause has been damaged by factionalism, argues a former prime minister
The Economist explains
The Economist reads
The Economist reads
What to read (and watch) about indigenous Australians
Leaders
The Middle East
Will Israel’s agony and retribution end in chaos or stability?
Much depends on its offensive in Gaza—and its politicians and neighbours
A bad example
Europe should not copy Bidenomics
It needs a deeper, greener single market—not more state handouts
Putting the lean into clean
How to deal with the global anti-climate backlash
Minimise the cost and hassle that green policies impose on households
Demography
Large parts of Asia are getting old before they get rich
Even poor countries must start planning for an ageing population
The case to STAy
America and China should keep doing research together
Republicans are wrong to want to scrap the Science and Technology Agreement
Letters
On making movies, Frank Sinatra, HIV and PrEP, companies, diamonds, Mexican slang
Letters to the editor
Briefing
From shock to fury
Hamas’s atrocities and Israel’s retaliation will change both sides for ever
The miscalculations of Israel’s and Gaza’s leaders are being laid bare
The darkest day
Hamas’s attack was the bloodiest in Israel’s history
More Jews were killed on October 7th than on any day since the Holocaust
Resisting the call, for now
Hamas has failed to rally the Middle East to its cause
But it has managed to demolish America’s plans for the region
Britain
There is an alternative
Britain’s Labour Party embraces supply-side social democracy
Labouring a point
Even when he glitters, Sir Keir Starmer still struggles to shine
Off the boiler
How will Britain turn off its gas grid?
Metrospective
Why a British challenger bank got into trouble
Gender and politics
Why British politicians are defending women-only spaces
Europe
Winners and losers
Which EU country is winning our economic pentathlon?
Out of sight, out of mind
The EU’s endless search for a migration fix
German state elections
A boost for Germany’s right
The persistence of memory
A corner of Italy that is forever China
United States
The home and foreign fronts
Paralysis in Congress makes America a dysfunctional superpower
In fine feather
Could feather bowling be the next pickleball?
Southern gerrymandering
It’s OK to gerrymander, as long you discriminate by politics
Middle East & Africa
Protection racket
Rwanda wants to be Africa’s new cop on the beat
Custom redesigned
Land reform in Africa is challenging the power of chiefs
The reluctant litigant
The fallout from Mozambique’s debt scandal reaches a London court
The Americas
Back to the future
Pemex is the world’s most indebted oil company
Pronoun politics
The culture wars have come to Canada
Asia
Old before their time
Poor Asian countries face an ageing crisis
Waterworlds
Tuvalu plans for its own disappearance
An explosive exercise
A caste census reopens old grudges in India
Rubble of a country
Afghanistan’s terrible earthquakes
China
A pox on your houses
Amid turmoil in China’s property market, the public seethes
Xi’s Midas touch
Xi Jinping bumps up the share prices of firms he visits
Stressed-out grannies
Babysitting duties are stressing China’s grandparents
International
It’s not easy being green
The global backlash against climate policies has begun
Business
Really big health
Who profits most from America’s baffling health-care system?
A shale whale
Why ExxonMobil is paying $60bn for Pioneer
Bought for parts
A $3.8bn deal points to the future of car-parts suppliers
Bartleby
Trialling the two-day workweek
Selling your sole
Why young consumers love Birkenstocks
Shielding the shield
Taiwan will not surrender its semiconductor supremacy
Finance & economics
Floating and sinking
Corporate America faces a trillion-dollar debt reckoning
Bills, bills, bills
Retail investors have a surprising new favourite: Treasury bills
Golden Goldin
Claudia Goldin wins the Nobel prize in economics
Science & technology
It’s all academic
American and Chinese scientists are decoupling, too
Meet George Jetson
A flying car that anyone can use will soon go on sale
Neuro-philately
Scientists have published an atlas of the brain
Camp followers
Like human armies, army ants trail crowds of hangers-on
Culture
The man with the golden pen
Spy, womaniser, cad: the writer who created James Bond
A state of affairs
A new book describes John le Carré’s philandering
Anyone speak Nynorsk?
The Nobel prize in literature is prestigious, lucrative and bonkers
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
A foe who never was