The world this week

Politics this week
Business this week
KAL’s cartoon
Leaders

America and the world
Biden’s debacle
The fiasco in Afghanistan is a huge and unnecessary blow to America’s standing

Biosafety
No more leaks
Covid-19 may or may not have leaked from a lab. Either way, biosafety needs tightening

Central banks
Bringing clarity to QE
Central banks should make clear what their balance-sheets are for, and then shrink them

Shopping in America
Retail revival
How American retailers have adapted to the Amazon effect

The American West
Megadry
Americans are moving to a region suffering from a 22-year drought. Pricing water properly would help

Letters

Letters to the editor
On monkey experiments, Singapore, meritocracy, demonyms, science, dance floor bankers
Briefing

The fall of Kabul
The Taliban are back in town
Their astonishingly quick victory marks a geopolitical turning-point. What will be the consequences of America’s humiliation?

Asia


Democracy in Indonesia
Jokowho?
Malaysian politics
Sheraton removed
Japan’s seasonal confectionery
The darling buds of Nestlé
Human rights in Bangladesh
They just disappeared
Banyan
Tea time in the Great Game
China


Trade unions
Teaching them a lesson
The Belt and Road Initiative
Hook, line and sinker?
Chaguan
Preparing to work with the Taliban
United States


The West
Low and dry
Libel law
Malice afterthought
Animal welfare
The bacon crunch
The census
Omni-Americans
Guantánamo
No easy escape
Lexington
Remnants of a policy
Middle East & Africa


Africa and the rich world
Heading towards a dilemma
Zambia
Sixth time lucky
Iraq
Caliph hanger
Israel and covid-19
A wave of criticism
The Americas


Haiti
The wretched of the earthquake
Canada
Sonny ways
Europe


Fighting fraud
Enter the cleaner
German-Russian relations
From “flawless” to lawless
Catania
The would-be Milan of the south
Sink or swim
Rusty relic of the Habsburg navy
Charlemagne
The EU: 1713 edition
Britain


Covid-19
Ready for the next one?
Nauseous nurseries
Oh noro!
Demography
Teenage kicks
Energy politics
Slippery
Afghanistan
Left behind
Bagehot
The sun also sets
International


The origins of covid-19
Putting it all together
Business


The business of decarbonisation
Climate tech’s Netscape moment
Low-cost airlines
Long-haul sally
Bartleby
Nearly out of office
China Inc abroad
SEA change
Online weddings
Updating vows
Schumpeter
Primark’s slow fashionistas
Finance & economics


China’s economy
Delta neutral
Emerging markets
Feeling the heat
The dog days of summer
American consumers become warier
Neobanks
New tricks
Buttonwood
Jacks are all traders
Free exchange
Assume the positional
Schools brief


The story of a life
A dance to the music of time
Science & technology


Three-dimensional printing and construction
Factory fresh
Electric cars
Pump up the voltage!
Prosthetics
A new prosthetic hand
Books & arts


Dante’s legacy
The way through the wood
A heroine of the resistance
Together in Berlin
Contagion and authoritarianism
Moscow rules
Wildfires
Down in flames
Johnson
What do they know, and when?
Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Covid-19 vaccines
The Delta delta
Obituary


Jane Withers
America’s favourite problem child