The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


China and the world
Is Chinese power about to peak?
The country’s historic ascent is levelling off. That need not make it more dangerous

Border trouble
Small, sensible steps could help ease America’s border woes
The art of the practical in dealing with migrants, drugs and gangs

The outcast returns
The rehabilitation of Syria’s dictator raises awkward questions for the West
Clearer principles about how and when to ease sanctions are needed

A bad balance
Joe Biden is more responsible for high inflation than for abundant jobs
The main effect of the president’s economic policies has been to boost prices

A stochastic parrot in every pot
What does a leaked Google memo reveal about the future of AI?
Open-source AI is booming. That makes it less likely that a handful of firms will control the technology

Letters

On non-aligned countries and Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, artificial intelligence
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Turkey’s election
A more democratic Turkey is within grasp, says Kemal Kilicdaroglu
Moldova
Russia’s efforts to destabilise Moldova will fail, says its president
The battery economy
Peter Carlsson on how the global battery race should be run
Briefing


Mountain range
How soon and at what height will China’s economy peak?
Estimates vary, depending on assumptions about population, productivity and prices

Superpower showdown
China v America: how Xi Jinping plans to narrow the military gap
From subs to nukes he is adding firepower despite a slower economy

Sun Tzu’s slide-rule
How China measures national power
And how we would do it

History lessons
The fall of empires preys on Xi Jinping’s mind
As economic growth slows, so will the president’s anxiety

Chaguan
China learns to manage decline
Lessons from Yichun, a Chinese city where children are a rarity
Asia


Pacific jitters
Will Japan fight?
Art in the dark
Why South Korean tattooists are being marked as criminals
Fuel to the fire
Imran Khan’s arrest brings Pakistan closer to the edge
Rolling out the red carpet
How India’s states compete for investment
Banyan
A winner has emerged in the old rivalry between Singapore and Hong Kong
United States


Supply-side epidemic
Fentanyl trafficking tests America’s foreign policy
The end of Title 42
Why chaos looms at the US-Mexico border
Beyond Derby day
Horse-racing in America needs to improve its odds
Community banks
What America’s tiny banks do that big ones don’t
Let’s go Brandon
Chicago’s new mayor has one of the trickiest jobs in politics
Lexington
Donald Trump has become more dangerous
Middle East & Africa


War and peacemaking
What the West gets wrong about peacemaking in Sudan
Oba v Obaseki
A ruling over ownership of the Benin bronzes may delay their return
The hapless, stateless Palestinians
The Palestinians need new leaders

The Americas


Beyond drugs
Mexico’s gangs are becoming criminal conglomerates
The president v the court
The Mexican Supreme Court does battle with AMLO
In the swing
Conservatives dominate Chile’s constitutional assembly this time around
Europe


The man who can
A former bureaucrat is giving Erdogan a run for his money
Drug policy
European cannabis legalisation moves into the slow-dopey lane
Ost is Ost
A generation after Germany reunited, deep divisions remain
Europe’s armies
Europe is struggling to rebuild its military clout
Charlemagne
Once Russia’s best friend in the West, Austria is facing trouble
Britain


Modern families
Why Britain is updating its laws on surrogacy and gamete donation
Fuss-free final farewells
Direct cremations and burials offer a different way to mourn
Pushing paper
Britain’s services exports are booming despite Brexit. Why?
Li detectors
Britain plays catch-up in a global scramble for critical minerals
Have you come far?
London’s newest train line is now also its busiest
Same anger, different victor
Labour makes striking gains in the heartland of Brexit
Bagehot
How housing became the new divide in British politics
International


The Syrian civil war and its aftermath
After 12 years of blood, Assad’s Syria rejoins the Arab League
Business


The Sino-American tech race
Just how good can China get at generative AI?
An iron will
How fast can European steelmakers decarbonise?
The Thais that bind
Why Chinese carmakers are eyeing Thailand
Bartleby
How to recruit with softer skills in mind
Schumpeter
Writers on strike beware: Hollywood has changed for ever
Finance & economics


Beyond the hype
Your job is (probably) safe from artificial intelligence
National statistics, grilled
The meaty mystery at the heart of China’s economic growth
Credible
India’s once-troubled banks are generating huge profits
Number-crunching
Are America’s regional banks over the worst of it?
Buttonwood
Investors brace for a painful crash into America’s debt-ceiling
Free exchange
A new world order seeks to prioritise security and climate change
Science & technology


War on the fly
How Ukrainians modify civilian drones for military use
47 genomes are better than one
“The” human genome was always a misnomer
Smell-O-Vision 2.0
How to bring scents to the metaverse
Culture


The last Founding Father
Martin Luther King was among the greatest Americans—and the most misunderstood
Debut fiction
Janika Oza’s debut novel charts the Indian diaspora’s struggles
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Serhii Plokhy’s new book traces Vladimir Putin’s road to war
Museums on the move
The Uffizi is taking its art to the people
A chronicle of the Côte d’Azur
Famous names and historical forces collide on the Riviera
Johnson
The hazards of pronouncing foreign names on air
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Out in the cold
Expensive energy may have killed more Europeans than covid-19 last winter
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
How free and fair will Turkey’s election be?
The Economist explains
Why the boss of Wagner Group is feuding with Russia’s military leaders
Obituary


Bottom-up history
Ranajit Guha revolutionised the study of India’s past