How scary is China?

The world this week

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


AI and culture
The dawn of the omnistar
How artificial intelligence will transform fame

Superpower politics
How scary is China?
America must understand China’s weaknesses as well as its strengths

Constitutional chicanery
Giorgia Meloni’s “mother of all reforms” is a power grab
Italians should reject their prime minister’s demagogic proposal

Flawmakers
How to fix Britain’s legislative problems
Parliament is failing at its most basic function—scrutinising laws

Open, but orderly
More welcoming migration policies require borders that are secure
Let more people in legally, swiftly exclude those who come illegally

Property wrongs
Time to take a wrecking ball to realtors’ fees in America
A court case is a first step to ending a racket

Letters

On leaders and managers, Colombia, health-care costs, the British pint, being rich
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


British constitutional arrangements
The United Kingdom’s political constitution is under severe strain
Briefing


AI did it my way
Now AI can write, sing and act, is it still possible to be a star?
The deal that ended the Hollywood actors’ strike reflects a fear of the technology
Asia


India’s north-east
Can Narendra Modi complete India’s state-building project?
Grainy season
Narendra Modi and the art of claiming credit
Links in the Chain
China’s aggression brings Japan and the Philippines closer
Diplomatic baggage
North Korea is shutting embassies
Banyan
Australia and China patch things up
China


Bogged down
Xi Jinping wants China to have better toilets
Not all fun and games
The people of Hong Kong are growing more tolerant
Xi, her, hers
China wants women to stay home and bear children
Chaguan
A Chinese dispute with the Philippines is a test of America
United States


It can’t happen here (again)
Donald Trump looks terrifyingly electable
Hope springs
Democrats are giddy from this week’s electoral sweep
The clap is back
Why sexually transmitted infections are rising in America
Disarming justice
The Supreme Court has found a gun-control measure it likes
East of Eden
California is losing people, but this region wouldn’t know it
Indefensible, unpronounceable
Boston’s “cradle of liberty” was paid for with slavery profits
Cracks in the wall
Chicago’s progressive coalition is struggling with migration

Middle East & Africa


Israel’s window of legitimacy
Will America pull the plug on Israel’s invasion of Gaza?
The darkest nights
Gaza’s nights are darker now than at any point in the past decade
Gaza’s civilians
All parties are blaming each other for the dire situation in Gaza
Iran, Israel and the war
The deadly missile race in the Middle East
Crisis in the Middle East
The Gaza war has deepened Joe Biden’s Iran nightmare
Chicken wars
The battle over South Africa’s spicy-chicken market
Critical minerals
China is winning Africa’s “white-gold” rush for lithium
The Americas


Bonanza or bust?
Oil traders are flocking to sanctions-free Venezuela
All that glitters
Illegal gold is booming in South America
No country for old men
Why are there so many suicides in rich, stable Uruguay?
Europe


Cling to the centre
Germany’s Christian Democrats are unsure whom to hug
Free under fire
A year after its liberation, Kherson still knows fear—and defiance
Jews in France
Antisemitism surges in France after the Hamas attacks on Israel
Charlemagne
The outsize influence of small states is fading in the EU
Britain


Do not pass go
Lawmaking in Britain is becoming worse
Something will turn up
When should Rishi Sunak call the next British election?
Divide and rue
Suella Braverman uses a pro-Palestinian march to sow discord
Circuit fudge
Why rail electrification is so slow in Britain
Bagehot
To understand Britain, watch “Homes Under the Hammer”
International


New arrivals, old problems
Why migration is in such a mess once more
Special report


Unknown soldiers
The People’s Liberation Army is not yet as formidable as the West fears
Rank indifference
China is struggling to recruit enough highly skilled troops
Weapons of woe
From hypersonic missiles to undersea drones, the PLA is making leaps
Peace disease
Xi Jinping worries that China’s troops are not ready to fight
Command or control
Xi Jinping is obsessed with political loyalty in the PLA
Operation overload
Invading Taiwan would be a logistical minefield for China
China’s armed forces
Acknowledgments
Business


Surveillance capitalism
Silicon Valley is piling into the business of snooping
From tycoons to tiffin boxes
India is in the midst of an unusual IPO boom
An innovator’s dilemma
When should a founder step down?
Caving in
The fall of WeWork shows the deepening cracks in property
Bartleby
How to manage teams in a world designed for individuals
Schumpeter
The Bob Iger v Nelson Peltz rematch
Finance & economics


Take the plunge
Are politicians brave enough for daredevil economics?
Little Satan
America’s economic might gives it little sway in the Middle East
Death valley
America’s bad auto loans could have nasty consequences
Buttonwood
Forget the S&P 500. Pay attention to the S&P 493
About that renaissance
Why American manufacturing is becoming less efficient
Soft-currency power
The Chinese yuan is losing value, yet gaining ground
Free exchange
In praise of America’s car addiction
Science & technology


Gut feelings
Faecal transplants are just the start of a new sort of medicine
The war underground
Israel hopes technology will help it fight in Hamas’s tunnels
The wind in their sails
How two teams plan to smash the world sailing-speed record
Culture


Estate of affairs
The business of mining literary estates is booming
Risky business
A new Museum of Prohibited Art shows how censorship evolved
Murder, she wrote
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son tries to make sense of her murder
Breadth of French air
Two new novels showcase the breadth of contemporary French fiction
Cowboys and Indians
Rodeo plays a central role in Native American culture
Bizzy bees
Are influencers shrewd businesspeople or fame-hungry narcissists?
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
Who is Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces?
The Economist explains
Why covid-19 did not harm rich economies as badly as first thought
Obituary


Elastic adventures
David Kirke believed safe sport repressed people’s imaginations