The world this week

The world this week
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


Roadworthy in ’24?
The man supposed to stop Donald Trump is an unpopular 81-year-old
In failing to look past Joe Biden, Democrats have shown cowardice and complacency

Mayhem in the Middle East
Binyamin Netanyahu is botching the war. Time to sack him
To be safe, Israel needs new leadership

Stockmarkets
Is America’s raging bull market exhausted, or taking a breath?
Investors have a slight hangover

Towering ambition
Can India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia be the next great economies?
Several countries are making bold—and risky—bets on growth

Is Putin winning?
How backing Ukraine is key to the West’s security
And why its leaders need to start saying so

Letters

On income inequality, Russia and Denmark, mental health, Mondays
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Pakistan
Imran Khan warns that Pakistan’s election could be a farce
Taiwan’s election
Taiwan’s foreign minister on what’s at stake in the coming election
Briefing


Biden or bust
Joe Biden’s chances do not look good. The Democrats have no plan B
It is too late to hold a competitive primary to allow a better candidate to emerge
Asia


Turning unPacific?
America braces for Taiwan’s election—and vice versa
Going for the jugular
Lee Jae-myung, South Korea’s opposition leader, survives a stabbing
Off to a dire start
A major earthquake in Japan highlights the country’s resilience
Powering down
The energy transition could make India even more unequal
Banyan
Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s prime minister, is wasting his opportunity
China


Here be dragons
Xi Jinping and China face another tough year
China is going downhill
Millions of Chinese have embraced skiing
Chaguan
For China, Taiwan’s elections are a looming crisis
United States


SCOTUS and voters
A clash over Trump’s disqualification tests the Supreme Court
Handle with care
American pollsters aren’t sure they have fixed the flaws of 2020
The Gay divorce
The decline and fall of Harvard’s president
Do not despair
The deaths-of-despair narrative is out of date
Lexington
How to win the culture war

Middle East & Africa


Israel’s northern front
Another war could break out on the Israel-Lebanon border
No relief
War, hunger and disease stalk Gaza’s 2.2m people
The constitutional crisis can wait
Israel’s Supreme Court strikes back
A storm over a port
Ethiopia’s gambit for a port is unsettling a volatile region
They voted, sort of
A thumping win for Tshisekedi in Congo’s election raises eyebrows
The Americas


Until forever, failing
Cuba’s private-sector experiment is faltering
Hacker heaven
Why is Brazil a hotspot for financial crime?
Europe


Battle of wills
A New Year’s interview with Volodymyr Zelensky
Cancelkulturkampf
Some German Jews say their country goes too far defending Israel
Get them while they’re young
The simmering row over Spanish-language teaching in Catalan schools
Charlemagne
On Gaza, Europe is struggling to make its diplomacy matter
Britain


The Great Rewiring
Britain needs an unprecedented expansion of the electricity grid
Bowling over?
Lawn bowls is in decline. Can it make a comeback?
Poll exploration
Older British voters still favour the Tories. Others, not so much
Bagehot
What Britain’s Labour Party thinks of Europe
Business


Machine of the state
Welcome to the era of AI nationalism
Bartleby
A new year’s message from the CEO
Life ACWAtic
Saudi Arabia has an unlikely solar star
The Gulf between them
Can Sino-Arabian business ties replace Sino-American ones?
Hard-tech tonic
The Chinese Communist Party wants (a bit) less consumer internet
Schumpeter
Meet the shrewdest operators in today’s oil markets
Finance & economics


Paths to prosperity
How to get rich in the 21st century
Guns and hoses
Three surprises that could inflame commodity markets in 2024
Still energised
Has America really escaped inflation?
Falling short
American stocks loiter near an all-time high
Free exchange
Robert Solow was an intellectual giant
Science & technology


Big Bangalore theory
Moon landing apart, Indian science punches far below its weight
Ghost ships
Vast amounts of the world’s shipping sails unseen
Culture


Beyond the screen
Hollywood studios are finding new ways to bring stories to life
The art of over-sharing
Social media’s online diarists have a long lineage
Back Story
A cultural guide to new year’s resolutions
The Economist reads


The Economist reads
What to read and watch about Bangladesh
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
How art is used against artists, like Young Thug, in court
The Economist explains
How sanctions on Russia will change the diamond trade
Obituary


Bad blood
Gao Yaojie uncovered a scandal that shocked and shamed China