The world this week

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


Weapons systems
Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future
They are reshaping the balance between humans and technology in war

China’s confidence shock
Has Xi Jinping lost control of the markets?
As a property crisis drags the economy into deflation, confidence is seeping away

The arsenal of hypocrisy
House Republicans are helping Vladimir Putin
Their cynicism over Ukraine weakens America and makes the world less safe

What happens when populists lose
Donald Tusk tries to restore Poland’s rule of law
Repairing the damage done by the last government will take grit and patience

Indonesia’s election
What Jokowi’s inglorious exit means for Indonesia
The outgoing president is playing kingmaker to a controversial ex-general

Letters

On China and Taiwan, royalty, artificial intelligence, activist investors, philanthropy, retirement
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Indonesia’s election
A presidential candidate sees daunting challenges at home and abroad
Artificial intelligence and democracy
An AI-risk expert thinks governments should act to combat disinformation
A post-populist perspective
Kyriakos Mitsotakis on how to escape the grip of populism
Briefing


Dissipating dreams
China’s well-to-do are under assault from every side
Their agonies at the hands of markets and the state will reshape the Chinese economy
Asia


Indonesian politics
A controversial general looks likely to be Indonesia’s next leader
Pay the writers
South Korea’s writers and directors play Squid Game
Force for change
Izumi Kenta wants to shake up Japan’s opposition
G’day, goodbye
Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration is being tested
Rule of Modi
Are India’s corruption police targeting Narendra Modi’s critics?
Banyan
Singapore cracks down on Chinese influence
China


Spend more, please
Can China’s consumers save its economy?
Pay up
Protests are soaring, as China’s workers demand their wages
Shrouded in secrecy
An espionage case hurts Chinese relations with Australia
Chaguan
Xi Jinping’s chaos-loving friends
United States


Poll positions
Trump’s lead over Biden may be smaller than it looks
Deliberative or disgraced?
What the death of America’s border bill says about toxic congressional politics
Citizen Trump
A court rejects Donald Trump’s claim to absolute immunity
Shh! Legislation in progress
Congress might just pass an astonishingly sensible tax deal
Direct democracy
Florida too may have an abortion referendum in November
Generalising
State attorneys-general are shaping national policy
Lexington
This is not a story about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl

Middle East & Africa


Antony Blinken’s shuttle diplomacy
Israel scorns America’s unprecedented peace plan
America’s reverse-Goldilocks strategy
Why Iran is hard to intimidate
Israel’s obstructive settlers
America is trying to peg Israel’s settlers back
House and home
How to house the world’s fastest-growing population
How to stay in power
Democracy is under attack in Senegal
The Americas


El Salvador
After Nayib Bukele’s crushing, unconstitutional victory, what next?
The C word
Mexico’s president and his family are fighting claims of corruption
Pensions bonanza
Andrés Manuel López Obrador splashes out as elections loom
Europe


A party in a death spiral?
A mounting crisis of confidence confronts Olaf Scholz
A moment in the sun
Madrid is booming. Growing while keeping its cool will be the tricky part
Silencing the Kremlin’s critics
Vladimir Putin extends his crackdown in Russia
Return of law
Poland is trying to restore the rule of law without violating it
Charlemagne
Europe is importing a solar boom. Good news for (nearly) everyone
Britain


A pill wind
How Britain lost its war on drugs
Royal bodies
What Charles III’s illness says about monarchs and mortality
Not so soft
Britain’s economy will need rate cuts sooner rather than later
Eyes right
A tiny right-wing party tries to menace Britain’s Conservatives
Remembrance row
The controversy over Britain’s planned Holocaust memorial
Death to Britain, but not just yet
Iran is targeting its opponents in Britain
Bagehot
The former prime minister who fascinates the Labour Party
Business


Discomfort level
America’s economy is booming. So why are bosses worried?
Out of the nick, in time
Samsung’s boss avoids prison, again
Team players
Media companies club together for a joint sport-streamer
Bittersweet life
Can Giorgia Meloni reinvigorate Italia SpA?
Bartleby
Fairness: the hidden currency of the workplace
TsarGPT
Vladimir Putin wants to catch up with the West in AI
Schumpeter
Musk v Zuckerberg: who’s winning?
Finance & economics


Fanning the flames
China’s stockmarket nightmare is nowhere near over
Buttonwood
The dividend is back. Are investors right to be pleased?
Spring fever
Are NYCB’s troubles the start of another banking panic?
Capital punishment
Bankers have reason to hope Trump triumphs
Running out of road
The false promise of Indonesia’s economy
Free exchange
Universities are failing to boost economic growth
Science & technology


Ukraine’s drone war
How cheap drones are transforming warfare in Ukraine
Very small things
NASA’s PACE satellite will tackle the largest uncertainty in climate science
A long and winding road
The first endometriosis drug in four decades is on the horizon
They’re on a roll
Ancient, damaged Roman scrolls have been deciphered using AI
Baby AI
Scientists have trained an AI through the eyes of a baby
Culture


Chronicling the past
When is it too soon to write history?
Size doesn’t matter
Small, but mighty: how cuteness has taken over the world
Labour pains
Lessons for Keir Starmer from Britain’s first Labour government
Name that toon
Chinese animated films are booming
Back Story
The meaning of the hysteria over Taylor Swift
The Economist reads


The Economist reads
What to read about Pakistan
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary


Backwards up the Khyber
Rosemary Smith set out to prove that women drivers could do as well as men