The world this week

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


A humanitarian disaster
Why Sudan’s catastrophic war is the world’s problem
It could kill millions—and spread chaos across Africa and the Middle East

Good policy, not good luck
Why inflation fell without a recession
High interest rates, not the passage of time, have restored price stability

There must be blood
People should be paid for blood plasma
Shortages are hampering the production of essential medicines

The virtual world
Digital twins are fast becoming part of everyday life
Welcome to the mirror world

The new wall
Donald Trump’s promise of “mass deportation” is unworkable
Yet he could cause serious harm by trying

Letters

On nuclear weapons, carry trades, American visas, sports, war, Churchill’s urinal
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Debt and development
Break the taboos propping up unsustainable debt, pleads a former central banker
Briefing


An intensifying calamity
Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
Millions are likely to perish

Chaos machine
The ripple effects of Sudan’s war are being felt across three continents
It is a sign of growing global impunity and disorder

Disaster in Darfur
“Hell on earth”: satellite images document the siege of a Sudanese city
El-Fasher, until recently a place of refuge, is under attack
Asia


Fraying saffron
Narendra Modi faces a new threat: his Hindu-nationalist patrons
Visa lottery
Rich parts of Asia are on the hunt for immigrants
Succession in Indonesia
The King of Java inflames an Indonesian “democratic emergency”
Not digging it
Why Australia is not yet a critical minerals powerhouse
Banyan
Why does the West back the wrong Asian leaders?
China


Technology and power
Is Xi Jinping an AI doomer?
Two very different leaders
Deng Xiaoping envy
Our Beijing bureau chief’s valedictory dispatch
China’s new age of swagger and paranoia
United States


Power hungry
Why Texas Republicans are souring on crypto
Over the Rainbow
What Texas’s oldest motel reveals about the rural South
180 degrees
The education business
Return to sender
Donald Trump’s dream of mass deportations is a fantasy
Campaign calculus
To hold the Senate, Democrats have to do something extraordinary

Middle East & Africa


Real estate and religion
Israel’s settlers are winning unprecedented power from the war in Gaza
A kingdom divided
Have Israel’s far-right religious nationalists peaked?
The Middle East
Israel and Hizbullah play with fire
Nigeria parties on the cheap
A Nigerian’s guide to weddings during the cozzie livs
The Americas


Canada’s rising populist
Canada’s Conservatives are crushing Justin Trudeau
Still stolen
Nicolás Maduro digs in with the help of a pliant Supreme Court
The rule of law in Mexico
AMLO’s dangerous last blast threatens Mexico
Europe


Germany’s fraught state elections
Why east Germany is such fertile ground for extremists
French politics
France seeks a new government
Fluid front lines
Even as it humiliates Russia, Ukraine’s line is crumbling in the Donbas
The new enemy
Azerbaijan’s government turns on its critics at home
Charlemagne
Europe’s lefties bash migrants (nearly) as well as the hard right
Britain


An old-age problem
Fixing social care in England is a true test of Labour’s ambition
Careful consideration
Funding social care: an international comparison
Vroom vroom
Britain’s unusual stance on Chinese electric vehicles
Do not go to gate
Heathrow’s third runway asks questions of the airport and Labour
Keep up, your honour
A language guide for judges is a window into modern Britain
What ho, y’all
Why country music is booming in Britain
International


Too much, too little. Too late?
The poisonous global politics of water
Business


Telegram
The case against “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg” will have lasting effects
Hard landing
From Southwest to Spirit, budget airlines are in a tailspin
Back in style
How Abercrombie & Fitch got hot again
French correction
Renault readies itself to take on Chinese rivals
Rise and fall
Pinduoduo, China’s e-commerce star, suffers a blow
The Zuckerberg mankini
Meta is accused of “bullying” the open-source community
Bartleby
Four questions for every manager to ask themselves
Schumpeter
What could stop the Nvidia frenzy?
Finance & economics


The cushioned blow
Inflation is down and a recession is unlikely. What went right?
Trustbusting
Are American rents rigged by algorithms?
Blood boom
The plasma trade is becoming ever-more hypocritical
Eastern promise
How Vladimir Putin hopes to transform Russian trade
Buttonwood
Can Japan’s zombie bond market be brought back to life?
Free exchange
Vast government debts are riskier than they appear
Science & technology


Off to the races
Digital twins are speeding up manufacturing
Mirror worlds
Digital twins are enabling scientific innovation
E-businesses
Digital twins are making companies more efficient
Culture


Leagues of their own
Why the world is teeming with so many new sports leagues
Master clash
John Sainsbury, a donor to the National Gallery, had the last laugh
An arboreal affair
How “reading trees” can unlock many mysteries
Guest who?
Nudity, drinking, smoking: Winston Churchill’s unusual diplomacy
Monkey business
“Black Myth: Wukong” is China’s first blockbuster video game
Back Story
Twenty-five years on, “Fight Club” punches harder than ever
The Economist reads


The Economist reads
Six novels about India, perhaps the world’s most interesting place
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary


The anatomy of love
Helen Fisher found out the science behind romance