Gig factory: Lessons from China’s precarious workforce
The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders
China’s young workers, representing diverse jobs, are depicted walking, climbing, floating, and falling through a vast, moody void—symbolizing the uncertainty and precariousness of their situation.
From proletariat to precariat
China’s 200m gig workers are a warning for the world
What a giant precarious workforce reveals about the future of jobs
Federal Reserve Chair Powell Holds Monthly News Conference On Interest Rates
Rate expectations
America’s monetary policy risks getting too loose
Jobs growth is probably weak because of low migration, not a cold economy
A Union Jack and St George's flags on Nelson's Column during the "Unite The Kingdom" rally in London, England, September 13th 2025
Different drums
What Elon Musk gets wrong about Europe’s hard right
He imagines a continental revolt against Islam and elites
Two hands touching fingers creating a ripple of water. One hand is a human one with indian ornaments and the other one is a robot/chip one.
Artificial intelligence
India could be a different kind of AI superpower
It won’t look like America or China. It could still be a winner
The Israeli and US flags are tightly stitched together at the top, but the middle threads have begun to loosen and unravel—symbolizing a relationship that is no longer as strong as before.
The Middle East
How Israel is losing America
Public opinion is souring even in Israel’s strongest ally. Israelis should worry

Letters
A selection of correspondence
Is Donald Trump a friend of the electrification of cars?
By Invitation

Drug prices
Europe is not pulling its weight in paying for drug development, says Tomas Philipson
Briefing

Lurching apart
America is falling out of love with Israel
The war in Gaza has undermined one of the world’s closest alliances
Benjamin Netanyahu talks to Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC
An essential friendship
Israelis do not like to think about estrangement from America
But they are beginning to have to
Asia
The illustration is showing a chip as the base of an Indian temple and some eagles are flying above it.
A fresh perch
AI is erupting in India
What lies beneath
Sri Lanka’s mass graves need proper investigation
Banyan
Meet Thailand’s karaoke-crooning prime minister
Double trouble
Asian countries should prepare for a higher rate of twin births
The last prince?
A rare ceremony revives debate over imperial succession
China
Aerial view of a wind farm on Pingtan Island in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
Silicon linings
Don’t fret over China’s new climate targets
Projecting concern
The surprising nature of protest in China
With barely a whimper
Our new “wolf warrior” index on Chinese diplomacy
Chaguan
The return of our China column
United States
U.S. National Guard members walk on the National Mall
Soldiers as cops
The president is putting America’s armed forces in a bind
Capital crime
In Washington, the obvious thing is probably true
Deathly data
Is the far left to blame for more political killings in America?
Retribution tour
Donald Trump targets progressive non-profits after Charlie Kirk’s killing
Golf populi
What this year’s Ryder Cup says about America’s duffers
Fluid identity
How stable are the gender identities of younger children?
Lexington
The Donald Trump guide to DEI on campus

The Americas
Portrait of Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil convicts
America calls Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction a “witch hunt”
Polyp pioneers
Colombia is using “coral IVF”
Guyana’s election
From a forgotten country to an 11bn barrel petrostate
Middle East & Africa
A Palestinian woman reacts near house at the entrance of the Palestinian market in the old city of Hebron, which was reportedly confiscated the previous night by Israeli settlers
The mirage of statehood
Palestine is unrecognisable on the ground
Re-running old battles
Israel goes to the brink in Gaza city
The fallout from Qatar
Arab states respond to Israel’s Doha strikes with angry bombast
Western Sahara
Morocco is practising a strange sort of colonialism
Father figures
The crisis of South Africa’s missing dads
Europe
Women walk past a former pub in Ueckendorf district, Gelsenkirchen
Ruhring ahead
The AfD is not sweeping Germany. But it is dividing it
Le Pen and Bardella
France’s hard right is secretly courting the elite
NATO’s splurge
Dodgy defence maths conquers in Europe
Enough!
Russia’s most famous diva tells Vladimir Putin to end the war
Britain
Britain's King Charles stands beside U.S. President Donald Trump and Kate, Princess of Wales, to deliver a speech
Against the odds
Britain’s relationship with America endures, against the odds
The king’s speeches
King Charles III has mellowed over the past 30 years
Losing the aisles
Britain’s rising food prices are a political headache
Refugee policy
Britain’s attempts to stop asylum-seekers have failed so far
Wasted talent
Britain’s work restrictions set up asylum-seekers to fail
Bagehot
How Westminster became obsessed with paedophiles
International
The symbol of the United Nations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York
The United Nations at 80
The UN’s grim future
The Telegram
Cold war deterrence doesn’t work any more
1843

Diplomacy
The education of Steve Witkoff
Business
The ''BYD Explorer No. 1'' car carrier, loaded with new evs, setting sail from Yantai Port in China.
The theory of permanent involution
The brutal fight to dominate Chinese carmaking
One quarter or two?
If quarterly-earnings rules were scrapped, would anyone notice?
Bartleby
How many reports should a manager have?
A Trump bump
Despite presidential animus, America’s solar industry is buzzing
AI things to all people
Can the UAE gain a foothold in AI by being friends with everyone?
From retail to therapy
Are you addicted to shopping?
Schumpeter
The $4trn accounting puzzle at the heart of the AI cloud
Finance & economics
A group of young workers waiting for a train in the subway
Making it, breaking it
China’s future rests on 200m precarious workers
The slowing slowdown
America’s economy defies gloomy expectations
War spending
Ukraine faces a $19bn budget black hole
Eurosclerosis
Why European workers need to switch jobs
Buttonwood
Europe’s great stockmarket inversion
Free exchange
Would an all-out trade war be better?
Science & technology
Aerial photograph women enjoying the sun on a beach surrounded by parasols.
Walking on sunshine
The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer
Lab to table
Pink pineapples and lab-grown meat: tasting the foods of the future
Large diagnostic models
A new AI model can forecast a person’s risk of diseases across their life
Well informed
What nicotine does to your brain
Culture
An playdough illustration of a person opening a door in their head containing loads of other persons.
Human psychology
What naked emperors and Super Bowl ads have in common
The Economist reads
The best recent novels to read this autumn
Three brings a crowd
People are going pretty mad for “The Summer I Turned Pretty”
Back Story
Should a controversial Russian soprano sing in London?
The way he was
Robert Redford was a new kind of movie star
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Patrick McGovern with a glass of ancient beer
Extreme beverage, anyone?
Patrick McGovern was the maven of ancient tipples