Leaders
War, drought, famine
The world must act now to stop Afghans starving
That means co-operating with the Taliban, as distasteful as that is
China’s other debt problem
Evergrande is not the only looming danger in China’s financial system
Crony capitalism has flourished among the country’s small and mid-tier banks
Small reactors are beautiful
The discreet charm of nuclear power
It makes fighting climate change a lot easier
Letters
On economics, Balkan bridges, Shakespeare, Singapore, mission statements, hydrogen, Expos, Facebook, French, Polexit
Letters to the editor
Briefing
Manacled in Moscow
Vladimir Putin has shifted from autocracy to dictatorship
And Russians across the country are feeling the heat
Europe
Disoriented express
How trains could replace planes in Europe
Caught at the wire
A scheme to use migrants to split the EU is likely to backfire
The arc of susceptibility
Eastern European countries are being hit by a wave of covid deaths
Going bananas
Turkey’s government sees no humour in soft fruit
Charlemagne
Minimum wage, maximum rage
Britain
Nuclear power
Can smaller reactors make nuclear power economic?
Thinking about the environment
Britons want to prevent climate change, but favour expensive solutions
Groundhog day
The Northern Ireland protocol is under threat. Again
Infrastructure in Britain
London’s bridges are falling down
A spiralling scandal
Voters do not want MPs to profit from their job
Supply chains
Which products are scarce on Britain’s shelves?
They shall not grow old
Britain used to treat her dead soldiers with disdain. One man changed that
Middle East & Africa
The new predators
Why drones are becoming Iran’s weapons of choice
No farewell to arms
Congo does not know what to do with rebels who surrender
Time and punishment
Victims of Liberia’s civil war are still waiting for justice
United States
Biden and the border
Why the situation on America’s southern border has become unmanageable
You’re in trouble
John Durham’s indictments reflect poorly on the American media
The Americas
How to be a dictator
Six ways Nicolás Maduro stays in power in Venezuela
Great thugs think alike
Other despots help Daniel Ortega stay in power in Nicaragua
Asia
Manufacturing a green revolution
South Korea’s climate targets will mean remaking its economy
Levelling down
A new national curriculum sparks a backlash in Pakistan
How to get a promotion
Some civilian politicians are working for Myanmar’s murderous generals
China
The spectral game
China still steals commercial secrets for its own firms’ profit
New kids on the cell block
Behind bars, Hong Kong’s democrats remain popular
International
Business
The movie business
How Hollywood’s biggest stars are losing their clout
Seeking new premises
Science and technology lifts the gloom for property investors
China and the pandemic
The non-zero costs of zero-covid
Not so general
General Electric breaks up
Golf’s course
Herbert Diess’s job is once again on the line
The other metaverse
Companies want to build a virtual realm to copy the real world
The flywheel delusion
Uber, DoorDash and similar firms can’t defy the laws of capitalism after all
Finance & economics
Attack on the tycoons
China attempts to clean up its sleaziest regional banks
Inflation in America
A three-decade high in inflation sows concerns about America’s recovery
Free exchange
A whodunnit on Zillow
Science & technology
Knowing the worst
It is becoming easier, cheaper and quicker to diagnose dementia
Culture
Dealing with dirty money
Two books assess the fight against global corruption
Toil and trouble
A historian brings to life a 17th-century witchcraft panic
Method in the MADness
A new psychological history of the cold war
The mixing pot
A museum in Rotterdam opens up its collection
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail
Obituary
Up off the couch