iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Principled opposition to a nuclear-armed North Korea is eroding. Calls have been growing for a new approach. Will Donald Trump be tempted to follow suit for another meeting with Kim Jong Un?

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Will Donald Trump get to meet Kim Jong Un again?

North Korea wants America to drop demands for disarmament

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The Economist @economist.com · 34m

Current fears are centred on the futuristic story about an “AI singularity”. But, as Jeff Schneider explains in a guest essay, there is another singularity that is “more tangible, already under way and likely to have big geopolitical implications” sooner

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There’s a physical version of the AI singularity, and it matters a lot

The world is entering an era of supercharged industrial capacity with fast-shrinking human input, reckons Jeff Schneider

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The Economist @economist.com · 54m

By emphasising his faith, one midterms candidate may have found a route to Christian voters disappointed by Donald Trump. Can pastor politicians give Democrats a boost? bit.ly/4rxSA8J Photo: Reuters

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The Economist @economist.com · 1h

Pastor politicians are gaining momentum for Democrats in the midterms. Register for free to discover why their rather different Christian message is resonating with voters

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Can Jesus Christ sell moderates on Democrats?

Donald Trump’s faltering support among Christians creates an opportunity

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The Economist @economist.com · 1h

“A legacy of terrible numbers illustrates how badly the country had been governed under Jair Bolsonaro,” writes Dario Durigan. President Lula has set much right, Brazil’s finance minister argues in a guest essay

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Lula has the right fiscal policy for Brazil

His government is keenly focused on the country’s debt problems, says the finance minister, Dario Durigan

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The Economist @economist.com · 1h

Japan’s sprawling sex industry is thought to be worth ¥2trn-5trn ($12bn-31bn) a year. Lately a debate has raged over how the work is policed

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Sex tourists fuel outrage about vice in Japan

The debates do not have women’s interests at heart

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The Economist @economist.com · 2h

American lawmakers from both parties are mulling bills to limit automatic licence-plate readers. Curious as to why? Register to continue reading (it’s free)

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Why licence-plate readers are angering Americans

Surveillance cameras are becoming the new data centres

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The Economist @economist.com · 2h

Manchester City’s chief executive has branded the claims against his club a “conspiracy theory”. Register for free to learn why few believe him

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Manchester City, found guilty of cheating, stares into the abyss

The Premier League’s punishment for the club will define English football for decades

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The Economist @economist.com · 2h

The annual Latinobarómetro poll, taken in 17 countries, reveals the region’s changing attitudes towards its leaders and neighbours. The latest data are intriguing

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For the first time Latin Americans prefer China to America

Donald Trump’s interventions are unpopular, but tough talk on security resonates

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The Economist @economist.com · 2h

If the Democrats hope to replace Donald Trump, they cannot just promise to restore the status quo. They need new leaders, new ideas and a new generation willing to challenge orthodoxies bit.ly/4rOeULq Illustration: The Economist/ Getty Images

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The Economist @economist.com · 3h

The stakes of Brazil’s coming election could scarcely be higher. Yet neither leading candidate seems willing to fix the country’s deep-rooted problems or capitalise on its advantages

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Brazil’s next president will either be a vengeful nepo-baby or a doddering leftie

Latin America’s biggest country is headed for more polarisation and stagnation, or worse

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The Economist @economist.com · 3h

Maine’s Republican senator is among the last of a vanishing breed who share their state with a senator from a different party. So-called split delegations were once common

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As goes Maine, so goes the Senate

The Senate race there could herald the end of split districts nationally—or, just possibly, a resurgence

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The Economist @economist.com · 4h

As Donald Trump continues to clamp down on renewables, two forces may lift them up. Register for free to learn what they are

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Donald Trump’s least favourite thing

The president’s disdain for wind is not killing it, yet

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The Economist @economist.com · 4h

It is a joy, even without tax perks. So how should a new parent think about their budding little portfolio?

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Investing for babies involves knotty trade-offs

Should new parents favour financial capital, human capital or something else?

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The Economist @economist.com · 4h

Bed-bug populations collapsed in rich countries by the 1980s in the face of modern pesticides. But the following decade brought a resurgence of the unwanted insects. Scientists have a new theory as to why bit.ly/4ybjUMj Photo: Benoit Guenard

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The Economist @economist.com · 5h

It was said that Bob Mackie seldom met a sequin, bead or rhinestone he didn’t like. Glitter was his touchstone, shimmering and marvellous. We remember the life of Hollywood’s boldest costumier

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Bob Mackie dressed stars—if they were brave enough

“The Rajah of Rhinestones” died on September 14th, aged 87

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The Economist @economist.com · 5h

The chair of Tata Trusts and the chair of Tata Sons are fighting for control of the Indian business empire. Register for free to read why their feud matters beyond the boardroom

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Tata goes to war with itself

Trouble at one of India’s biggest conglomerates

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The Economist @economist.com · 5h

Young women in the Indian Himalayas walk for miles every day in search of water. Climate change, and the legacy of British colonial rule, are making their lives harder

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The six-hour trek for a bucket of water

As mountain springs dry up, girls in northern India are spending so long fetching water they have little time to study

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The Economist @economist.com · 6h

Before winter has even hit, Russia has launched a three-pronged campaign of bombing, sabotage and political chaos against Ukraine’s capital. But there is a fundamental problem with Vladimir Putin’s plan

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Putin’s new bombardment of Kyiv has a terrible logic

A Russian terror campaign aims to cripple the capital even before winter hits

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The Economist @economist.com · 6h

Fighting between the Ethiopian army and Tigray’s ruling party has resumed. If it continues, this latest round will be dramatically different from the previous civil war. Register for free to learn why

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A disastrous new war threatens in Africa

Heavy fighting in Tigray could herald a wider regional conflict

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The Economist @economist.com · 7h

For a movement predicated on historical inevitability, communism is taking an awfully long time to triumph in Europe. But parties on the populist left feel that they are gaining ground

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Red alert! Europe’s populist left is on the march, slowly

Populism isn’t just for right-wingers

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The Economist @economist.com · 7h

The average single earner in Britain pays less tax on their earnings than most of their peers in the OCED, a club of rich countries. They also pay less than they used to. How does the Treasury make the sums add up?

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Britain overtaxes well-paid workers

To the benefit of average earners and the super-rich

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The Economist @economist.com · 7h

America has been accumulating time-wasting rules for 250 years, like an ageing hoarder whose home is packed to the ceiling with vintage junk. In a new book, Annie Lowrey explains why the country has so much red tape bit.ly/46E88OD Photo: Getty Images

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The Economist @economist.com · 7h

The longer governments dismiss warnings of a debt reckoning, the nastier it will become. Register for free to discover why

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Soaring bond yields, gaping deficits and towering debts: what could go wrong?

The rich world is flirting with fiscal disaster

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The Economist @economist.com · 8h

El Salvador’s dictator has put chatbots in schools and created what he calls “the best medical system in the world”. Now he needs another success story

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The dictator’s laboratory: Nayib Bukele is pushing AI hard

He hopes it will improve health care and education, and buoy up his popularity

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The Economist @economist.com · 8h

As Israel prepares for a general election, one question looms large: will Binyamin Netanyahu remain prime minister? Our poll tracker suggests that his Likud party and a political newcomer are neck-and-neck

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Israel election poll tracker: will Binyamin Netanyahu hold on to power?

The Economist is tracking the contest for Israel’s Knesset

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The Economist @economist.com · 9h

Britain’s prime minister has been a success at Labour’s conference. But his boldness faces two challenges: time and party unity

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Andy Burnham gets bold at last

But looming hard decisions could test Labour’s unity

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The Economist @economist.com · 9h

From Washington, 7,000 miles away, Iran’s chokehold on Gulf oil looks like it is loosening. But is that right? bit.ly/3VluBxt Photo: EPA

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The Economist @economist.com · 10h

Around 300,000 small businesses in Britain use TikTok Shop; most of its sellers joined in the past year. Register for free to learn why the service has boomed

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How TikTok Shop is helping create young British entrepreneurs

Could it also help revive the high street?

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The Economist @economist.com · 10h

Each departing hegemon has left a legacy of frustrated designs and unintended consequences in the Middle East. America’s retrenchment could be an opportunity for change—or calamity

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When America walks away

For decades America has enjoyed hegemony over the Middle East. That is about to end

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The Economist @economist.com · 10h

Over the past five years the combined market value of the West’s ten largest listed alcoholic-drinks companies has fallen dramatically. Register to discover how they’re responding

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As booze sales fall, competition among drinks-makers intensifies

The line between brewers, vintners and distillers is blurring

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The Economist @economist.com · 11h

Recriminations against Europe among the New Right, as MAGA intellectual circles are called, fall into three overlapping categories. Register to learn why some are harder to deal with than others

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Why MAGA hates and loves Europe

Three big reasons explain the New Right’s hostility to Europeans

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The Economist @economist.com · 11h

For all the hand-wringing about widespread deindustrialisation across Europe, the damage is confined to a few industries. In many respects, firms are adapting well to their new reality

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European industry is doing better than you may think

The firms most exposed to China are suffering. But many are adapting

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The Economist @economist.com · 11h

Brazil is drifting towards a predictable crisis. Register for free to read why most of its political elite are too comfortable with the way things are to change course

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Brazil turns its back on the future

The looming election will not bring the change the country needs

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The Economist @economist.com · 12h

As in Dostoyevsky’s era, this moving prison sketch is a scan of Russia’s soul. It is a bleak picture, but not entirely. At the poignant heart of this book is the author’s bond with his cellmates

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In Evan Gershkovich’s new memoir, prison is a microcosm of Russia

His stint behind bars offers a window onto the country’s wartime soul

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The Economist @economist.com · 12h

Although investigators cannot be sure, Italian organised-crime groups seem to have decided that the drug brings unwanted attention and is bad for business

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The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy

The country’s low overdose rate suggests an unlikely benefactor

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The Economist @economist.com · 12h

From Washington, 7,000 miles away, Iran’s chokehold on Gulf oil looks like it is loosening. But is that right? Register for free to find out

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Has Iran lost its grip on Gulf oil exports?

Exports through the Strait of Hormuz and beyond are soaring but prices remain stubbornly high

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