Country of the year: The Economist’s pick for 2025
Each year, The Economist tries to identify which country has improved the most, whether economically, politically or in other ways. In a turbulent yea...
Weight boss? Competition for Novo Nordisk
Since Novo Nordisk launched Wegovy in 2021, it has dominated the fast-growing market for slimming drugs. Now a new jab is eating into the Danish firm’...
Emissions possible: EU petrol ban quashed
The European Union had promised to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2035, as part of its environmental ambitions. Yesterday it watere...
After Bondi: how to tackle extremism
As the Australian authorities continue their investigation into Sunday’s deadly attack on a Hannukah party in Sydney, investigators have uncovered a p...
Judgment day: Jimmy Lai convicted
Today Hong Kong’s most prominent media mogul was convicted of flouting national security legislation. Our correspondent explains the consequences for ...
Right, here, waiting: Europe’s populists on the rise
In Britain, Germany and France, populist-right leaders and parties are making hay. What unites their movements, and how do their respective political ...
Ven and the art of hemispheric maintenance: America’s national-security posture
America’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker fits with the stated goals in its new national-security strategy: untrammelled hemispheric dominance. How...
Digital stimulation: AI and porn
At every technological revolution, the industry of indecency is close at hand. We look at how sex workers and porn-peddlers are making use of AI. The ...
“You’re…fired?” A momentous Supreme Court case
Of all the sackings at federal level President Donald Trump has carried out—and that the Supreme Court has upheld—the one now under consideration has ...
Transitional injustice: Syria one year after Assad
A year after ousting its despot, things are not as bad as many had feared. But old sectarian divides threaten the peace. Forced labour, sex tourism an...