The Economist

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Republicans were supposed to have two big advantages in this year’s congressional elections. We look at why neither appears to be protecting them from a midterm bloodbath

Competitiveness, long the Premier League’s greatest strength, is also its greatest weakness. We explain why bit.ly/48meVgo Photo: Getty Images

Today on “The Intelligence”: clues about Anthropic from its IPO filing, our midterm-battlegrounds series continues in Alaska and redefining the second

Work with the East Asia bureau of The Economist

Donald Trump thinks Delcy Rodríguez, the unelected interim president, is “terrific”. But he has long appeared ambivalent towards María Corina Machado, who is far more popular among Venezuelans

Ahead of the midterms, corporations want to win back favour with the Democrats

In 2010-12 Afghan nationals were convicted of 92 sex crimes in Britain; in 2022-24 the total was 102. Ten additional sex crimes, after the Afghan population has roughly tripled, is not an epidemic

The violence in France should jolt head-in-the-sand centrists to confront the consequences of failure. While they huddle together for protection, all the energy is at the extremes

Jamaica takes advantage of the world’s interest in Rastafari to “attract visitors” to the country, says one. Yet those same people continue to suffer stigma

A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist

Brazil’s incumbent leader won almost 52% of votes and beat Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of a coup-mongering former president

As he rose to power a decade ago, Muhammad bin Salman made three big gambles. Register for free to learn why all of them have gone awry at once

Neural networks’ opacity is largely down to bad tools and a failure of imagination, argues one researcher. Not everyone is convinced

Prabowo Subianto has done little to cure his country’s underlying economic maladies. For Indonesia to hit its stride, he must recognise that his populist approach has run out of road

Espionage is often a high-stakes game. But “Redwood” shows how it can also be amateurish, bumbling and improvised. Register for free to read our review of Ben Macintyre’s latest book

Indonesia’s business environment has suffered deep decay during the presidency of Prabowo Subianto. Under him cronyism has grown rampant and the government has become increasingly meddlesome

The Saudis and Emiratis should set aside their rivalries and push for ceasefires in Yemen and Sudan. This would benefit nearly everyone, including the Gulf states themselves

Meet China’s rising political stars. Could one of them be the country’s next supreme leader? Listen to “Drum Tower” for more

Europe has a long way to go before it can hope to achieve “autonomy in space”. In three crucial areas, it depends on America. Register for free to learn what they are

Flávio Bolsonaro, true to family form, said he would try to get the election result annulled. His quest may find a willing backer in Donald Trump

Polls predict that Binyamin Netanyahu will lose the election. But the prospect of a short time left in office could spur him to order an attack on Iran bit.ly/4zKZnhW Photo: Getty Images

A leaderless protest movement has ousted Serbia’s leader on an “anything-but-Vucic ticket”. Building a coherent government will be a challenge of an entirely different order

Napoleon’s “approach to leadership ultimately left him almost completely bereft of support” at Waterloo. Register to read our review of a new book about the emperor’s marshal system

Eye and skin experts have long used red light to treat age-related decline. But newer research suggests that it could be used to treat many more ailments and diseases, from Alzheimer’s to ADHD

Demographic change, economic struggles and inherent contradictions are set to bring about an end to a British political settlement that once felt invincible. The end of pensioner communism is nigh bit.ly/3UhZfro Illustration: Nate Kitch

After China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, imports flooded into America and manufacturing jobs fell. But was it really China that made the difference?

Democrats’ probability of flipping the Senate fell to 56%, down from 62% earlier this month, according to our midterms forecast model. Follow along as we track the race to control Congress

“You Can See Everything”, a documentary on the Theranos founder, is an enthralling display of the tension between observer and observed. Register for free to read our review

In Russian, detainees like Imai Yuki are referred to as “aktivy” (assets) in the country’s “obmenny fond” (exchange fund). Register for free to learn what Russia could gain by jailing a Japanese reporter

Interest rate, exchange rate and the price level of goods and services are a familiar trio. But the lesser-known “fourth price” of money is just as important. Perry Mehrling understood why

The pharmaceutical billionaire has some traits that should appeal to suburban, MAGA-sceptic Republicans. In practice, however, he remains tainted by his links to an unpopular president

Although betting markets and all public forecasting models still favour Democrats in the Senate, our midterms tracker is now the least confident in their chances. Bookmark this page

The “fifth plenum” of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee is due to be held this month. Register for free to learn why the gathering will be especially fraught

So what if the rupee hits 100 to the dollar? A currency is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it—and that is determined by forces outside the central bank’s control bit.ly/4BHI8jE Illustration: Lehel Kovács

The Trump administration claims America has the right to dominate the western hemisphere. But our “Archive Cuba” series highlights a long-standing anxiety about the extent of its influence

Barring a few scuffles, there has been no clash in Arunachal Pradesh since 1975. We explain why the fiercest contest on the Chinese-Indian border at the moment is over infrastructure

Like a student with a tutor, Chinese AIs learn faster than American ones working things out alone. Register for free to learn how much this matters

It was a homecoming laden with symbolism. Her theatrical return caught millions of Venezuelans—and possibly the country’s ruling regime—by surprise

The Premier League’s greatest strength is also a weakness

For years Brazil’s governments have spent wildly, which has weighed on investment and squeezed businesses and households. Register for free to learn what the re-elected president must do to get Brazil’s economy moving

Democrats’ polling leads have narrowed in Senate races for Texas and Michigan, and its fundraising advantage in Alaska has also shrunk slightly. For more on the race for the upper chamber, explore our midterms prediction model

Lula’s victory is extraordinary. Since the country returned to democracy in 1985, no candidate who lost the first round had won the run-off

Today Israel’s security chiefs believe they cannot topple the Iranian regime from the outside. Register to read why the signs are that Binyamin Netanyahu is going to try nonetheless

Lurking in its IPO prospectus are warnings of challenges ahead

If Lula wants to lift up poor Brazilians, avoid an economic crisis and protect his legacy, the re-elected president’s final four years in office will have to look very different from the past four bit.ly/3W50qeh Photo: AP

Her presence in Venezuela looks set to complicate the unusual, cosy relationship that Donald Trump’s administration has formed with the disreputable regime of Delcy Rodríguez

Startups hope to improve IVF by revealing the biology of infertility

In embracing Richard Nixon, young right-wingers are also rejecting their elders’ worship of Ronald Reagan

Today on “The Intelligence”: Lula’s stunning victory in Brazil, the start of our American-midterms series and why just about everywhere sells merch now

Chinese AI firms mimicking their American rivals is an annoyance, but it may be better than them finding their own way to the frontier. It could also make AI easier to regulate