economist

THE OLYMPICflame will illuminate the City of Light from July 26th, when the world’s greatest sporting spectacle gets under way in Paris. Although France still lacks a government after a snap national parliamentary vote in recent weeks, its capital will host the 33rd Olympiad in style. Dressage events will take place in the magnificent grounds of Versailles; volleyballs will whizz over nets by the Eiffel Tower. Organisers hope to show the best of France to visiting sports fans, business executives and foreign politicians. One of the thousands of volunteers involved describes “an infectious positive energy”.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Changing the games”

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After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

SUZIE JIMENEZcried as she waited in the car park. Her 14-year-old son was in the emergency department, suffering from stomach pains. He felt humiliated when doctors in Austin, Texas, told him that because of his bigger body he would need to have aCTscan rather than an ultrasound. He was scared to tell them he weighed 360 pounds (163kg). A shortage of Wegovy had meant that despite being approved for the weight-loss drug, he had not yet been able to start it. Ms Jimenez, at times the sole breadwinner for her family of five, says they sometimes ate fast food for “comfort”.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Tipping the balance”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

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Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

JUST BEFOREDonald Trump became the Republican nominee for president, the party published itsforeign-policy goals: “Prevent world war three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a greatIron Domemissile-defence shield over our entire country”. The last of those promises has become a staple of the Trump campaign. In his speech accepting the nomination, he promised that an American missile shield will ensure “no enemy can strike our homeland”,  adding that it would be “built entirely in theUSA”.

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

THE WATERthieves come at night. They arrive in trucks, suck water out of irrigation canals and drive off. This infuriates Alejandro Meneses, who owns a big vegetable farm in Coquimbo, a parched province of Chile. In theory his landholding comes with the right to pour 40 litres of river-water a second on his fields. But thanks to drought, exacerbated by theft, he can get just a tenth of that, which he must negotiate with his neighbours. If the price of food goes up because farmers like him cannot grow enough, “there will be a big social problem,” he says.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The poisonous politics of water”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

IT IS ILLEGALfor Americans to export weapons without a licence. You may not FedEx a ballistic missile to Europe or post a frigate to Asia. But in the 1990s the country’s labyrinthine arms-export controls covered something more unusual: cryptographic software that could make messages unreadable to anyone other than the intended recipients. When American programmers built tools that could encode a newfangled message, the email, their government investigated them as illegal arms dealers. The result was Kafkaesque. In 1996 a court ruled that “Applied Cryptography”, a popular textbook, could be exported—but deemed an accompanying disk to be an export-controlled munition.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The new crypto wars?”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

“One playergonna die,” complained Daniil Medvedev in the middle of a match on the hottest day of theUSOpen in New York last year, as the temperature soared to 34°C. “It’s been brutal…it ruins everything.” Similar temperatures—combined with higher humidity—sometimes made conditions even more punishing at this year’s tournament that ended on September 8th. Players struggled and vomited; in the breaks they packed bags of ice around their necks and heads, or stuck hoses blowing cold air down their shirts in an effort to cool down. Sweltering in the steeply sloping cheaper seats was the largest crowd ever: in all, some 1m spectators attended the competition, fulfilling a goal the organisers had set in 2019.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Hotter, harder, deadlier”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

“THE RUSSIANSare not the bad guys any more. Now it’s the Americans.” Thus, explains a European diplomat at theUN, the war in Gaza is eclipsing the one in Ukraine. These days many countries are wary of criticising Russia’s aggression. Instead their outrage is directed at Israel and, increasingly, at America for arming and protecting the Jewish state. The accusation of Western double standards, gleefully amplified by Russia and China, resonated across the halls ofUNheadquarters on September 18th as the General Assembly adopted a far-reaching resolution to exert pressure on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories within a year. It passed with an overwhelming 124 votes in favour to 14 against (and 43 abstentions).

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “UNintended consequences”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, was unusually blunt on a recent visit to Europe: “One of the reasons that [Vladimir] Putin is able to continue this aggression is because of the provision of support from the People’s Republic of China,” he said. China was, he added, “the biggest supplier of machine tools, the biggest supplier of microelectronics, all of which are helping Russia sustain its defence industrial base”. American officials are reluctant to discuss details of what they think Russia is giving its friends, but Kurt Campbell, deputy secretary of state, recently said Russia has provided China with submarine, missile and other military technology. Separately, America says that Iran has been busy sending Russia hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “A new “quartet of chaos” threatens America”

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Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

In little lessthan a month, when Americans go to the polls to choose theirnext president, democracy will face its most important test in a year in which it is being put through its paces like never before. What happens in America—a superpower that embodies liberty for many people—could sway perceptions of the health of democracies around the world. A messy or violent outcome would inspire autocrats everywhere and undermine faith in the ideal of rule by the people. Conversely, a well-run election in which the loser gracefully concedes would strengthen the green shoots of a democratic recovery evident in some countries amid the biggest year of elections in history.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Over a billion have voted in 2024: has democracy won?”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur

It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice

The answer matters more than you think

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young