economist

IN SEPTEMBERthe Night Time Industries Association, a British trade group, issued a sobering press release. Since 2020, it revealed, 37% of Britain’s nightclubs had closed. Many shut during the pandemic and never reopened, but closures continue. If clubs do not stop closing, theNTIApredicted, by the end of the decade there will be almost nowhere left for Britons to get drunk, belt out “Mr Brightside” and then vomit in a gutter on the walk home at 2am.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Straighter edge”

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

ON JANUARY14THPete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defence, will be grilled by senators on his suitability for the job. He will be quizzed onallegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking. He is also certain to face questions about women and war. “We should not have women in combat roles,” he said in a recent podcast. He acknowledged that women had served “amazingly” in America’s armed forces and that female fighter pilots were welcome, but argued that women were simply not strong enough to serve in infantry, armour and artillery units. Since admitting women, “the standards have lowered,” he said.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Women warriors and the war on woke”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

FORthespies, diplomats and military types tasked with keeping America safe and prosperous, Donald Trump’s bullying long ago lost its power to shock. Indeed, the national-security establishment—including officials who currently serve President Joe Biden—concedes that Mr Trump’s brand of statecraft, involving America First bombast, cruel jokes and offers that can’t be refused, is at times effective. Mr Trump’s ability to generate leverage leads to a different lament. Shrewd professionals worry that the 47th president has a potentially strong hand, but might blow it.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Bullying is not the same as strength”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

SINCE ITSfounding by landowners in 1866, the Rural Society of Argentina—motto, “To Cultivate the Soil is to Serve the Nation”—has been a potent ally for governments of the right and a daunting foe for the left. The society’s campus in Buenos Aires, home to a big annual agricultural fair, dominates a city block in the heart of the capital. Hosting The Telegram for a chat about geopolitics, society officers deplore decades of economic mismanagement by populist left-leaning governments, which caused inflation to soar and the Argentine currency to sink. On the way out, they show him some of the society’s historic treasures, including a carved armchair used by the late Pope John Paul II.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Why China is hard to beat in Latin America”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

THESE AREhappy, “I told you so” times for foreign-policy cynics. In many world capitals the inauguration of an America First president inspires not shock, but vindication. Over a policy-filled lunch in Asia, a veteran official tells The Telegram that his government feels “serene” about the return of President Donald Trump. Westerners are forgetting their history, he suggests, if they mourn the crumbling of a principled, America-led world order that has supposedly prevailed for 80 years. Tell that to Asian peoples attacked by colonial European troops as they fought for independence, he says. Moral values never guided the post-war world. At least under Mr Trump, the mask is off, and interests are all.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “America the imperfect, indispensable nation”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

The watersoff Singapore teem with tankers, container ships, freighters and smacks, importing everything from oil to electronics. Yet there is one commodity none of these vessels carries, and which the city-state wants: electricity. The tiny, rich island powers itself mostly by burning imported natural gas, despite pledging to cut emissions to net-zero by 2050. It has little room to build its own wind or solar farms. So Singapore plans to get hold of clean power in a different way: down long-distance cables from its neighbours. Its government has given preliminary approval for undersea transmission cables from Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and even Australia, some 4,300km away.In ten years’ time Singapore wants to import a third of the power it consumes this way.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Power-sharing”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

IT SOUNDS ODD, but hints keep piling up that President Donald Trump is tempted by a big, beautiful deal with China’s Xi Jinping. That runs counter to campaign-trail vows to hit China with crippling tariffs. A great-power bargain that Mr Xi could accept—perhaps bundling economic trade-offs with a divvying-up of the world into spheres of influence—would surely outrage hawkish Trump aides, from the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Congress would be appalled and allies in Europe and Asia aghast. And yet Mr Trump keeps signalling that he is in dealmaking mode. He has invited China to help with peacemaking in Ukraine, says he would rather not impose swingeing Chinese tariffs and questioned whether TikTok, a Chinese-owned app, really harms American national security.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “A big, beautiful Trump deal with China?”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

WHEN SHAKIR MOHAMEDand his male partner wanted to start a family in London, they looked to adopt a child. But faced with a laborious process and long waiting times, they instead turned to surrogacy. Last year their son Nico was born to a woman in America who agreed to carry their child for a fee, and who still stays in touch with them.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Baby-making boom ”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

THESE AREheady times for supporters ofPresident Donald Trump. In their telling, their champion has declared a new era in which America will use its strength without embarrassment to secure its interests, and the world is falling in line.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Appeasing Trump, for now”

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

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

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief