economist

LOGICALLY,CHINESEcommunists should be good at spotting revolutionaries. In reality, officials in Beijing are as clueless as anyone when it comes to the most urgent question in world politics. Namely, is the second coming of President Donald Trump a ruder, rougher version of the first? Or is he now an out-and-out radical—willing to break any principle and abandon any ally to advance the national interest, as he sees it?

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Is Donald Trump a revolutionary, or just rude?”

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

BANK REGULATORSare seldom celebrities. But Ahsan Mansur, the governor of Bangladesh’s central bank, is an exception. Since he took over in August, after an autocratic prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was overthrown by protests, his job has been to untangle the criminal mess she left behind.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Pillage people”

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

This is the introduction to The War Room, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter bringing exclusive insights into defence and security.

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

EVEN BEFOREPresident Donald Trump declared a trade war on the whole world, this was a noisy time in global power politics. The din of armed conflict is unrelenting in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In Asia, Chinese sabre-rattling grows ever louder. Every other week, or so it seems to China’s anxious neighbours, the People’s Liberation Army sends fighter jets and warships to encircle the island of Taiwan, or to stage shows of force in contested seas to China’s east and south. Relishing his role as commander-in-chief of the most potent armed forces in history, Mr Trump makes threats to destroy utterly opponents who defy his demands, from Houthi insurgents disrupting shipping in the Red Sea to drug-smuggling cartels in Mexico.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Dreaded are the peacemakers”

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 DEEPSEEK, a hotshot Chinese firm, released its cheap large language model late last year it overturned long-standing assumptions about what it will take to build the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI). This will matter to whoever comes out on top in the epic global battle forAIsupremacy. Developers are now reconsidering how much hardware, energy and data are needed. Yet another, less discussed, input in machine intelligence is in flux too: the workforce.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Humans in the loop”

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

This is the introduction to The War Room, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter bringing exclusive insights into defence and security.

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

IF TOUGHNESS ALONEdecided great-power contests, China could afford to feel cocky about itsconfrontation with America. Though Chinese exporters have been winded by PresidentDonald Trump’s tariffs, they have yet to suffer a knockout blow. Communist Party bosses have worked to build an economy that can take American-inflicted pain, whether that involves ordering China’s technology sector to become more “self-reliant” and less dependent on foreign inputs, or expanding its dealings with Russia and other countries that oppose Western trade and financial sanctions. The same economy stands ready to impose pain on foreign rivals, for instance by curbing exports of rare-earth minerals, the supply of which China dominates.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Xi Jinping’s Trump-sized puzzle”

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

MICHAEL PHELAN, a famous billiards player and supplier, lamented in 1858 that the growing popularity of the game had made the ivory needed for the balls scarce and costly. “If any inventive genius would discover a substitute”, he wrote, “he would make a handsome fortune for himself, and earn our sincerest gratitude.” Five years later, Phelan’s company offered a reward of $10,000 (about $250,000 today) for anyone who could do just that. The result, after some tinkering, was celluloid—the world’s first major synthetic plastic.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Plastics are greener than they seem ”

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 DEATHofPope Francison April 21st came amid a tumult in international affairs, one in which the late pontiff had been expected to play an influential role. Two days after he suffered a fatal stroke, Francis’s simple coffin was transferred from his modest quarters in the Vatican to the ornate interior of St Peter’s Basilica. His funeral on April 26th was due to be attended by a constellation of world leaders, including President Donald Trump.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The coming struggle”

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

“President Trumplooked up from the Resolute desk and said: Kill them,” recounted Sebastian Gorka, America’s new counter-terrorism chief, of Donald Trump’s orders just ten days after his inauguration, when presented with intelligence of Islamic State (IS) jihadists in a cave complex in Somalia. “He got out his iconic Sharpie pen and ticked the ‘go’ box on the operational orders.”

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Trump’s red-hot war on terror”

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