Four years ago Belarus’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, stole a presidential election. Belarusians have just voted again, in parliamentary and local polls. This time there was little chance of a repeat of the protests that followed the rigged vote in 2020. How has Mr Lukashenko tightened his grip?

00:00 – Why Lukashenko is called “Europe’s last dictator”
00:57 – How Lukashenko came to power
01:29 – Why Lukashenko is dependent on Putin

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read more about the region: https://econ.st/3OV7JP1

Belarus prepares for another fraudulent election: https://econ.st/49OehXU

How much power does Alexander Lukashenko have?:https://econ.st/3SVVeUH

Why Belarus is called Europe’s last dictatorship: https://econ.st/3SVVeUH

Belarus’s

The Economist interviewed Alexei Navalny, who has reportedly died in an Arctic penal colony, in the run-up to Russia’s 2018 presidential election. He discussed the breadth of his political support, his experiences in prison and offered some predictions for the future of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

00:16 – The death of Navalny
00:41 – Navalny in prison
02:00 – Putin’s goals

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Alexei Navalny didn’t just defy Putin—he showed up his depravity: https://econ.st/48mUUE0

What Navalny’s death means for Russia, Putin and the world: https://econ.st/3T366RZ

Russia’s opposition has lost a crucial leader but gained a martyr: https://econ.st/3I2qa0u

Graphic detail: A short history of Russia and Ukraine: https://econ.st/4bLbwZ6

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, has died in a penal colony near the Arctic Circle, according to the Russian prison service. Listen to this excerpt on Navalny’s life and career from our podcast series “Next Year in Moscow”.

Original podcast: Producers: Sam Colbert, Pete Naughton, Ksenia Barakovskaya, Lika Kremer; Sound design: Weidong Lin; Original music: Darren Ng; Executive producer: John Shields.

00:00 – Alexei Navalny has died
01:14 – Navalny’s poisoning
07:26 – Returning to Russia
11:40 – His political work
18:50 – Navalny’s prison sentence
21:27 – Alexei Navalny’s legacy

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Obit: Alexei Navalny didn’t just defy Putin—he showed up his depravity:
https://econ.st/3OMDcmq

Read our 2020

Prabowo Subianto, the frontrunner in Indonesia’s election, hides a dark past. He has been accused of war crimes, overseeing the abduction of democracy activists and falsely declaring victory in two elections. Who is Prabowo and what does this election mean for the most powerful nation in South-East Asia?

00:00 – Who is Prabowo?
00:41 – Prabowo’s attitude to democracy
01:23 – What does this election mean for Indonesia?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Who will be the next leader of Indonesia? – Indonesian election tracker: https://econ.st/3UBiBoW

A controversial general looks likely to be Indonesia’s next leader: https://econ.st/49ApJGB

Five reasons why Indonesia’s election matters: https://econ.st/48tN3F7

The favourite in Indonesia’s

Things look bleak in the Middle East after Binyamin Netanyahu scorned America’s push for an end to the fighting. But in private he’s said to be more flexible. Could diplomacy actually work?

00:00 – The Saudi normalisation deal
00:42 – Israel and Saudi Arabia’s history
01:10 – How to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
02:26 – Will the deal happen?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

To read more on the conflict, visit our Israel and Hamas hub: https://econ.st/3HPfwtU

Israel scorns America’s unprecedented peace plan: https://econ.st/3SO4knJ

How to end the Middle East’s agony: https://econ.st/3OCHrRw

Listen to our podcast on Antony Blinken: the hardest working man in diplomatic business: https://econ.st/3OyKkCQ

America’s shuttle diplomacy to

What if text prompts enabled anyone to make a blockbuster movie, or even an entire box-set’s worth of TV? That is the promise of AI. This technology could one day prove as transformative to the movie business as sound, colour, or even the camera itself. Generative AI can already make videos in seconds which would normally take a visual-effects artist days to create. However it has yet to master photo-realistic video. The people at the forefront of this tech say it is only a matter of time.

00:29 How does AI-generated video work?
02:43 How long until feature films are generated by AI?
03:57 Can AI-generated videos be photorealistic?
04:36 How revolutionary is AI in film?
05:05 A dystopian threat to jobs or democratisation of the industry?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily

It’s really hard to kill cockroaches. Stamping on them, chopping off their head and even flushing them down the toilet won’t work. Much like cryptocurrency—an industry which, despite some recent setbacks, seems able to bounce back when you least expect it.

00:00 Why crypto is like cockroaches
00:25 Crypto is soaring
00:48 Why is crypto so hard to kill?

Sign up to our weekly finance newsletter to keep up to date: https://econ.st/3P3zTG8

Listen to our Money Talks podcast: https://econ.st/3Sa2gEY

Read more of our finance stories: https://econ.st/48PSZsP

More on our cockroach theory of crypto: https://econ.st/3OeZqxb

Decoding Sam Bankman-Fried: https://econ.st/3HwCzcP

More on the fall of crypto bosses: https://econ.st/3HyebHG

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, speak to The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, about what the future of AI will really look like.

00:00 Sam Altman and Satya Nadella talk to The Economist
00:25 What’s next for ChatGPT?
1:33 How dangerous is AGI?
2:32 AI regulation

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read more of our AI coverage: https://econ.st/3O9fK2v

Watch the full interview here: https://econ.st/3O7qXk5

Read our write up of the interview: https://econ.st/3HpwbUL

If artificial general intelligence is achieved, it will be able to outperform humans on most intellectual tasks. The Economist asks Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, how worried the world should be about AGI.
Watch the full interview here: https://econ.st/3RUSgzm

Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, talks to The Economist’s Editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, about how he navigates the risks raised by artificial intelligence.
Click here to view the full interview: https://econ.st/3RUSgzm

Guam, an island in the northern Pacific, is just 48km long and has a population of about 170,000. So why is it so important to America’s strategy to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese invasion?

00:00 – Where is Guam?
00:13 – Why is it so important?
01:00 – What makes it vulnerable?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Guam, where America’s next war may begin: https://econ.st/47lP9WN

America is lavishing attention on Pacific island states: https://econ.st/47of0xd

How the Pentagon thinks about America’s strategy in the Pacific: https://econ.st/3tG49RG

Read more of our US coverage: https://econ.st/4aRvOj4

Read more of our China coverage: https://econ.st/3S9G6nC

Ethiopia’s president, Abiy Ahmed, has signed a deal with Somaliland to get his landlocked country direct access to the sea. Abiy hails this as an act of diplomacy, but could it destabilise an already volatile part of the world?

00:00 – a new dispute in the Horn of Africa
01:00 – the historical context
01:29 – the implications of the new deal

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read more about the region: https://econ.st/4b1lIwv

Ethiopia’s deal with Somaliland: https://econ.st/3tJGQGB

Why does Ethiopia want access to a seaport?: https://econ.st/3H9RA45

Why Somaliland isn’t a recognised state: https://econ.st/48pfwMY

Conflict in the Horn of Africa: https://econ.st/48mt7of

A new wave of artificial intelligence is starting to transform the way the entertainment industry operates. Who will be the winners and losers?

01:07 AI is changing the music business
04:09 How big data revolutionised entertainment industries
05:20 Can AI predict a film’s success?
09:26 How generative AI is creating new opportunities
12:36 What are the risks of generative AI?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/45PGz1H

The world wants to regulate AI, but does not quite know how: https://econ.st/477Qb98

Watch our previous film about how AI is transforming the creative industries: https://econ.st/45VBnJU

A battle royal is brewing over copyright and AI: https://econ.st/3QgM5EZ

How AI could change computing, culture and the course of history

As 2024 begins President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to The Economist’s Editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, about his political and military goals for the coming year and why he won’t compromise with Vladimir Putin.

00:00 – 2024 military goals
01:35 – Why he won’t negotiate

A New Year’s interview with Volodymyr Zelensky: https://econ.st/48A4Nim

Read our coverage from the war in Ukraine: https://econ.st/41MgGjc

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Russia tries to overwhelm Ukraine with missiles: https://econ.st/41PnIni

How five Ukrainian cities are coping, despite Putin’s war: https://econ.st/41MgJLU

A majority of congressmen want more military aid for Ukraine: https://econ.st/3tuWKVl

Ukraine’s army is struggling to find good recruits:

More than half the people on the planet live in countries that will hold nationwide elections in 2024. In theory it should be a triumphant year for democracy. In practice it will be the opposite

What are the stories set to shape 2024? From the biggest election year in history, to how to control AI and even taxis that fly, The Economist offers its annual look at the world ahead.

00:00 – The World Ahead 2024
00:33 – Vital votes
03:34 – Taxis take off
07:10 – AI rules
10:19 – Industry cleans up?
13:48 – BRICS build

Read more on The World Ahead 2024: https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead-2024

Read Tom Standage’s editor’s note on The World Ahead 2024: https://econ.st/3ROGB69

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Europe, a laggard in AI, seizes the lead in its regulation: https://econ.st/3GNsYOD

Taiwan’s presidential election will be a three-way race after all: https://econ.st/41ukOnz

China is watching closely who will be Taiwan’s next

Sleep patterns differ across the world. From early-to-bed South Africans to Russians who hit the sack around midnight, we reveal the cultural nuances that shape global sleep schedules. Watch the film to find out where your country ranks in the lie-in-dex, and why it matters.

Read more about which countries get the best night’s sleep: https://econ.st/3GTRxt8

Find out why chinstrap penguins sleep thousands of times a day: https://econ.st/48pow45

Find out why people sleep at all: https://econ.st/3RSTTyw

Subscribe to The Economist: https://econ.st/3uwzp5y

What actually happens when we sleep? https://www.economist.com/films/2023/09/08/what-happens-when-we-sleep

Why sleep and songwriting make one of the greatest partnerships: https://econ.st/3GOigaB

Fusion is a kind of nuclear power, which could revolutionise how clean energy is produced. As a new wave of experiments heats up, can fusion live up to the hype?

00:33 The future of green energy
02:00 What is nuclear fusion and how does it work?
03:17 Is it achievable?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3s9WjPB

Energy security gives climate-friendly nuclear-power plants a new appeal: https://econ.st/3QHgdd1

Listen to our podcast about the importance of private companies in advancing nuclear fusion https://econ.st/49n7aqa

Fusion power is coming back into fashion: https://econ.st/49jPwDu

Watch our film about the transition to green energy: https://econ.st/473WDNT

The race to build a commercial fusion reactor hots up: https://econ.st/47kpfDn

Watch

To save the Amazon rainforest, Brazil’s President Lula must work out who owns it. But with 22 different agencies registering land claims–and many of them overlapping–it’s not an easy task.

00:00 – How is Amazonian land distributed?
00:27 – How do land claims conflict?
01:15 – How is Lula helping?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read our coverage on the Brazilian Amazon: https://econ.st/3NnFA2l

Why the world should pay to conserve rainforests: https://econ.st/48gfnuW

Latin America could lead the way on green power: https://econ.st/41hWHbA

In the days before the October 7th attack short selling of Israeli stocks spiked in New York, making someone a lot of money. How likely is it that a Hamas insider was behind it?

00:00 – Pre-war stock market changes
00:33 – What happened to the stocks?
01:03 – Who was behind it?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read our coverage on Israel and Hamas: https://econ.st/46Ka8Cy

Did Hamas make millions trading the October 7th attacks?: https://econ.st/4822Zyd

Inside Hamas’s sprawling financial empire: https://econ.st/483x94b

As global warming makes weather more extreme and deadly, accurate and accessible weather forecasting has never been more needed.

00:00 – Hurricane Otis
00:40 – Extreme weather
01:33 – Democratic Republic of Congo
02:38 – Problems with forecasting
04:25 – Innovative solutions
05:41 – Arrival of AI
07:30 – Smallholder farmers
09:30 – Early warning systems

Read about the high-tech race to improve weather forecasting: https://econ.st/4a1pqpo

Listen to how new technology will make weather forecasting fit for the 21st century: https://econ.st/3uLWXDu

Why the world’s poor need to know about weather disasters ahead of time: https://econ.st/3QZkaJV

Will global average temperatures pass a threshold in 2024? https://econ.st/46EP0xn

Subscribe to The Economist: https://econ.st/3uwzp5y

How

We hear a lot about the need to get off fossil fuels. How is the energy transition really going and how fast is the world moving towards a green future?

00:51 How did the war in Ukraine impact the green revolution?
05:50 Why is green energy booming in unlikely places?
08:31 Rewiring the world for net zero
11:40 Is nuclear energy making a comeback?
14:20 Texas: the anti-green future of clean energy
18:09 Do environmentalists need to change?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3s9WjPB

Read our quarterly report on electric grids: https://econ.st/3SnGejK

War and subsidies have turbocharged the green transition: https://econ.st/47h2vnO

Renewable energy has hidden costs: https://econ.st/3SlLww7

Listen to our podcast about whether the energy crisis could

To teach students how to protect themselves from an active shooter most American schools run lockdown drills – but could they do more harm than good?

00:00 – What are lockdown drills?
00:43 – When did lockdowns become widespread?
01:25 – What are the national guidelines?
01:47 – The impact on children

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read our full investigation: https://econ.st/477yzLd

Inside America’s hoax school shootings epidemic: ?si=b3bVneE00kFdHT62

Why some teachers in America are learning how to fire guns: ?si=Xb9ckrwvhgNOiIDb

One response to school shootings in America: arm the teachers: https://econ.st/3u1KzPm

A report sheds light on the deadliest school shooting in Texas’s history: https://econ.st/3FWoe8Z

The AR-15 is a symbol of

Gun crime in American schools is increasing–but does training teachers how to shoot make classrooms any safer?

00:00 – Is arming teachers the solution?
00:50 – Meet the teachers learning to shoot
01:55 – Why they want to learn
03:17 – How effective is the training?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read our full investigation: https://econ.st/477yzLd

Inside America’s hoax school shootings epidemic: ?si=L8F1fnhkcR7jAHlE

One response to school shootings in America: arm the teachers: https://econ.st/3u1KzPm

A report sheds light on the deadliest school shooting in Texas’s history: https://econ.st/3FWoe8Z

Guns are the things most likely to kill young people in America: https://econ.st/479FrXN

The spate of gun violence shows American exceptionalism

In America the fear of gun crime in schools is being weaponised. More and more SWAT teams are having to respond to hoax calls about school shootings.

00:00 – America’s hoax school shooting crisis
01:07 – Hoax calls are becoming more commonplace
02:00 – Aspen Elementary School
03:29 – What happened on February 22nd 2023?
05:10 – Who was behind it?
07:35 – The fight against SWAT hoax calls

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Read our full investigation: https://econ.st/477yzLd

Why some teachers in America are learning how to fire guns: ?si=fBZbTiT2gaD-9n2U

One response to school shootings in America: arm the teachers: https://econ.st/3u1KzPm

A report sheds light on the deadliest school shooting in Texas’s history: https://econ.st/3FWoe8Z

The AR-15

Accusations of election manipulation and the mishandling of classified documents are just a few of the criminal charges former President Donald Trump faces across four criminal trials as the race for the White House gets underway. But is he really in jeopardy or will he succeed in turning his legal woes to his political advantage?

00:00 – How much jeopardy is Trump really in?
00:31 – The cases
03:05 – The risks
04:02 – Trump’s campaign

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Donald Trump’s second term would be a protectionist nightmare: https://econ.st/45RSnR7

Part of Donald Trump’s base thinks he is fighting a spiritual war: https://econ.st/45URg31

A Trump Party in the Reagan Library: https://econ.st/3tWB2cv

Donald Trump is found liable for fraud in

As the most complex organ in your body, your brain changes radically throughout your life. Starting from before birth and continuing even after you’ve died. This is what happens to your brain as you age.

00:00 – What happens to your brain when you age?
00:32 – In the womb
01:03 – Childhood
03:19 – Teenage years
04:48 – Early adulthood
05:27 – Middle age
07:04 – Later life
07:36 – Death

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Is there a genetic link between endometriosis and the brain?: https://econ.st/46u9Q31

Even doctors can struggle to diagnose concussions: https://econ.st/3RlFfQP

Artificial brains are helping scientists study the real thing: https://econ.st/3Plo6UN

A big advance in mapping the structure of the brain: https://econ.st/48sx6jJ

Hizbullah has been shooting rockets across the Israel-Lebanon border. If it intervenes in the Israel-Hamas conflict, it could lead to serious escalation.

00:00 – The origins of Hizbullah
01:06 – Its political rise
02:00 – How big a threat is it?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Why has Israel’s ground invasion been delayed?: https://econ.st/3tFIlFi

The firepower of Iran-backed militias: https://econ.st/3tLoK6K

Israel faces the danger of fighting a war on two fronts: https://econ.st/45LenNA

What is Hizbullah?: https://econ.st/479FOBT

Watch: What is Hamas?:https://econ.st/3SkFk7T

What is the Palestinian Islamic Jihad?: https://econ.st/3tTzvUs

A short history of the Arab-Israeli conflict: https://econ.st/3Qa80xr

A short history of Gaza:

The Economist’s defence editor Shashank Joshi spoke to legal experts to find out whether Israel’s response to Hamas’s terrorist attack is lawful.

00:00 – Is Israel breaking the rules of war?
00:59 – Blockade
01:32 – Bombardment

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3QAawvI

Is Israel acting within the laws of war?: https://econ.st/3tzVBv7

Joe Biden steers a risky course after a Gaza hospital blast: https://econ.st/3ty6RIl

Mapping Israel’s war in Gaza: https://econ.st/3M5xECv

Hamas tunnels under Gaza will be a key battlefield for Israel: https://econ.st/490c8ZG

To save Palestinian lives in Gaza, open the crossing into Egypt: https://econ.st/3M3PzJu

A short history of Gaza: https://econ.st/408EJYR

Israel faces the danger of fighting on a second front:

Scientists are hoping to build the world’s first clinically approved artificial womb. The purpose is to save the lives of more premature babies.

00:00 The dangers of premature birth
01:49 How to build an artificial womb
04:17 How does it work?
05:54 When will artificial wombs be rolled out?

Sign up to The Economist’s weekly science newsletter: https://econ.st/46wOpyv

Read our full quarterly report on fertility: https://econ.st/3S1LZnj

Watch our film about the booming surrogacy industry: https://econ.st/3QfjpgX

How to build an artificial womb https://econ.st/3PRLFEW

“Reproductive techno-horror” is a burgeoning genre on screen https://econ.st/3tsEf3t

New ways of making babies are on the horizon https://econ.st/45u8fsM

Mouse “embryoids” can now be grown from stem cells