Fed-letter day: at last, a rate cut

2024-09-18

The explosion of thousands of pagers (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/09/17/do-pager-bombs-presage-escalation-between-israel-and-hizbullah?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) across Lebanon and Syria was an attack on Hizbullah, a Shia militant group which had been trying to evade Israeli surveillance by using these low-tech devices. What will such an escalated attack mean for the region? Why Americans’ obsession with big cars

2024-09-03

Espresso, our short-form, daily news app, is now free for high school and university students worldwide. Search for “Economist Espresso student” to sign up

2024-07-23

A day is a long time in American politics: Kamala Harris has reportedly already secured the votes to become Democrats’ presidential nominee, a pile of campaign cash and the Trump campaign’s attention (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/07/22/republicans-adjust-their-attacks-for-their-new-foe-kamala-harris?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). For insight into how China treats its startup scene, we count the dwindling number of newly born unicorns

2024-07-18

J.D. Vance was largely unknown in American politics until Donald Trump picked him (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/07/16/jd-vance-is-now-the-heir-apparent-to-the-maga-movement?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) as his running-mate for vice-president. Last night he gave his first speech to the Republican National Convention. Why is trade so sluggish within Latin America (https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/06/13/why-latin-america-is-the-worlds-trade-pipsqueak?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) (11:34)? And forget

2024-07-10

Masoud Pezeshkian rode to victory on a promise of reforms that Iran’s people seem desperately to want (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/07/06/a-reformer-wanting-a-nuclear-deal-with-america-wins-irans-election?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). Will the former heart surgeon be permitted to carry them out? Ukraine has been getting a wartime pass on servicing its debts, but its creditors will soon come knocking

2024-07-04

The generation born in the 1940s grew up in a land of endless growth and possibility, ruled by a confident, moderate elite. But just as they were embarking on adult life, all that started to come apart. The economy faltered, and the post-war consensus came under pressure from two sides: from the radical right, who hated government moves on civil rights – and from the ‘New Left’, as boomers rebelled against their parents’ generation and its war in Vietnam.

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2024-06-26

Our correspondents were the first media to see the American-built JLOTS pier, intended for aid deliveries into Gaza. Things have not at all gone to plan. After years of slipping, house prices are on the rise (https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/06/16/why-house-prices-are-surging-once-again?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) again; we ask why (16:51). And a trip to see the Savannah Bananas, a goofy exhibition-baseball team that has serious lessons