Why are so many Colombians becoming mercenaries? | The Economist

2026-01-16

The exiled son of Iran’s former shah says citizens are getting “butchered” by the regime and explains how he would plan to lead the country during a transition period.

In an interview with The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Reza Pahlavi said his role would be to act as a neutral arbiter, oversee free elections and then transfer power to an elected parliament.

Watch our latest Insider show on Iran here: econ.st/49YL67h

What the collapse of Iran would mean: econ.st/49EBmh5
America’s options in Iran: econ.st/49TaDib
Bereft of legitimacy, the reeling regime in Iran massacres its own people: econ.st/4sFufxX

Sign up to our weekly newsletter: https://econ.st/3J0xzBr

2026-01-13

Has Trump’s Venezuela raid helped China plan military strikes? Jeremy Page and Sarah Wu, co-hosts of the Drum Tower podcast, discuss whether the US assault and extraction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro could offer lessons for a possible future attack on Taiwan.

00:00 – What lessons will Beijing draw from the US strike?
01:05 – How is China’s military preparing for decapitation strikes?
02:28 – Is the PLA talking more about decapitation operations?
04:25 – How capable is China of carrying out a decapitation strike?
05:20 – How concerned is China about its military technology?
06:30 – How might the raid affect China’s future actions?

Listen to the full episode: https://econ.st/4qPXBrp
China and Taiwan both see lessons in America’s raid on Venezuela: https://econ.st/4pD75p4
Sign

2026-01-09

At least 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war and the international media has been barred from independently entering the strip altogether. In an interview with The Economist, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says the Israel Defence Forces don’t target journalists and that their access is restricted because “it’s a warzone”.

2026-01-04

Derided as the “doping Olympics”, the Enhanced Games has drawn intense criticism from sporting bodies. But, as The Economist’s health editor Natasha Loder explains, human enhancement is already a $125bn industry.

2025-11-19

The UN has predicted that the global population will peak in 2084. Our top economics editors explain why we could reach that milestone sooner than expected. Plus, what people often get wrong about why birth rates are falling.

Watch the full show to learn about the economic impact of falling fertility rates—and whether that spells catastrophe.

00:00 – Where fertility rates have fallen
01:28 – When will the world’s population peak?
05:16 – Why women are having fewer babies

Watch the full show: https://econ.st/4ppyDyF

Don’t panic about the global fertility crash: https://econ.st/4nxGpFl

Humanity will shrink, far sooner than you think: https://econ.st/4oS6u3l

A contracting population need not be a catastrophe: https://econ.st/43CEXKy

America’s fertility crash reaches a new low:

2025-11-17

For most of history parents have wanted sons, but in recent years mums and dads in the rich world have shown an emerging preference for girls. We explain why this is.

Politicians have begun taking an interest. Click the link [in our bio] to find out how they are trying to “uplift” boys

Video supported by @mishcondereya

2025-09-30

Following pressure from Donald Trump, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has been strong-armed into a Gaza peace deal. Our Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom considers whether Hamas will agree to the deal.

2025-09-25

President Trump has taken the unusual step of stabilising Argentina’s peso, showing just how far he’ll go to support ideological allies like Javier Milei. Our Latin America correspondent, Kinley Salmon, explains why this intervention may do little for Argentina’s economy—or Milei’s re-election