The Economist

The Economist is a global weekly magazine written for those who share an uncommon interest in being well and broadly informed. Each issue explores domestic and international issues, business, finance, current affairs, science, technology and the arts.

Coronavirus briefs • To 6am GMT Aug 12th 2021

The world this week

China’s attack on tech • Xi Jinping’s assault on his country’s tech titans is likely to prove self-defeating

Last chance • America might still be able to save the Afghan government if it tried

Open up • International travel restrictions are illiberal and often ineffective

It is not all about the CO 2 • Carbon dioxide is by far the most important driver of climate change. But methane matters, too

After Merkel, muddle • Voters deserve a more serious election campaign

Letters

Automatic for the people • CHANGXING

Function in Washington • WASHINGTON, DC

Oye, Cuomo va • NEW YORK

Hashing ambiguous • A 38-year-old charity will be integrated into Apple’s newest operating system

Getting schooled • DALLAS

Spreading • WASHINGTON, DC

Green and black • America’s armed forces face their biggest racial reckoning since the 1940s

One city, two worlds • JACAREZINHO

A small step away from socialism • The government approves small and medium-sized enterprises at last

There goes the neighbourhood • DELHI AND ISLAMABAD

Pro-God, anti-Taliban • KABUL

A pretty good racquet • SINGAPORE

The ties that bind • The release from prison of Samsung’s de facto boss raises some eyebrows

Autocratic for the people • Democracy is decaying in a growing number of Asian polities

Production-line poets • GUANGZHOU

Rwanda’s new fight • JOHANNESBURG

Crude business • Ghana moves to buy back oil licences no one else wants

Jihadists on all sides • President Mohamed Bazoum appeals for help

Crime and government • ABUJA

Of coups and covid jabs • DUBAI

Jamaica, traffic-light or black and green? • BERLIN

1789 and all that • PARIS

Unwelcome Discovery • WARSAW

The megayachts are back • SMERALDA

Bottom of the heap • SOFIA

Knocking on the 27’s door • OHRID

A tale of two flights • IA271 to Minsk, OS52 to Vienna and Europe’s asylum dilemma

In trouble with the law • Britain’s courts were in a mess before covid-19. They are in a worse state now—and the government’s fixes do not look up to the job

Parks and recriminations • Youngsters take over London’s fanciest parks, to the displeasure of locals

Getting off the ground • The disruptive effects of covid-19 on travel will long outlast this chaotic summer

What tech does Xi want? • HONG KONG

Just what the doctor ordered • CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

Get flexible or get going • Our Bartleby columnist bows out

Loser takes all • Why a television-ratings flop is still marketing gold

Wiping the slate • PARIS

Joan of Instacart • Can a raid on Facebook reconfigure America’s grocery wars?

Coming up short • LONDON AND NEW YORK

Beatable prices • BETHESDA, MARYLAND

Bygones are bygones • A tax time-machine is consigned to the past

SPACs and the City • London’s attempts to lure SPACS may be too little, too late

Cease and delist • How the delisting of Chinese companies on American exchanges might play out

A quiet giant • Japan’s understated financial heft in the region

The fundamentals of finance • A new theory suggests that day-to-day trading has...