Editor’s Picks: August 16th 2021

In May 2024, Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petrichuk, the director and writer of an experimental play, became the first Russian artists since Soviet times to be put on trial for the content of their work. It was a show trial. Like all show trials its outcome was preordained. Bu ... Show More

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, is a huge video-game fan. Now his hobby is becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry for the kingdom, which is acquiring some of the world’s biggest gaming firms. How Finnish icebreakers became a focus for polar power politics. And ... Show More

Donald Trump has brokered an agreement between Israel’s government and Hamas. It’s a momentous breakthrough. Our correspondent analyses what comes next. We launch “The Economist Insider”, our new TV show for subscribers, where senior editors debate the news. And, do red-light mas ... Show More

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: the mess Merkel leaves behind, America gets serious about countering China (11:01) and Nigerian megachurches practise the prosperity they preach (17:36). Please subscribe to The ... Show More

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, why only America can save Israel and Gaza from a greater catastrophe. Also, the recent election in Poland offers a lesson in how to push back on populism (10:30) and the resurgen ... Show More

Taiwan’s election of William Lai Ching-te of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party is sure to annoy leaders in Beijing; we ask what to expect next. Britain’s post-office scandal simmered for two decades before a television series made it boil over (10:14). And what ha ... Show More

Our Berlin bureau chief sits down with the increasingly popular co-leader of the Alternative for Germany, the furthest-right of the country’s seven main political parties. How viable are her policy plans? The startup behind a reusable missile that could change American warfare (1 ... Show More

The state’s supreme court has ruled that he cannot appear on the Republican primary ballot, citing insurrection and a constitutional amendment. It’s an extraordinary decision, but it will only matter if it sticks. In the Netherlands, far-right Geerts Wilders is hard-pressed to fo ... Show More

Melting ski slopes, floods and droughts are enraging the continent’s citizens, but not quite enough for them to consider voting differently. Our correspondent explains what the electorate is weighing up. The world’s largest maker of glasses is branching out into tech (10:41). And ... Show More

Hardened war-zone doctors say the situation in Gaza is the worst they have witnessed—and that will cost lives long after the current conflict is resolved. Numbers from America’s tight labour market suggest that long-standing gaps between black and white workers are narrowing (09: ... Show More

After a 20-point primary walloping in South Carolina, the state she governed for eight years, Nikki Haley vowed to fight on against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. But why? Seasonal opportunities for natural-gas arbitrage have been juicier during the war ... Show More

In recent years the US has facilitated a warming in relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours but, after Hamas attacked Israel, that is under threat. What should America’s Middle East strategy be now? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re jo ... Show More

In some ways, Beijing now sounds like a lot of other mega cities. Yet, back in imperial times, sound was used in creative ways to display wealth, to conduct everyday business and, most importantly, to keep order. David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, takes us on a sonic journey ... Show More