Economist
The hatred looks different this time. There are no ghettos or pogroms; no European government espouses it. In some ways the recent surge of antisemitism—including the stabbing of two Jewish men in London on April 29th—has a distinctly 21st-century character. Stand back, though, and the mindset of prejudice is horribly familiar. So are the risks: for Jews across the diaspora, but not only for Jews.
“Do you know who has been hit hardest in this economy in real terms? Me,” declared Javier Milei of Argentina at a recent swanky event. “I’m the only one whose salary hasn’t changed since I took office,” he said, while arguing that his cuts have fallen on the political class. “I’m the lowest-paid president in the Americas. ” That message is unlikely to win over struggling Argentines. Indeed, Mr Milei’s net approval rating has plunged recently.
THE PEACE of the world is being broken by dunderheads. At every turn economies are being wrecked and lives ended by wars of choice and policy blunders. Strikingly often, these actions were ordered up by rulers and regimes blind not just to common sense and decency, but to their own people’s long-term interests.
HOW EASILY could a malicious person with no scientific expertise and an axe to grind create and spread a nasty pathogen? The bar is constantly being lowered. Advances in genetic sequencing have made recipes for biological agents widely available; gene editing tools such as CRISPR could theoretically transform innocuous bugs into something lethal; and the toolkits needed to assemble and grow dangerous proteins and viruses can be bought for a few hundred dollars online.
An aSSET MANAGER’s job is harder than merely beating the market. They must also deal with investors’ foibles. In private, some sound like doctors complaining about patients. Everyone is an expert these days, goes the typical gripe, especially after conversing with a large language model. Yet clients still don’t know what’s good for them. Sovereign-wealth funds spurn liquidity arrangements that may drag down returns, then discover their countries urgently need cash to buy weapons. Individuals clamour for faddish, overvalued stocks, then want their money back when prices crash.
“We are like war prisoners,” says Captain Khan, who is waiting in the Persian Gulf as missiles “go all around” him. One hit a nearby fuel tanker, which caught fire and exploded. On another occasion debris sank a vessel a few metres in front of him. Mr Khan’s crew have tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz three times; the Iranians have turned them back on each occasion. “We are afraid,” says the captain, who does not want to disclose his full name or identify his vessel.
The Trump administration’s “Project Freedom” has done and will do little to boost traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. We examine an unsustainable standoff. A fashion influencer’s post addressed to President Vladimir Putin has brought Russians’ wider grumbling into the open. And how India’s notorious street noise comes with costs to human health. Runtime: 21 min. Guests and host:. Topics covered:. Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.
Sign up here to receive “The US in brief” as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox.
IN HIS SPRAWLING, captivating 1972 masterpiece, “The Best and the Brightest”, the journalist David Halberstam asked the central question about America’s war in Vietnam: “What was it about the men, their attitudes, the country, its institutions and above all the era which had allowed this tragedy to take place?” They were “the best and the brightest”, after all. Why did it happen?.
Welcome back to Blighty. In this week’s newsletter:.
Welcome back to the War Room. Thank you for all of the kind words about my move to Washington, DC. I was delighted to learn that Mary in Texas reads the newsletter with her 13-year-old son, who must be the most militarily astute middle-schooler in the country. William was one of many readers who warned me of the “miserable, swamp-like” conditions awaiting me (I think he was referring to the weather). Bill sagely advised me to pay attention to developments beyond the Beltway.
Peer into The Economist’s decision-making processes with Ed Carr, our deputy editor, who explains how we select and design our front cover. Cover Story shares preliminary sketches and documents the—often spirited—debates that lead each week to a design seen by millions of people. Sign up to receive Cover Story.
Chinese tech firm Xpeng is known for its high-tech EVs. Now its CEO He Xiaopeng is betting it all on “physical AI”—from humanoid robots to robotaxis and flying cars. Will his gamble pay off?. Guests and hosts:.
Foreign Policy
Download the print version. The rules of international affairs are being rewritten in real time. In today’s volatile landscape, the era of the generalist diplomat is being superseded by the era of the agile practitioner. As power dynamics shift and the boundaries between public policy and private enterprise blur, professional success is no longer achieved by picking a single path — such as government versus private sector — but by being able to pivot across sectors, navigate the intersections between them, and speak the languages of each.
Get audio access with any FP subscription. ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN. On May 7, voters across the United Kingdom will elect new local councils, municipal authorities, and devolved national governments. These elections—don’t call them the British midterms—could be seismic. It is starting to look as if the two-party Westminster system, the Labour Party and Conservative Party duopoly that has dominated U. K. politics for more than a century, is coming apart. Anti-establishment sentiment takes on a slightly different form in each constituent part of the U.
Get audio access with any FP subscription. ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN. Worried about China’s powerful trade leverage, U. S. President Donald Trump wants to rally a coalition of countries to break Beijing’s grip on many of the world’s mineral supply chains. Yet for much of the world, the United States isn’t exactly a reliable partner, either. Worried about China’s powerful trade leverage, U. S. President Donald Trump wants to rally a coalition of countries to break Beijing’s grip on many of the world’s mineral supply chains.
Get audio access with any FP subscription. ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN. From the moment U. S. President Donald Trump announced a 20-point peace plan for Gaza last September, it was apparent that disarming Hamas would be among the biggest obstacles to moving the process forward. Months into the fragile cease-fire, Trump’s peace plan has stalled amid an impasse over disarmament. Gaza now appears in danger of remaining in an indefinite limbo in which Hamas controls a portion of the territory while Israel occupies the rest.
Get audio access with any FP subscription. ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN. For nearly eight decades, North Korea has followed a pattern of patrilineal succession. Absolute power has transferred from father to son, producing a predictable, male-dominated hierarchy that appeared resistant to change. But the unprecedented public elevation of Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter, Kim Ju Ae, presents a potential disruption to this order. In early 2026, state media showed Ju Ae firing a sniper rifle among senior party and military officials; on March 19, she was photographed operating a new battle tank during a tactical drill.
In October 2025, as his plumbing contract in Qatar neared its end, Clinton Nyapara Mogesa called his brother, Vincent, in Kenya, to say he had found another job—this time, in Russia. He did not say what kind of work it was. Two days after arriving in Moscow, Clinton told Vincent that he was beginning military training. Weeks later, he said he was waiting to be deployed. After that, the calls stopped. In October 2025, as his plumbing contract in Qatar neared its end, Clinton Nyapara Mogesa called his brother, Vincent, in Kenya, to say he had found another job—this time, in Russia.
Get audio access with any FP subscription. ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN. Ongoing reports and analysis. Since the U. S. Supreme Court in February ruled that President Donald Trump lacked legal authority for his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, Malaysia appears to be the first—and so far only—country to formally end its trade agreement with the Trump administration. Malaysian Trade Minister Johari Abdul Ghani told reporters in March that the deal “is not on hold. It is no longer there.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the collapse of Romania’s government, competing claims over the Strait of Hormuz, and Armenia shifting closer to the European Union. Opposing Romanian lawmakers joined together on Tuesday to oust center-right Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in a no-confidence motion. Passed with 281 votes in favor, far above the 233 needed for his removal, the motion triggers fresh turmoil in one of Europe’s most economically vulnerable nations. Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the collapse of Romania’s government, competing claims over the Strait of Hormuz, and Armenia shifting closer to the European Union.
Politico
Donald Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on European autos confirms the judgment of a majority of EU lawmakers that he can’t be trusted. BRUSSELS — U. S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats are pushing EU talks on implementing last year’s transatlantic trade deal toward a showdown. Negotiators from the EU Parliament, capitals and the Commission will meet on Wednesday to try to hammer out their differences amid a deepening impasse over whether to back the accord, struck last July at Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.
Friedrich Merz wanted to lead Europe. First he has to lead his country. Illustration by Natália Delgado/ POLITICO. When Friedrich Merz arrived at the White House last summer for his first meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump, the German chancellor brought a gift calibrated to flatter without groveling: a framed copy of the birth certificate of the American leader’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, born in 1869 in Kallstadt, a wine-growing village in southwestern Germany. The meeting went smoothly enough.
Officials are losing patience over lack of access to superhacking model. BRUSSELS — U. S. artificial intelligence leader Anthropic is facing growing criticism over its decision to keep a new model with supreme hacking abilities closed off from European regulators. The company’s actions will face scrutiny in the European Parliament on Wednesday, where officials from the European Commission and the bloc's cyber agency ENISA will discuss the dangers of the Mythos model. Anthropic won’t join the hearing, saying it was “unable to accept” the invitation “at short notice.
The 74-year-old is betting on first-mover advantage to separate himself from the rest of the French left. PARIS — French hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is trying to use his head start in the race for president to outflank his left-wing rivals. Since announcing his bid on Sunday, the 74-year-old anticapitalist and his allies from his party, France Unbowed, have flooded the airwaves and social media with a simple pitch for what will likely be his final bid for the Elysée.
The consequences of the trade pact are still rippling through Britain’s arable heartlands. LONDON — Keir Starmer took two losses on the same night last May — one that played out on screens before millions, the other largely hidden from view. On May 8, as the prime minister watched his beloved Arsenal football club take on Paris Saint-Germain from his Downing Street flat, he was interrupted by a surprise call he couldn’t ignore. On the line was U.
Facing American interceptor shortages, Kyiv is pitching its own system linked with pan-European technology to fill the gap. KYIV — Ukraine wants to produce a homegrown missile defense system as supplies of the U. S. -made interceptors it relies on to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles grow tighter. "I believe Europe should be able to produce everything it needs to defend against everything — all the ballistic attacks and all other weapons — on its own," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told fellow leaders during a summit of the European Political Community in Armenia Monday.
Caretaker minister Ivan Hristanov livestreamed police raids and surfaced schemes worth hundreds of millions. The incoming government, elected on a similar anti-corruption pledge, faces its first test. Bulgaria's caretaker agriculture minister has spent the past months livestreaming police raids, reopening buried cases and filing referrals to prosecutors and EU investigators. In days, he'll hand over to the incoming government and lose his office. Ivan Hristanov is adamant that his work fighting corruption will outlast his term.
Speaking to POLITICO, the secretary general of the Council of Europe said it was the U. K. ’s choice whether it wanted to stay in the treaty or not. LONDON — Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would put the U. K. in a select group with the autocracies of Russia and Belarus, the head of the organization that oversees the treaty has warned. Speaking to POLITICO on a visit to London, Alain Berset said there would be “consequences” for Britain if it left the regional human rights framework, which the U.
U. S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also set to visit Greece, perhaps around the time of a NATO summit in Turkey in July. ATHENS — U. S. President Donald Trump will visit Greece soon, the U. S. ambassador to Athens Kimberly Guilfoyle said Tuesday. Asked whether Trump’s visit will take place in the summer, she said: “Well, I can’t give you the exact date, a lot of things are happening, but he is going to come to Greece.
Opposition parties argue that Emmanuel Moulin would not act independently, given his proximity to current and past governments. PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has officially put forward his former chief of staff, Emmanuel Moulin, as the next governor of the Bank of France, but the far right and far left quickly lashed out at the nomination. Macron’s office formalized the proposal, previously reported by POLITICO, in a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the day after Moulin left his job at the Elysée.
PornHub partially blocked access for U. K. users in January over concerns about the Online Safety Act. LONDON — PornHub, which partially blocked access to its platform in the U. K. back in January amid concerns about the implementation of the Online Safety Act, has fully restored access to U. K. -based Apple users, the porn site's parent company announced Tuesday. Under the OSA porn providers are required to have highly effective age assurance in place to prevent children from accessing adult content.
Istanbul’s jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s comments come in response to the Commission chief’s recent controversial statement that Europe should not “fall under Russian, Turkish or Chinese influence. ”. Istanbul’s jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu warned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen against likening Turkey to Russia and China. “Placing Turkey on the same plane as Russia and China runs contrary to the EU’s own geopolitical realities and strategic interests,” wrote İmamoğlu in an op-ed for POLITICO published Tuesday.
The British prime minister was speaking at a Downing Street summit called after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London last week. LONDON — Keir Starmer warned Tuesday that Britain will not tolerate foreign states spreading anti-Jewish hate. Speaking during a Downing Street summit on antisemitism, the British prime minister said police are investigating whether a foreign power is behind a recent spate of anti-Jewish attacks in the U. K. “Our message to Iran, or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated,” Starmer said.
The chancellor may not be sure-footed or consistent, but he has been more strategic than given credit for — particularly on defense and security. John Kampfner is a British author, broadcaster and commentator. His new book, “Braver New World: The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won’t,” will be published in April. He is a regular POLITICO columnist. Is there something wrong with me? I ask this more often than might be good for my health, as I increasingly find myself to be the only person in Berlin with a good word to say about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The key NATO member on Europe’s eastern edge faces fresh upheaval with an economic crisis looming. Romania’s centrist government collapsed on Tuesday, throwing one of Europe’s most strategically important countries into turmoil at a critical time. Center-right Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, who heads the National Liberal Party, lost a confidence vote in the country’s parliament after only 10 months in office, bringing his short-lived and unpopular attempt to rein in the country’s budget deficit to an abrupt end.
Parliament’s finance report says almost all parties and foundations were found to have broken the rules. BRUSSELS — The European Parliament says €1. 5 million was misspent by political parties and foundations during the 2024 EU election campaign, according to documents seen by POLITICO. Every party, except the European Greens and the European Democratic Party, plus two minor foundations (which are usually think tanks linked to parties), was found to have broken the rules, according to a report drawn up by the Parliament’s finance department that closed the 2024 accounts.
The Commission president said Brussels is “prepared for every scenario. ”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday rebuffed U. S. President Donald Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on European cars, warning Washington to stick to the terms of its trade deal with Brussels. Speaking out for the first time since Trump’s Friday announcement that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on EU-made automobiles, von der Leyen flatly stated that “a deal is a deal.
“Turkey should not be left waiting at the EU’s gates,” writes İmamoğlu. Ekrem Imamoğlu is the elected mayor of Istanbul and the presidential candidate for Turkey’s Republican People’s Party. He has been held in pretrial detention since March 2025. I am writing these lines from a prison cell in Silivri. My imprisonment isn’t merely a personal legal matter. It reflects a deeper rupture in Turkey’s democracy, its commitment to the rule of law, and its relationship with the EU.
EU cyber agency ENISA needs access to Mythos to scrutinize the risks, lawmakers said. BRUSSELS — The European Union's cybersecurity rules are "ill-equipped" to deal with a new generation of AI hacking tools like Anthropic’s Mythos, lawmakers said Monday in a letter obtained by POLITICO. Thirty members of the European Parliament from six political groups told Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen that the bloc needs to revise its laws and come up with a "European mitigation plan" to fight hacking risks associated with new AI models.
LRT
Lithuania is in the middle of a renewable energy boom, with wind and solar capacity expanding rapidly. But geologists, energy specialists and defence planners are quietly discussing a resource that requires no wind, no sunshine and no fuel deliveries: the heat stored deep beneath the country's surface. Geothermal energy – extracted from hot water, steam or heated rock deep underground – is not new. Iceland has built much of its economy around it. But Lithuania, it turns out, has geological conditions that make it unusual even by European standards, and experts are beginning to ask whether the country is sitting on a strategic asset it has so far largely ignored.
The infrastructure arm of Lithuanian Railways (LTG) lacks sufficient funding to ensure adequate traffic safety, its chief said, after two train accidents last week raised concerns about the country’s rail network. Vytis Žalimas, head of LTG Infra, said the station at Jiesia in Kaunas district, where one of the incidents occurred, does not have a modern signalling system capable of automatically managing traffic and reducing the risk of human error. He said past funding priorities had been directed elsewhere, leaving parts of the network only partially modernised.
Lithuania's parliament is to vote on stripping former prime minister Gintautas Paluckas of his legal immunity after the Prosecutor General formally requested the move on Tuesday, amid a criminal investigation into alleged abuse of office and illicit enrichment. Paluckas, who stepped down as Social Democratic party leader amid the investigation, agreed to a simplified procedure that bypasses the formation of a special commission – a process normally used to assess whether a prosecution is politically motivated.
The Venice Commission has recommended that proposed changes to Lithuania’s public broadcaster law apply only to future heads of the national broadcaster, warning against measures that could appear to target current leadership. In a draft opinion, the Commission said revised dismissal procedures for the director general of LRT should apply only to those appointed after the amendments take effect, “thereby avoiding the appearance of ad personam legislation”. The advisory body assessed an earlier version of the bill that passed the submission stage in the Seimas, before subsequent revisions by the parliamentary Committee on Culture.
Lithuania’s finance minister Kristupas Vaitiekūnas on Monday called on the European Union to pursue negotiations with Washington while preparing countermeasures after renewed tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. “We must take into account that we will be in this game throughout President Trump’s term. We must find retaliatory measures for these tariffs,” Vaitiekūnas told reporters in Brussels. “We have to negotiate,” he added. “I believe that this process involving tariffs, negotiations and pressure from both sides will be constant during this administration.
A representative of LTG Group said Tuesday that sabotage is considered unlikely in two train derailments that occurred within 48 hours in central Lithuania, though all possible causes remain under investigation. Gediminas Šečkus, the company’s director of business resilience, said data collected at the sites in Kaunas and Kėdainiai districts suggests third-party interference is unlikely. “The data gathered at the scene indicates that the likelihood both incidents were caused by third parties appears low at this stage,” Šečkus told LRT RADIO.
Agreement between Lithuania’s governing coalition and opposition is rare, but about 50 lawmakers have joined forces on a proposal to hold an advisory referendum on defining the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators argue that the Constitutional Court of Lithuania overstepped its authority in previous rulings interpreting the concept of family, particularly by stating that it is gender-neutral, that it is not exclusive to married couples, and that limiting partnerships to opposite-sex couples is discriminatory.
Memory chip giant’s surge pushes South Korea’s Kospi to new record
The original private equity barbarian celebrates its birthday as the $22tn private markets face a fraught moment
Children’s sector offers steady revenues for buyout firms as cases of autism and other conditions increase
DeFi was once touted as the future of finance but traders have grown concerned over the security of these projects
Rocket maker hopes to quell employee uproar after old options expired without a payout
With little slack in the system, soaring prices don’t give operators that much of an incentive to let rip
The sector remains untested in a severe or prolonged economic downturn
Leaving the oil cartel is not just a commercial decision — it reflects structural changes in global energy markets
Delayed IPO of €19bn software group Visma was meant to be a crowning moment for PE group Hg — and London
Volatility is more damaging than higher prices and will cause merchandise flows to drop, according to Global Trade Alert
US president has “paused” the military mission to guide commercial ships through the vital waterway
To understand what’s going on in the sector, look at 19th-century railroads
Stocks near 8-year low ahead of summer travel season despite collapse in demand
Wall Street watchdog suggests allowing public companies to file semi-annual reports
Resource-rich nation’s move into foreign equity markets could tempt investors with the stomach for risk
Investing in alternatives to this and other maritime chokepoints is costly but necessary
Lawyers for hedge fund boss say that FCA tried to bring sexual harassment case ‘by the back door’
Yields on 30-year gilts hit 28-year high on expectations BoE will raise rates two or three times to counter inflation threat
Move comes as Europe looks to secure more supplies from producers outside the Middle East and Russia
Blast at Kazzinc’s facility killed two people and injured five, according to Kazakhstan’s government
As the original private equity barbarian reaches milestone, the FT interviews its founders and their successors
Crypto exchange’s chief says AI is speeding up its processes, meaning fewer employees are needed
Hunterbrook alleges ammunition maker withheld information from investors
According to press reports, Jeff Bezos is planning to sell his 417-foot yacht, the one with a carved figurehead of Lauren Sanchez, his second wife, at the front. According to these reports, he’s unhappy at the attention that the yacht is getting. Funny how that works. Hi, Paul Krugman with a bit of an experiment. I am recording this in a cafe, a cafe that is not in New York, as you could probably guess.
Last month, out of more than 11,000 new passenger vehicles registered in Norway, only around 150 had internal consumption engines. The rest were fully electric. In mainland Europe as a whole, EV sales are up 51 percent from a year ago. The global energy transition — the shift from fossil fuels to electrotech, which uses solar, wind and batteries to power an electrified economy — is accelerating. It’s now clear that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz marks an inflection point: the global green energy curve, which was already on a rapidly rising trajectory, has suddenly become even steeper.