The Economist: The week ahead

President Donald Trump will go, but Trumpism will remain. Our editor-in-chief considers how President-elect Biden can repair the divided country he will inherit. Denmark aims to cull 17m mink that could represent a reservoir of a mutated coronavirus—why didn’t it do so when other countries did? And the old-timey Korean music that might just challenge K-pop.  For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has taken drastic steps to quieten a state stacked with trained militias. The conflict could draw in more states—or the whole of the Horn of Africa. China’s increasing push for self-reliance in a globalised economy has its complications—made clear by a vast influx of precision-bred super-chickens. And the macabre tale of books bound with human skin.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As President Donald Trump’s re-election path slims, his pledges to fight the results in court are multiplying. We look at the cases that may eventually decide the election. Global crises tend to affect birth rates, and covid-19 is no different—but the effects are not evenly spread. And a suite alternative for business types tired of working from home. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The outcome remains unclear as vote-counting continues. We look at some of the surprise results, ask what happens next and examine how The Economist’s election forecast has held up. And we tag along with our American correspondents for the thrill of election-night reporting.The latest results are here www.economist.com/us2020results; for full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Poland already had some of the strictest laws on terminations, but the ruling party’s bid to tighten them further has sparked national outrage. We lay out what to expect on election night in America—the denouement will not be simple, and is unlikely to be quick. And a historical look at the films screened in the White House’s private cinema. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson all but ruled out a second lockdown, but his hand has been forced by England’s caseload. What are the political costs of his U-turn? Myanmar’s coming election will almost certainly be marred by disinformation on Facebook—principally because so many Burmese people get their only news there. And examining the current glut of political biographies.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The staggering extent of illegal fishing, and its human and environmental costs, are only just becoming clear. We ask how to put a shadowy industry on a more even keel. The old guard likes to mock millennial investors, but they’re changing finance, possibly for the better. And as Berlin’s shiny new airport opens we ask: why is it nine years late? For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The party’s Fifth Plenum sets out a five-year vision; we mine the plan for clues about how China views itself in the world—and how long Xi Jinping intends to lead. The pandemic has the rich world thinking and talking about death in a way not seen since the second world war. And an uncertain future for Singapore’s famed street-food hawkers.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Across the continent, covid-19 cases are rising steeply and containment measures are still divergent. We look at the challenges of finding policies that are efficacious and sustainable. Tanzania’s election today is all but zipped up; President John Magufuli has been trampling the country’s hard-won democratic traditions. And what the florid language of wine experts says about human perception.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation marks the first time since the 1930s the court has leaned so conservative, and has stoked another partisan battle that may further reshape the court. Following the announcement of water on the Moon, we look at a looming, broader battle: who will own the water rights? And why Australia’s aboriginal flag is flying less and less. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The country has roundly rejected its dictatorship-era charter and mapped out how to fashion a new one. What do Chileans stand to gain—and to lose? Rising populations of the elderly in the world’s prisons are creating deepening problems, both for jailers and the jailed. And we explore a theory that blames political chaos on too many would-be elites.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America’s final presidential debate had less noise and more substance. But polls seem immovable and nearly 50m Americans have already voted; will the race change? South Korea’s population-boosting efforts have failed, so it is encouraging more women into the workforce—and that will redress some long-standing inequalities. And crunching 70 years’ worth of Formula 1 data to find the sport’s true greatest. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As it has with so many other trends, the pandemic has hastened the decline of democracy and human rights; covid-19 provides autocrats with perfect cover. The plummeting price for the cobalt that powers electronics has upended lives and driven crime in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And how physicists found an upper bound for the speed of sound. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The brutal murder of a schoolteacher comes amid warnings of mounting Islamism in the country. The attack will only harden resolve for a secular society. Alexei Navalny, Russia’s opposition leader, speaks with our correspondent about the attempt on his life; it signals, he says, a regime in decline. And data reveal how the arrival of mobile internet erodes faith in governments.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reporting by The Economist reveals deepening efforts by Chinese authorities not just to imprison the Muslim-minority people but also to reduce their number, to wipe out their culture and to hound them wherever in the world they may go. Yet a visit to Yunnan province reveals that the party’s hostility to ethnic minorities is not absolute.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a term spent steering the country through crises, Jacinda Ardern has led her Labour party to a thumping victory; what will they do with their historic majority? Far from taking on water as the pandemic progresses, the shipping industry is steaming ahead. And as museums sell off parts of their collections, we consider art’s value beyond the dollar signs. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After last year’s vote was marred by fraud allegations, the electorate is split ahead of Sunday’s poll: will the country return the socialist MAS party of exiled leader Evo Morales to power? A private tutor to the rich and anxious reveals the costs—to students and tutors—of heightened academic pressure. And a new book yields a cat’s-eye view of 18th-century London.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angry protests following an alleged police killing continue, even after a hated police unit was shuttered. That exposes far-deeper discontent. Banks’ earnings this week show that belt-tightening earlier in the year has held them in good stead. What to do with the growing cash-pile? And misguided infrastructure plans have many Egyptians in a roads rage.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhetoric and sabre-rattling from mainland China are rapidly ramping up; we examine the risk of an invasion that would have global consequences. A decision by World Rugby to ban trans women from the women’s game stokes a notoriously ill-tempered debate. And listening to an album built entirely from the songs of endangered British birds.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The country yet again faces widespread starvation as a civil war grinds on, and both sides are to blame for the misery visited upon civilians. With the stroke of a pen, Argentina recently doubled in size—setting a precedent with big diplomatic and resource-extraction implications. And remembering the man who set hundreds of thousands of Indians free from indentured servitude.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.