Soldiers’ fortune: Ukraine’s prisoner swap

After catastrophic local-election results, Britain’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is fighting for his political life. One airline has folded and others may follow: jet-fuel prices are crimping carriers the world over, but the pain is not spread evenly. And could San Andrés, a ...  Show more

The Kremlin planned to provide Iran with unjammable drones, plus training in how to use them, according to leaked documents seen exclusively by The Economist. Meanwhile there are nearly 20,000 merchant seamen stranded in the Gulf. And a tribute to Craig Venter, dark horse of the ...  Show more

No one knows which soldiers will be on the buses; many families simply come in hope. As the wider war <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/05/25/russia-is-raining-hellfire-on-ukraine?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content ...

There is no simplistic split of sentiment about Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. But what most Russians want is a return to normal that now <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/11/28/the-war-in-ukraine-is-straining-russias-economy-and-society?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_ ...

A snapshot of the country reveals deepening military and economic problems—and, perhaps above all, political ones. America’s efforts to clamp down on skilled-worker visas will have far-reaching unintended consequences. And globally, more children today are obese than underweight. ...  Show more

The country’s civil war never ended—it became a fragile stalemate that fell out of the news. A <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/11/30/syrian-rebels-sweep-into-aleppo-in-an-embarrassing-rout-for-bashar-al-assad?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.po ...