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 February 11th 2021

The world this week

How well will vaccines work? • They will not simply eradicate covid-19. Governments need to start thinking about how to live with the virus

Inflategate • How higher inflation could disrupt global economic policy

How to talk about Xinjiang • “Genocide” is the wrong word for the horrors China is inflicting on the Uyghurs

An end to exceptionalism • The White House and a prominent Republican senator propose to follow European schemes

Alien dreams • The search for ET may soon yield an answer

Letters

Obstacle course • The race between vaccines and variants is heating up

Broken arrow • Some people are unwilling to be vaccinated. That will be a problem

Swing voters • WASHINGTON, DC

Likes and protein spikes • DALLAS

Count-22 • NEW YORK

The shrining • CHICAGO

Trail blazers • Oregon decriminalises drugs for personal use

Genocide aside • NEW YORK

Lexington Speak easy • After decades of undue pessimism, civil libertarians should be moderately concerned

Practically perfect • CARACAS

Activists amid anarchy • BOGOTÁ

Ecuador’s politics of the negative • Anti-incumbency versus anti-correismo

Olympic gory • TOKYO

Don’t putsch me • SINGAPORE

Cool it or blow? • Joe Biden has two months to decide what to do about Afghanistan

Wallets at the ready • The government has bought soldiers’ loyalty, at a high price

Hell is other people • SEOUL

Palm-fringed fury • WELLINGTON

Accept these gifts, or else • As in Xinjiang, China is tightening its grip in Tibet

Suddenly, space for free-thinkers • HONG KONG

Working together, but in parallel • China and America talk of reviving climate-change co-operation. It will not be easy

New sheriff in town • DUBAI

Fourth time lucky • Can a new administration reunite war-torn Libya?

Adding to the chaos • Gulf rivalries are spilling into north-eastern Africa

The president pounces • KINSHASA

Flower power • TIMAU

A tale of two colleges • AMSTERDAM

The president’s dilemma • PARIS

Canine crushes • BERLIN

Lesbian, gay, bi and terrorist? • ISTANBUL

No time for foot-Draghing • ROME

They told you so • The European Union must face up to the real Russia

Hands on • The first major reform of the health service in a decade seeks to reduce competition and give politicians more control over it

Going underground • A secret world of illicit fun is developing

The price of acceptance • The British establishment is one of the most open in the world—for a consideration

Inconvenient truths • Governments keen to muzzle journalists are abusing laws against “fake news”

Harbingers of boom • NEW YORK

Labour coders • An old force takes root in a younger industry

From bad to wurst • BERLIN

Flogging the family lead • The state promises to unload its dusty companies. For real this time

Diary of a plague year • A columnist confronts the pandemic

Alpha pipers • The cult of an Elon Musk or a Jack Ma has its perks—but also perils

Come out, come out, wherever you are! • If life exists beyond Earth, science may find it soon

Some pleasant...