The Economist is the premier source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular Special reports on industries and countries.

Coronavirus briefs • To 6am GMT January 14th 2021

The world this week

The roaring 20s? • Pessimism about technological change is giving way to hope—much of it justified

The reckoning • The right and the wrong ways to hold President Donald Trump to account

The sound of silence • Regulation of free speech should not be outsourced to a few tech tycoons

Reaping what you sow • The failure of Narendra Modi’s farm reforms is a parable of mismanagement

New brooms needed • It’s time to tidy up space

Letters

Molecules, missions and money • Economists are convinced that governments can increase economic growth by spending more on research and development. Are they right?

Strutting sultans • SINGAPORE

Sex with 12-year-olds • A push to raise the age of consent is nearing fruition

Steppe one • BISHKEK

Ploughing on • DELHI

A war over Battlegrounds • KABUL

Bonfire of the protocols • Have departing American officials left a booby trap for Taiwan as well as Joe Biden?

Why bother counting? • The West once dreamed of democracy taking root in rural China. The Communist Party is making doubly sure it does not

Masked defiance • HONG KONG

The stigma of covid-19 • A year into the pandemic, ordinary Chinese are strikingly accepting of harsh virus controls

The final chapter • WASHINGTON, DC

Said the spider to the fly • The banishment of Donald Trump from social-media platforms underlines the concentration of power online

Where bullets fly • CHICAGO

Trouble on the farm • How baseball represents American society in miniature

Stars and gripes • DALLAS

Conscience of some conservatives • The Republican Party launches an overdue civil war over Donald Trump

A shift of gears • MEXICO CITY AND SÃO PAULO

Driven away • SÃO PAULO

Made in China • DUBAI

The Line in the sand • DUBAI

The ghetto strikes back • KAMPALA

Move over, Superman • JOHANNESBURG

Colour vision • A new challenge to France’s deep reluctance to talk about race

Just what they didn’t need • ROME

Three men in a Rhineland boat • COLOGNE AND DÜSSELDORF

One man’s terrorist • ISTANBUL

Cloud mining • An icy country considers its economic future

Cyberpunked • A botched launch of a video game provides a lesson for European business

Not with a bang but a whimper • The real damage from Brexit will take time to make itself felt

Quick jabs • Britain gets off to a quick start; ministers promise acceleration

Trump? Don’t think I know him • The British right needs to come clean about its links with Trumpism

Madison’s nightmare • Political theorists have been worrying about mob rule for 2,000 years

Bearing fruit • NEW YORK

A chill descends • HONG KONG

Visa-free travel • Trustbusters force a big incumbent to back off from an upstart rival

Steel and silicon • Detroit loses out to virtual Vegas as cars go electric—and electronic

Creatures of habit • The lockdown has caused both good and bad changes of routine

Capitol gains • Banning Donald Trump is unlikely to hurt social networks’ business

Feuding film stars • BEIJING

Rolling in it • Marketing lessons...