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This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

https://www.economist.com/newsletters/us-in-brief to receive 'The US in brief' as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox. In Kamala Harris's first sit-down television interview since becoming the Democrats' presidential nominee, Dana Bash [...]

BEFORE THE pandemic, packed subway cars were signs of the vitality of New York City. Squeezing into a packed carriage just as the doors closed was the norm until mid-March. [...]

Editor's note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, [...]

All is not gravy in the navy Covid-19 takes out an aircraft-carrier, and a navy secretary SEVERAL HUNDRED sailors thronged the cavernous belly of the uss Theodore Roosevelt, a 100,000-tonne [...]

Joe Biden's campaign bounced back after he won most of the 14 states that voted on Super Tuesday. Barack Obama's vice-president racked up big victories in southern states, where black [...]

THE three previous attempts at economic liberalization--Lenin's new economic policy (1921-28); the land reforms of Pyotr Stolypin (1906-11); and the freeing of the serfs by Alexander II (1861-64)--all collapsed when [...]

The war on terror haunts America still; it should recover some of its most cherished values THE case of Private Bradley Manning, convicted this week by a military court of [...]

The battle over Dell raises the question of whether tech firms' founders make the best long-term leaders of their creations THE epic struggle between two billionaires over the future of [...]

America's National Security Agency collects more information than most people thought. Will scrutiny spur change? THICK and fast they came at last, and more and more and more. On June [...]

Pass the honey, Igor Rosneft bites minority shareholders "WE LOVE our teddy bear. We will clean it and take care of it." This is how Igor Sechin, Russia's energy tsar, [...]

THE future of the world trading system will be largely determined in Congress over the next few months. After three years of dithering, President Clinton has launched an intensive effort [...]

EUROPEAN scientists have created fruit flies with eyes on their wings, legs and antennae. For greens, such mad science hints at the sort of monster that gene technology might let [...]

He could have paid for the reconstruction The new prime minister takes a leaf out of the LDP's book TO A smoker from Europe or America, Japan is a puffer's [...]

LIKE a good doctor, the United Nations cannot say No. And, like an over-stretched, under-funded practitioner, up to his eyes in paperwork, it is falling down on the job. Politically, [...]

And for my next sporting venue… And for my next sporting venue… The Olympic games are not just a sporting event but also a means of regenerating east London. On [...]

THE United Nations', says Marrack Goulding, the world's peacekeeper-in-chief, 'can cajole, argue, bluster . . . but it cannot compel.' Or rather, since the enforcement rules are ambiguous, it has [...]

He shook up Britain's lawyers once. He should do it again RAISE a glass for Betty Boothroyd. Earlier this year Miss Boothroyd became the first woman speaker of Britain's House [...]

The NHS must now clamp down on costs and become more efficient. Really THIS summer something odd happened. For over a decade the National Health Service has been at, or [...]

Anybody who thinks deflation is no longer a threat should look at Japan and its flailing authorities JUDGING by the shrill comments from Wall Street, Japan's biggest problem is its [...]

The decline of music piracy holds lessons for other industries YOU open a window on your computer's screen. You type in the name of a cheesy song from the 1980s. [...]

The opposition takes to the streets again THIRTY years ago, the world was mesmerised by pictures of 52 blindfolded Americans being taken hostage in their embassy in Tehran by Iranian [...]

Why the leader of the Conservatives had the easiest job at his party's last conference before the general election WHEN Britons tuned in to satirical television programmes in the mid-1990s, [...]

The Anglo-Saxon model has taken a knock THE past two years have rather obscured the charms of the free market. For those seeking to restore their faith, a trip to [...]

In a guest article, Beatrice Weder di Mauro, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, argues that financial regulators need better incentives THE summitry never stops. After the [...]

Whose party is it anyway? Whose party is it anyway?Justice being seen to be done Justice being seen to be done As the People's Republic celebrates its 60th birthday, the [...]

The honeymoon between Europe and Barack Obama's America is over A "FLASHING yellow light". That is how one American official describes warning signs of trouble between his administration and Europe. [...]

Vietnam haunts Barack Obama as he decides what to do in Afghanistan MAO ZEDONG called it protracted war; the Spanish in Napoleonic times knew it as guerrilla; and Muslim militants [...]

Russia's hint at sanctions on Iran looks like a win for Barack Obama. Elsewhere, problems are piling up AT THE start of his presidency Barack Obama squared up to the [...]

But the IMF is not quite ready for the future THE International Monetary Fund has had a good crisis. Two years ago the world's main international economic institution was heading [...]

America's government has no money for its human-spaceflight plans. The private sector has plenty THE past, despite the disclaimer often found on advertisements for financial products, often can be a [...]

Guarding precious and vulnerable places is one of the better things the UN's cultural agency does--but it may topple over if it stretches too far ANYONE who dreams of exercising [...]

The next election marks the beginnings of a fundamental change in Japanese politics AT HIS back Taro Aso had some disastrous results from Tokyo's metropolitan elections on July 12th, in [...]

Though not as bad as investors think, India's budget leaves the government with a lot to do INVESTORS were not impressed with the budget which India's new government presented on [...]

Paranoid, mischievous and heading in the wrong direction, Russia is an awkward prospect for Barack Obama THE last time Barack Obama was in Russia, he and Senator Dick Lugar were [...]

Barack Obama's plan for regulatory reform is not bold enough FINANCIAL regulation in America has two problems: there is both too much of it and too little. Multiple federal agencies [...]

Is Barack Obama's education secretary too good to be true? IT IS hard to find anybody with a bad word to say about Arne Duncan, Barack Obama's young education secretary. [...]

Inflation is bad, but deflation is worse MERLE HAZARD, an unusually satirical country and western crooner, has captured monetary confusion better than anyone else. "Inflation or deflation," he warbles, "tell [...]

The French way of doing things looks pretty good--at least in these troubled economic times OVER 60 metres (nearly 200 feet) above the ground in the Picardy town of Beauvais, [...]

Why voters are not interested in the forthcoming European elections ON BILLBOARDS across Europe, blue posters have popped up alerting citizens to the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament. The [...]

Why the prime minister will probably limp through to the election RARELY in his troubled premiership has Gordon Brown looked likely to win the next general election, which many expect [...]

Michael Gove, Ed Balls, the politics of education and the perils of preferment PLEDGES are shrinking to aspirations; aspirations are quietly evaporating; no more hoodies are being hugged or huskies [...]

What a pity Italy's prime minister does not use his political muscle to reform his country THIS newspaperhas never thought much of Italy's prime minister. In 1994, during Silvio Berlusconi's [...]

Democrats gain all round HOW deep was the Democrats' victory? From the top of the ticket to the bottom, the party netted seats--including in state legislatures, those 'incubators of democracy' [...]

The mood among businessmen in the euro area's main economies is darkening. Surveys of business confidence in Germany, France and Italy all turned down in June. The oil price dropped [...]

Can Tom Enders, the chief executive of Airbus, turn the planemaker into a "normal" company? "I KNEW this was not going to be a sprint, but a marathon," says Thomas [...]

Can a teachers' union be an engine for reform? THE election on July 14th of Randi Weingarten as president marks a new era for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), [...]

In an imperfect world, there is still a need to weigh the demands of both ALL that is needed for evil to prosper is that good men do nothing. Edmund [...]

Crooks and spooks run amok in Russia THE comforting conventional wisdom is that after Russia's chaos and humiliation in the 1990s, eight years of tough rule by Vladimir Putin has [...]

A hotly anticipated by-election that may well change nothing THE east ends of Britain's big cities have a special, mythical place in the national imagination. They are urban frontiers: gritty, [...]