The Economist | Go beyond breaking news

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Crude vision

Donald Trump’s great Venezuelan oil gamble

The country has the world’s largest petroleum reserves. Getting them out of the ground will be tortuous

5 min read

→Day two: The many risks to Donald Trump’s plans to “run” Venezuela

→Raid on Caracas: How the Pentagon snatched Nicolás Maduro

→Tightening the net: Tracking America’s campaign against the Maduro regime

An American Airlines Airbus A321 taxis at San Diego International Airport

The world in brief | 14 min ago

Catch up: Airspace around Venezuela opens again; regime appoints an interim leader

An illustration showing an oversized petrol can, an egg and a garden hose, each dangling with price tags, looming in the air as frightened people in the foreground scatter and run away.

Briefing

America’s affordability crisis is (mostly) a mirage

That doesn’t diminish its political power

1843 | The Amazon’s highway to hell

Many locals are cheering on the Brazilian government’s plans to rebuild a decrepit highway. Environmentalists are less keen

The World Ahead 2026

Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2026

A letter from the editor of The World Ahead

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How to export life to Mars

A new science—applied astrobiology—is taking shape

An illlustration of a citys scape with billboards showing figures and text.

Banyan

Cults of personality pervade all levels of Indian politics

The focus is on individuals over institutions

An illustration of a person doing star jumps holding weights. The arms and legs are repeated to show the movement and drops of sweat are flying.

Well informed

Can high-intensity interval training get you fit in a hurry?

Yes, but be prepared to suffer

Old woman collecting her pension from the Post Office.

Happy birthday to the contributory old-age pension!

One hundred years ago, Britain changed for good

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World news

US President Donald Trump speaks at a conference following US military action in Venezuela

Donald Trump wants to run Venezuela, and dominate the western hemisphere

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Iranian shopkeepers and traders protest against the economic conditions in Tehran, Iran.

How will the mass protests that are convulsing Iran unfold?

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Britain and the EU should be bolder in getting closer

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Europe’s generals are warning people to prepare for war

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Business, finance and economics

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OpenAI’s cash burn will be one of the big bubble questions of 2026

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An elderly man rides a bike beside residential buildings in Beijing, China.

China’s property woes could last until 2030

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America’s economy looks set to accelerate

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As Warren Buffett retires, uncertainty looms for Berkshire Hathaway

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Columns

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Schumpeter

What flying cars, quantum computing and fusion have in common

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A man with 2026 glasses tying his tie. The tie is in the shape of an upward arrow.

Buttonwood

Investors head into 2026 remarkably optimistic

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A moustachioed Nigel Farage in a beret, smoking a cigarette and holding a glass of wine

Bagehot

Nigel Farage is Britain’s most European politician

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Chaguan

China’s museum boom, take two

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The World Ahead

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The World Ahead 2026

Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2026

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Geopolitics in 2026

The contours of 21st-century geopolitics will become clearer in 2026

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Superforecasters in 2026

What the “superforecasters” predict for major events in 2026

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International in 2026

Seven conflicts to watch in the coming year

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Weekend culture

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What self-help books tell us about ourselves

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Oleg Lyalin: the spy who loved too much

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The internet’s vulnerable undersea tendrils

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Restaurants are changing their menus for the age of Ozempic

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Other highlights

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A half-planet-size gap in global governance is about to get plugged

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America’s most successful mayor stands down

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A Swedish startup wants to reignite Europe’s explosives industry

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Featured story

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The Economist gained rare access to India’s tense border with China

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The New Year health-insurance shock facing millions of Americans

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As America pushes peace, Russia’s battlefield advances remain slow

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Edition: January 3rd 2026

The angst over affordability

Brexit: slow-acting poison
It’s time to rethink Britain’s relationship with the EU
The world’s highest conflict
A rare dispatch from India’s tense border with China
OpenAI’s make-or-break year
One of the fastest-growing companies in history is in a perilous position
Spiders on the icecaps of Mars
Astrobiologists think they could point to more habitable areas on the red planet

⇒Read full edition

Special reports: November 8th 2025

A time that has come

It is the world’s renewable-energy superpower. Gabriel Crossley and Jeremy Page ask whether China could be the world’s climate leader, too

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Ukraine at war

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