The Economist

The big gag: Hong Kong’s crackdown on freedom

June Mendoza, Rosie Bloor, Emma Irving, Simon Rabinovich, Anne Rowe

Following the 2020 national security law and subsequent Article 23 implementation, Hong Kong authorities have secured 14 convictions out of 17 defendants in the "Hong Kong 47" trial while arresting activists for social media posts, effectively aligning the territory's political freedoms with mainland China. Concurrently, the US startup ecosystem is experiencing a surge in business formation that has increased by approximately 80% since 2020, driven by a geographical shift toward smaller cities and a pivot toward AI-focused ventures despite tight interest rates. In the cultural sector, British artist June Mendoza died at age 99 after a career defined by painting over 400 likenesses of subjects ranging from royalty to strangers, often utilizing barter systems to exchange her art for goods.

I, Claudia: Mexico’s new leader

Claudia, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Sarah Burke, Kinley Salmon, Erin Braun, Daniela Levine-Cava, Dr. Rick Spinrad

Claudia Sheinbaum secured Mexico's presidency as the nation's first female leader, inheriting a legacy marked by Andrés Manuel López Obrador's polarizing reforms and a Morena coalition poised to gain a two-thirds majority in Congress. Concurrently, NOAA forecasts a hyperactive 2024 Atlantic hurricane season driven by record sea surface temperatures and a shifting El Niño pattern, creating severe risks for major landfalls and potential disruptions to the November U.S. election timeline. In media developments, Rosie Bloor joined The Economist Intelligence as a co-host, bringing decades of international correspondent experience to focus on human-centric storytelling amid these global events.

Choose this podcast: abortion and the election

Charlotte Howard, Sacha Nauta, Idrees Kahloon, Mary Ziegler, Stevie Hertz, Daniella Raz, Sasha Nada, Idris Kalloun, Deanna Fellows, Lisa Dan, Lauren Brunzel

Following Donald Trump's conviction for falsifying business records, the upcoming election centers on abortion rights, a defining issue in sixteen states including the critical swing states of Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. Grassroots efforts in Florida have secured a constitutional amendment for abortion up to viability, though it faces a 60% supermajority threshold while Democrats leverage high spending to mobilize young and female voters despite abortion ranking as the top issue for only 7% of the electorate. Amidst these campaigns, legal experts warn that a potential Trump administration could exploit the 1873 Comstock Act to impose a federal ban, while the Supreme Court simultaneously prepares to rule on Mifepristone access and federal emergency care statutes that could further entrench the post-Dobbs landscape.

Out on a ledger: Trump convicted

Trump, Ora Okunbiyi, Jason Palmer, Sumi, Kenneth Werner, John McDermott

Former President Donald Trump became the first U.S. ex-president criminally convicted on 34 felony counts, a verdict he attributes to political retaliation while likely facing a suspended sentence and using the outcome to bolster his fundraising ahead of the November election. Simultaneously, South Africa's African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994, forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa into difficult coalition negotiations between pragmatic centrist partners and populist allies. In personnel news, The Economist's Auret van der Merwe transitioned from on-air host to its Africa correspondent in Lagos to lead coverage of the continent's emerging business and cultural landscape.

The Intelligence: Rishi Sunak’s report card

Rishi Sunak, Jason Palmer, Ora Ogunbiyi, Matthew Holhouse, Ana Lankas, Katrin Braik

Britain's July 4th general election concludes Rishi Sunak's technocratic yet polarizing tenure, pitting a disunited Conservative Party struggling with a twenty-point polling deficit against a disciplined Labour opposition amidst a global security landscape resembling the Cold War. Concurrently, Latin America faces a homicide crisis driven by shifting drug markets, prompting Ecuador to adopt El Salvador's "iron fist" military strategies despite expert warnings that the region's wealthy, diversified gangs differ fundamentally from the impoverished extortion networks previously targeted. In a third distinct domain, climate-induced ice melt is altering the Earth's rotation by redistributing mass toward the equator, a phenomenon that temporarily offsets core-driven acceleration and delays the technical need for a negative leap second in global timekeeping systems.

The life of Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny, Sam Colbert, Pete Naughton, Ksenia Barakovskaya, Lika Kremer, Weidong Lin, Darren Ng, John Shields

Russia's primary opposition leader Alexei Navalny, confirmed poisoned with the state-exclusive nerve agent Novichok, died in solitary confinement at penal colony IK6 after years of systematic physical torture by Russian authorities. Despite enduring severe deprivation, including forced standing sleep and isolation from the outside world, Navalny maintained a defiant stance against the Kremlin's strategy of intimidation until his death in prison. The event underscores the Russian state's continued suppression of dissent, having recently sentenced other opposition figures to decades in prison to dismantle democratic movements.

Is AI the future of movie-making?

Generative AI startups like Runway are deploying text-to-video tools that condense days of visual effects work into seconds, enabling users to manipulate frames and virtual camera movements to create everything from indie shorts to potential feature films. While major tech giants are racing to launch their own generators and industry leaders predict AI will soon produce indistinguishable live-action content, current applications remain strongest in animation and sci-fi genres where photorealism is less critical. This technological shift is widely expected to democratize filmmaking by lowering costs and diversifying storytellers, even as it sparks ethical debates regarding the displacement of traditional actors and crew members.

How AI is generating a revolution in entertainment

Alfie, Ankit, Tobias, Harry Yeff, Marcus Hutton, Tom Wainwright

The event details how artificial intelligence is reshaping the music, film, and entertainment industries through data-driven discovery, generative creation tools, and predictive analytics like Cinelytic. While these technologies promise trillions in economic growth and lower barriers for under-resourced creators, they simultaneously spark significant labor disputes over job displacement and intense legal battles regarding copyright and consent. Stakeholders remain divided on whether these advancements will ultimately enrich human creativity or lead to a market flooded with derivative content.

The World Ahead 2024: five stories to watch out for

Tom Standage, Chen Boyen

The 2024 global landscape is defined by simultaneous high-stakes political shifts, including the historic U.S. and Taiwanese elections that could alter cross-strait security and U.S. foreign policy trajectories. Concurrently, the eVTOL industry aims to launch commercial pilot services during the Paris Olympics while facing regulatory hurdles that prioritize safety over autonomy. Furthermore, the BRICS bloc is expanding to challenge the U.S.-led order through new financial mechanisms, even as AI regulation pivots toward addressing immediate algorithmic harms and industrial decarbonization accelerates via new thermal technologies.

Is nuclear fusion the future of clean energy?

Charlotte Howard

Following record-breaking plasma temperatures at 100 million degrees Celsius, private fusion startups like Tokamak Energy and US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems are racing to achieve commercial net energy production by the 2030s. This ambitious timeline relies on overcoming significant engineering hurdles in materials science and containment through a collaboration between global firms and public research bodies such as the UK's Atomic Energy Authority. With over $6 billion in investment fueling more than 42 private entities, the industry aims to deliver stable, low-waste baseload power as a critical solution for global decarbonization.

Can AI help weather forecasting save lives?

Following Hurricane Otis's devastating Category 5 landfall in 2023, experts highlight a critical global disparity where underfunding has degraded weather station infrastructure in the Global South. This gap is being addressed through private sector AI initiatives from companies like Google DeepMind and Atmo, which offer affordable, high-resolution forecasting tools now deployed in nations like Uganda and Kenya. While these disruptive technologies complement traditional models to reduce prediction costs, widespread investment is essential to ensure functional disaster warning systems protect vulnerable populations from rising climate volatility.

How green is the energy revolution really?

Charlotte Howard

Triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the global energy crisis initially boosted fossil fuel reliance but ultimately accelerated clean energy investment to surpass fossil fuel infrastructure spending. While record capital flows are driving rapid expansion in solar, wind, and electric vehicles, the transition faces persistent hurdles including grid bottlenecks, critical mineral shortages, and political resistance demanding faster decarbonization. Analysts estimate these geopolitical pressures have fast-tracked the green shift by five to ten years, yet significant gaps remain in meeting global net-zero targets by 2050.

Hoax school shootings: inside America's epidemic

In February 2023, a coordinated wave of sophisticated SWAT hoaxes targeting schools across the United States, including a specific incident at Aspen Elementary School that triggered a lockdown for 500 students and deployed over 90 first responders, highlighted the rise of organized criminal enterprises utilizing dark web services and AI-generated voices. Investigators linked these events to known swatters and characterized the attacks as potential domestic terrorism after finding consistent scripts and high-tech anonymization tactics that evade traditional tracking. While 16 states have since elevated these offenses to felonies and VoIP providers like TextNow have tightened security measures, the FBI continues to struggle with identifying perpetrators due to the anonymity provided by VPNs and cryptocurrency payments.

What happens to your brain as you age

This comprehensive review details the human brain's trajectory from neural tube formation at two weeks post-conception through the asynchronous maturation of reward and control centers during adolescence, which explains heightened risk-taking behaviors. The analysis further examines how structural changes peak in the 30s and 40s with white matter volume decline, while hormonal shifts during menopause and cortical thinning in later life alter cognitive efficiency and emotional regulation. Finally, recent evidence of high-cognitive brain wave spikes during cardiac arrest suggests that significant neural activity, including potential life recall, can persist briefly after the cessation of heartbeat.

Are artificial wombs the future?

Sonna, Professor Frans van de Vosse, Juliet von Haren, Tom Standage

Led by Professor Frans van de Vosse, a twenty-nine-member European team is engineering the world's first clinically approved artificial womb to prevent mortality among infants born at twenty-four weeks gestation. This initiative utilizes silicone models and an umbilical reattachment protocol to simulate maternal conditions, allowing premature babies to develop for four weeks in a liquid environment until reaching twenty-eight weeks. Although experts project a minimum decade-long timeline for clinical deployment due to technical challenges like blood coagulation, the system is designed strictly as a life-saving bridge rather than a method for full extra-uterine growth.