Interview, Panel
Bidin’: will Joe go or no?
- The Democratic Party faces significant electoral challenges in November if Joe Biden remains the nominee, with polling indicating a 1.7-point deficit since the debate and a three-in-four chance of victory for Donald Trump according to The Economist's forecast model.
- Internal party sentiment suggests Biden may only step aside due to an external event, while observers identify swing state governors and Pete Buttigieg as superior candidates to Biden or Kamala Harris, though many alternatives lack sufficient name recognition to outperform Trump currently.
- Colombia plans to establish a marine archaeology center in Cartagena around the San Jose shipwreck, aiming to lift four or five representative samples, build a museum, and share proceeds with indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities rather than excavating for gold.
- The San Jose project faces critical risks including a funding shortfall, as the current $4.5 million budget is insufficient for costs that can reach tens of millions, with concerns that rushing the excavation without deep-sea expertise could cause the wreck to crumble or allow treasure hunters to destroy historical artifacts.
- Finland projects a 10% decline in the population aged 4 to 18 by 2030 and plans to address this by attracting foreign students to rural schools to eventually secure free university spots, a strategy some government factions favor over adult skilled worker programs or consolidating schools.
- Political observers in Finland note internal debate regarding the allocation of resources between supporting foreign student intake and maintaining small rural schools, while the student experiment is expected to provide data relevant to other shrinking European school systems.