The Intelligence from The Economist

Just as soon as President Donald Trump started applying sweeping tariffs on trading partners, legal challenges to them started piling up. We listen in on the Supreme Court proceedings that might end them. America’s gender gap in labour-force participation is growing for the first time; we ask why. And the “dark patterns” that nudge—or trick, or bully—online buyers.Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

In the first electoral test of Donald Trump’s second term, Democrat supporters voted in a socialist mayor of New York and governors to New York and Virginia. What does this mean for next year’s midterms? Democracy in Turkey is being eviscerated. And the world may be becoming less grumpy.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 

As America sends its biggest naval hardware to the Caribbean, we ask whether the intent is more than mere sabre-rattling—and why the Trump administration has appetite for another foreign entanglement. Our correspondent sits down with Salman Rushdie to discuss his new book and the value of humour. And as AI-generated spreads, more of the lyrics get filthy. Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have at last taken El Fasher, the capital of Darfur. Reported atrocities are sharply rising, in a chilling echo of what happened in the region two decades ago. Artificial intelligence is narrowing the information asymmetry between sellers and buyers, spelling an end to the “rip-off economy”. And why the literary genre of questionnaires is fading.Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Erik Prince, America’s most infamous mercenary, is back. Mr Prince rose to prominence during the war on terror as the founder of Blackwater, a private military company. The firm earned over a billion dollars providing armed personnel to various branches of the US government before becoming implicated in a number of scandals. In 2007 its contractors killed 14 Iraqi civilians, including a nine-year-old child. The massacre made Mr Prince the face of the Iraq fiasco. He sold the company and disappeared from the public eye.But in recent months Mr Prince has reemerged. He has popped up in some of the most dangerous, contested places in the world, from Ukraine to Haiti to the DRC. They are places the Trump administration is interested in too. For the Weekend Intelligence the Economist’s Africa Correspondent, Tom Gardner, flew to Cape Town to meet with Prince, the mercenary in CEO’s clothing. Prince is defiant after his years in the political wilderness. And he’s spying some big opportunities. The global mercenary business is on the brink of a new boom. States, across Africa and beyond, are fracturing. The international system is fraying. With UN peacekeepers drawing down, from Mali to Congo to Lebanon, mercenaries of different stripes can expect to fill the void. Is this Erik Prince’s moment? Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.Music by bluedot and epidemic.

Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to holster their trade weapons for now. But even if the deal holds, it does not address the deeper problems in the relationship. We examine why mercenaries—and slick international firms that employ them—are doing a roaring trade these days. And a Halloween look at what our correspondent calls a golden age of horror.Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Taxes upon taxes are just one of the reasons that both financial-industry hotshots and businesses are moving out of the Big Apple. We look at what that might cost the city. A snapshot of the drinks business reveals a subtle picture of who is drinking what, and where. And the Chinese rapper that is fast becoming a global household name. Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Europe is edging closer to using seized Russian assets to finance Ukraine. The country badly needs that 140bn-euro windfall—and much, much more. A much-fretted-about AI jobs apocalypse is not here yet, but AI-adopting firms are hiring less for junior-level positions. And our ranking of the passports that permit the most freedom of movement.Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Ships of unknown origin or intent are flummoxing NATO forces on the high seas. Our correspondent visits the Latvian navy on the Virsaitis as it intercepts a mystery vessel. We examine China’s enormous gig economy and how 200m workers are turning precarious conditions to their advantage. And a new book explores what people talk about when they talk about antisemitism.Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.