The rise of autarky: How self-reliance is redefining trade

Suspicion and strained supply chains were already testing the global system before Covid-19 heightened isolationist impulses

Squid Game mirrors South Korea's real-life debt crisis

‘Why would I want to watch a bunch of people with huge debts? I can look in the mirror’ Choi Young-soo Debtor

Beijing makes plans for a green future

Is ‘ecological civilisation’ an empty slogan or a call to arms? Xi Jinping’s vision for a sustainable future was showcased at the opening of the UN biodiversity summit in Kunming last week, but the country remains dependent on coal

‘Ray of light' Shell liable for Nigerian oil spills in legal fi rst

A landmark ruling in London may allow communities to sue corporations for damage caused by their subsidiaries

Steaming in The fight for Darjeeling's cliff top train

‘Darjeeling ko san o rail, hirna lai abo tyari cha / Guard le shuna bhai siti bajayo” (Darjeeling’s dainty train is all set to chug off / Oh, listen to the guard blowing the whistle): these lines are familiar to generations of children in Darjeeling.

From pundit to president? The far-right rise of Éric Zemmour

He has been convicted for inciting racial hatred, attacked for claiming the Nazi collaborator Marshal Pétain saved French Jews rather than aiding their deportation to death camps, and was last week described by the French justice minister as a dangerous racist and Holocaust denier.

The woman who stood up to Facebook

Frances Haugen has been hailed as a hero after exposing the social network’s harmful practices. Can her testimony force it to change?

War rages on in the town at the heart of Iran's ambition

From a ridge known locally as Baghouz Mountain, the most contested corner of the Middle East resembles an oasis: it’s a splash of green on a desert horizon stretching from the banks of the Euphrates to a sprawling area of new homes and unruly neighbours.

Off message How Twitter expulsion left Trump in wilderness

It was just like old times. Last Wednesday alone, Donald Trump issued pronouncements on a potential war with China, what Congress should do about the debt ceiling, false claims of a stolen election and his Fox News ally “the great Sean Hannity”.

Fresh hurdle for Ardern as Covid strategy alters

New Zealand’s locked-down cities last week woke to a brave new world of lifted restrictions: state-sanctioned picnics in parks, the prospect of re-opening schools, a chance to reunite with friends and family.

Could the global death toll be far higher than we thought?

For the past 18 months, hunkered down in his apartment in Tel Aviv, Ariel Karlinsky has scoured the internet for data that could help him calculate the true death toll of Covid-19.

Could coffee price spike be a taste of the future?

Scientists have long warned climate change is coming for our morning coffee, and a recent spike in global bean prices could be the first sign it’s actually happening.

Christians live in fear amid claims of ‘forced conversions'

Hindu nationalist vigilantes terrorise minority over unproven rumours in an apparent political ploy by BJP

What's Next For US Foreign Policy?

Anniversary of 9/11 and fall of Kabul trigger questions over Washington’s interventionism

Women And Girls Face New Restrictions

Taliban says women at university must study separately, sparking concerns over more measures to come

Hook, line and sinker

Billed as the most secure messaging device on the planet, An0m became a viral sensation in the underworld. There was just one problem for those using it for criminal means: it was run by the police

The Earth is at breaking point, yet those in power wish reality away

OPINION

Sail of the century

Last year, three cryptocurrency enthusiasts bought a cruise ship. They named it the Satoshi, and dreamed of starting a floating libertarian utopia. It didn’t work out.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

She’s already broken out of Nashville to become an unconventional pop superstar. Now Kacey Musgraves is stretching the limits of country again – with the help of psychedelics and a four-poster bed in her studio

Elections loom, but the Ahr valley has little interest

Two months after 133 people died in floods, residents of stricken western German region say they feel abandoned by politicians

Justin time?

Trudeau faces up to a pivotal moment

BRASS TAX

Boris Johnson’s £12bn tax hike to pay for social care has outflanked Labour and confounded his own Conservative party. But with public spending at its highest level in peacetime, will it solve a dilemma that has defeated his predecessors – and even if it does, will the Tories ever forgive him?

Algebra delivers the goods

The calculations behind fi lling our supermarket shelves are dizzyingly complex – but it all starts with the x and y problems you remember from school

Death In The Desert How Dubai Let A Million Trees Perish

A vaunted tree planting project has failed after developers thwarted attempts to halt desertification

Power Cut Why China Is Reining In Its Tech Billionaires

Getting rich was once seen as glorious, but Beijing is now squeezing its plutocrats in a quest for 'common prosperity'

I feel like it's quite shaky acceptance

Trans kids and the fight for inclusion

‘The world has a way of intruding'

Sally Rooney’s first novels were huge hits. Her third book includes a writer who resents her sudden fame – just don’t suggest it’s autobiographical

Shoeless and shivering, refugees step off the planes from Kabul

Red Cross workers describe ‘shocking’ scenes in arrivals halls but praise stoicism of those who had been airlifted

Merkel's legacy The force that drove the head of Europe's greatest power

As Maren Heinzerling crossed hands with the most powerful woman in the world, leaned backwards and started to spin her dance partner in a circle, she began to worry.

THE NEW GUYS

TALIBAN The US has left, and the Taliban must switch from fighting an insurgency to administering an entire country again. How will the group respond – and what now lies in store for Afghanistan’s beleaguered people?