Out at last: Israeli hostages return

When Giorgia Meloni was elected Italy’s prime minister, many people feared she would prove divisive and volatile. Instead, at a time when many other European governments have been in turmoil, her three years in office have been remarkably tranquil. Why German trains no longer run on time. And a very British battle: conker competitions.  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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After cancelling much of America’s international development funding, President Donald Trump is now using that money to boost friends, allies against China and buy goods and influence. Ukraine is striking Russia’s fuel infrastructure deep inside the country. And why JD Wetherspoon is not just a British bargain boozer. 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cyberattacks have brought firms like Jaguar Land Rover and Asahi to a standstill. Our correspondent asks what companies and governments should do about a rising problem. Why it is getting harder to count deaths in Africa. And is eating dark chocolate actually good for you?  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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May 2024, Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petrichuk, the director and writer of an experimental play, became the first Russian artists since Soviet times to be put on trial for the content of their work. It was a show trial. Like all show trials its outcome was preordained. But when professional actors took the stand, it turned it into a different kind of show—one that put the spotlight on a radical ideology that has gripped the Russian state. In a bonus episode of our Next Year in Moscow series, The Economist’s Russia editor Arkady Ostrovsky presents a dramatisation of that trial to find out why the Russian state needed to make an example of a fringe production and, more importantly, its director. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, is a huge video-game fan. Now his hobby is becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry for the kingdom, which is acquiring some of the world’s biggest gaming firms. How Finnish icebreakers became a focus for polar power politics. And the NBA plays its first basketball game on Chinese soil in six years. 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.