The Intelligence from The Economist

Donald Trump arrived in the Middle East for a victory tour as Israeli captives [https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/10/12/donald-trump-scrambles-to-seal-the-deal-in-gaza?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] were finally freed. But the path to peace does not run smooth: Gaza is devastated, Hamas remains armed and tricky negotiations continue. Why luxury travel [https://www.economist.com/business/2024/03/21/luxury-hotels-are-having-a-glorious-moment?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] is thriving, with a little help from social media. And celebrating Claudia Cardinale [https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/10/02/claudia-cardinale-added-depth-to-voluptuousness?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], the accidental film star. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus] For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://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+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus] For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TlDbL-4vU] explaining how to link your account. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, is a huge video-game fan [https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/10/03/how-saudi-arabia-became-a-video-game-superpower?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]. 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 [https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/10/02/how-bad-is-americas-icebreaker-gap-with-russia?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] became a focus for polar power politics. And the NBA [https://www.economist.com/china/2025/09/25/all-eyes-on-the-nba-as-its-players-return-to-china?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] 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+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus] For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Donald Trump has brokered an agreement [https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/10/09/a-new-beginning-for-the-middle-east?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] between Israel’s government and Hamas. It’s a momentous breakthrough. Our correspondent analyses what comes next. We launch “The Economist Insider [https://www.economist.com/insider?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]”, our new TV show for subscribers, where senior editors debate the news. And, do red-light masks [https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/09/26/are-red-light-face-masks-worth-the-hype?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] actually work? Jason tries one… Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus] For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

France’s newly-appointed prime minister has resigned [https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/10/06/frances-fifth-republic-is-in-unprecedented-turmoil?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] only weeks into the job. Now President Emmanual Macron has given him 48 hours to come up with a plan for next year’s budget. Can Macron survive the turmoil? As driverless taxis [https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/09/28/the-economics-of-self-driving-taxis?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] take over San Francisco, what will happen to the human drivers? And remembering Jilly Cooper, queen of the bonkbuster Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus] For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.