NASA has successfully launched its first crewed space mission in over a decade. Our correspondent explains why America wants to build a moonbase. AI models underperform in languages other than English. And meet China’s social-media stars: influencer-officials.

Guests and host:

• Oliver Morton, senior editor
• Deena Mousa, science writer
• Gabriel Crossley, China correspondent
• Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Artemis II, moon, NASA
• AI, LLMs, language
• China, Chinese Communist Party, influencers, social media

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.

Just one generation after they gained independence, people in the Baltic States are watching the threat from the Kremlin creep closer and closer. In Lithuania, the government is preparing the population to resist an invasion.

On “The Weekend Intelligence” Katie Bryant travels to Vilnius to ask how facing up to threat is changing the nation.

Topics covered:

Lithuania

Civil defence

Disinformation

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 Sessions and Epidemic Sound.

This podcast transcript is generated by third-party AI. It has not been reviewed prior to publication. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the transcript, its accuracy or its completeness, and we disclaim all liability regarding its receipt, content and use. If you have any concerns about the transcript, please email us at podcasts@economist.com.

Read more about how we are using AI.

Ukraine’s resistance to Russia relies on the clever use of drones. Much of that strategy is down to a single person, a former grain trader with a great idea. Our correspondent meets him. Since the Brexit vote a decade ago, Britain has become more like Europe. And why American universities are abandoning the notorious swimming test.

Guests and host:

• Oliver Carroll, Ukraine correspondent
• Matthew Holehouse, Britain public policy editor
• Doug Dowson, data journalist
• Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Ukraine, drones, Russia, Putin
• Britain, Europe, European Union, single market
• American universities, race, discrimination, swimming

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.

An Economist investigation reveals that Iran is profiting from the war as it evades sanctions and oil prices surge. India’s government has promised to crush the country’s Maoist insurgency. Our correspondent visits a former rebel stronghold. And why understudies, a theatre’s insurance policy, are underestimated.

Guests and host:

• Rachana Shanbhogue, business affairs editor
• Kira Huju, Asia correspondent
• Hamish Clayton, culture writer
• Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Oil, Iran, Kharg Island, sanctions
• India, Modi, Maoists
• Culture, theatre, understudies

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.

The Iran conflict is escalating with little prospect of an end in sight. Our correspondent explains why a US ground invasion is likely. In an ongoing history series, we look at how America’s attitude to migrants changed as it got richer. And “Project Hail Mary” is a sci-fi film drawing wide audiences.

Guests and host:

• Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent
• Annie Crabill, a news editor in New York
• Alexandra Suich Bass, Culture editor
• Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Iran, Houthis, geopolitics, oil
• America, migration, colonialism
• “Project Hail Mary”, sci-fi

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.

Even before America crimped Cuba’s oil, the country was teetering. We ask what is to blame for the Cuban people’s plight, and whether anything better is in prospect. The craze of injecting peptides is not only scientifically unsupported—it is potentially dangerous. Chuck Norris once got mad at dinosaurs. Just once. Our obituaries editor recounts his unlikely rise to international manly stardom.

Guests and host:

• Sarah Birke, Central America and Caribbean bureau chief
• Natasha Loder, health editor
• Tim Cross, senior science writer
• Ann Wroe, obituaries editor
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Cuba, Trump administration
• peptides, wellness, pseudoscience
• Chuck Norris

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A jury in California agreed with a plaintiff who argued that Meta and Google, two social-media giants, designed their platforms to be addictive. That opens the floodgates to more litigation and perhaps to regulatory change. We examine the world’s maritime chokepoints and how they shape geopolitics—littorally, not figuratively. And how digitally animated films came to dominate the box office.

Guests and host:

• Tom Wainwright, media editor
• Anton La Guardia, diplomatic editor
• Alex Selby-Boothroyd, head of data journalism
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

• social-media sites, internet use, online addiction
• geopolitics, chokepoints, Strait of Hormuz
• animated films

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the daily tea leaves one might read that President Donald Trump would prefer a deal with Iran to a continuing military campaign. Where would that leave Israel and its goals? Cryptocurrencies have gained a particular foothold in Asian economies; will they become real financial infrastructure or just tools of fraud? And tracing the history of mafias through the ages.

Guests and host:

• Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent
• Sue-Lin Wong, Asia correspondent
• Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent
• Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

• Iran war, Israel, America
• cryptocurrency, Asia
• mafias, crime families, history

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.