The Federal Reserve has met the historic challenge of navigating the world’s largest economy through a pandemic. But as the central bank prepares to reduce its emergency Covid stimulus, finding the next normal — for monetary policy, markets and the economy — will be its greatest test yet. In achieving a robust recovery, the latest round of quantitative easing, the ...

Last week, China’s top media regulators rolled out a directive prohibiting “sissy idols and other deformed aesthetics.” Their targets were the highly stylised, gender-bending young men who’ve defined Chinese pop culture for more than a decade. In the eyes of President Xi Jinping, these celebrities pose a threat to the masculine revitalisation of the Chinese nation. Like cram schools, celebrity ...

The surreal nature of international travel in the Covid era was beamed live around the world last weekend. In the opening minutes of a soccer match in Sao Paolo between Brazil and Argentina, play ground to a halt when public-health officials walked onto the field to remove several Argentine athletes over an apparent breach of a 14-day quarantine (mandatory for ...