The Economist this week | | Highlights from the latest issue | | |
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| Our cover this week looks at universities in the age of covid-19. For students, the pandemic is making life difficult. Many must choose between inconveniently timed seminars streamed into their parents’ living rooms and inconveniently deferring their studies until life is more normal. For universities, it is disastrous. They will not only lose huge chunks of revenue from foreign students but, because campus life spreads infection, they will have to transform the way they operate. The universities’ troubles are piling up. China, the origin of many international students, is falling out with the West. Governments are suspicious of college politics—and doubt how much subsidised degrees benefit the economy. Students are sceptical that they get value for money. Although covid-19 will be painful for universities, it also presents a chance to set things right by embracing long-needed change. | | |
 | Zanny Minton Beddoes
Editor-In-Chief | | |
Editor’s picks Must-reads from the current edition | | |
| A state of emergency was declared in Lebanon, after a huge explosion at Beirut’s port. The blast was felt in Cyprus, 240km away. It killed at least 135 people, injured 5,000 and left 300,000 homeless. The cause was a fire in a warehouse holding 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertiliser and bombs. This highly explosive stockpile had lain neglected for six years. Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, vowed that those responsible would “pay the price”. Lebanon was in an economic and political crisis even before the blast. | | |
| Ford announced that Jim Hackett is to step down as chief executive. Jim Farley, the chief operating officer, will take over in October. Mr Hackett has held the position for three years, a time of lacklustre profits that drove many investors to despair. Ford did report a second-quarter net profit of $1.1bn, but that was mostly derived from gains from an investment; without the gains it slipped to a loss. General Motors and Fiat Chrysler reported losses, but they were smaller than expected. | | |
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