Many Americans can expect jumbo tax refunds this year, thanks to a slug of tax cuts by President Donald Trump and his Republican Party. Their bank accounts may also be boosted by more subtle means that will make it easier to pay less tax—not least Mr Trump’s gutting of staff at the Internal Revenue Service.

After four years of war against Ukraine, Russia’s economy is ailing. It isn’t about to collapse, writes Alexandra Prokopenko in a guest essay. But it has entered what mountaineers call the “death zone”: the point, at high altitude, at which the body consumes itself faster than it can be repaired.