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The spread of authoritarianism and attacks on democracy have eroded press freedom around the world. A 2022 analysis of 180 countries by Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit group, classified the situation as “very bad” in 28 countries—a record number. Its latest analysis will be published on Wednesday, designated as World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations.

It will probably show that things have become even worse. Attacks on journalists, both physical and online, are all too common. The Russian authorities’ arrest of Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, in March on spurious charges showed the extreme lengths governments will go to silence reporters.

The media also increasingly faces another, more insidious, threat: fake news. Artificial intelligence is making it easier to tamper with content and pump out disinformation. When the public no longer knows what to believe, the job of a newsroom is tougher than ever.

The market’s mantra is “one and done”. America’s Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday, in what would be the tenth increase in a row. Investors expect the Fed to lift short-term borrowing rates to a floor of 5%, up from 0% in March 2022—the country’s sharpest monetary tightening in four decades. But as suggested by the motto—which should perhaps be the less pithy “one more and done”—many think this should be the final turn of the screw.

The Fed’s rapid tightening has engendered financial risks, as evidenced by bank failures in recent weeks. And America’s economy is slowing: employment data released on Friday is likely to show another drop in job creation last month (though no recession, yet). But inflation—the trigger for the tightening—remains uncomfortably high. So even if the next rate increase is the final one in this cycle, the Fed may signal that it will keep rates high until inflation is vanquished.

Talks on extending a deal designed to allow Ukrainian ports to export grain are due to resume on Wednesday. The initial agreement, brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, granted Russia sanctions relief on agricultural produce in exchange for unblocking Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. But it expires on May 18th, and the Kremlin has indicated that it is unwilling to agree to an extension.

Ukrainian officials say that Russia is undermining the agreement anyway. One minister has accused it of making exports unviable by taking longer to inspect Ukrainian vessels for no apparent reason. Even with the deal in place grain exports currently stand at around 30% of the pre-war norm. (In peacetime, Ukraine’s ports could export up to 7m tonnes a month.)

To get around Russia’s troublemaking Ukraine has been developing export terminals along the Danube. These ports’ proximity to the territorial waters of Romania, a NATO member, helps protect them from Russian guns. Yet few observers think exports from the Danube can fully compensate for the Black Sea. A lot rides on renewing the deal.

In recent days a jury in Manhattan has heard E. Jean Carroll, a writer, accuse Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s. Mr Trump, who denies the allegations, skipped the civil trial citing logistical “burdens”. But he seems unburdened enough to travel to, as he says, “inspect my great properties”. On Monday he opened a new golf course in Scotland; on Wednesday he will tour Trump Doonbeg, another resort in Ireland.

During Mr Trump’s presidency, his real-estate company paused foreign dealmaking. Since he left office it has inked just one deal, with a Saudi firm for a resort in Oman. The Trump Organisation has been preoccupied with lawsuits instead. In January it was fined for tax fraud. And New York’s attorney-general alleges that Mr Trump fraudulently inflated his net worth to secure bigger loans (a charge that he denies). She wants to bar him from real-estate deals in the state for five years. That would at least free up some time for more legal proceedings.

When the “Time Warp” comes on, everyone knows the moves: “it’s just a jump to the left! And then a step to the right!” “The Rocky Horror Show”, Richard O’Brien’s campy send-up of horror films, was first performed in 1973 in a theatre with just 63 seats. It has now been seen by 30m theatregoers and is one of the longest-running musicals in the world. Fifty years after its debut, on Wednesday the raucous comedy returns to London’s West End.

A film from 1975—“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”—further cemented the musical as a subversive cult classic. Audience participation is now a tradition at many showings: spectators shout out lines and dress up like the cast. And Dr Frank-N-Furter’s gender-bending universe was ahead of its time: though some numbers such as “Sweet transvestite” may seem outdated today, it presaged more modern theatrical depictions of drag such as “Kinky Boots” and “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”. Audiences will probably be doing the Time Warp for many years to come.

Before 2023 began many forecasters thought the American economy would enter a recession at the start of the year. It has fared quite a bit better than that. GDP figures for the first quarter, released on Thursday, are now expected to show growth at an annual pace of about 2%. That is largely because of a tight labour market, which has pushed up wages and helped to sustain consumption.

Continued predictions of recession may sound too gloomy given America’s better-than-expected performance to date. But it will struggle to avoid a sharp slowdown. Turmoil in the banking sector threatens the wider economy. The labour market is starting to weaken, with more people collecting unemployment insurance. Meanwhile, inflation is still high, forcing the Federal Reserve to maintain a tight monetary policy. The first quarter may be the high-water mark for American growth this year.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, comes to London on Thursday to meet her British counterpart, Rishi Sunak. Co-operation between their countries has been blossoming. Last December, Britain and Italy joined Japan in a project to develop next-generation fighter aircraft. In February, the two countries signed Britain’s first trade agreement with an EU state since Brexit.

Ms Meloni, a populist, and Mr Sunak, who styles himself as more of a technocrat, in fact, have plenty in common. Each is tackling seaborne irregular migration (even if the roughly 5,000 migrants crossing the Channel to Britain this year are dwarfed by the almost 37,000 who have landed in Italy). Both leaders came into office last October. Both are conservatives, though Ms Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, has a more radical tradition with roots in neo-fascism—leading to a colder shoulder from French and German counterparts compared with the reception of her moderate predecessor, Mario Draghi. She could do with a friend in London.

On Monday First Republic Bank revealed that it had lost more than $100bn of its deposits in the first quarter. After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March, well-heeled customers, who held balances too large to be insured by regulators, had fled the mid-sized American bank. With depositors gone its alternatives are recapitalisation by investors or the government. But investors are fleeing too, with the bank’s share price plunging by 50% on Tuesday. The firm is reported to be in talks with regulators, who have repeatedly promised deposits in the banking system are safe.

How many more banks are at risk? One study found that if half of uninsured depositors—the type that felled SVB and may soon fell First Republic—pulled their money out, some 190 American banks, with combined assets of $300bn, would be left with negative equity capital. If this figure included First Republic it suggests any other lurking zombies would be much smaller. Still, another scare hardly seems out of the question.

In the name of protecting children, more than a dozen American states restrict access to gender medicine for minors. But few have sought to ban such treatments for adults. Grown-ups should, the argument goes, be free to do with their bodies what they wish. Yet if Missouri has its way, treatment will be severely restricted for adults too. An emergency law, due to take effect on Thursday, would have banned doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery to new patients before high bars are met. These include evidence of three consecutive years of “medically documented” gender dysphoria, hours of therapy, resolution of any mental-health conditions, and screening for autism and “social-media addiction”. On Wednesday, however, a judge put the new regime on pause while a legal challenge to it plays out.

The state’s Republican attorney-general, Andrew Bailey, says that such measures will help those struggling with their gender identity “make good decisions”. But the litigation will be a test case for other states. Conservative politicians and advocates of trans rights elsewhere will be watching closely.

On Thursday James Corden will sit under Studio 56’s neon purple lights for the last time. After eight years of hosting “The Late Late Show” in Los Angeles, the British comedian is returning to London to spend more time with his family.

He won’t be short of things to do. Mr Corden has continued to act in films and television shows during his tenure; he has said he hopes to return to theatre, too. Other talk-show hosts, such as David Letterman and Jon Stewart, landed deals with streaming services after stepping away from their duties.

But CBS, the network which airs the programme, will feel Mr Corden’s absence. Clips of his show are watched online by hundreds of millions of people. (Its YouTube channel has 28.3m subscribers; by comparison, the rival “The Daily Show” has 10.4m.) According to Deadline, an entertainment website, the lights will go off on the “Late Late Show” franchise when Mr Corden, its fourth host, departs. Talk about being irreplaceable.

This weekend is the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of Ramadan. Festivities in Yemen will be muted by a stampede in Sana’a, the capital, on Wednesday: at least 78 people were killed in a crush to collect donations.

Before the tragedy, however, the country had seemed somewhat hopeful. Almost 900 former prisoners will celebrate Eid at home, having been freed as part of a detainee swap between the Houthis, a Shia militia that controls much of the country, and their Saudi-led foes. The exchange suggests both sides want to end their eight-year war.

After the holiday, negotiators will try to hash out a deal. The Houthis want the Saudi-backed government of Yemen to pay the salaries of civil servants in areas they control, among other demands. The Saudis, eager to exit the war, are willing to make concessions. But sadly even the departure of the Saudis would not end a longer conflict over how to share power in the fractious state.

On Friday Lloyd Austin, America’s defence secretary, must confront his country’s discomfited allies for the first time since top-secret Pentagon documents were leaked on social media. The “Ramstein group”, named for the American air-force base in Germany where they are meeting, includes officials from the 50-odd countries that arm Ukraine. In private they will want reassurances that America is acting to prevent future breaches. In public they will signal determination not to let the fiasco divert them from supporting Ukraine.

They would do well to carry a copy of one leaked page: a slide marked NOFORN (Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals) summarising Ukraine’s acute shortage of air-defence missiles. Drawn up in February, it predicted that Ukraine would run out of medium-range air-defence missiles in May. That could allow Russia to use its powerful air force to foil Ukraine’s looming counter-attack. Ukraine’s backers will argue that now is the time to scour Western armouries for precious missiles—and to start giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets.

Procter & Gamble, one of the world’s biggest consumer-goods companies, reports its earnings on Friday. The figures will give a sign of how companies are navigating stubborn inflation and rising interest rates. Higher prices annoy consumers, but for some businesses steady inflation can be a quiet blessing: when matched with falling input costs, it can yield fatter profits on lower volumes.

P&G, which makes Pampers diapers, Tide laundry detergent, Gillette razors and other premium home brands has been struggling with higher outlays and freight costs. P&G also had a disappointing previous quarter, as inflation-driven price increases failed to offset declining volumes. Customers, feeling the pinch, may have been “trading down” to discount brands. Similar results this time will send an ominous signal about consumer confidence. Combined with troubling signs from the property market, they may, yet again, suggest a looming recession.

On Friday the World Meteorological Organisation will publish the “State of the Global Climate” for 2022, one of its annual assessments of the impacts of global warming. The contents—unsurprisingly—will not be positive. Provisional estimates from the WMO have already suggested that the past eight years were the warmest on record for the globe as a whole. This was confirmed by Copernicus, the EU’s Earth-observation programme, in its own analysis, first published in January.

Within those eight years 2022 itself was among the coolest, with temperatures partially suppressed by La Niña, a global weather pattern. Even so, 2022 saw record-breaking heat across America, Asia and Europe. Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan affected some 33m people; a series of tropical storms battered countries in south-east Africa. All these extreme weather events, which impacted millions of people and cost billions of dollars, were worsened, to some degree, by climate change. And further warming is now inevitable, meaning that even more lives and money will be lost in the years to come.

It’s not like Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have been idle in the 24 years since “Temperamental”, their last album as the English musical duo Everything But the Girl. Both have made several successful solo records, and Ms Thorn has written four acclaimed books. They got married—their accountant’s idea, Mr Watt claims—and raised three children together. Still, there’s something right about their recording as a pair again, the result of which is released on Friday.

“Fuse”, Everything But the Girl’s 11th album, is stark and yet soft. Ms Thorn’s voice is warm and comforting while Mr Watt’s accompaniments, usually electronic, are imaginative without being obtrusive. The mood is encapsulated in “Lost”, a track about the death of Ms Thorn’s mother, which opens: “I lost my mind today.” The raw pain of the lyric is contrasted with a song as pretty as a narcissus. Adventurous yet familiar, “Fuse” is the rare comeback album that might be better than its predecessors.