Americans William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, pioneers in adapting economic theory to take better account of environmental issues and technological progress, have won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Economics. Thuy Ong reports

Former UBS employee Bradley Birkenfeld said he hoped for a stiff penalty as the Swiss bank, its French unit and six top executives go on trial on Monday (October 4) after a long-running investigation into allegations they helped wealthy clients avoid taxes in France. Sonia Legg reports.

Industry representatives, who were barred from the negotiations, ultimately failed to get delegates to designate a special exemption for new products.

It’s nearly a year since Saudi Arabia’s crown prince hosted a big conference and talked of liberalizing investment in the kingdom and its society. Rounding up royals and, recently, the disappearance of a prominent journalist undermine the case for showing support this year, as Rob Cox explains.

Extracting and purifying DNA is routine now, but the results are not particularly aesthetic.

‘My mother practically cried when I heard a cricket chirping in the house,’ says a woman who got a cochlear implant at age 11.