Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.

And I'm Aura Ogumbi. Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Around now, lots of kids are heading back to school, but in America, two years after a post-pandemic grand reopening,

terrifying proportion of students just aren't in class.

And if you've ever tried to get a rich sure or a took-took in Bangalore,

you know just how stressful it can be. Now there's a new app trying to change that,

and that's good news not just for the customers, but for the drivers too.

First up though.

For decades, America and the Soviet Union were locked in a tense and often terrifying game of nuclear brinkmanship.

Many people think these weapons serve a useful purpose and actually prevent war.

They believe that nations will be so afraid of the possible effects of a nuclear war

they'll avoid any war at all costs.

The threat of mutually assured destruction eventually concentrated minds on both sides.

The endless accumulation of weapon stock files just could not continue.

International treaties limiting nuclear weapons development was signed during the 1960s and 70s.

The governments of the United States and the Soviet Union,

after reviewing the course of their talks on the limitation of strategic armaments,

have agreed to concentrate this year on working out an agreement for the limitation

of the deployment of animalistic missile systems, ABMs.

And continued right through to the 2010s.

This treaty is rooted in a practice that dates back to Ronald Reagan.

The idea is simple.

...