Economist failed after upgrade to 9.10

[dajare]

I tried to get the Economist today after updating my Calibre to 9.10. The download failed. Details are below:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 9.10.0 (linux, embedded-python: True)
Conversion error: Failed: Fetch news from The Economist

Fetch news from The Economist
Conversion options changed from defaults:
output_profile: 'generic_eink'
verbose: 2
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 9.10.0
{'add_alt_text_to_img': False,
'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': 'original',
'chapter': None,
'chapter_mark': 'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_download_recipe': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': True,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'epub_flatten': False,
'epub_inline_toc': False,
'epub_max_image_size': 'none',
'epub_toc_at_end': False,
'epub_version': '2',
'expand_css': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': None,
'fix_indents': True,
'flow_size': 260,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x7fcad4f2c980>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'lrf': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.GenericEink object at 0x7fcad4f2de80>,
'page_breaks_before': None,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': None,
'recipe_specific_option': None,
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': '',
'search_replace': None,
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': '',
'sr1_search': '',
'sr2_replace': '',
'sr2_search': '',
'sr3_replace': '',
'sr3_search': '',
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'test': False,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'transform_css_rules': None,
'transform_html_rules': None,
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: Recipe Input running
Downloading recipe urn: builtin:economist
Trying to get latest version of recipe: economist
Using user agent: gene/interaction
Recipe specific options:
res = 600
de = No
QRhiGles2: Failed to create temporary context
QRhiGles2: Failed to create context
This plugin does not support createPlatformVulkanInstance
QVulkanInstance: Failed to initialize Vulkan
Unable to detect GPU vendor.
Failed to get index with UA: gene/interaction
Retrying with UA: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/143.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
Using user agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/143.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
QRhiGles2: Failed to create temporary context
QRhiGles2: Failed to create context
This plugin does not support createPlatformVulkanInstance
QVulkanInstance: Failed to initialize Vulkan
Unable to detect GPU vendor.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "runpy.py", line 203, in _run_module_as_main
File "runpy.py", line 88, in _run_code
File "site.py", line 52, in <module>
File "site.py", line 48, in main
File "calibre/utils/ipc/worker.py", line 214, in main
File "calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 32, in gui_convert_recipe
File "calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 26, in gui_convert
File "calibre/ebooks/conversion/plumber.py", line 1087, in run
File "calibre/customize/conversion.py", line 241, in __call__
File "calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/recipe_input.py", line 153, in convert
File "calibre/web/feeds/news.py", line 1121, in download
File "calibre/web/feeds/news.py", line 1299, in build_index
File "<string>", line 289, in parse_index
File "<string>", line 266, in economist_return_index
NoArticles: Could not find any articles, either the economist.com server is having trouble and you should try later or the website format has changed and the recipe needs to be updated.

Any help appreciated!

[kovidgoyal]

economist blocks you if you try to download too close to friday. try it again.

[dajare]

@Kovid - many thanks for the reply. I tried again today (Sunday afternoon), and still not working. Here's today's error message:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 9.10.0 (linux, embedded-python: True)
Conversion error: Failed: Fetch news from The Economist

Fetch news from The Economist
Conversion options changed from defaults:
output_profile: 'generic_eink'
verbose: 2
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 9.10.0
{'add_alt_text_to_img': False,
'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': 'original',
'chapter': None,
'chapter_mark': 'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_download_recipe': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': True,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'epub_flatten': False,
'epub_inline_toc': False,
'epub_max_image_size': 'none',
'epub_toc_at_end': False,
'epub_version': '2',
'expand_css': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': None,
'fix_indents': True,
'flow_size': 260,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x7fc20452c980>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'lrf': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.GenericEink object at 0x7fc20452de80>,
'page_breaks_before': None,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': None,
'recipe_specific_option': None,
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': '',
'search_replace': None,
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': '',
'sr1_search': '',
'sr2_replace': '',
'sr2_search': '',
'sr3_replace': '',
'sr3_search': '',
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'test': False,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'transform_css_rules': None,
'transform_html_rules': None,
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: Recipe Input running
Downloading recipe urn: builtin:economist
Trying to get latest version of recipe: economist
Using user agent: wrap/recently
Recipe specific options:
res = 600
de = No
QRhiGles2: Failed to create temporary context
QRhiGles2: Failed to create context
This plugin does not support createPlatformVulkanInstance
QVulkanInstance: Failed to initialize Vulkan
Unable to detect GPU vendor.
Failed to get index with UA: wrap/recently
Retrying with UA: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/145.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
Using user agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/145.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
QRhiGles2: Failed to create temporary context
QRhiGles2: Failed to create context
This plugin does not support createPlatformVulkanInstance
QVulkanInstance: Failed to initialize Vulkan
Unable to detect GPU vendor.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "runpy.py", line 203, in _run_module_as_main
File "runpy.py", line 88, in _run_code
File "site.py", line 52, in <module>
File "site.py", line 48, in main
File "calibre/utils/ipc/worker.py", line 214, in main
File "calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 32, in gui_convert_recipe
File "calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 26, in gui_convert
File "calibre/ebooks/conversion/plumber.py", line 1087, in run
File "calibre/customize/conversion.py", line 241, in __call__
File "calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/recipe_input.py", line 153, in convert
File "calibre/web/feeds/news.py", line 1121, in download
File "calibre/web/feeds/news.py", line 1299, in build_index
File "<string>", line 289, in parse_index
File "<string>", line 266, in economist_return_index
NoArticles: Could not find any articles, either the economist.com server is having trouble and you should try later or the website format has changed and the recipe needs to be updated.

Btw, I have normally retrieved the Economist on Saturday (late morning) for years via Calibre, and that's normally worked well. This behaviour is unsual in my experience.

Very grateful for your help!

[dajare]

UPDATE - Sunday evening, and it's now working. I guess it means being patient, and adjusting my "workflow"!

[mr316]

Just FYI, it *never* works for me running Calibre 9.9 or 9.10 on Linux.

I do still have a Calibre portable version 8.14 running on Windows, and that works flawlessly, even on Fridays

Not sure what the difference is, must be sending some sort of different user agent or string.

[tokjdm]

Was working fine for me this month until today. First attempt got me an error. Second attempt got me a download but only the cover and chapter heads are included. I am still on 9.6.
Upgraded to 9.11. Same problem.

Part of the log:
Failed to find print version for: https://www.economist.com/economic-a...es-and-markets
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\web\feeds\news.py", line 1350, in build_index
File "<string>", line 510, in print_version
File "<string>", line 504, in get_article
File "<string>", line 188, in get_content
File "mechanize\_mechanize.py", line 257, in open
File "mechanize\_mechanize.py", line 313, in _mech_open
mechanize._response.get_seek_wrapper_class.<locals >.httperror_seek_wrapper: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

[xkcklzn]

Same error.

------First------
Failed to get index from GraphQL with error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "runpy.py", line 203, in _run_module_as_main
File "runpy.py", line 88, in _run_code
File "site.py", line 83, in <module>
File "site.py", line 78, in main
File "site.py", line 50, in run_entry_point
File "calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 214, in main
File "calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 32, in gui_convert_recipe
File "calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 26, in gui_convert
File "calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 1087, in run
File "calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 241, in __call__
File "calibre\ebooks\conversion\plugins\recipe_input.py ", line 153, in convert
File "calibre\web\feeds\news.py", line 1121, in download
File "calibre\web\feeds\news.py", line 1299, in build_index
File "<string>", line 337, in parse_index
File "<string>", line 302, in economist_return_index
NoArticles: Could not find any articles, either the economist.com server is having trouble and you should try later or the website format has changed and the recipe needs to be updated.

------Then------
Failed to find print version for: https://www.economist.com/the-world-...07/23/politics
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\web\feeds\news.py", line 1350, in build_index
File "<string>", line 510, in print_version
File "<string>", line 504, in get_article
File "<string>", line 188, in get_content
File "mechanize\_mechanize.py", line 257, in open
File "mechanize\_mechanize.py", line 313, in _mech_open
mechanize._response.get_seek_wrapper_class.<locals >.httperror_seek_wrapper: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

[Emagazine2026]

The Economist probably changed or upgraded their anti-scraping stuff, right? i could not download new issue and i am waiting for the new receipt.

[kovidgoyal]

Yup they changed their anti scraping yet again, sigh.

[Emagazine2026]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Yup they changed their anti scraping yet again, sigh.

SO, Normally how long will it take to make it with new receipt. Thx

[kovidgoyal]

No clue, depends on what needs to be done to get around the new blocking and if and when someone has the time to do it. Personally, I'm rather sick of the Eco and its endless hoops.

[jiajun]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

economist blocks you if you try to download too close to friday. try it again.

I could not access The Economist through "Fetch news" yesterday and today.

[PacificNW]

I get the cover image, and the top-level Table of Contents, and that's all. No errors thrown. Yep, they love their cat-and-mouse game.

[PacificNW]

I get the cover image, and the top-level table of contents. No errors are thrown.

As ever with this fine publication, it's a tough one.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jiajun

I could not access The Economist through "Fetch news" yesterday and today.

You really should have read the thread and seen that The Economist has new filters in place that block the recipe.