The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders
An echo and a choice
The Trumpification of American policy
No matter who wins in November, Donald Trump has redefined both parties’ agendas
Paradise lashed
How Florida should respond to Hurricane Milton
Storms like it raise uncomfortable questions about the state’s future
Shock horror
How high could the oil price go?
Geopolitical risk is rising. But so is the supply of oil
A sting in the tail
The front line of the tech war is in Asia
The two superpowers are vying for influence. China will not necessarily win
A bad deal
Britain should not hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
Once again, the Chagossians have been denied a say
Letters
On Ukraine, policing, food chains, European reforms, kindness, the Labour government, martinis
Letters to the editor
By Invitation
The Israel-Hizbullah war
Lebanon needs a new army in the south, says Yair Lapid
The Israel-Hizbullah war
The framework that ended Lebanon’s war in 2006 could help end this one too, says Tarek Mitri
Briefing
Shrinking coattails
Who will control the next Congress?
The new president is much less likely than usual to see allies take charge on Capitol Hill
Asia
Digital domination
America v China: who controls Asia’s internet?
A glitch in the matrix
Asia is weighing data-centre ambitions against sustainability
Going nuclear
Kazakhstan’s referendum on nuclear energy could benefit Russia
A quieter tiger?
Is India’s economy slowing down?
Doing the locomotion
New railways could transform South-East Asia
Banyan
Has Narendra Modi lost his mojo?
China
Immigration
How to escape from China to America
United States
Policy brief
What America’s presidential election means for world trade
Policy brief
The US tax code will change next year; the presidential election will determine how
Policy brief
Donald Trump is preparing an assault on America’s immigration system
Policy brief
On energy and climate, Trump and Harris are different by degrees
Policy brief
Both candidates pledge to fortify America. How big will they go?
Policy brief
America’s presidential election marks a fork in the road for Ukraine
Policy brief
Will the next president follow Israel into war with Iran?
Policy brief
The next American president will be a China hawk
Lexington
Shirley Chisholm is still winning
Middle East & Africa
War in the Middle East
Israel has these four options for attacking Iran
Tehran’s calculus
Iran’s leader must choose how to fight his war with Israel
Waiting for war
The threat of an Israeli attack is reviving Iranian nationalism
Hizbullah’s role in Lebanon
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon may bolster support for Hizbullah
Family matters
How to send a cake from New Jersey to Accra
Off to a good start
South Africa’s coalition government has improved the vibes
The Americas
Stubborn brutality
The beating of Argentina’s former first lady fits a shameful pattern
Not the end of it
American women go to Mexico for abortions
Conservation in Latin America
The drug lords’ side-hustle: smuggling macaws, jaguars and frogs
Europe
The French budget
France stares into a “colossal” budgetary abyss
Struggling back
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
A tale of a nail
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Holding on
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
Alive or dead?
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
Charlemagne
Europeans are facing the prospect of Trump like a deer caught in headlights
Britain
Scalpel, please
The story of one NHS operation
Grayday! Grayday!
The Sue Gray saga casts doubt on Keir Starmer’s managerial chops
Oceans apart
Britain has agreed to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
Modern life is rubbish
The biography of a British recycling bag
Property and technology
Can software help ease Britain’s housing crisis?
The pulses quicken
Britain’s obsession with baked beans
Bagehot
Britain’s last imperialists
International
Elections everywhere
Over a billion have voted in 2024: has democracy won?
Business
Power couple
Big tech is bringing nuclear power back to life
A digital makeover
Can Mytheresa make luxury e-commerce a success?
Under fire
Can Israel’s mighty tech industry withstand a wider war?
A titan departs
Ratan Tata, a consequential and beloved figure in Indian business
The standards war
China is writing the world’s technology rules
Bartleby
When workplace bonuses backfire
Schumpeter
Masayoshi Son is back in Silicon Valley—and late to the AI race
Finance & economics
The other wall
How America learned to love tariffs
Worst-keg scenario
Could war in the Gulf push oil to $100 a barrel?
C-BAM!
Europe’s green trade restrictions are infuriating poor countries
When the smoke clears
Can markets reduce pollution in India?
Buttonwood
Why have markets grown more captivated by data releases?
Hammered
China’s property crisis claims more victims: companies
Keeping up with the neighbours
How bond investors soured on France
Free exchange
Can the world’s most influential business index be fixed?
Science & technology
The 2024 Nobel prizes
AI wins big at the Nobels
Flying fish
Meet Japan’s hitchhiking fish
Still waters
Noise-dampening tech could make ships less disruptive to marine life
Culture
From witchcraft to woke
How humans invented good and evil, and may reinvent both
Missives from a neurosurgeon
How complicated is brain surgery actually?
Song of myself
Why you should read Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
“Unleashed” and mildly unhinged
Boris Johnson shows how not to write a political memoir
Johnson on language
Americans are chuffed as chips at British English
Back Story
Is TV’s next sure-fire hit, “Disclaimer”, a must-watch or a dud?
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Two towers of white spray
Yoshioka Masamitsu saw Pearl Harbor from the air