The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s covers
Leaders


Bust budgets
Governments are living in a fiscal fantasyland
The world over, they are failing to confront the dire state of their finances

The most important election this year
If Turkey sacks its strongman, democrats everywhere should take heart
After 20 years of increasingly autocratic rule, Recep Tayyip Erdogan risks eviction by voters

A new Afghanistan policy
Time to engage (very carefully) with the Taliban
Isolating the mullahs is not working. The West needs a more constructive approach

Rebuilding the buffers
How to shore up America’s banks after First Republic’s demise
One route to a safer system is consolidation; another is taxpayer stakes in the sector

When viruses are good for you
How to battle superbugs with viruses that “eat” them
As antibiotic resistance spreads, bacteriophages could help avert a crisis