The world this week

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


Nutrition and cognition
How to raise the world’s IQ
Simple ways to make the next generation more intelligent

School scandal
Faddish thinking is hobbling education in the rich world
Test scores have been stagnant or worse for more than a decade

France’s shotgun election
The French far right may not have peaked
After winning 32% of the vote in parliamentary elections it will eye the presidency

Credit-crushed
How to prevent strongmen from hijacking the fight against dodgy money
Egypt, India and Turkey are regular abusers

Lord, make us proportional—but not yet
Britain’s skewed election reinforces the case for voting reform. After 2029
The new government has more important things to deal with first

Letters

On Joe Biden, a Palestinian state, rising seas, Willie Mays, working late
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


The American election
A big donor says Joe Biden’s team has gone all Trumpian
SCOTUS and presidential immunity
Justice Sotomayor was right for the wrong reasons
Briefing


Food for thought
Small investments in nutrition could make the world brainier
Many pregnant women and babies are malnourished—and not just in poor countries
Asia


No business like sow business
The world’s next food superpower
Bear-hugging bros
Narendra Modi cuddles up to Vladimir Putin in Moscow
Politics in Japan
Social-media populists have arrived in Japan
Banyan
Singapore’s foreign admirers see only the stuff they like
China


Under Xi’s gaze
China views America’s presidential nightmare with mirth—and disquiet
United Front summer camp
Songs, pandas and praise for Xi: how China courts young Taiwanese
Artefacts that serve a purpose
China is using archaeology as a weapon
Chaguan
What China means when it says “peace”
United States


The comeback kidder
Joe Biden is failing to silence calls that he step aside
Marginal revolution
Anguish about Joe Biden’s candidacy is rational, polls suggest
The party line
The Republicans’ policy platform previews the coming campaign
North Dakota rising
Meet a leading Trump vice-presidential contender
From mafia town to metropolis
Las Vegas’s power couple says goodbye to power
Lexington
How do you solve a problem like Joe Biden?

Middle East & Africa


Elections in Iran
Iran’s new hope: a cardiologist president
The flow of aid
Why food is piling up on the edge of Gaza
Tightrope over Gaza
Jordan’s Islamists have been boosted by the war in Gaza
Half a bowl of stew
Soaring food-price inflation is hurting Nigeria’s poor
Zacchaeus climbs down
Kenya’s deadly Gen-Z protests could change the country
The Americas


Voting against Maduro
A new danger for Venezuela’s autocrat
Of Milei and Moses
In Catholic Argentina, Javier Milei embraces Judaism
Unhappy union
The irrelevance of Mercosur
Europe


The French parliamentary election
France is desperately searching for a government
A bridge too far?
When will Ukraine join NATO?
The latest outrage
A Russian missile hits a children’s hospital in central Kyiv
Houdininomics
Germany’s debt brake and the art of fantasy budgeting
Ignorance is strength
The Kremlin is rewriting Wikipedia
Charlemagne
Viktor Orban solidifies his credentials as the EU’s pantomime villain
Britain


Labour and the world
What does Labour’s win mean for British foreign policy?
The enemy within
Britain’s Labour government has declared war on NIMBYs
Disproportional representation
Britain’s general election was its least representative ever
Poll post-mortem
How did pollsters do in predicting the British election?
Shore things
Why are British beach huts so expensive?
Independents’ day
How the Gaza war affected the British election
Bagehot
The new front line of British politics is just lovely
International


Cable ties
How China and Russia could hobble the internet
Special report


Schooling’s stagnation
Schools in rich countries are making poor progress
Teachers
The rich world’s teachers are increasingly morose
Technology
Will artificial intelligence transform school?
Soft skills
Efforts to teach character bring promise and perils
Back to basics
England’s school reforms are earning fans abroad
Schooling’s stagnation
Sources and acknowledgments
Business


Past their prime
America’s giant armsmakers are being outgunned
Power drain
Why most battery-makers struggle to make money
Peering across the Rhine
What German business makes of France’s leftward turn
Where’s my money?
Europe’s biggest debt-collector has a debt problem
Tit for tat, not Tesla
The EV trade war between China and the West heats up
Bartleby
The CEO’s alternative summer reading list
Schumpeter
Once high-flying Boeing is now a corporate criminal
Finance & economics


Halting his charge
Trumponomics would not be as bad as most expect
On the money
Betting markets are useful when politics is chaotic
Retaliate, negotiate, repeat
Europe prepares for a mighty trade war
Buttonwood
The dangerous rise of pension nationalism
Good cop, bad cop
How strongmen abuse tools for fighting financial crime
Free exchange
Xi Jinping really is unshakeably committed to the private sector
Science & technology


Artificial intelligence
Researchers are figuring out how large language models work
Periods
A scientific discovery could lead to leak-free period products
Windows on the past
Freeze-dried chromosomes can survive for thousands of years
Aquaculture
Vaccines could keep salmon safe from sea lice
Culture


Backstabbing blockbusters
Power-grabbing tips from “House of the Dragon” and “Shogun”
Back Story
The drama of election night: a critical guide
A date with destiny and your data
What happens to your data when you die?
What a racket
Whoever wins at Wimbledon, many of tennis’s professionals are losers
Dance of death
A history of Hamas dispenses with some pervasive myths
Heads will roll
Henry VIII’s wives get their revenge
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary


Haunted by a painting
Pål Enger never quite knew why he had to steal “The Scream”