The revolt against regulation
The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon
This week’s covers

Leaders


Sticky tape
Milei, Modi, Trump: an anti-red-tape revolution is under way
Done right, deregulation could kick-start economic growth
Officials from USAID and WFP inspect food aid in Harare, Zimbabwe
Scorn thy neighbour
By cutting off assistance to foreigners, America hurts itself
Donald Trump’s chaotic aid freeze makes his country weaker
This illustration symbolises the technological competition between China and the United States. It features elements of both nations' flags, with an upward green arrow on China's and a downward red arrow on America’s.
Seek and ye shall find
The real meaning of the DeepSeek drama
The Chinese model-maker has panicked investors. But it is good for the users of AI
An employee works inside a nuclear facility in Isfahan, Iran
Dealmaking in the Middle East
How to use “maximum pressure” to stop an Iranian bomb
The Islamic Republic is closer than ever to obtaining nukes
Members of the M23 rebel group drive through a street in Goma, Congo
Africa in peril
Rwanda does a Putin in Congo
To understand the seizure of Goma, consider a parallel with Ukraine
A lighter engraved with "TAXES US. Department of state", symbolising financial burden
Tax harmonies
Despite fears of a global tax war, Donald Trump has a chance to make peace
A global minimum tax on companies ought to be acceptable to America

Letters

On Russian speakers in Ukraine, Africa, standing ovations
Letters to the editor
Briefing

An illustration shows a carpenter, a surgeon and a business person—representing the infrastructure, health-care and finance sectors—cutting through red tape.
The war on red tape
Many governments talk about cutting regulation but few manage to
Yet radical deregulation is often a big boost to growth
A lawyer who specialises in shipping and maritime law.
Self-restraining Raj
Even in India, bureaucracy is being curtailed
Many small steps could make a big difference
Asia

Portrait of Lee Jae-myung with a background of red-and-blue circles and a map.
After the attempted coup, then what?
Who is Lee Jae-myung, South Korea’s possible next president?
Khmer fugue
Is Cambodia slipping out of China’s orbit?
Unaffordable island
Why Taiwanese youth complain of becoming “housing slaves”
Banyan
The Quad finally gets serious on security
China

Chinese Communist Party members pose for photos with a sculpture of the party flag outside the party museum in Beijing
Purge, purge, pardon
China needs its frightened officials to save the economy
Drugs and dissent
The bad side-effects of China’s campaign to cut drug costs
Meaning what, exactly?
America and China are talking. But much gets lost in translation
United States

A rubbish skip full of office chairs
Executive power
Donald Trump goes to war with his employees
Aid and a bet
America’s foreign aid pause puts lives at risk
Pebble dash
Donald Trump revives ideas of a Star Wars-like missile shield
Deep-state news
Kash Patel is a crackpot
Murder mystery
An alternative theory to explain America’s murder spike in 2020
Lexington
Donald Trump’s defining decade
The Americas

Deportation flights have begun.
Latin America First
Donald Trump turns an angry gaze south
Calamity in Catatumbo
Armed groups are terrorising Colombia’s border with Venezuela
Champion decarboniser in the making?
Brazil’s ragged finances are holding back its green ambitions

Middle East & Africa

People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels in Goma, in eastern Congo, make their way to the centre of the city
High stakes in the Great Lakes
The fall of Goma heralds more bloodshed in eastern Congo
The next steps
Ahmed al-Sharaa declares himself president of Syria
The Middle East and nuclear weapons
Iran’s alarming nuclear dash will soon test Donald Trump
Gaza’s future
Hamas talks a big game but is in chaos
Love ‘em or hate ‘em
Syria’s new rulers say they are keen to integrate foreign fighters
Europe

A border officer sleeping on the barrier with a protest in the background.
Papers please
Inside Europe, border checks are creeping back
Merz’s migration gamble
A day of drama in the Bundestag
Follow the tech
The EU is worried about sensitive exports to competitors and foes
Danger in the Donbas
Amid talk of a ceasefire, Ukraine’s front line is crumbling
Rebuilding the left
The French government’s survival is now in Socialist hands
Charlemagne
Meet Europe’s Gaullists, Atlanticists, denialists and Putinists
Britain

Early-morning vapour trails over Tower Bridge.
Take-off
Backing Heathrow expansion suggests Labour is serious about boosting growth
Published by Authority
Britain’s oldest newspaper is a treasure trove of trivia
An unacceptable toll
Why Britain has fallen behind on road safety
Lessons from Southport
Is British justice too secretive?
The new normal
Many Britons are waiting 12 hours at A&E
Students and retail
What the rise of bubble tea says about British high streets
Bagehot
The rise of the Net-Zero Dad
International

An illustration showing a couple holding a baby together. Through a window behind them a woman can be seen in a hospital bed and a doctor is closing the blinds.
Baby-making boom
As adoptions collapse, demand for international surrogacy is soaring
The Telegram
A big, beautiful Trump deal with China?
Business

Deepseek logo creating havoc amongst digital and tech symbols on a bold red background.
Bubble trouble
DeepSeek sends a shockwave through markets
Flying high
DeepSeek poses a challenge to Beijing as much as to Silicon Valley
Driving off a cliff
No one gains from American tariffs on cars from Mexico and Canada
Real money
Football clubs are making more money than ever. Players not so much
Baby boom
From cribs to carriers, high-end baby products are in vogue
Bartleby
The allure of the company town
Schumpeter
What Elon Musk should learn from Larry Ellison
Finance & economics

The dome of the US Capitol crushing the world.
Beyond tariffs
Donald Trump’s economic warfare has a new front
The merge
Will America’s crypto frenzy end in disaster?
Bun fight
Don’t let Donald Trump see our Big Mac index
Melonibanca
Giorgia Meloni has grand banking ambitions
Putting Michel to work
Can Germany’s economy stage an unexpected recovery?
Buttonwood
Why your portfolio is less diversified than you might think
Free exchange
Tech tycoons have got the economics of AI wrong
Science & technology

Three rotated avocados made from small numbers
AI in the field
Heritable Agriculture, a Google spinout, is bringing AI to crop breeding
Culture shock
A sophisticated civilisation once flourished in the Amazon basin
What doesn’t kill you
Why carbon monoxide could appeal to the discerning doper
Well informed
Should you worry about microplastics?
Culture

An illustration of the Michelin man reclining on a couch and reading a yelp review on a smartphone. Loose pages are scattered near his feet.
Word of mouth
The Michelin Guide is no longer the only tastemaker in town
World in a dish
Tofu: never judge a food by its political reputation
Opening gambit
Can Magnus Carlsen convince people to watch chess?
Split screen
Why “Emilia Pérez” is loved by Hollywood and hated by everyone else
The bloom is off the rose
Are internet firms the problem, or are you the problem?
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary

Mauro Morandi seated on the beach at Budelli
One man on his island
Mauro Morandi needed to abandon consumer society