The would-be king
The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon
This week’s covers

Leaders

How far will he go?
Donald Trump: the would-be king
America is fated to wage a titanic struggle over the power of the president

Europe’s nightmare
How Europe must respond as Trump and Putin smash the post-war order
The region has had its bleakest week since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The implications have yet to sink in
United States President Donald Trump peers over two Executive Orders signed in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington DC, USA.
Trade at the pleasure of the president
Reciprocal tariffs really mean chaos for global trade
America has tried reciprocity before, and discovered its flaws
Customers at a counter inside a mobile phone screen repair kiosk at the Ikeja computer village market in Lagos, Nigeria
Generation Hustle
How to help young Africans thrive
As the rest of the world ages, young Africans are becoming more important
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with representatives of private entrepreneurs in Beijing.
Conditional love
Xi Jinping wants the private sector to thrive again
Within limits

Letters
On Heathrow airport, Mexican trade, Arctic sea ice, parliamentary speeches, diamonds
Letters to the editor
By Invitation

European security
Now is the time for Europe to show strength, not division, argues Sanna Marin
Executive power
Donald Trump is taking presidential power to alarming places, writes Jack Goldsmith
Briefing
A photo collage illustrating the chaos Trump is causing, featuring Trump, Eric Adams, Elon Musk, a plastic straw, Mt. McKinley, the USAID flag, the Kennedy Center DEI, and the transgender symbol.
Orders and chaos
Donald Trump is a reckless president, but not yet a lawless one
He has yet to flatly defy a court order, which would initiate a constitutional crisis
Asia
Ships under construction at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Company shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea
Vessel states
Only Asia can help America counter China’s shipbuilding prowess
All-weather friends
India’s other, little-known infrastructure revolution
Air supply
The US-Russia dogfight to sell India fighter jets
Watching the watchmen
Singapore’s leader of the opposition is convicted of lying
China
An intelligent quadruped robot developed by DeepRobotics walks down stairs
A new Silicon Valley
Behind DeepSeek lies a dazzling Chinese university
Bare branches
China’s alarming sex imbalance
Cheating in exams
Chinese authorities try to stop parents gaming the exam system (again)
United States
Protesters gather for a demonstration outside of a Tesla dealership to protest businessman Elon Musk's current role in US President Donald Trump's administration in New York.
DOGE police
Is Elon Musk’s war on fraud just cover for a power grab?
Foreign policy
DOGE attacks a bastion of Republican internationalism
Ee-I-ee-I no!
Donald Trump’s foreign-aid cuts threaten his rural voters
Vax populi
In Texas, vaccine-choice activists are ascendant
Inattentive medicine
Why so many children in America have ADHD
Lexington
For Donald Trump, the resignations are the point

The Americas
Workers carry equipment during the construction of the Nestor Kirchner gas pipeline.
A dead cow comes alive
Argentina’s Javier Milei is betting big on an oil gusher
Crypto problems
Javier Milei’s crypto misadventure
Paiving the way
An Oscar-nominated film sparks a reckoning with Brazil’s dictatorship
Middle East & Africa
Street Seller in Accra, Ghana
Demographic destiny
Africa’s young “generation hustle” hits the big time
The battle for Khartoum
Sudan’s national army is on the brink of retaking the capital
No end in sight
Rwanda tightens its grip over eastern Congo
America’s allies in the Middle East
Egypt and Jordan are struggling to make themselves useful to Donald Trump
Inching forward
Syria’s next steps towards a new order
Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Talks in the desert
How Vladimir Putin plans to play Donald Trump
Surviving MAGA
Team Trump wants to get rid of Volodymyr Zelensky
Size matters
Germany’s mind-bending electoral maths
Charlemagne
Can Europe withstand four years of Trumpian assault?
Britain
Illustration of a bald eagle flying away with the Mexican and Canadian flags while the British flag stays flying on its pole
Trade diplomacy
Why Britain has so far dodged Donald Trump’s tariffs
Immigration politics
Britain’s government can ignore objections to its asylum policies
Puffed-up politicians
Rachel Reeves is not alone in inflating her résumé
Getting to the point
Should all knives with pointed ends be banned?
Fast fashion
Shein attempts to mend its public image before its London debut
Sign of the times
Right-wing Britons are turning to e-petitions
Bagehot
How Britons became happy hawks on Russia
International
US soldiers in the sunset
Present at the destruction
Donald Trump is junking the transatlantic alliance
Deterring China
Will it be Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow?
The Telegram
Australia prepares for a lonelier, harsher world
Business
This illustration shows the U.S. Capitol building with various speech bubbles around it. The bubbles contain symbols like a checkmark, dollar sign, question mark, graphs, and charts. The colors are bold, with red, yellow, white, and black
Change management
Elon Musk spells danger for Accenture, McKinsey and their rivals
Clearing the thicket
Europe is set to start cutting red tape—lightly
Rehabilitation
Why Xi Jinping is making nice with China’s tech billionaires
In rude health
It’s not just AI. China’s medicines are surprising the world, too
Bartleby
Leaving the seat of power
Schumpeter
Hollywood’s Trump-baiting Oscars
Finance & economics
Illustration of a hand holding 3 balloons in the shape of US coins
As the balloon goes up
Investors fear inflation is coming back. They may be right
Cold weather, hot prices
American inflation looks increasingly worrying
Unlucky for some
Why American credit-card delinquencies have suddenly shot up
Fiscal Vollgas
To spend big, Germany’s next government may need EU help
Hungary for it
Will Europe return to Putin’s gas?
Vanke panky
China’s leaders look to have blinked in their property face-off
Free exchange
Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are absurd
Science & technology
A science flask with a belt tightening around the neck
Trump v science
How the Trump administration wants to reshape American science
Everything’s relatives
New research uncovers polygamy and intermarriage in ancient Eurasia
Assuming the mantle
Another win for geology’s Theory of Everything
Well informed
Do bans on smartphones in schools improve mental health?
Culture
An illustration of a woman standing on the beach with the wind in her her and snow falling. In the reflection in the water people can be seen huddled and reaching out.
Ghost writer
Han Kang is South Korea’s pride—and its conscience
Attacking play
British football hooligans are on the offensive once again
Aim for the stars
Why are pop singers popping up in films?
Back Story
Escapism and fear made “The White Lotus” a pandemic-era hit
Of muses, museums and money
The Louvre is hosting its first fashion exhibition
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Food writer and photographer Pableaux Johnson in New Orleans
Bean there, done that
Pableaux Johnson, peerless host and chronicler of New Orleans