New, untested and dangerous
The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders

New and untested
American finance, always unique, is now uniquely dangerous
Donald Trump is putting an untested system under almighty strain
Rally in support of international students at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA - 27 May 2025
How to repel talent
Pausing foreign applications to American universities is a terrible idea
The Trump administration hobbles a great American export
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele
A dictator’s progress
First he busted gangs. Now Nayib Bukele busts critics
El Salvador’s president has all the tools of repression he needs to stay in power indefinitely
The illustration is showing a feeding clear feeding bag with a rose inside
Intensive care
How Labour should save the NHS
Among all its ideas, the most important is to go all-in for digital transformation
Air conditioning units hang from a building during high temperatures in New Delhi, India
The lesser of two evils
India needs to turn the air-con on
If its awful air pollution is ever solved the country will get even hotter

Letters
A selection of correspondence
Does Europe have a free-speech problem?
By Invitation

American business and trade
Want to destroy American business? Protect it, writes Carl Benedikt Frey
Briefing
Inmates crowded in a cell at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) mega-prison in El Salvador
From cool to cruel
Nayib Bukele is devolving from tech-savvy reformer to autocrat
El Salvador’s president is young, MAGA-friendly and ruthless
Asia

Climate change
If India chokes less, it will fry more
Be more chill
Can India be cool?
Compounding misery
Myanmar’s scam empire gets worse, not better
The unwilling of the coalition
Australia’s conservatives bicker in the political wilderness
Banyan
Narendra Modi has kept his vow to make India like Gujarat
China
Two robots in a race, the robot ahead is holding the American flag and the one just behind holding the Chinese flag
The superpower technology race
Xi Jinping’s plan to overtake America in AI
All that hot air
China’s carbon emissions may have peaked
Chinese consumers
China’s crazy reverse-credit cards
United States
President Donald Trump is joined by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as he speaks with reporters upon his departure from the Capitol.
A big, beautiful do-over
America’s Senate plans big changes for the House’s spending bill
Unfair taxes
America has found a new lever to squeeze foreigners for cash
Ivy beleaguered
Demand for American degrees is sinking
Elbows up, library cards out
MAGA: protecting the homeland from Canadian bookworms
Lumpkin it
America’s immigration detention centres are at capacity
The Zillennial election
How young voters helped to put Trump in the White House
Lexington
Why would Texas Republicans object to conservative, pro-family developers?

The Americas
Britain's King Charles reviews the guard of honour as he arrives at the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Cowboys in Canada
The king “loves” Canada. Many Albertans want out
Otherworldly success
Why Latin American Surrealism is surging in a down art market
The eloquently silent voice
Venezuela’s sound of silence
Middle East & Africa
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the Jerusalem Day official ceremony at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem
The war in Gaza
Israel fuels three emergencies as its furious allies bail out
On the sidelines
The losers of the new Middle East
Murder in Birakat
What a massacre reveals about Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopia
The Alabuga connection
Africans are building Putin’s suicide drones
Cultural globalisation
Afrobeats’ new groove
Europe
The illustration depicts a handshake with a red dragon in the background and stars scattered across the background
Here be dragons
Europe’s tricky trade threesome
Catholics in France
France’s improbable adult baptism boom
Young Turks
A new threat to Erdogan: Gen Z
The war in the air
Russia is raining hellfire on Ukraine
Charlemagne
Europe fantasises about an “Airbus of everything!” Can it fly?
Britain
Illustration of a rose tattoo with a banner around it that says NHS on a back that is bruised and cut up
Labour and the NHS
Where next for Britain’s broken National Health Service?
TikTok, fillers and fraud
Harley Street resists a facelift
Alternative navigation
What on earth is what3words?
Grate Britain
Should cheese rolling be protected as British heritage?
Frenemies
Sir Keir Starmer’s Scottish reset is under strain
Bagehot
Doctors, teachers and junior bankers of the world, unite!
International
Illustration of cybercrime with symbols like Bitcoin, email, binary code, and a phishing hook surrounding a human silhouette on a computer screen
The gig economy of crime
The Uber of the underworld
The Telegram
Donald Trump steals Xi Jinping’s favourite foreign policy
Special report
An illustration of two bulls facing off against each other.
The new masters of the universe
Financial giants are transforming Wall Street
Convergence
Clash of the titans
Trapped capital
What it means to be illiquid
Private lending
The debt barons who are taking on the banks
Speculation
The latest investment fad is made for gamblers
Titans of finance
Can anything stop America’s superstar hedge funds?
Future shock
How the next financial crisis might happen
Business
This illustration portrays a clean, modern city skyline using a bright and stylized aesthetic. The buildings are tall and sleek, with glass facades and distinct architectural designs, including rounded edges and sharp angles. The background is a vivid yellow
The new economies of scale
Why it has never been better to be a big company
Eastward ho!
Will European business turn away from America?
Slow burner
Europe’s attempted bonfire of red tape is impressing no one
BAT race
The contest to cash in on Chinese AI heats up
Lifted up
Boeing enjoys a Trump bump
Bartleby
A manager’s guide to handling crises
Schumpeter
Can Korea Inc step up?
Finance & economics
A ship carrying containers at the Port of Los Angeles
Collision course
The courts block Trump’s tariffs. Can he circumvent their verdict?
Back to the 1930s
Trump’s financial watchdogs promise a revolution
Tightening the screws
Soaring bond yields threaten trouble
Boy cries wolf
Why AI hasn’t taken your job
No capex please, we’re Indian
India has a chance to cure its investment malaise
Buttonwood
Shareholders face a big new problem: currency risk
Free exchange
How might China win the future? Ask Google’s AI
Science & technology
scrolls
Digital archaeology
The decoding of ancient Roman scrolls is speeding up
Third time unlucky
Elon Musk’s plans to go to Mars next year are toast
Blemish treatment
Old oil paintings are suffering from chemical “acne”
Pest control
Snakes may have once faced a vicious enemy: the humble ant
Well informed
Should men be screened for prostate cancer?
Culture
Xi father
Party, piety, pity
How an agonising relationship with his dad shaped Xi Jinping
Death on the Danube
The second world war changed Budapest for ever
Out in the open
Museums should open up their storerooms
Back Story
“American Dirt”, and how commerce beats cancel culture
Feeling averse
Rhyme, once in its prime, is in decline
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary

Green light flashing
Simon Mann was the go-to guy for military coups and bespoke warfare