The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders

Phew, it’s a girl!
The stunning decline of the preference for having boys
Millions of girls were aborted for being girls. Now parents often lean towards them
Illustration of a dollar sign made out of barbed wire
Capital pains
America’s tax on foreign investors could do more damage than tariffs
Provisions in the Republican budget are a dangerous step
A Ukrainian solder flies a drone in eastern Ukraine.
Lessons from Ukraine
The West is rethinking how to fight wars
Ukraine’s daring raid on Russia has lessons for European armed forces. But they need cash, too

Asia’s forgotten hellscape
Myanmar is a demonstration of Chinese hegemony in action
China is playing all sides in the country’s bloody civil war
President Paul Kagame
Guerrillas v gorillas
Africa’s most admired dictator rolls the dice
Kagame’s intervention in Congo threatens his legacy at home

Letters
A selection of correspondence
Has crime fallen in Britain?
By Invitation

What price peace?
There is nothing extreme about the Baltic states’ hard-nosed view of Russia, says Latvia’s foreign minister
Briefing
An illustration highlighting the contrasting emotional responses: the celebration and joy surrounding the birth of a baby girl versus the subdued or disappointed reaction to the birth of a baby boy.
The fairer sex
More and more parents around the world prefer girls to boys
The bias in favour of boys is shrinking in developing countries even as a preference for girls emerges in the rich world
Asia
A member of ethnic rebel group Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) smokes as he guards a checkpoint.
Follow the pipeline
China is benefiting from the hell in Myanmar
Playing all sides
China calls the shots in Myanmar’s civil war
Martial law, impeachment and, finally, a new president
Lee Jae-myung is South Korea’s next president
You are… somewhere
The real reason Indians are lost
Indian universities
Can India create its own Ivy League?
Banyan
The mystery of China’s missing military
China
Apartment blocks under construction in China.
The Chinese economy
China is waking up from its property nightmare
Studying abroad isn’t so sexy
Chinese students want an American education less than they used to
Race to the bottom
Now China’s ultra-cheap EVs are scaring China
United States
Illustrated portraits of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court Justices, each justice has a large pixelated white cursor hand pointing at their chin, suggesting decision-making or scrutiny
Trial run
Meet SCOTUSbot, our AI tool to predict Supreme Court rulings
The neo-neo-con
Pete Hegseth once scared America’s allies. Now he reassures them
DOGE bites man
Elon Musk’s failure in government
Squeezing the brakes
Police are cracking down on cyclists in New York City
Cap and fade
California’s carbon market reaches an inflection point
Primary colours
What a New Jersey election says about MAGA America
Election daze
Why stricter voting laws no longer help Republicans

The Americas
San Isidro from the air
Still divided
Slums, swimming pools and Latin America’s inequality
Cherry picked
Mexico’s ruling party, Morena, has captured the judiciary
Multi-ethnic, mega-corrupt
Suriname’s chaotic democracy just chose its first woman president
Middle East & Africa
Portrait of Paul Kagame
The Clausewitz of Africa
Africa’s cynical master of power politics
The Israeli far right
Israel “won’t commit suicide”, says the government’s ideologue
A lasting peace?
Kurdish armed groups are laying down their weapons
Europe
The German 45th Armored Brigade "Lithuania" are officially inaugurated at a ceremony Vilnius, Lithuania
German militarism
Germany is building a big scary army
Populist pugilist
What Poland’s new president means for Europe
Drones and diplomacy
Ukraine smashes Russia’s air force and a key bridge
Populist paralysis
The hard-right’s champion blows up the Dutch government
Charlemagne
The constitution that never was still haunts Europe 20 years on
Britain
F-35B line teams conduct see off procedures before Lightning jets launch for Exercise MEDSTRIKE
Defence plans
Britain’s ambitious plan to rearm looks underfunded
Fire and furore
A ruling in Britain stokes fears of backdoor blasphemy laws
Drip, drip
Can Britain untangle the mess in its water industry?
AI and social care
Britain’s AI-care revolution isn’t flashy—but it is the future
All shook up
A new London attraction hopes to revive interest in Elvis
Fixing public buildings
Manchester’s Town Hall renovation will be late, costly and worth it
Bagehot
All pain, no gain: Labour’s odd strategy
International
A coffin is lowered into the ground - as people take part in a funeral ceremony to bury the remains of 60 Russian soldiers and 3 civilians, killed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, at a cemetery in Luhansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine.
Deathonomics
Vladimir Putin’s sickening statistic: 1m Russian casualties in Ukraine
The Telegram
To earn American help, allies are told to elect nationalists
Business

Media’s first family
Even as the Murdochs bitterly feud, their empire thrives
A degree of uncertainty
Which universities will be hit hardest by Trump’s war on foreign students?
Power brokers
How managing energy demand got glamorous
Retail therapy
What Bicester Village says about the luxury industry
Yet another day of rest?
Germany thinks about cancelling a public holiday
Bartleby
A short guide to salary negotiations
Schumpeter
AI agents are turning Salesforce and SAP into rivals
Finance & economics
Illustration of the statue of liberty with a lot of shopping bags over her arms
Taking liberties
Trump thinks Americans consume too much. He has a point
Capitol controls
Who would pay America’s “revenge tax” on foreigners?
Tracking prices
Trump’s tariffs have so far caused little inflation
Reality sheikh
Will the UAE break OPEC?
Buttonwood
Why investors lack a theory of everything
Free exchange
Stanley Fischer mixed rigour and realism, compassion and calm
Science & technology
Illustration of two scientists stand in front of a human head silhouette, examining colorful neural pathways connecting to a central brain node.
Glimmers of hope
The Alzheimer’s drug pipeline is healthier than you might think
Scrollytelling
How old are the Dead Sea Scrolls? An AI model can help
Empty space
A leaderless NASA faces its biggest-ever cuts
Well informed
How much coffee is too much?
Culture
An illustration of a person lying down in nature resting their head on a pile of books whilst reading. A bird is perched on their knee and sings with a big yellow sun in the background.
Spine-tingling
The 40 best books published so far this year
Blooming expensive
Would you pay $100,000 for an orchid?
Stay tuned
Hit songs are getting shorter
Material benefits
African architects have cool designs for a warming planet
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Portrait of Amanda Feilding with a parrot
The queen of consciousness
Amanda Feilding fought to rescue the reputation of psychedelics