The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders

Big, beautiful…bonkers
Trumponomics 2.0 will erode the foundations of America’s prosperity
The Big Beautiful Bill is symptomatic of a wider malaise

The tragedy of Labour
Sir Keir Starmer is rapidly losing his authority
As well as his hope of achieving much in office
People look at their phones as they line up to buy Apple products outside a store in Beijing, China
Surveillance state
China is building an entire empire on data
It will change the online economy and the evolution of artificial intelligence
William Ruto
Wrong direction
William Ruto is taking Kenya to a dangerous place
The president’s authoritarian instincts are propelling a spiral of violence
collage featuring a perfume bottle, a Fenty lipstick and cream pot in the centre and on the sides, crops of charts and a pic of beats headphones and beauty ads
The new star power
How A-listers are shaking up the consumer-goods business
Hailey Bieber, Rihanna and Ryan Reynolds are among a new cohort of celebrity entrepreneurs

Letters
A selection of correspondence
Manufacturing remains a core driver of economic growth
By Invitation
Portrait of Richard Clarida
Central-bank independence
The best check on Fed politicisation is fear of being judged a failure, says Richard Clarida
The future of warfare
This is Europe’s Manhattan Project moment, argues a tech boss
Briefing
A photo illustration showing aggressive firecrackers erupting from the U.S. Capitol
The inglorious Fourth
The big beautiful bill reveals the hollowness of Trumponomics
Republicans mark America’s birthday with a profligate but insubstantial law
A portrait of Elizabeth McDonough
Fiat lex
The obscure Senate functionary whose word is law
Elizabeth MacDonough does more to shape legislation than most congressmen
Asia
Illustration of the silhouettes of 2 young men, one on a moped and one standing, they're in front of the fence of a military base. The standing man is taking a photo of a fighter jet taking off, the one on the moped is on his phone.
Mapped, monitored and manipulated
China’s bid to influence the Philippines heats up
Missiles and waterslides
Welcome to North Korea’s Benidorm
Tied down
Thailand’s prime minister has been suspended
Statues in the Stans
Central Asia still has a complex relationship with Russia
Banyan
Why all Indians are rule-breakers
China
A man looks at his mobile phone while waiting for a bus in China.
Big data will see you now
China’s giant new gamble with digital IDs
The 5%
China’s growth targets cause headaches—even when met
Peruse at your peril
Beware tomes of Chinese political gossip!
Closing time
Hong Kong’s last functioning pro-democracy party disbands
United States

Speedy justices
The Supreme Court keeps helping Donald Trump
Shari’s gambit
Will bowing to Trump win Paramount its merger?
Welcome to Trader Zoh’s
Should cities run their own supermarkets?
Inside job
Why Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave
Unhappy birthday
On its tenth birthday, gay marriage in America is under attack
Lexington
America needs an honest reckoning over its spy agencies

The Americas
This illustration shows Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a suit with Brazil's presidential sash holding a large blue balloon. A hand with a pin is about to pop the balloon. The background is the Brazilian flag.
Faded dreams
Brazil’s president is losing clout abroad and unpopular at home
Don’t believe the numbers
Cuba’s leaders fiddle the figures
Elbows down
Canada makes a first concession to Donald Trump
Middle East & Africa
Iraq's Shia Muslims commemorate martyrdom of Imam al-Hussein
The future of political Shiism
Iran’s “axis of resistance” was meant to be the Shias’ NATO
A never-ending conflict
Israel’s weird war clock: 12 days for Iran, 21 months in Gaza
A stubborn status quo
The Israel-Iran war has not yet transformed the Middle East
A downward spiral
Kenya’s president is bad news for Kenya and Africa
Nice deal, on paper
A peace agreement in Africa that will probably not bring peace
Europe
Flowers on a bridge in Moscow, part of the Summer in Moscow event
Inside Russia
In Putin’s Moscow, a summer of death and distraction
Catalan calm
A pragmatic amnesty for separatists benefits Catalonia
Trump’s turn to Tayyip
Turkey’s strongman is becoming Donald Trump’s point man
Turkey
An infestation of ticks menaces Istanbul
Gap on the right wing
Germany’s Bundestag bars AfD MPs from its football team
Charlemagne
The sleeping policeman at the heart of Europe
Britain
An illustration of a pile of mostly deflated red balloons with the Labour party logo on them.
One year of Labour
Starmer’s wasted first year
The British economy
Labour is bungling its growth “mission”
Our Starmer tracker
Measuring Sir Keir Starmer by what people actually care about
Hot protest summer
Britain’s draconian approach to pro-Gaza activism is likely to backfire
Schools in cities
A quiet education revolution in England’s secondary cities
The Shipping Forecast at 100
Britain’s least controversial national treasure
Bagehot
Britain is already a hot country. It should act like it
International
An aerial view of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) construction site, in Mersin, Turkiye.
Nuclear power for civilian use
Putin’s radioactive chokehold on the world
The Telegram
How South Africa could harness Donald Trump’s wrath
Business
A collage of Kim Kardashian, Idris Elba and Ryan Reynolds.
Fame and fortune
Kim Kardashian, Ryan Reynolds and the age of the celebrity brand
Tragedy, then farce
A Wall Street wheeze makes a surprising comeback
A fruity business
Would you pay $19 for a strawberry?
A developing divide
Superstar coders are raking it in. Others, not so much
Horse power
Ferrari is looking less like a carmaker and more like Hermès
Bartleby
Are startup founders different?
Schumpeter
Jeff Bezos 2.0: new wife, newish job, old vision
Finance & economics
illustration of a traditional Chinese pagoda, leaning to the right, with a blank price tag hanging from its top
Involutionary road
Xi Jinping wages war on price wars
The tariff show
How to strike a trade deal with Donald Trump
Fiscal foie gras
Big, beautiful budgets: not just an American problem
First-class mess
Can Trump end America’s $1.8trn student-debt nightmare?
Copper-bottomed
Vanguard will soon crush fees for even more investors
The bomb squad
Inside Iran’s war economy
Free exchange
India’s Licence Raj offers America important lessons
Science & technology
A plant using photosynthesis to create new proteins.
The new nanotech
AI is helping to design proteins from scratch
Life drawing
A new project aims to synthesise a human chromosome
Kleptoplasty
How sea slugs give themselves superpowers
Well informed
Is being bilingual good for your brain?
Culture
This illustration shows three people sitting on a couch, staring at a screen. Behind them looms a large shadowy figure with hands reaching toward them. The colors are dark and moody, creating a tense, eerie atmosphere.
Fatal attraction
The TV shows people risk death to watch
Fair use on the internet
A YouTuber kicks up a stink over a flatulent “reaction” video
Dastardly, deadly and digital
Hollywood’s new favourite villain
Take their word for it
Before there was Oprah’s Book Club, there was the Book Society
Brothers in arms
Inside the uneasy, incongruous coalition of the Big Three
Please, brother, take a chance
Stop crying your heart out—for Oasis have returned to the stage
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
John Robbins eats at his kitchen table at home near Santa Cruz, California
Ice cream: good or bad?
John Robbins had serious doubts about the family business