The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders

President Unpredictable
How to win at foreign policy
Donald Trump’s capricious dealmaking destabilises the world

Trade restrictions v ingenuity
Xi Jinping’s weaponisation of rare-earth elements will ultimately backfire
How the West can break China’s grip on these vital minerals
Soldiers are seen coming ashore as part of an amphibious landing rehearsal in Cowley Beach, Australia
Defence in the Pacific
America and its Asian allies need to spend more to deter China
It should be a two-way street
The Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland
Climate tipping-points
The shutdown of ocean currents could freeze Europe
When climate change poses a strategic threat, it needs a strategic response
Slum housing in East London, South Africa
Racial justice
Why South Africa should scrap Black Economic Empowerment
The ruling party’s flagship policy is a cause of the country’s problems, not a solution

Letters
A selection of correspondence
Is the legislation of the GENIUS Act deeply flawed?
By Invitation

Arctic geopolitics
The far north has become NATO’s soft underbelly, writes John Bolton
A weighty challenge
The world needs more than drugs to fight obesity, writes Novo Nordisk’s ex-boss
Briefing
An illustrated guide to where Rare Earth Elements are found in everyday products and technology.
Roiling stones
China’s power over rare earths is not as great as it seems
There are lots of ways for the West to get around its near-monopoly
Asia
An Australian soldier from Battle Group Kapyong runs through green smoke during an clearance of enemy positions
Weapons and words
America’s biggest ask in Asia
The white stuff
Cow’s milk, as well as Russian oil, fuels the US-India trade war
Nepo politics
What Sara Duterte’s comeback means for the Philippines
Banyan
Indonesia’s new president has daddy issues
China

Supply-chained
How scared should you be of “the China squeeze”?
Working mothers
China claims to want women to have children and a career
For good or ill
Hong Kong is super superstitious
United States
Members of the Washington, DC National Guard patrol near the Washington Monument.
Capital offensive
Why Donald Trump is wrong to take over the DC police
A sharp prick
Why the Trump administration excites some personal-injury lawyers
Conservation
How many pythons could you catch in ten days?
A room of their own
Texas’s Democrats prepare for a glorious defeat
Green new squeal
Trump 2 is pushing environmentalists to rethink their approach
Lexington
The real collusion between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

The Americas
A helper pushes a man in a wheelchair through a field of lotus flowers. Some are in full bloom while others have shriveled, as have some of the leaves. A bright light source can be seen on the far horizon.
Assisted death
Liberal Uruguay and the right to die
The death of Miguel Uribe
A martyr in the making?
Ever-present Evo
Bolivia’s crazy kingdom of coca
Middle East & Africa

A black and white case
Race, power and money in South Africa
Out with Ouattara
Ivory Coast’s president is overstaying his welcome
The war in Gaza
The world’s hardest makeover: Hamas
Disarming Hizbullah
Lebanon’s government is taking on a weakened Hizbullah
War in the Middle East
The killing of journalists in Gaza
Europe
A warning sign alerting people to landmines in a field of sunflowers in Ukraine
The US-Russia summit
What Putin wants from Trump in Alaska
Have a good TRIPP
Donald Trump brokers a peace plan in the Caucasus
Svalbard at 100
The Russian-run town squatting on NATO territory
Frosty geopolitics
The looming military threat in the Arctic
Slow to spark
China’s planned Turkish EV factories have yet to power up
A fine Verein
The colourful civic groups that hold Germany together
Charlemagne
Must Europe choose between “strategic autonomy” and August off?
Britain
An illustration of a desktop computer showing a game with an octopus and a target. To the right is a steering wheel and games console, to the left is a hand holding a fan of smartphones like playing cards
Game changing
Britain is a global gaming superpower
Soccer stats
The Fantasy Premier League is changing Britain’s favourite sport
Foreign visitors
Asian tourists are returning to Britain. But they look different
Falling off a cliff
Vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer have plummeted in Britain
The Knowledge
Still want to be a London cabbie?
Bagehot
Aux barricades, boomers!
International
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, middle, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David A. Flosi, look off the ramp of a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft while flying over Tinian during the U.S. Air Force’s 2025 Department-Level Exercise series
Rumble in the jungle
America’s new plan to fight a war with China
Archive 1945
The end of the second world war
Business
A hand with robots attached to its fingers.
The rise of the “solopreneur”
How AI could create the first one-person unicorn
The Toyota Way
Japan’s carmakers are trying to tinker their way out of tariff pain
Herbal essences
A 400-year-old Chinese cough syrup is winning over Westerners
Step on the gas
Italian bosses want Giorgia Meloni to hurry up with reform
Different shades of green
A new wave of clean-energy innovation is building
Bartleby
Should you trust that five-star rating on Airbnb?
Schumpeter
Trump wants to command bosses like Xi does. He is failing
Finance & economics
illustration of a large black boot print on a red background, with a black pot spilling gold coins that form the heel of the footprint
Putting the boot in
Growth-loving authoritarians are failing on their own terms
Asian trade
Where will win from Trump’s tariffs?
College credit
Ivy League universities are on a debt binge
Liquid courage
To sell Fannie and Freddie, Trump must answer a $7trn question
Stone cold Austin
America’s housing market is shuddering
At Orthanc’s peak
Palantir might be the most overvalued firm of all time
Free exchange
What 630,000 paintings say about the world economy
Science & technology
Mist on tropical rainforest mountain, Tropical forests can increase the humidity in air and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Points of no return
Earth’s climate is approaching irreversible tipping points
Fires that freeze
Smoke from boreal wildfires could cool the Arctic
Eyes in the sky
Drones could soon become more intrusive than ever
Sweet dreams
Are nightmares bad for your health?
Culture

Roman, not ruins
The largest dig in a lifetime is under way in Pompeii
On the case
Bombs, dinosaurs and UFOs: Luis Walter Alvarez’s eclectic career
World in a dish
Private chefs are spilling the culinary secrets of the super-rich
Donnie, Rudy, Al and the gang
The four years when old New York died and a new one was born
Digital media
What’s your preferred playback speed: 1x, 1.5x or 2x?
From hero to zero
Thought John Proctor was one of the good guys? Think again
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Razia Jan smiles broadly while surrounded by some her young girl pupils.
Most willingly to school
Razia Jan insisted on educating Afghanistan’s girls