The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon

Leaders
An illustration showing a group of young people seated on chairs, with one suddenly shooting upward like a rocket—capturing how superstar talent rises above and leaves the rest behind.
How to spot a genius
The desperate search for superstar talent
Too much potential goes to waste
A photo-illustration of a TV crew—cameramen, reporters, and mic handlers—all portrayed as Trump, with wigs, masks, or red ties, to symbolize how America’s media is being molded and influenced by his administration.
Free speech in America
Donald Trump is trying to silence his critics. He will fail
But the country could still lose
The colours of Ukraine's flag sparkle on the Motherland Monument at night in Kyiv, Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky
Fixing the rot in Ukraine
Things are going wrong away from the front line. Europe needs to help
A portrait of Kim Jong Un.
Asia’s nastiest regime
The deadly allure of a bad deal with North Korea
Donald Trump may be tempted to sell out America’s allies
An illustration of red bridges with circles on top of it with Venn diagram.
Crossing the bridge
How to stop AI’s “lethal trifecta”
Coders need to start thinking like mechanical engineers
An illustration of Keir Starmer turning out empty pockets, serving as a visual metaphor for Britain’s financial troubles—or its slide toward being broke.
Broken or just broke?
Britain is slowly going bust
Even with a huge majority and plenty of time, Labour is drifting towards a fiscal crisis

Letters
A selection of correspondence
How can Britain compete in artificial intelligence?
By Invitation
Portrait of the author
Uniting against Putin
Yulia Navalnaya on why Europe needs a better Russia strategy
Fade against the machine
Two scholars ask whether democracy can survive if AI does all the jobs
Briefing
A photo collage on North Korea’s international relations and domestic life, featuring images of Kim Jong Un, his meetings with Xi, Putin, and Trump, the North Korean army’s involvement in the Russia–Ukraine war, the pandemic, propaganda posters, and
Intensifying menace
North Korea is becoming even more repressive and threatening
Kim Jong Un is in a much stronger position than when Donald Trump last wooed him

Making media great again
Can Donald Trump muzzle America’s press?
He has bullied some outlets, but intimidating them all is a daunting task
Asia
This illustration depicts the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, symbolized through their flags, maps, and handshaking silhouettes.
Rent-a-bomb
Would you shelter under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella?
Herd on the street
Indian cities have a devilish animal problem
Time to act
The world’s most persecuted people
Higher Education
Asian countries are nabbing a lot more foreign students
China
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a meeting in Beijing, China.
Toxic neighbours
Why Xi Jinping now accepts Kim Jong Un at the grown-ups’ table
Agricultural trade
China is turning up its nose at American soyabeans
America’s globetrotting basketballers
All eyes on the NBA as its players return to China
Chaguan
A restaurant scandal sticks in China’s throat
United States
Outreach worker of Harm Reduction participates in a needle clean-up.
Harm’s way
Democratic mayors and the president are converging on drugs policy
Tom Homan
The president’s border czar was caught in a sting operation
Right on track
Rail travel is booming in America
Slam dunk
Women’s pro-ballers want more cash
Doctor-in-chief
The president is wrong on Tylenol
Stay in place
It is getting much harder to get evicted in New York City
Kofi’s heirs
Immigrants are narrowing the black-white wage gap in America
Lexington
Donald Trump is raising the stakes for holding power

The Americas
A currency exchange house in the financial district of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Propping up the peso
Argentina’s finances just got even more surreal
Colombian politics
Is Colombia at the “gates of hell”?
Middle East & Africa
Thick smoke rises after an Israeli strike on the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City
The next battle for Gaza
Could Tony Blair run Gaza?
Twaddle at Turtle Bay
It will take more than speeches to change Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians
Ahmed al-Sharaa woos the world
Syria’s new leader makes a star turn in New York
Africa’s missing war dead
Measuring mortality is getting even harder in Africa
Cyber-nationalism in the Sahel
Burkina Faso’s strongman has gone viral
Europe
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
Turning hollow
Ukraine faces deepening military, political and economic problems
After the war
What happens when Ukraine stops fighting?
French public finances
Why France is thinking of targeting the super-rich
Weeping and railing
Can’t anyone get Germany’s trains to run on time?
Charlemagne
Europe wants to turn frozen Russian assets into Ukrainian firepower
Britain
Red hoarding surrounding a building under refurbishment in the city centre
Britain’s economy
Why Labour’s growth mission remains grounded
Vigilantes watching
Why British bond yields are higher than elsewhere
Rule, Britannia!
Should Britain deploy the navy to prevent small-boat crossings?
Canterbury trails
Old routes to Britain’s sacred sites are getting more foot traffic
Light from the East
The Orthodox Church is thriving in Britain, thanks to immigration
Nuclear-waste storage
Where should Britain hide its nuclear waste?
Bagehot
Keir Starmer’s Kevin Keegan moment
International
Libyan policemen arrest a group of migrants in Tripoli, Libya, July 26th 2025
Irregular migration
Europe’s astonishing drop in illegal migration
The Telegram
A made-in-China plan for world domination
Business
Illustration of a man in a hoodie using a croupier's rake to rake in lots of gold coins on a globe in front of him
Superstar capitalism
The individual usurps the firm as the leading actor in business
H-1B sting
The perverse consequence of America’s $100,000 visa fees
Circular thinking
Nvidia’s $100bn bet on OpenAI raises plenty of questions
LAPping it up
A fast-growing German coffee chain causes a stir
Bartleby
How AI is changing the office
Schumpeter
Novo Nordisk v Eli Lilly: return of the weight-loss wars
Finance & economics

Invisible talent
How to spot a genius
Race to the death
Russia’s besieged economy is clinging on
Do buy
Will Dubai’s super-hot property market avoid a crash?
Buttonwood
Investing like the ultra-rich is easier than ever
Free exchange
The AI talent war is becoming fiercer
Science & technology
An illustration of a laptop with three circles filled with black and white stripes overlapping like a Venn diagram. The central intersection is red with a large yellow exclamation mark.
Computer security
Why AI systems may never be secure, and what to do about it
Nobel spoilers
People are using big data to try to predict Nobel laureates
Human biology
In some sports, left-handed athletes seem to have an innate advantage
Huntington’s disease
A clever genetic technique may treat a horrible brain condition
Well informed
Are touchscreens in cars dangerous?
Culture

Land of colours
The market for Indian art is booming
Classical music
Who was the greater singer: Pavarotti or Fischer-Dieskau?
Back Story
First, they come for the comedians
Writing on the borderline
Why you should read Tawada Yoko’s books
Putt on a good show
Golf videos going viral? These days it is par for the course
From Huizhou to Hackney
SKAI ISYOURGOD: the Chinese rapper thrilling global audiences
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Kim Seong-Min shouts slogans during a rally to improve human rights conditions in North Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, 2014
Last train to freedom
Kim Seong Min risked everything to escape from North Korea