All grown up: Saudi Arabia’s surprising transformation
The world this week
Leaders
All grown up
Saudi Arabia is pulling off an astonishing transformation
Muhammad bin Salman is going from troublemaker to peacemaker
An existential struggle
What Putin wants—and how Europe should thwart him
Many Europeans are complacent about the threat Russia poses—and misunderstand how to deter its president
The Himalayas of peace
Luck stands between de-escalation and disaster for India and Pakistan
Sooner or later, the luck will run out
Israel’s forever conflict
The war in Gaza must end
America should press Binyamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire, then press Hamas to disarm
Illusion of control
Donald Trump is right to ditch Joe Biden’s chip-export rules
Time to get realistic
Letters
A selection of correspondence
Are plastics greener than they seem?
By Invitation
Briefing
Watching the bear
Would Vladimir Putin attack NATO?
Russia is building up its forces, causing fear in its neighbours
Russia’s military-industrial complex
A glimpse inside Putin’s secret arms empire
The Economist tracks mobile signals to plot the Kremlin’s build-up
Not your father’s kingdom
Saudi society has changed drastically. Can the economy change, too?
The government’s push to reduce dependence on oil is creating other distortions
Asia
Punishment time
Can India and Pakistan control a new cycle of escalation?
The Australian Labor Party’s thumping win
Australia is no longer lucky
The devil you know
Trade tensions help Singapore’s prime minister to a big win
A call to arms
Taiwan’s other war
China
Toil and struggle
Xi Jinping glorifies hard work, but the young are not so sure
The very long arm
China intensifies its campaign against exiled Hong Kong dissidents
United States
After Grants Pass
American cities are criminalising homelessness. Will that help?
Replacement rate
A social history of America in a warehouse
America’s sort of Cass Review
Where the Trump administration has science on its side
Mr Equal Protection
Trump knocks down a controversial pillar of civil-rights law
The Americas
The strategic south
Xi Jinping tries to press China’s advantage in South America
Farmacias Similares
A Mexican pharmacy chain revolutionised health care at home
Breaking point
Killer gangs are inches from ruling all of Haiti
Middle East & Africa
Who will feed the strip?
Israel’s radical new course in Gaza
Gaza’s death toll
How many people have died in Gaza?
Agree to disagree
MAGA meets MBS
The Red Sea
A Faustian pact with the Houthis
Threat from above
The fight for Sudan’s skies
A nation in the dark
Nigeria has more people without electricity than any other country
Europe
The ides of Merz
Trouble at home threatens Friedrich Merz’s global ambitions
Frugal times ahead
Berlin’s culture bosses must become more commercial
When enough is not enough
Portugal heads to the polls for the third time in barely three years
The tethered threat
How new drones are sneaking past jammers on Ukraine’s front lines
Britain
Churchgoing, going…gone?
The Church of England is dying out and selling up
Time to transubstantiate
Young British men are turning to Catholicism in surprising numbers
Double-Trussed
Nigel Farage’s economic plans are a disaster
The start of the deals
The Britain-India trade deal is a sign of things to come
Business
Silicon surprise
Huawei and other Chinese chip firms are catching up fast
Battle of the bulge
Eli Lilly looks set to steal Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss crown
Us against the world
What is behind the staggering ascent of Palantir?
Finance & economics
Poor slackers
Why Gen X is the real loser generation
Taiwan straits
Trump is a threat to Asia’s giant insurers
The oracle plans to step down
Warren Buffett has created a $348bn question for his successor
Free exchange
What happens when a hegemon falls?
Science & technology
Uneasy listening
Compressed music might be harmful to the ears
Dog and pony show
Companies have plans to build robotic horses
Friends like these
Dogs really do look and act just like their owners
Well informed
Is your hay fever getting worse?
Culture
Lights, camera, tariffs?
Hollywood is in trouble. Politicians should not try to save it
Proto type
The language that changed the world
Forged in blood
The friendship of a Chilean dictator and a Nazi war criminal
Bringing back the Queen of Crime
How to write, according to the bestselling novelist of all time
Making a splash
If you haven’t heard of webtoons, you will soon
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Notes from underground