Leaders
MAGAlomania
Donald Trump’s economic delusions are already hurting America
The president and reality are drifting apart
Winston Starmer
Britain’s leader has found purpose abroad. He needs it at home too
But do the clothes fit?
The death of giving
The demise of foreign aid offers an opportunity
Donors should focus on what works. Much aid currently does not
Well done, Mr Merz
A fantastic start for Friedrich Merz
The incoming chancellor signals massive increases in defence and infrastructure spending
America and Ukraine
The lesson from Trump’s Ukrainian weapons freeze
And the grim choice facing Volodymyr Zelensky
Helping Syrians
Lifting sanctions on Syria seems mad, until you consider the alternative
Without a reprieve, the country will become a failed state
Letters
On America and Europe, artificial intelligence, building development, Japan, book blurbs, the penny
Letters to the editor
By Invitation
European security
Camille Grand on why Ukraine’s future turns on security guarantees
War’s other victims
It’s time to treat sexual violence in war as torture, writes a UN rapporteur
Briefing
New regime, old problems
Syria has got rid of Bashar al-Assad, but not sectarian tensions
Its new rulers seem torn between reassuring minorities and appeasing their jihadist base
Liberty, poverty, asphyxiation
Syria’s economy, still strangled by sanctions, is on its knees
It will not improve until they are lifted
Europe
The old world wakes up
The dangerous tension in Europe’s response to Trump
All Gaullists now
Europe sounds increasingly French
Coping with the switch-off
Donald Trump’s chokehold on Ukraine
Farewell to arms
Kurdish rebels in Turkey declare a ceasefire
Malign influencers
Romania is caught between Putin, Trump and Europe
Britain
Eat that, Acheson
Sir Keir Starmer finds a role
Making growth legal
Britain’s government may be about to waste its best chance of success
Free to blaspheme?
A thorny debate in Britain around the definition of “Islamophobia”
The people v the critics
Jack Vettriano was a fantastic painter
Bagehot
How Mumsnet changed Britain
Middle East & Africa
Africa after aid
Why some Africans see opportunity in foreign-aid cuts
Fragile ceasefires in the Middle East
Israel’s army adopts a high-stakes new strategy: more terrain
United States
The headless opposition
Democrats are struggling to respond to Trump
Rebuilding Cuomolot
Andrew Cuomo plots a comeback in New York
On Musk’s scent
Three principles are at play in the cases concerning DOGE
The freeze-out
DOGE shutters the government’s in-house tech consultancy
The Americas
Anatomy of a surge
Canada’s Trumpian nightmare is the Liberal Party’s dream
Asia
Applying pressure
Indonesia’s shakedown of Apple comes to an end
A scary new game
Asian allies fear being dumped by Trump
China
The National People’s Congress
China’s leaders reveal their plan to cope with 2025
Demon child on the silver screen
A new film is breaking box-office records in China
International
Illegal narcotics
The tech bros selling drugs by drone
The Telegram
America First is a contagious condition
Business
From cars to tanks
As Germany’s defence stocks go ballistic, armsmakers are tooling up
No longer narrowing
The pay gap between men and women won’t go away
Bright and breezy
Mistral, Europe’s biggest AI startup, is blowing hot
Finance & economics
Bridge to nowhere good
Trump’s tariff turbulence is worse than anyone imagined
International finance
Aid cannot make poor countries rich
Buttonwood
Why silver is the new gold
Bukele buckles
El Salvador’s wild crypto experiment ends in failure
Science & technology
Show your stuff
AI models are dreaming up the materials of the future
Where the air is clear
Satellites are polluting the stratosphere
Well informed
Is posh moisturiser worth the money?
Culture
A basketball star for a bullet tsar
Prisoner swaps are controversial, but there are sure to be more
Let them eat (and make) cake
Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show is out of touch with the times
A (bit)coin toss
Why the art market is growing more friendly to crypto
Let the camera troll
AI unleashes a weird new genre of political communication
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Knit one, purl one