Cash for kids: Why policies to boost birth rates don’t work
The world this week
Leaders
Cash for kids
Why paying women to have more babies won’t work
Economies must adapt to baby busts instead
July 4th celebration
Rishi Sunak’s election call makes no sense, but is good news
Whether an act of political genius or lunacy, Britons should welcome it
Lawfare v warfare
The war-crimes case against the leaders of Israel and Hamas is flawed
Politics and diplomacy, not courts, are the key to ending violence and starting two-state talks
Security alert
Hacking phones is too easy. Time to make it harder
Regulators have avoided the problem for too long
30 years after apartheid
How to save South Africa
The rainbow nation needs an alternative to decline under the ANC
The new brains trust
What India’s clout in white-collar work means for the world
In time its tech firms could be as formidable as China’s manufacturers
Letters
On disinformation, digital payments, South-East Asia, Italy, Ravel’s “Boléro”, Tesla cars
Letters to the editor
By Invitation
Israel, America and the ICC
Powerful states are finding it harder to dodge legal challenges, says Marc Weller
European security
Olaf Scholz on why Vladimir Putin’s brutal imperialism will fail
Briefing
Dawdling and decay
Why this is South Africa’s most important election since 1994
It may force the country’s indecisive leader to make a fateful choice
Europe
European Parliament elections
Le Pen’s hard right looks set to crush Macron’s centrists
Pragmatist or pasionaria?
As the Euro-elections loom, Giorgia Meloni guards her right flank
A city under threat
Ukraine’s desperate struggle to defend Kharkiv
Who hates whom?
How the hard right both reflects and creates prejudice
Britain
Paranoid android
Could the Labour Party blow its big opportunity?
Wiggly wormageddon
What’s behind Britain’s earthworm cataclysm?
Blood, debt and tears
“A day of shame” for the British state
A system under strain
The sorry story of children in care in England
A permanent home
The world’s first museum of homelessness
Middle East & Africa
The battle for control of Iran
The death of the president changes the power dynamic in Iran
The Israel-Hamas war
The revolt against Binyamin Netanyahu
Deaths in Gaza
How many people have died in Gaza?
Israel and Hamas in the dock
The ICC’s threat to arrest Binyamin Netanyahu has shocked Israel
The coup will not be televised
A live-streamed attempted coup in Congo shakes the region
Arms for Africa
Chinese weapons are taking over in Africa
United States
The country road to the White House
Rural white voters in Wisconsin could decide America’s election
Corruption trials
What the cases of Robert Menendez and Henry Cuellar have in common
Off-season offence
How the NFL keeps fans transfixed even when there are no games
The FAFSA foul-up
Time is running out to fix America’s student-aid mess
A migration merry-go-round
Fewer migrants are crossing America’s southern border
Lexington
Politics is the law in Texas
The Americas
The villains are thriving
Criminal gangs are showing their muscle as Mexico’s elections loom
Lessons learned after Canada’s Frankenfires
Canadians are taking dramatic steps to avoid more ruinous firestorms
The vote bank in the United States
Mexico’s mighty diaspora punches below its weight in elections
Asia
New Caledonia, Old Tensions
Geopolitics helps reignite New Caledonia’s anti-colonial unrest
All-consuming fires
Vietnam’s ruling communists rush to fill the country’s top jobs
Bangsamoro’s moment
In the Philippines a decades-long conflict nears its endgame
An unruly corner
India’s YouTubers take on Narendra Modi
China
A tale of two Chinas
Even Xi Jinping is struggling to fix regional inequality
One way to stay spry
Why Hong Kong is sending its old people to Guangdong
International
An interview with Rafael Grossi
Iran’s new leaders stand at a nuclear precipice
Business
Big game
Africa Inc is ready to roar
The world’s office
Global firms are tapping India’s workers like never before
Pits and bits
Americans are fretting over their body odour
The adman of Arkansas
Walmart’s latest product? Its customers
Finance & economics
The pro-natalist turn
Can the rich world escape its baby crisis?
An aid to digestion
How the Chinese state aims to calm the property market
Science & technology
Easy breezy
A new age of sail begins
Marine technology
The AirFish is a fast ferry that will fly above the waves
Cyber security
It is dangerously easy to hack the world’s phones
Culture
A modern Orwellian tale
What if calling someone stupid was a crime?
The “Bridgerton” effect
The hit series “Bridgerton” has set off a string-quartet boom
The spice of life
Spices have their own riveting, piquant history
Heavenly hosts
The controversial cult of the host club in Japan
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
The Economist explains
The Economist explains
What does it mean to recognise Palestinian statehood?
Obituary
Morality and butchery