Inside the prison state
Feature: What’s it like to live in North Korea? Yumi Kim on heavy repression, secret phone calls, and virtual private networks.
The enemies list
Briefing: The U.S. confirms CIA operations in Venezuela. Europe builds a drone wall against Russia. + Turning America’s tax agency against the president’s enemies.
Graveyard in the desert
Briefing: A disarmament ultimatum for Hamas. Madagascar’s Gen Z protests topple a government. + A two-year operation to move tens of thousands of bodies—and hide the evidence.
No interior daylight
Briefing: The Israeli dead begin returning from Gaza. California goes it alone in regulating AI chatbots. + An unusual solidarity across the American press as they decamp from the Pentagon.
Seen in hiding
Briefing: Back to the economic brink for the U.S. and China. Israeli hostages return from Gaza after 738 days. + When a peace prize goes to someone still fighting.
What doesn’t kill them
Feature: Is anyone winning the U.S.-China trade war? Kyle Chan on the economic showdown between Washington and Beijing.
Can’t get started
Briefing: War halts in Gaza as Israel and Hamas begin prisoner exchanges. Peru removes its president in the middle of the night. + Out now—the weekend despatch.
There’s the handshake, then …
The weekend despatch: Agreeing to disagree in the Middle East. Sanctions against the little guys in Europe. &c.
The way of Kim Jong Un
How is political upheaval in South Korea affecting North Korea? Soo Kim on what’s driving Pyongyang’s increasing hostility toward Seoul.
The tower goes dark
An agreement on Gaza’s first peace phase after two years of war. A new set of American sanctions cut Serbia’s fuel supply. + U.S. air-traffic controllers are working 60-hour weeks without pay—and airports are going dark.
