Donald Trump’s mission to bend higher education to his will maintains its sharpest focus on Harvard. Will the venerable university settle—and should it? Our correspondents meet with France’s top general, who believes Russia will threaten Europe sooner than many people think. And a look at how satire changes when politics is beyond parody and its practitioners cannot be shamed. 

Impressions courtesy of George Simpson

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The aims of France, Britain and Canada in recognising a Palestinian state are laudable—but now is not the time to deploy what little leverage they have. AI optimists reckon the era of superintelligence will bring about explosive growth; we ask what that world would look like. And remembering Tom Lehrer, whose rare gift for satirical song skewered anything and anyone.

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LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, to use its proper name, is led by Bernard Arnault, who is credited with creating today’s luxury industry. Can he turn the firm around after its missteps? Why do fluffy K-dramas tempt North Koreans to brave the firing squad? It is not the political messages. And our Big Mac index shows trade-tantrum effects on the dollar.

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President Donald Trump’s animus towards his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is best seen as solidarity with Jair Bolsonaro, another ousted president who clung to power. India has surpassed China as Asia’s biggest private-jet buyer, but not only because of rising numbers of super-rich. And Hong Kong’s quirky fusion cafes bloom abroad as they thin out at home.

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Localised “tactical pauses” in Gaza relieve international pressure on Israel more than they relieve the pressure of starvation on Gazans. We ask how the aid effort looks on the ground. Japan’s law on couples sharing surnames is coming under fire; repealing it might actually help with the birthrate. And how Bad Bunny brought Spanish to the top of the charts.  

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The European Union will swallow 15% tariffs in exchange for promises to buy American. We examine the accord and ask what will stick. The English region of the Midlands is unjustly overlooked, our correspondent says; how can it get its due? And Fauja Singh ran his first marathon aged 88—or thereabouts. Our obituaries editor reflects on his relationship with running.

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The smartphone giant is now making strong inroads in the electric-vehicle market. But can its boss’s belovedness at home translate to success abroad? Britain and Argentina are putting past differences behind them as the South Atlantic becomes a strategic hotspot. And how women’s sports, already sharply on the rise, can get bigger still. 

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A new bill threatening the independence of anti-corruption agencies has brought Ukrainians onto the streets and rattled international observers. London’s electric bikes are making it ever more a cycling city—and plugging longstanding transport gaps. And a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who did perhaps more than anyone to found the genre of heavy metal.

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Overall, more people are dying from cancer. But a closer look at the numbers reveals just how much success modern medicine has had at making the disease less deadly. The spiraling fortunes of Kraft Heinz since its formation from a merger is a sign of a wider malaise in the food industry. And Germany’s football-playing parliamentarians cannot keep politics off the pitch.

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Even as Western countries band together to condemn Israel’s actions, aid remains at a trickle and the war is expanding into a central-Gazan city. We ask how the horrors might end. As with many technologies before it, many worry artificial intelligence will ultimately dumb down its human users; will it? And why so many American men are injecting testosterone.

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