Data & Maps

Hospital assistant robot displayed at a technology exhibition.

Southeast Asia's Innovation Gap Is Now an Efficiency Problem

Five Southeast Asian economies have expanded innovation plans, but rankings and efficiency ratios show a persistent divide between inputs and usable outputs.

Shoppers and commercial street activity in a Chinese city.

China

China's Q2 Slowdown Deepens the Export-Imbalance Puzzle

Growth slowed to 4.3 percent in Q2 2026 as investment and consumption weakened, while exports remained the main support for activity.

Industrial mineral processing facility with stockpiled raw materials and heavy equipment.

Europe

Critical Inputs Expose the EU's Supply Security Gap

Europe's critical raw materials agenda is moving from ambition to execution, but the central challenge is no longer only domestic capacity. The issue is how to match projects, trade rules and financing with the materials that carry the greatest strategic risk.

Economic chart displayed on a screen with U.S. fiscal data.

United States

U.S. Fiscal Policy Turns Mildly Restrictive in Q2

The fiscal impact measure showed tax and spending policy subtracting 0.2 percentage points from real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2026.

Javier Milei speaking at a political event in Brazil.

Latin America

Milei: “Argentines Are Prophets of a Dystopian Future”

Javier Milei used a Bolsonaro-aligned event in São Paulo to cast Argentina as a warning to other countries, linking his domestic political message to a wider regional argument against state intervention and left-wing politics.

Brazil

Brazil Expands Humanitarian Air Bridge to Earthquake-Hit Venezuela

Brazil is sending a fifth humanitarian flight to Venezuela with 5.5 tonnes of medical supplies and equipment to expand a field hospital in La Guaira, while its defense minister travels to Caracas to coordinate further assistance and reconstruction support.

Industrial structures at the UFN-III nitrogen fertilizer plant in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul.

Brazil

Brazil Restarts Fertilizer Megaproject to Reshape Its Urea Supply Map

Contracts to complete Petrobras' UFN-III plant unlock more than R$5 billion in investment, with production scheduled for 2029 and capacity equivalent to about 16% of Brazil's current urea demand.

Military vehicles patrol a road near the Israel-Lebanon border as control of parts of southern Lebanon remains disputed.

Global

Conflicting Claims Obscure the Map of Control in Southern Lebanon

Israeli and Lebanese officials have rejected a US claim that Israeli forces withdrew from part of southern Lebanon, exposing a widening gap between diplomatic language and conditions on the ground.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaking at a government meeting on economic and fiscal policy in Tokyo.

Asia

Japan Turns to Multiyear Budgets to Anchor a ¥370 Trillion Investment Strategy

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is linking Japan's long-term growth strategy to a multiyear budget framework designed to give strategic industries greater certainty. The plan seeks to mobilize ¥370 trillion in public and private investment through fiscal 2040 while preserving confidence in the country's public finances.

Representatives of Petrobras and Pemex at an institutional meeting concerning energy cooperation in the Gulf of Mexico.

Global

Petrobras and Pemex Open a Two-Year Track for Mexican Gulf Projects

Petrobras and Pemex have established a renewable two-year framework to assess mature fields and deepwater opportunities in the Mexican Gulf, while leaving any investment, consortium or joint venture subject to later decisions.