2025-07-29
22 分钟The Economist Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.
I'm Jason Palmer.
And I'm Rosie Bloor.
Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.
A law mandating married couples to share a surname has become the centre of what could be called Japan's culture wars.
And there's a plausible argument that repealing it might help to address the country's rock bottom birthrate.
And Bad Bunny was the most played artist on Spotify between 2020 and 2022.
He's achieved global success, is embarking on a sellout international tour, and he sings in Spanish.
Our correspondent explains how this Puerto Rican artist changed the rules of pop stardom.
But first… From Britain to Belgium, Greece to Korea,
international horror at what's going on in Gaza has been growing louder and louder.
In an alert sent out this morning, a UN-backed food agency parsed its words,
saying, the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.
Expect to hear that word again.
Last week, more than 108 agencies warned that mass starvation is happening.
Even Donald Trump has acknowledged the situation and the response.
Those children look very hungry, but we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food,
and other nations are now stepping up.
On Sunday, Israel relented a bit.
It announced what it called a tactical pause in some areas of Gaza for humanitarian purposes.