June 26th 2026

The Economist Today Our best journalism, handpicked each day

Stephanie Studer Senior digital editor

Professors are sounding the alarm: first-year students are startlingly unprepared for university and college courses. The Economist ran some numbers, and found that 8% of learners in tertiary education tested no better than what is expected of ten-year-olds for literacy. Covid and AI have plenty to answer for. But that’s not all. And more sobering maths: as extreme heat broils Europe, we estimated the increased risk of death in 854 of its cities. One stood out. Finally, have you followed the headlines closely this week? Test your knowledge with our latest Friday news quiz.

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Editor’s picks A selection of must-read articles

Not adding up Students are doing worse than you think Some at college or university are testing no better than ten-year-olds

→ University-for-all harms poor students the most

Red alert   Where will Europe’s heatwave be most deadly? We analyse 854 cities to see which will be worst affected

Seismic shift Venezuela suffers its worst earthquake in a century The impoverished country is struggling to cope with the damage from two nearly simultaneous shocks

A sucky business Strange new EV-makers keep appearing in China If you can make a robo-vacuum, you can make a car

Boom and gloom Why the market for histories of depressions is red hot “1873”, a new book, offers some lessons for the AI craze

More of our coverage ▸ What to watch this weekend. Our selection of TV and film recommendations see characters get caught in—and escape from—tricky situations. ▸ What a surge of anti-migrant protests says about South Africa. Economists tend to argue that immigrants are not to blame for South Africa’s high rates of joblessness and crime. Why, then, has there been a spike in anti-migrant sentiment? ▸ Why easyJet may be heading for a break-up. In a business as risky as aviation, where another big setback is as certain as it is unpredictable, dismantling easyJet for parts would be a brave manoeuvre.

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