In a lighter but no less striking piece of news, the United Nations has officially designated Jakarta the world’s largest city, home to a staggering 42 million inhabitants. The Guardian profiled a day in the life of the “big durian,” speaking with residents about the positives and negatives of living in a megacity where community bonds and famously dry humor help people cope with congestion, flooding, and inequality.
Taken together, this week’s headlines paint a picture of a world navigating interconnected pressures: geopolitical loyalty tests rippling out from the Iran war, domestic governments scrambling to cushion their citizens from inflation and fiscal strain, and civic institutions — from courts in Costa Rica to disability agencies in Australia — under intense political scrutiny. The common thread is a sense that the old rules of international and domestic order are being renegotiated in real time.
