A self-styled “network state” just learned how much it still depends on ordinary nation-states. In July 2026, Malaysian authorities revoked the operating licence of the Network School, a tech community […]

Look at a world map of shipping lanes and a handful of narrow passages carry a wildly outsized share of global trade. The Bab-al-Mandab Strait, the slim channel between Yemen

Every country’s sovereign credit rating, mapped. Only 11 nations still hold the top AAA grade after the US and France were downgraded, while Greece and India climb. S&P ratings for 2026.

StartupBlink’s 2026 index of 100 countries and 1,556 cities, mapped: the US extends its record lead, France drops out of the top 10, and Central Asia is the fastest-growing startup region on Earth.

Riyadh’s 57-square-kilometre King Salman International Airport, with six runways and a 185-million-passenger target, is Saudi Arabia’s bid to out-hub Dubai and Doha. Mapped against the Gulf’s incumbents.

IATA’s 2025 data mapped: the US and China dominate the world’s air passenger markets, but the growth belongs to Central Asia, where Kazakhstan surged 40% in a single year.

A live map of the US State Department’s travel advisory level for every country: 83 at Level 1, 82 at Level 2, 27 at Reconsider Travel and 23 at Do Not Travel, with the whole Gulf now Level 3.

Where do the world’s roughly 2,000 chess Grandmasters come from? A map and ranked table of GMs by country, from Russia’s lead to India’s historic surge to the top.

Wild polio survives in only two countries, but vaccine-derived strains still paralyse children across Africa and turn up in Europe’s sewers. Mapped: polio status by country in 2026, the year eradication was meant to finish.

A fast-growing Cyclospora parasite outbreak has sickened close to 7,000 people across the US since May, with Michigan the epicenter. Mapped: confirmed cases by state, and why salad greens are the prime suspect.

Only about 70 countries still change their clocks. As the US House votes to abolish the switch, a map of where daylight saving time survives, where it has been dropped, and the permanent-summer-vs-winter debate.

At midnight on 15 July 2026, Gibraltar’s 118-year-old border fence with Spain came down as the British territory joined the EU’s Schengen zone. Mapped: where Gibraltar sits and what the treaty changes.

EU asylum claims fell 27% in 2025, but the map was redrawn: Venezuela overtook Afghanistan as the top origin and Spain overtook Germany as the top destination. Mapped, by origin and destination.

As AIDS 2026 opens in Rio, a map of the global HIV epidemic: where prevalence is highest, where the most people live with HIV, and the funding cliff threatening two decades of progress.

From Paris to Prague, Madrid to Melbourne, a growing list of cities has banned shared e-scooter fleets. Mapped: where rental scooters are banned, suspended or capped in 2026.

The UBS Global Wealth Report 2026 shows average wealth soaring while the typical person stalls. Mapped: average vs median wealth per adult, and why Germany falls furthest, below Greece.

Days of record monsoon rain have killed at least 44 people and stranded over a million in southeastern Bangladesh, with the Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar hit hardest. We map the 2026 disaster.

The EU’s 2025 figures reveal a stark map of who gets a Schengen visa and who doesn’t: a 4% refusal rate for China, 51.9% for Senegal. We map refusal rates by nationality and by issuing state, and the €157m rejection tax.

As The Open returns to Royal Birkdale, we map every country’s all-time golf major championships, from the USA’s 291 to Scotland, the home of golf, whose glory is almost entirely frozen before World War Two.

An all-Czech Wimbledon final caps a golden run for Czech tennis. We map every country’s all-time haul of Grand Slam singles titles, from the USA’s 353 to the nations still chasing their first.