Mihir Sharma

European stock markets are booming. But that doesn’t mean Europe is. Traditionally, a bet on European equities is actually a bet on growth everywhere else. The companies that make up the Stoxx Europe 600 — which has risen by about 12% this year — get almost half their revenues outside the continent, according to the index’s owners. America’s S&P 500 brings in less than 30% from elsewhere.

European stock markets are booming . But that doesn't mean Europe is. Traditionally, a bet on European equities is actually a bet on growth everywhere else.

It might be hard to imagine that the Middle East is looking beyond Washington at the precise moment it is being massively disrupted by a US-led war. But that is exactly what’s happening – most recently through this month’s signing of the Mecca Agreement, a mutual defense pact between Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan.

Is the British economy doing well or poorly? At first glance, the picture appears muddled, with data pulling in different directions.

The mutual-defence pact signed by Pakistan, Saudi and Türkiye has brought three middle powers together, but unlike the US-led Nato, the new alliance doesn't have an anchor member. Would they really be able to fight jointly as equal partners?

Four years ago, Tanzania was so short of power that its state-run utility said electricity would be rationed, with some areas cut off for nine hours a day. But by last week, when President Samia Suluhu Hassan officially opened a giant new hydropower plant on the country’s largest river, the Rufiji, it had become a power-surplus nation.

The Julius Nyerere Hydropower project, named after Tanzania's first president, has doubled domestic generation capacity.

In his six weeks at No. 10 Downing Street, Andy Burnham has skilfully avoided making unpopular or divisive decisions. His predecessor as UK prime minister began his tenure by saying things were awful and kept reminding us that they might well get worse. Burnham has been as sunny as this year’s summer.

UK is struggling with some of world’s highest prices. Regardless, cheaper energy is a must for a leader who has reindustrialisation at the center of his agenda, Sharma says.

Next week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will address the European Parliament in Strasbourg. We all know why. He’s been forced onto the defensive by a hyper-aggressive White House, and has said his response will be to “build a much stronger and deeper security and economic partnership” with the European Union.