| Plus: Delhi’s debate over street dogs | |
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| Welcome to the weekend! Sorry to start this way, but the US just confirmed a human case of a flesh-eating parasite usually found in cows. Which parasite? Find out with the Pointed quiz. (Psst: Bloomberg Weekend saw this coming: We wrote about it back in May.) Prefer a spiritual earworm to a literal parasite? Check out our audio playlist, available in the Bloomberg app. This week’s picks range from New Delhi’s fight over street dogs to the high-end chefs ditching gas stoves. Don’t miss Sunday’s Forecast, in which we look at the de-tennisification of the US Open. For unlimited access to Bloomberg.com, please subscribe. | |
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| The rule of law dates back to Aristotle, who in the 4th century B.C. wrote that “it is more proper that the law should govern than any of the citizens.” In the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, John Adams argued government must be “of laws and not of men.” Yet the concept remains slippery — and few presidents have tested it more than Donald Trump. The Supreme Court has repeatedly lifted injunctions from trial judges who found his administration likely acted illegally, creating what critics call a law-free zone that lets Trump impose policies beyond his authority. As Greg Stohr writes, the rule of law ultimately depends on a president willing to accept it. | |
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| If Trump shows how a president can determine the law, India shows what happens when the high court takes the lead. Its Supreme Court has unusual power to intervene in public-interest matters, issuing abrupt rulings that can spark backlash. That’s what happened this month when the court ordered every street dog in New Delhi and nearby cities rounded up, sterilized and placed in shelters within eight weeks — only to reverse course days later after protests. The dog debate points to deeper strains, Dan Strumpf writes. India may be the world’s fastest-growing major economy, but its cities suffer from pollution, traffic, flooding and crumbling infrastructure. | |
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| Few forces pose a bigger threat to governance and infrastructure than climate change, which is fueling catastrophic storms, fires and droughts. In the US, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was created in 1979 to streamline disaster relief, but Trump wants to scrap it and return responsibility to states. The awkward truth: FEMA was faltering long before Trump. Conceived before climate change was understood, the agency has been underfunded and overstretched, and now faces mounting disasters under growing political constraints. To be effective, Zahra Hirji and Leslie Kaufman write, it must invest in mitigation — work voters rarely reward. | |
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| A fragile rule of law, crumbling infrastructure, climate-fueled disasters… What’s a stressed-out global citizen to do? Shonda Rhimes, one of entertainment’s most powerful figures, says a bit of escapist TV never hurts. The millions who streamed Bridgerton, her Netflix megahit, would likely agree. But even she faces setbacks (a recent show was canceled), politics (a newspaper accused Bridgerton of “pandering to woke casting”), and the challenge of protecting her time (she only takes meetings two days a week). “My job has always been to find real quiet, creative time to sit down and tell stories,” Rhimes told Mishal Husain. “They’re not paying me to sit in a meeting.” | |
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| New York City
As the US Open kicks off in Queens, all eyes are on Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner. In just a few years, the duo ended the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era and forced the men’s field to adapt. And while their routines draw outsized attention, it’s their nearly flawless game that unsettles rivals. The secret isn’t just talent: Both grew up with carbon-fiber racquets and polyester strings, which amplify speed and spin. For fans worried about the Big Three’s decline, men’s tennis has a streamlined narrative: Now you only need to know two names.  Alcaraz returns against Mattia Bellucci of Italy at the US Open on Aug. 27. Photographer: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images London
An hour before dinner service at Ikoyi, which has two Michelin stars, the kitchen hums with activity yet remains almost completely silent. At its center is a sleek black induction stove; no gas flames here. Head chef Jeremy Chan made the switch for safety — induction keeps kitchens cooler and eliminates fire hazards — but also for precision. The stove allows recipes to be executed to the decimal point. He’s not alone: More chefs are moving away from gas stoves, a major source of emissions and linked to respiratory problems, toward cleaner, steadier induction.  The precise settings on the induction stove mean Chan’s recipes can be carried out to exact specifications. Photographer: Andy Sewell/Bloomberg | |
Temu Temptation | | “People just keep buying more and more and more of everything that Temu offers with its aggressive marketing. It’s impossible not to get hooked on Temu.” | | Andrea Tejera Owner of a clothing and shoe store in Uruguay | | An avalanche of cheap Chinese goods is landing on doorsteps across Latin America, delighting shoppers and battering local retailers. Governments from Mexico to Chile are responding with new taxes on low-cost imports to shield domestic businesses from platforms like Temu, Shein and AliExpress. The measures echo pushback elsewhere, but Latin America’s uneven trade ties with Beijing leave the region with less room to maneuver. | | |
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| What we’re rolling our eyes at: Cracker Barrel. Its new logo sparked culture-war outrage, but as Adrian Wooldridge writes in Bloomberg Opinion, the real problem is the creeping monotony of America’s increasingly generic chain restaurants. What we’re reading: In Search of Green China by Ma Tianjie. The book shows China’s rise in green tech stemmed not from lawsuits or public pressure but from top-down governance — a model hard to copy elsewhere. What we’re watching: YouTube. From a scrappy startup to a global media giant, YouTube has constantly evolved over its 20-year history. Bloomberg Originals looked at the platform’s legacy and the challenges posed by AI and TikTok. What we’re sweating over: extreme heat. Researchers are locking themselves in hot chambers to study how rising temperatures batter the human body. Their work shows heat stress is deadly, and its toll will climb as the planet warms. What we’re arguing about: traffic cams. Drivers love to hate them, and headlines often frame them as cash grabs. But research shows that cameras save lives — and surveys find most Americans support installing more of them. | |
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