Indholdsfortegnelse for 17 may 2024 i Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol210 | Issue№ 20 Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian and Observer newspapers in the UK and the Guardian’s digital editions in the UK, US and Australia The weekly magazine has an international focus and three editions: global, Australia and North America. The Guardian was founded in 1821, and Guardian Weekly in 1919. We exist to hold power to account in the name of the public interest, to uphold liberal and progressive values, to fight for the common good, and to build hope. Our values, as laid out by editor CP Scott in 1921, are honesty, integrity, courage, fairness, and a sense of duty to the reader and the community. The Guardian…

Beware cornering a US president anxious about re-election. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored that advice in his dealings with Joe Biden, and last week his country learned the price. It came in the revelation that Biden had withheld the supply of about 3,500 bombs, refusing to let US munitions play a part in an Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge. The president was at pains to say he was not giving up his “ironclad” commitment to Israel. Instead, it was just the specific, long-threatened Rafah operation that he would not back with weapons. To understand why this is such a big deal, remind yourself of the people and the countries involved. The US is Israel’s most crucial ally.…

For months, Serhiy Gorbunov has been trying to persuade residents of Chasiv Yar, Russia’s current target in eastern Ukraine, to leave. “People are living underground in basements,” he said. “We tell them: ‘Please go.’ They answer with excuses. Most say they don’t want to abandon their homes. We try to help but they refuse.” Gorbunov heads the city military administration in Kostiantynivka, the nearest functioning city to the frontline. That is 12km from his office, reached via a road that climbs up to the heights of Chasiv Yar. The Russians, who have been besieging the town for over a year, have now reached its outskirts and are trying to surround it. If Chasiv Yar falls, the Russians will be able to use its hilltop position to batter the key remaining…

The headquarters of the Kawartha Lakes First Nation sits off a road 160km northeast of Toronto. Between ads for all-terrain vehicles, hand-scrawled messages on the three buildings decry government corruption. At the centre of the lot stands a tipi. Alongside banners commemorating missing and murdered Indigenous women and the victims of Canada’s residential school system, Confederate flags flap gently in the wind. To its 20 members, this is the heart of Canada’s newest First Nation. But seven local Indigenous chiefs claim it is the site of a brazen fraud that threatens to erode their hard-fought constitutional rights. In recent years, Canada has grappled with a spate of “pretendian” cases – in which people falsely claim Indigenous identity. The use of Indigenous symbols and slogans has also grown increasingly common among…

Over the past four years, a silent pandemic has been raging. The death toll is believed to number in the hundreds of millions, but it has received remarkably little attention. The pandemic in question is bird flu, the H5N1 strain of influenza, which since 2020 has moved far beyond the avian world and into mammals ranging from dairy cattle to domestic pets, and species that live on our doorsteps, such as foxes. The virus’s presence has been detected on every continent, even Antarctica. While it has yet to evolve the capability of spreading between humans, alarm bells were raised last month after a dairy farm worker in Texas contracted H5N1, seemingly from cattle. It would appear to be the first known case of bird flu jumping to humans from another…

‘I WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE MY CHILDREN ARE INHERITING’ ‘I AM SCARED I DON’T SEE HOW WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS MESS’ ‘Sometimes it is almost impossible not to feel hopeless and broken,” says the climate scientist Ruth Cerezo-Mota. “After all the flooding, fires and droughts of the last three years worldwide, all related to climate change, and after the fury of Hurricane Otis in Mexico, my country, I really thought governments were ready to listen to the science, to act in the people’s best interest.” Instead, Cerezo-Mota expects the world to heat by a catastrophic 3C this century, soaring past the internationally agreed 1.5C target and delivering enormous suffering to billions of people. This is her optimistic view, she says. “The breaking point for me was a meeting…

Who will save South Africa from itself? Not the ruling African National Congress (ANC), whose 30 unbroken years of under-achievement have brought the country to its present sorry pass. Not “reformist” president Cyril Ramaphosa, widely considered a disappointment. And not Russia or China, to which Pretoria’s flailing regime, increasingly at odds with the west, looks for succour. Three decades after Nelson Mandela’s historic poll victory formally vanquished apartheid, and less than two weeks before another watershed election, it’s all going wrong for the Rainbow Nation. Africa’s most developed country is now its most unequal, the World Bank says. Crime is rampant, corruption endemic, growth is tanking. More than 60% live in poverty. Unemployment among black people is 40%. Voters face a choice on 29 May between a discredited, tarnished ANC,…

1. Switzerland was a smash hit After a week of turmoil, we got a popular winner. Swiss singer Nemo, who identifies as non-binary, came into the night as third favourite but romped to a widely welcomed victory. Their poperatic, drum’n’bass-driven song The Code wasn’t just naggingly catchy but imaginatively staged, with the 24-year-old hitting high notes while balancing on a giant spinning turntable. The committed performance was impossible to resist. Just a shame about the awkward ending. Not only was Nemo’s interminable walk from the green room to the stage like something from This is Spinal Tap, but they smashed the glass trophy during their triumphant celebrations. 2. Europe still doesn’t love the UK It started so well for Olly Alexander. The UK entrant’s performance of Dizzy went down well…

The knobbly pollarded street trees along Hungerford’s broad rural high street are maypoled with ribbons. At intervals, a small crowd in top hats, carrying oranges, baskets and beribboned poles of yellow and blue flowers, emerges from each house and enters another in turn. The pebbledashed frontage of two cottages conceals the two halves of a medieval cruck house that’s witnessed this ceremony each of its 575 years. Each neighbour retains grazing rights on the town’s common, due to the historical tenacity of the people here. This colourful spring pageant – coinciding with the first swift over the rooftops – is Tutti Day, the near-culmination of a fortnight’s Hocktide ceremonies. At a confluence of chalk streams, this is a commoner’s town, administered since the 14th century by the Town and Manor…

1 UNITED STATES Fixer says Trump told him to bury Stormy Daniels story Donald Trump told his one-time fixer Michael Cohen only weeks before the 2016 election to bury Stormy Daniels’s account of an alleged sexual liaison, demanding that he “just take care of it”, according to trial testimony in a Manhattan court on Monday. “This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen, after he took the stand, recalled Trump saying. “Women will hate me.” Cohen described Trump as angry at the possibility that Daniels, an adult film star, might come forward shortly after the Washington Post published a hot-mic recording from an Access Hollywood taping in which Trump bragged about groping women “by the pussy” without their consent. Cohen is accused of shuttling $130,000 to Daniels days before the 2016…

More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created. Data examined by reporters and IT experts indicates the operation is highly organised, technically savvy – and still going on. Programmers have created tens of thousands of fake web shops offering discounted goods from Dior, Nike, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Versace and Prada, as well as many other premium brands. Published in…

At the Abu Shouk camp on the northern fringe of El Fasher, about seven people arrive every day with injuries sustained from clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and groups allied to Sudan’s army. For months the RSF have been besieging El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, trapping a million people in the last major population centre in Darfur not under paramilitary control. Earlier the city was protected by a fragile peace, but since April violence on its outskirts has soared after its two most powerful armed groups pledged to fight on the army’s side. Fighting is particularly intense near Abu Shouk, where the army-aligned groups are taking on RSF fighters to the north. Shells have fallen in the camp, killing dozens. Injuries are far from…

Could Keir Starmer “Make Asylum Boring Again”? That would be the ultimate test of success for his claim that he can grip the issue that has caused Rishi Sunak more trouble than any other. Starmer’s message is he is no less committed to securing the borders and stopping the small boats crossing the Channel, but that achieving this requires a serious plan to tackle smuggling gangs and fix the asylum system in Britain too. So how different is Labour’s plan – and would it work? Labour’s analysis should be that making asylum work depends on blending control and compassion. In Starmer’s Dover speech last week, robust messages about control were loudly proclaimed. More liberal ideas about a rules-based system could be found, but mostly by reading between the lines. Starmer…

As the cyclists wound through the mountains, the team coach Tadesse Mikiele trailed in a minivan, making observations and discussing tactics with his staff. At one point, he beckoned over the captain, Genet Mekonen, who was trailing at the back. “Why are you slowing down on the declines?” he asked her. “You need to be brave. Increase your speed, attack when you go downhill.” Genet peeled off to rejoin the group at the front. Two days before their next race, Tadesse said he was happy. “You can see, on the hills, they move up as a team. They do not separate, they support each other. We are in good shape.” Eighteen months ago, tanks lumbered along this road in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Drones pummelled targets. At a roadside village,…

Stormy Daniels may have regarded sex with Donald Trump as brief, unimaginative and regrettable but the adult film star gripped the US with a salacious and lengthy retelling of the encounter to a New York court last week. Daniels’ humiliating testimony in Trump’s fraud trial infuriated the former president, who glowered from a few metres away. New York state is prosecuting the former president for fraud after he allegedly used his business, the Trump Organization, to pay $130,000 in hush money to Daniels before the 2016 election. She went public two years later with a book, Full Disclosure, in which she claimed to have had sex with Trump once. He continues to deny the encounter but opinion polls show most Republicans think he is lying. They also do not seem…

What will happen next in the Baby Reindeer saga? Probably one or more bad things. Latest bad thing to happen (at time of writing) was Piers Morgan’s decision to pay the so-called “real life Martha” – reportedly the inspiration for the show’s stalker character – what she claims was £250 ($313) to interview her on his YouTube show. I always feel the most disingenuous gambit in journalism is the one that goes: “We just want to give you the chance to tell your side of the story …” Clearly mindful of the criticisms that would be levelled at him for featuring someone UK news outlets had largely avoided even naming, Morgan approached his interviewee wearing a veneer of empathy. Ultimately, though, the Martha character’s enterprise would surely seem low-grade to…

The thing about quiches and tarts, says Kitty Coles, author of Make More with Less, is people become set in their ways. “They really can be whatever you want them to be, so don’t worry too much about following exact rules.” That said, a rough formula is helpful. “It’s some sort of creamy thing [creme fraiche, cream cheese, ricotta, say], plus an egg or two, plus any ingredients you have in your fridge.” This could simply be herbs (parsley stalks or chives) or the end of a bunch of spring onions, plus lemon. “That would be a great start because you can blitz it all up and have instant flavour.” Top with radishes tossed in oil or serve with a side of veg. As a change from greens, you could…

✱ All solutions published next week Across 1 Tie up credit frequently for ceramics factory (9) 6 Brought up to talk about money in an informal way (4) 10 Dirty sort of business a Republican goes after (5) 11 Skye local managed to provide security apparatus (4,5) 12 Prepared ahead to deliver scam (5,2) 13 Murder composer that’s challenging, cold and dangerous (7) 14 Religious type initially essential to churches (5,8) 17 Agricultural stocktaking can put you out (8,5) 21 Fool takes on leading German - it shouldn’t last long (4,3) 22 Satellite includes operating pole that shows seasonal weather (7) 24 Do a gentle twist when stretched (9) 25 Gouda in box occasionally includes fertiliser (5) 26 Betting group starts targeting operations that eventually … (4) 27 … locate…

LABOUR Senior colleague backs new MP over lobbying claims A senior Labour frontbencher defended his party’s newest MP, Natalie Elphicke, after allegations that she lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 regarding the forthcoming trial of her then husband, Charlie, on sexual assault charges. Jonathan Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said last Sunday that Elphicke regarded the allegations from Robert Buckland as “nonsense”, urging the former justice secretary to give a full public account of the meeting. Ashworth was speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg hours after the Sunday Times reported details about the 2020 meeting between Buckland and Elphicke, who dramatically defected from the Tories to Labour last week. According to the report, Elphicke used that meeting to urge Buckland, who was then the justice secretary and lord chancellor,…

Israel is facing a long-threatened “diplomatic tsunami” on multiple fronts over its handling of the war in Gaza and the unprecedented rise in settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Amid almost monthly sanctions announcements from the US and European capitals over settler violence, which have incrementally expanded their scope, the Guardian understands yet more potential targets are under consideration. Sanctions so far have targeted individuals and extremist organisations, and most recently a controversial friend and adviser of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister. As the US announced it was holding up a shipment of heavy munitions to Israel over Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on going ahead with an attack on Rafah, Ireland and Spain said they were committed to a formal recognition of Palestinian statehood. Pressure is also…

As China’s president, Xi Jinping, arrived in Serbia for the second leg of his European tour last Tuesday, authorities across the continent were grappling with a wave of allegations about Chinese spying. Last week, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, revealed that a “malign actor” had compromised British military payroll records, with reports pointing the finger at China. And in Germany, three German citizens were arrested last month under suspicion of arranging to transfer information about sensitive technology to China, while in another case, a man named as Jian G, who worked for a German far-right member of the European parliament, was arrested under suspicion of espionage. Maximilian Krah, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) MEP whom Jian G worked for, has denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile in Belgium, authorities opened a…

The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kaishek, known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling the island under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path that winds through misty bamboo. But the other end of the park is the truly ghostly part, dotted with hundreds of statues, almost all of Chiang. Some stand…

When he arrived for dinner with his mother at the New Ho King, Averie Taylor Francois, 14, didn’t need to read the menu. Neither did the dozens of others waiting patiently for a table at the bustling Toronto restaurant. The dish everyone had come to enjoy wasn’t on the menu. “I ordered the Kendrick special,” he said. “The staff knew what it was.” Over the past few weeks, rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake have been locked in an escalating feud releasing a string of ad hominem “diss tracks”. Lamar took the feud to Drake’s home town of Toronto when, last month, he released the song Euphoria. Alongside the biting attacks on the Canadian was a reference to an unassuming Chinese restaurant in the city. Lamar raps: “I be at New…

MADI HIME IS TAKING A DEEP DRAG on a blue vape in the video, her eyes shut, her face flushed with pleasure. The 16-year-old collapses into laughter, causing smoke to billow out of her mouth. The clip is grainy and shaky – as if shot in low light by someone who had zoomed in on Madi’s face – but it was damning. Madi was a cheerleader with the Victory Vipers, a highly competitive “all-star” squad based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The Vipers had a strict code of conduct; being caught partying and vaping could have got her thrown out of the team. And in July 2020, an anonymous person sent the incriminating video to Madi’s coaches. Eight months later, that footage was the subject of a police news conference. “The police…

Fifty years ago, on 17 May 1974, my father, a bus conductor, was out on strike. That day, the Troubles arrived with a vengeance in my home town of Dublin. Three bombs exploded at different points in the city centre during rush hour. Because the buses were not operating, there were more people walking along those streets than usual. Twenty-three of them were killed and another three later succumbed to their injuries. Another bomb that exploded 90 minutes later in Monaghan killed seven people. In 1984, when I was trying to write a piece for the 10th anniversary of the bombings, I called to the houses of some of the bereaved families. No one wanted to talk to me. They felt betrayed, abandoned, already forgotten. Marie Sherry, who was injured…

Blue Ruin opens with the protagonist, Jay, delivering groceries to a palatial home in a rich enclave of upstate New York. On the doorstep his customer stands masked; this is happening in the early days of the Covid lockdown. Thus it takes him a moment to recognise Alice, his girlfriend from another life. Twenty years before, Jay and Alice lived together in London. He was then an up-and-coming Young British Artist, and she an aspiring curator. They had one of those relationships that made people run their names together: Jayanalice, Aliceanjay. Now she is “radiant with the kind of health that’s made of yoga and raw juices and massage and money”. She’s also married to Rob, Jay’s erstwhile best friend and rival, for whom she left him without a word.…

Across 1 Author’s complaint? (7,5) 9 Stick (5) 10 Circus performer’s equipment (7) 11 Sudden attack (4) 12 Dodge (a tricky question?) (8) 14 Cold (6) 15 Dark, gloomy (6) 18 Notorious (8) 20 Make the grade (4) 22 Very hard substance – card suit (7) 23 Broadcasting (2,3) 24 Critique – diarist’s tone (anag) (12) Down 2 Funfair (anag) – thug (7) 3 ____ Driver, 1976 Martin Scorsese film (4) 4 Shop work (6) 5 Companion to ensure good behaviour (8) 6 Substance with a particular effect (5) 7 Group influence (4,8) 8 Modern Darwin (anag) – unwilling to consider new ideas (6-6) 13 Glenn Miller’s instrument (8) 16 Boastful self-confidence (7) 17 Expert commentator (6) 19 High-rise homes (5) 21 Eat quickly – and run (4) Solution No…