Innehållsförteckning för 5 April 2024 från Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol210 | Issue№ 14 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…

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Tens of thousands of people across Israel joined families of hostages last weekend to protest against the government and call for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister grappled with one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition. The protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Caesarea and other cities last Saturday – and at a demonstration outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday – demanded the release of those held captive in Gaza after close to six months, and labelled Netanyahu an “obstacle to the deal”, vowing to persist until he leaves power. “It’s been 176 days that I haven’t turned a blind eye to the thoughts and fear of what my daughter and the other abductees are going through,” said Shira Albag,…

Crews of engineers have begun the dangerous and intricate job of removing the mangled wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River outside Baltimore, as top federal government and Maryland state officials stressed that the health of the US national economy depended on it. Officials took to the political talk-shows last Sunday to praise the emergency teams that have now amassed in the Patapsco and have started the delicate process of cutting and lifting steel debris from the north side of the destroyed bridge. Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, said the operation was extremely complex. “We have a ship that has nearly the size of the Eiffel Tower that is now stuck within the channel that has the Key Bridge sitting on top of it,” he…

It was 20 years ago that an Irish civil servant named Tom Power won a remarkable battle against the tobacco industry when Ireland enacted the world’s first ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces. TV crews from Japan, the US and elsewhere flocked to Dublin to record the events of 29 March 2004. No one knew what would happen. Would smokers revolt? Would pubs flout the law? Would the bold experiment go up in smoke? The tobacco industry, after all, had deep pockets and a versatile playbook to discredit restrictions by decrying the nanny state, health fascism, the destruction of businesses. And a country famed for smoky bars and a rebellious streak was an unlikely pioneer. Within hours of pubs opening the TV crews got their answer. There was…

With November set to be one of the most consequential elections in US history, it would be understandable if Donald Trump and Joe Biden reached for lofty rhetoric: if they attempted to match the high-minded ideals of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the nation’s founding fathers. American voters, and the country’s political class, are long used to Trump’s insult-laden and often crude rhetoric. “Everything Joe Biden touches turns to shit,” Trump said in Georgia last month, during a rally at which he also mocked Biden’s stutter. But recently Biden and his campaign team appear to have decided to fight fire with fire, after previously seeking to stay above the fray. It’s a shift that seems to accept that Trump has moved the standards of US politics. But…

THE BRIEF AND CALAMITOUS PREMIERSHIP OF LIZ TRUSS broke all sorts of political records. It was the shortest by far in British history – just 49 days, though oddly in those seven weeks she became the first prime minister since Churchill to serve under two monarchs. Her approval rating before she resigned – 9% – was the worst yet recorded by any modern UK party leader. The botched emergency budget she introduced with her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, saw the pound fall to its lowest ever level against the dollar ($1.03). But perhaps the most salient fact about Truss’s time in office is that when it ended, she became the youngest ex-PM since William Pitt the Younger at the start of the 19th century. She was 47 when she quit Downing…

I wouldn’t say I’m a Conservative confidence-vote prepper, but like many in the political survivalist community I do prefer to keep track of the threat level. Over the past few years, what you might call the Loonsday Clock has mostly hovered at somewhere between four minutes and one minute to midnight. The British people have accepted this is a fact of their lives, even if the prospect of the Tories going into opposition has been greeted with the same sort of exhausted relief that Kingsley Amis felt about the eventual loss of his libido: “For 50 years, it was like being chained to a lunatic.” During the past eight years (feels like 50), the fateful midnight chimes have rung out on five separate occasions on a series of prime ministers.…

In his gazetteer of Britain’s ancient sites, The Modern Antiquarian, the musician Julian Cope warns that hours can be spent unwittingly at the Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border. I have one hour, and an appointment, but the three parts – the King’s Men stone circle, the lone King Stone, and the collapsed dolmen of the Whispering Knights – are barely 300 metres apart. I have time enough. The stones of the King’s Men are said to be uncountable as they vary greatly in form. A small boulder of different geology might have been added, mischievously, last week. Beside the Whispering Knights – a 5,800-year-old burial monument – a gate leads into a woodland of larch and young oak, and a surprise: a labyrinth made of timber posts of varying…

1 UNITED STATES/RUSSIA US ‘warned Russia ahead of terror attack in Moscow’ The US repeatedly alerted Russia that extremists were planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow ahead of last month’s concert hall attack that claimed at least 140 lives, the White House said. The national security spokesperson, John Kirby (below), said that US officials passed on warnings – including one in writing – and dismissed Russian allegations that Ukraine was involved as “nonsense”. “It is abundantly clear that Isis [Islamic State] was solely responsible for the horrific attack in Moscow,” he said. Kirby spoke shortly after Russia’s investigative committee said it had uncovered evidence that the four gunmen who carried out the attack on 22 March were linked to “Ukrainian nationalists” and had received cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine. Kirby…

Israel has faced questions about whether its war on Hamas inside Gaza broke international law ever since the first few days of the campaign, when it cut off all food, water and fuel shipments to the enclave. As the scale of death, destruction and human suffering escalated, concerns hardened into warnings that Israel risked committing war crimes, including from key allies. Israeli attacks have killed more than 32,000 people, the majority women and children. Most residents have fled their homes, and shortages of food, clean water and healthcare are so severe that children are dying of malnutrition. Accusations that Israel is committing war crimes mostly centre on the protection of civilians. There are also concerns about the treatment of detainees, who include suspected Hamas members. Israel has been accused of…

Turkey’s main opposition party dealt an unexpected blow to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule last Sunday with a sweeping victory in local elections, maintaining control of major cities including the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, where Ekrem İmamoğlu secured a second term as mayor. “My dear Istanbulites, you opened the door to a new future today,” İmamoğlu told supporters of his opposition Republican People’s party (CHP). “You opened the door to the rise of democracy, equality and freedom … You ignited hope at the ballot box.” The results quickly became symbolic of dissatisfaction with Erdoğan, who began rallying his supporters to turn out in local elections immediately after winning the presidency last year. Erdoğan was at the forefront of his party’s campaign to retake Istanbul, holding rallies in the city in the…

Hedvig Frederiksen had been at her new school in Paamiut, Greenland, for only a couple of days when she was summoned from her dorm to hospital by a Danish caretaker. She was 14 and had no idea what was going on. “But back then [1974], when a Danish person said something, their word was law, you had to listen to them,” said Frederiksen, at her home in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. About a dozen girls went to the hospital. One by one they went into the doctor’s room and one by one they came out crying. Frederiksen’s daughter Aviaja Fontain told the story as her mother quietly wept. “When she came in [to the doctor’s room], her memory just disappears and she thinks it’s because of the trauma … Her friend…

Just 10 days before being elected president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was in prison. Years of political turmoil have left the west African state’s democracy on the brink of collapse, with deadly uprisings and the jailing of opposition figures commonplace. But Faye’s victory, secured in the first round of voting, has left the population, particularly its youth, feeling energised by his promise of radical change. “I feel free. We are finally free. Senegal is free,” said Elhadji Thiam, 27, a merchant and staunch supporter of the Patriots of Senegal (Pastef), Faye’s anti-establishment party, which was banned in July. Faye, a former tax inspector, pitched himself as a pan-Africanist intent on steering Senegal towards economic sovereignty and away from French colonial relics. He has also pledged to overhaul the government,…

As gang fighters and police battled outside his home near Haiti’s beleaguered capital late last month, Nielsen Daily Fierrier hurled himself to the ground. “From six in the morning until six in the evening, the gunfire hardly stopped,” said the 25-year-old electrician from Pétion-Ville, a middle-class suburb in the hills south of Port-au-Prince. “All afternoon, there was non-stop shooting,” Fierrier said of the clashes, in which several neighbours were wounded and one local man killed. A month after a coalition of criminal groups called “Viv Ansanm” (Live Together) plunged Haiti’s capital into chaos with an audacious offensive against the state, the fighting continues – and in recent days has begun shifting to places long considered oases of calm. The reason for that migration into areas such as Pétion-Ville, Laboule and…

A large and impressive study of children’s progress into adulthood found that those who display bullying and aggressive behaviour at school are more likely to prosper at work. They land better jobs and earn more. The researchers claim to be surprised by their findings, but is it really so remarkable? The association of senior positions with bullying and dominance behaviour will doubtless come as a shock to many. This is not to suggest that all people with good jobs or who run organisations are bullies. Far from it. It’s not hard to think of good people in powerful positions. What this tells us is that we don’t need aggressive people to organise our lives for us. Neither good leadership, nor organisational success, nor innovation, insight or foresight, require a dominance…

A bright red ribbon of metal buckles out of the ground in suburban Auckland, ramping up at a sharp angle before cranking over in a lopsided arc. It frames a big glass wall, folded in a diagonal crease, whose striped surface is covered in a riot of patterns, with abstract motifs of waves, fish and stars swirling together in a polychromatic frenzy. This is Taumata o Kupe, a new Māori meeting house and education centre for the Mahurehure community, and one of the brightest beacons of Aotearoa New Zealand’s burgeoning contemporary Māori architecture scene. “The project is the work of Māori-led practice TOA Architects, who designed it as a dense microcosm of mātauranga, or traditional Māori knowledge. “This is our beautiful castle,” says tribe member Shannon Wilson. “It celebrates how our…

Gochujang is a versatile Korean chilli paste that can be used in lots of different ways. Here’s how. In Korean cuisine, “the basis of seasoning is three fermented products, namely: gochujang, fermented bean paste and soy sauce”, says Su Scott, author of Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul (published in April). That’s not to say the red chilli paste should solely be used as a seasoning. “It’s much more versatile than that,” adds Judy Joo, founder of Seoul Bird in London. “You can eat gochujang straight up [with fried rice or spread on crusty bread, say], mix it into dips like hummus to jazz them up, or cook it, and dissolve it into soups and stews, for example.” Gochujang is sweet, spicy, fruity, savoury, and unlike anything…

POLITICS Conservatives face historic poll losses, survey predicts The Conservatives are on course for their worst election result, winning fewer than 100 seats, according to a new poll. The analysis gives the Tories 98 constituencies compared with Labour’s 468, giving Sir Keir Starmer a 286-seat majority, the Sunday Times reported. The 15,000-person poll, conducted by agency Survation on behalf of Best for Britain, gives Labour a 45% vote share with a 19-point lead over the Tories. Rishi Sunak’s party is on track to win 98 seats with none in Scotland or Wales, the research predicts. It also suggests the prime minister is at risk of losing his constituency, the new Richmond & Northallerton seat in North Yorkshire, to Labour with his lead less than 2.5 percentage points. The analysis forecasts…

Islamic State (IS) remains defeated in its core strongholds of the Middle East but has made significant progress in Africa and parts of south Asia, winning territory and resources that could serve as a launchpad for a new campaign of extremist violence, analysts and officials believe. European governments have moved to their highest levels of alert for years after the attack on a concert hall in Moscow last month by militants from IS that killed at least 140 people. Within 48 hours, France increased its surveillance and risk warning to the highest level and Italy too ordered enhanced measures. In Germany, officials described an “acute risk”. The attack in Moscow on 22 March, the most lethal Islamist extremist operation in Europe since 2004’s Madrid train bombings, was claimed by IS.…

When Petko Ogoyski was released from communist Bulgaria’s gulag in 1953, he built a six-storey memorial tower in his home village of Chepintsi. Enraged by the lack of state recognition for the suffering he and thousands of others had endured, Ogoyski – who had been imprisoned for writing poems comparing Soviet rulers to Satan – filled it with artefacts redolent of detention and deprivation. Two chunks of dried bread representing daily rations. A cloth harness used to move heavy stones in the quarry where prisoners were forced to work. A wooden clog with a hollowed-out heel, used for everything from holding pencils to smuggling notes out of the camp. Such “DIY spaces of remembrance” are common across Bulgaria, said Lilia Topouzova, a Bulgarian-Canadian scholar who has spent the past two…

Rishi Sunak may not go down in history as “the man who destroyed UK higher education”, as one former university leader put it, but the prime minister’s willingness to clamp down on international student numbers could end up doing just that, coinciding with what one expert called a funding crisis for universities. At the last general election, the Conservative party under Boris Johnson claimed it would “maintain and strengthen our global position in higher education”. The manifesto pledged: “Our student visa will help universities attract talented young people and allow those students to stay on to apply for work here after they graduate.” But the political climate around immigration has changed dramatically. By the end of last year, James Cleverly, the home secretary, was declaring that “enough is enough”, announcing…

The Danish health minister should “get on a plane and visit” some of the thousands of women thought to be living with the consequences of being forcibly fitted with the contraceptive coil as children, Greenland’s gender equality minister has said. In an attempt to reduce the population of the former Danish colony, at least 4,500 women and girls are believed to have undergone the medical procedure, usually without their consent or knowledge, at the hands of Danish doctors between 1966 and 1970. The total number of those affected by the procedures, thought to have continued for decades, is understood to be far higher. Victims and lawyers say generations of Inuit women were left traumatised and suffering reproductive complications, including infertility. Last month, a group of 143 women sued the Danish…

Late last year, UrgentSeas received an anonymous tip from a former employee at the Miami Seaquarium about animal tanks away from public view. The advocacy group went to investigate. In November, the group posted a short clip of what it found by flying a drone over the property: an elderly manatee living alone in a decaying private pool. Within a month, the clip had been watched millions of times and the outcry had grown so intense that the US Fish and Wildlife Service moved the manatee, Romeo, to a sanctuary. Over the past decade, drones have become irreplaceable tools in activist and conservation circles. In 2013, the animal rights group Peta launched a drone campaign tracking illegal bow-hunting in Massachusetts. Since then, drones have been used to record factory farm…

‘LET’S GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT,” the politician told me, “we are now owning you.” Though this was meant as a warm welcome, hearing it from a state official made me wonder what I had got myself into. Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, looked me in the eyes: “You are Jamaican now, you are part of us.” I met Grange last April, on a hot day in Port Maria in St Mary parish on the northern coast of Jamaica. Both of us had come to commemorate the second annual Chief Takyi Day. Grange had established the holiday in 2022, instigating the government’s proclamation that henceforth 8 April would honour Takyi, or Tacky, as he was generally called in English, the best-known leader of the largest uprising of…

Recently, I sat in a lecture hall with a couple of hundred final-year undergraduate students. Looking around, I thought about my own uncertainty at their age. When I was about to graduate, the future seemed unclear. I didn’t have a place on a company graduate programme like many of my classmates. Decades on, I realised that what seemed like obvious career ladders weren’t so simple. In the UK at least, the job market for today’s graduates seems good. The annual report by the Institute of Student Employers found that graduate recruitment could increase by 5% in 2023-24. Companies struggled to recruit in areas such as digital, engineering and finance. Despite this strong demand, each position was hotly contested – with an average of 86 applications for every opening. Once today’s…

In November 2022, I wrote that a then little-known 12-year-old Chinese girl, Lu Miaoyi, could join Judit Polgar and Hou Yifan among the top three female players in chess history. It has taken a while, but the evidence is mounting. Lu’s mother, Xu Yuanyuan, was Chinese women’s champion in 2003 and a double world girls champion. Lu learned chess at three, got her first Fide rating at five, and was 2200, master level, at 10. At 12, she defeated Armenia’s No 3-ranked woman, Lilit Mkrtchian, in a brilliant 18-move sacrificial miniature. Last month she played unbeaten through the first eight rounds at Reykjavík, where she defeated streamer Zachary Saine in 11 moves, drew easily with the former world No 2 Vasyl Ivanchuk, then checkmated the England No 9, Daniel Fernandez.…

Across 1 Aspect of cryptography (4-8) 9 Egg-shaped (5) 10 Caustic (7) 11 ‘It is the ___, and Juliet is the sun.’ (4) 12 In truth (archaic) (8) 14 Officially call (to attend) (6) 15 Wood-cutting tool (6) 18 Eg. do a salchow or a lutz (3,5) 20 Blessing – partner of Mills (4) 22 Buddhist beatitude (7) 23 Greek island (5) 24 Tablet enabling hieroglyphics to be deciphered (7,5) Down 2 American marsupial (7) 3 Whirlpool – cyclist Merckx (4) 4 Light-hearted film genre (6) 5 Its first letters spell a message (8) 6 Rocky Mountain state (5) 7 Grow nervous (3,3,4,2) 8 Lucrative activity (5-7) 13 Food seasoning (halite) (4,4) 16 Highlander’s pouch (7) 17 Layers (6) 19 Pulls in (5) 21 Jazz singing style (4) Solution No…