Innehållsförteckning för 14 March 2025 från Guardian Weekly

Arranged to a tea Preparations for the closing session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The meeting is held simultaneously with the National People’s Congress, collectively known as the Two Sessions, which are highly choreographed and planned to the tiniest detail. The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol212 | Issue№ 11 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…

Zebra crossing ‘I took this picture of endangered Grévy’s zebra at Mpala Ranch, Laikipia, during my family’s first visit to Kenya, where we eventually built a second home. Grévy’s are making a come back in Laikipia, thanks to dedicated conservation efforts. ’ Do you have a recently taken picture you’d like to share with Guardian Weekly? Scan the QR code or visit theguardian.com/pictures-guardian-weekly and we’ll print your best submissions…

Britain performed worse than most other developed nations in its response to the Covid pandemic, according to an analysis of international data, five years on from the first lockdown. The UK spent more than most other countries on economic help yet ended up with larger drops in life expectancy, more people too sick to work, huge levels of homelessness and mental health problems among young people. Thousands gathered around the UK last Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, yet the effects of Covid continue to affect the poorest more than others, health and civil society leaders warned. “We haven’t seen the bounce back that other countries have,” said Siva Anandaciva, director of policy at the King’s Fund thinktank. “When I look at the one big global indicator…

In the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, the sky shines when the sun sets. Up in the arid hills 130km south of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, comets burn brightly and flawless trails of stars and nebulae streak the night sky. So complete is the darkness that Indigenous peoples staring up at these skies contemplated the dark spots in between the stars – finding the forms of animals and ancestors in the perfect darkness beyond. These are the darkest, clearest skies for observation in the world, and they have propelled Chile to become the world’s astronomical powerhouse. But they are under immediate threat, astronomers are warning. In December, the energy company AES Andes put forward plans for the country’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen and ammonia processing plant,…

The stadium announcer called on the crowd to give a warm welcome to “a very special guest”. A cheer went up as basketball fans realised that Barack Obama was in their midst. The former US president rose to his feet, smiled and waved before watching the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Detroit Pistons last week. It was a jarringly normal scene at a profoundly abnormal time. The previous evening, Donald Trump had delivered the longest-ever presidential address to Congress, a dark, divisive tirade strewn with lies and insults – he called Joe Biden the “worst president in American history”. Yet Biden did not respond and Obama remained silent. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush were similarly mute. Six weeks into a Trump second term that has shattered…

It has been nearly two months since a ceasefire came into effect in Gaza, and it’s clear that it would more accurately be called a “reduce” fire, rather than a cessation. Scores of people are still being killed; enough, in any other scenario, to be deemed both alarming and newsworthy. More than 100 people have died since 19 January, Gaza’s civil defence service spokesperson says. Those killings constitute, alongside other breaches, a grim record of hundreds of reported ceasefire violations by the Israeli government. The latest among them is Israeli authorities’ decision to halt humanitarian aid into Gaza, in order to put pressure on Hamas to accept new ceasefire terms. In doing so, Israel is using food and civilian relief as a political tool to achieve its objectives, a move…

Why is everyone talking about cottage cheese, and can you make anything that’s actually good with it? “I’ve never understood why cottage cheese has such a bad rep,” says Tommy Banks, chef/director of The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots York and The Abbey Inn in North Yorkshire, and a big fan of the white stuff. “It’s deliciously creamy and so versatile; I use it in both sweet and savoury dishes at home, where it’s a staple.” Banks has it for lunch just about every weekday, either with scrambled eggs or tinned fish. “It’s a great, affordable quick-fix that’s high in fat and protein.” There’s no denying that the diet food from the 1980s is experiencing something of a revival, thanks to videos of ice-cream, flatbread and pancakes made from the…

Across 1 Effect – moment of collision (6) 4 Slow walker – thriller writer Eric, d. 1998 (6) 8 Geek (US) (5) 9 Bind (7) 10 Thug (7) 11 Fuming (5) 12 Moment (9) 17 Emasculate (5) 19 ‘Gunners’ from London (7) 21 Hovering hunter (7) 22 Sliver (of fish or coconut?) (5) 23 Sullen (6) 24 Warning (6) Down 1 Rainbow colour (6) 2 French figure of pantomime (7) 3 Coterie (5) 5 One-piece swimming costume (7) 6 Pack animal (5) 7 Double-breasted coat (6) 9 Shut out (9) 13 Viscera (7) 14 Upper edge of ship’s side (7) 15 Tommyrot (6) 16 Person using another’s services (6) 18 Scrooge (5) 20 European capital (5) Solution No 17,100…

1 ECONOMY Stock markets suffer heavy falls as Trump talks tariffs Global stock markets fell early this week amid fears that a wide-ranging trade war could dent US economic growth and result in a recession, even as the White House denied that Trump’s trade policies are causing lasting chaos. The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Dow Jones dropped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4% on Monday as investors sold shares in the so-called “magnificent seven” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Tesla’s shares had their worst day since September 2020, falling 15%. In Asia, stocks fell on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei and Taiwan stocks sliding 3% to their lowest level since September. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell more than 1%. Even Chinese stocks…

Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support. Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volo-dymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries. By contrast in eastern Europe, where parts of the electorate view Russia sympathetically, support for Trump remains undimmed. There are already tentative signs that governments in countries where leaders have taken a pro-Ukrainian line are enjoying a modest boost in support. For instance, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Social Democrat prime minister, who has clashed with Trump by defending…

The letter the US president, Donald Trump, says he sent to Iran’s leadership last week, offering to reopen talks on the country’s nuclear programme, comes at a point when Iranian domestic politics is at its most unstable for years. In the past month, the conservative-dominated parliament has asserted its power over the broadly reformist president elected last June by impeaching and sacking the experienced economy minister, Abdolnaser Hemmati, while Mohammad Javad Zarif, the vice-president and most prominent reformist, has also been forced out. Both power plays were clearly made against the wishes of the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, but with the economy reeling under the pressure of US economic sanctions, the 85-year-old supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has clearly decided against rescuing Pezeshkian. The parliament, feeling it is on a roll, is…

Lying between the makeshift graves is a mattress, a large bloodstain visible in the midday sun. A name is scrawled in Arabic on its ragged fabric: Mohammed Adam. Who was Adam? How had he ended up here, in a bleak corner of a remote military installation in Sudan’s Khartoum state? Had his body been stretchered on the mattress from the detention centre nearby and dumped into one of hundreds of unmarked graves? Almost two years into Sudan’s catastrophic civil war, Adam’s likely demise reflects the unanswered questions being asked across the country. The conflict is characterised by unrecorded killings, enforced disappearances, by families searching vainly for lost loved ones. No one knows exactly how many have died. Similarly it is a conflict contaminated by myriad war crimes. Few episodes may…

Doctors in London have successfully restored a sense of smell and taste in patients who lost it due to long Covid with pioneering surgery that expands their nasal airways to kickstart their recovery. Most patients diagnosed with Covid-19 recover fully. But the infectious disease can lead to serious longterm effects. About six in every 100 people who get Covid develop long Covid, with millions of people affected globally, according to the World Health Organization. Losing a sense of smell and taste are among more than 200 different symptoms reported by people with long Covid. Now surgeons at University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust have cured a dozen patients who suffered a profound loss of smell after a Covid infection. All had experienced the problem for more than two years…

On a lonely stretch of highway that snakes through the North Island stands the town of Whangamōmona, New Zealand’s only self-declared “republic”, with its own borders and passport. Earlier this year, it held its biennial jubilee and elections where locals participated in old-fashioned carnival amusements: racing sheep, cracking whips and swimming in tanks with eels. The elections are openly rigged, and past winners include a goat and a poodle. The winner is presented with a presidential chain fashioned from beer bottle tops and boar tusks. President John Herlihy has held the role for eight years. He says his family and friends pushed him into it, and it keeps him busy. Whangamōmona has a handful of buildings including a pub, arts and crafts shop and a small school. But there are…

Donald Trump declared there to be “no room left” for a deal with Canada and Mexico last week, launching a trade war against his nation’s closest allies that he presented as a bid to protect America’s soul. Then he pulled back. A day after imposing steep tariffs on his country’s neighbours, the US president announced a month-long reprieve for carmakers. The next day, tariffs were also suspended on almost all goods from Canada and Mexico. Tariffs on China, levied at a 10% rate in February and doubled to 20% last Tuesday, remain in place. Trump and his aides are now trailing a fresh wave of tariffs in early April as “the big one”, with myriad markets – including the EU – in their sights. Each abrupt and erratic jolt on…

Behold Donald Corleone, the US president who behaves like a mafia boss – but without the principles. Of course, one hesitates to make the comparison, not least because Donald Trump would like it. And because the Godfather is an archetype of strength and macho glamour while Trump is weak, constantly handing gifts to America’s enemies and getting nothing in return. But when the world is changing so fast – when a nation that has been a friend for more than a century turns into a foe in a matter of weeks – it helps to have a guide. My colleague Luke Harding clarified the nature of Vladimir Putin’s Russia when he branded it the Mafia State. Now we need to attach the same label to the US under Putin’s most…

When William Tyler put out Goes West in 2019, the album minted what the Nashville-born guitarist calls “an expansive, aspirational part of my life”. It was a prettier take on the crisp heartland Krautrock of his 2016 breakout Modern Country. Both were released on renowned US indie label Merge, his home after starting out as sideman for Silver Jews and Lambchop in the early 2000s. “I was living in California,” says Tyler, 45. “I was travelling the world. My career was very much upwards.” He embraced it, for better or worse. “I will fully admit that I was riding a kind of ego-type energy that was probably good for a while, but certainly was apathy for real personal growth.” Goes West was Tyler’s attempt to capitalise on Modern Country, seeing…

In November and December last year, Spotify’s chief executive, Daniel Ek, sold 420,000 shares in the music streaming company, earning himself $199.7m. One wild rumour that circulated on social media suggested Ek’s eagerness to divest himself of stock in the company he founded was linked to the imminent publication of Liz Pelly’s book Mood Machine, as if Ek feared the revelations contained within it would adversely affect the share price. That was obviously a fanciful notion. Ek started cashing out Spotify shares in July 2023, and has continued doing so into 2025. At the time of his last transaction, a month after Pelly’s book was published in the US, Spotify’s share price was at an all-time high. And yet, you can see how people who had a preview of Mood…

POLITICS Ousted Reform MP could join breakaway party Ousted Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe (above) could join forces in a breakaway rightwing party with a former deputy leader of the party who was also forced out by Nigel Farage. The offer came from the former Brexit party MEP Ben Habib, an outspoken critic of Farage. Lowe was stripped of the party whip by Reform last week after being accused of bullying and making threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf; claims that he denies. He previously gave an interview criticising Farage’s leadership and the party’s decision-making processes, saying Farage had a “messianic” style. The party split comes before a major test for Reform UK at the local elections in May and also a byelection in Runcorn and Helsby, which is…

WHEN HE rose to his feet at prime minister’s questions last Wednesday, Keir Starmer delivered a stirring tribute to six British soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan 13 years ago. He read out their names very deliberately, one by one. The House was silent. The prime minister then added a tribute to a 22-year-old British Royal Marine, also killed on 6 March, but in 2007 in Helmand province. They were poignant moments, on what is normally a raucous and crudely partisan occasion in the political week. Across the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Starmer told MPs, 642 individuals had died. Many more had been wounded. “We will never forget their bravery and their sacrifice,” he said. But the prime minister’s tributes were not just for the families of the…

Captain Oleksandr put his hand on the throttle and nudged it forward. His patrol boat roared into action and zipped through the waves. Behind him was the Ukrainian port of Odesa. In front – beyond a grey expanse of water, and 180km away – was occupied Crimea. “We’re here to stop the Russians from taking the Black Sea,” Oleksandr said. In 2014 Ukraine lost three-quarters of its modest naval assets when Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula. Then, in 2022, Russia sank most of what was left. Its own fleet, by contrast, seemed invincible. It included a mighty flagship carrier, the Moskva, two modern frigates, several smaller warships and multiple missile boats and landing vessels, as well as four submarines carrying deadly Kalibr missiles. The Moskva entered into legend when…

The UN condemned what it called “extremely disturbing” reports of entire families being killed in north-west Syria as clashes between security forces and Assad regime loyalists resulted in one of the country’s highest death tolls since the start of its revolution in 2011. The UN commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called last Sunday for investigations into the killings and for perpetrators to be held accountable. “We are receiving extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat [surrendered] fighters, being killed,” he said in a statement. “The killing of civilians in coastal areas in north-west Syria must cease, immediately.” Fighting began last Thursday after fighters loyal to the ousted Assad regime ambushed security forces in Jableh, in the coastal Latakia province, sparking revenge attacks, including…

Mass prison escapes during the chaos of fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured two of its largest cities over the past two months, have caused panic among the public. Jailbreaks involving thousands of people at four prisons in the region have accompanied the rapid advance that the militia started in January in its fighting against the Congolese army that also caused widespread chaos and confusion. “With prisoners escaping, we feel insecure,” said Dufina Tabu Mwenebatende, a human rights activist with the Association des Volontaires du Congo (Association of Congo Volunteers). As mayhem ensued during the approach of M23 into areas of eastern DRC, security guards assigned to keep prisons secure abandoned their positions. More than 4,000 prisoners escaped from Munzenze…

From the iceberg-filled bay, the mountains above the town of Narsaq, in south-west Greenland, appear unremarkable. Brightly coloured homes are scattered around the shoreline below, home to a community of just over 1,300 people. Were it not for a mining outhouse on the edge of town, there would be little indication of the potential riches in the rock. The range is home to one of the largest undeveloped deposits of rareearth minerals and uranium in the world: the Kvanefjeld site, or Kuannersuit in Greenlandic. It contains high concentrations of metals used to manufacture permanent magnets in wind turbines and electric cars. Every major power in the world is scrambling to get access to these minerals for carbon-free energy and transport. A proposed open-pit mine would be worth about $7.5bn if…

I’m watching artificial intelligence order my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, it types each item into the search bar of a supermarket website, then uses its cursor to click. Watching what appears to be a digital ghost do this task is strangely transfixing. “Are you sure it’s not just a person in India?” my husband asks, peering over my shoulder. I’m trying out Operator, a new AI “agent” from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Made available to UK users last month, it has a similar text interface and conversational tone to ChatGPT, but rather than just answering questions, it can actually do things – provided they involve navigating a web browser. Hot on the heels of large language models, AI agents have been trumpeted as the next big thing.…

So there are two studies, one commissioned by Weetabix, one by the UN, but we don’t need to decide which one is likely to be the more reliable because, praise be, they both say the same thing: 45 is now the age of peak happiness. A massive 77% are more content with their lives after they hit 40, with two - thirds saying they no longer cared what other people thought, and 59% having attained self-actualisation – or, at least, they say they “now know what really matters in life”. Which is probably about as self-actualised as it gets. That data is all from the high-fibre breakfast treat-funded study. The UN, meanwhile, has survey results from the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and kicks off cheerfully…

I am not a big drinker, I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke,” says Sagar Radia, best known as the ruthless, potty-mouthed trader Rishi Ramdani in the HBO/BBC banking saga Industry. “But when friends and family watch, they’re like: ‘You look like you do know what you’re doing.’” Nowhere was this more the case than in season three’s White Mischief, an episode focused entirely on the character’s grim descent into gambling addiction, inflamed by booze and cocaine. Rishi starts to look like a disgraced Tory MP in the 90s, as he binges on shots and coke in a seedy casino. At first he’s euphoric – dancing like a drunk uncle at a wedding – but soon his behaviour becomes erratic, his movements shaky and impaired, his legs unsteady. Despite rising debts,…

It’s a wet, cool day in the woods. Snow shrouds the high ground, but down here among the pine and the larch and the beech, the leaf litter is soaked through like a dropped towel. Here and there, the bodies of fallen trees lie sinking into the mud, dwindling away into dust. I know this path well, but for the first time I notice there are several small signposts in front of the largest of the fallen. Memorials, I assume – but no. They are warnings. Each sign appeals to the public to stop damaging the deadwood; these “wishing trees” are bristling with metal spines where copper and silver coins have been hammered in, in the hopes of a wish come true. Some coins are dated – the oversized 10…