Innehållsförteckning för 7 November 2025 från Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol213 | Issue№ 19 Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian’s digital editions in the UK, US and Australia, and the Guardian newspaper in the UK. The weekly magazine has an international focus and four editions: global, Europe, 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 is…

It unfolded in plain sight over 18 months. The city of El Fasher in the Darfur region of Sudan, besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), fell to the militia group last week, and what has followed is a catastrophe. Mass killings are under way. The RSF has embarked on a killing spree of civilians so severe that images of blood saturating the ground have been picked up by satellite. The speed and intensity of the killings in the immediate aftermath of the fall of El Fasher has already been compared by war monitors to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide. And this is just the beginning. El Fasher was the Sudanese military’s last remaining stronghold in Darfur, and its fall marks a grave turning point in Sudan’s…

It was a treacherous journey to Black River, a coastal town in Jamaica’s south-western parish of St Elizabeth, which last week bore the brunt of Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Uprooted trees and lamp-posts, rubble from landslides, huge potholes and kilometres of thick, slippery silt from severe flooding had turned the route into a dangerous obstacle course. But most daunting was the water that, overnight, had become rivers. Approaching Black River, which has been branded ground zero for the category 5 hurricane’s destruction, it became clear that almost every building in the vicinity had lost its roof. Among the crumpled buildings were people – traumatised, grieving and desperate for help. Families with children who appeared to be setting up camp in a bus shelter and…

‘It’s just cheaper to run all things in the same place’Steven Murdoch University College London It is the morning after the internet went offline and you are likely to be wondering what to do. You could buy groceries with a chequebook, if you have one. Call into work with the landline – if yours is still connected. After that, you could drive to the shop, as long as you don’t need to use 5G to navigate. A datacentre glitch in the US state of Virginia recently reminded us that this is not impossible. The internet may have become a linchpin of modern life, but it is also a web of creaking legacy programs and physical infrastructure, leading some to wonder what it would take to bring it all down. The answer…

From Johannes Vermeer’s music lesson to Piet Mondrian’s tribute to boogiewoogie, with its small bars of colour flitting across the canvas to a radical new rhythm, art and music have made natural bedfellows. Now Peter Doig is celebrating his love of music with an exhibition at the Serpentine in London that pairs recent paintings with his favourite records played through an extraordinary sound system. So we asked other contemporary artists what music means to them. ‘I never tire of Songs in the Key of Life’ Harold Offeh There was a lot of music in my house growing up. My family is from Ghana so there was a lot of highlife, afrobeat, African gospel – now I think it’s amazing, but back then it was just my parents’ music. One of…

Last week, we ran the neighbouring farm’s mixed beef herd back to their winter shed from outlying fields about 3km away. This happens twice yearly – going out and coming in – and it was all hands on deck. Gateways, driveways, entrances to lanes all needed to be blocked, as did the B-road winding through Upper Castle Combe. It was quite a spectacle – a “stop the traffic” event in every sense. Beforehand, I always imagine that it will be something like a James Ravilious photograph, slow-moving cattle backs swinging along narrowhedged lanes. In reality, it is more pacy and pressurised than that, and there is a great sense of collective triumph (and a well-earned pint in the pub) when they are all secured in their compound. It marks a…

Across 1 Speak at a formal gathering (4,3,5) 9 Lightning (5) 10 Gosh! (3,4) 11 Moulded earth (4) 12 Like a gut feeling (8) 14 Winker or blinker? (6) 15 Messenger (6) 18 Immoderate (8) 20 Drone (4) 22 Spear with three prongs (7) 23 Rustic (5) 24 Unable to fight (4,2,6) Down 2 Dispel (anger or hatred) (7) 3 Backward current (4) 4 Scottish dish (6) 5 Arrow maker (8) 6 Throe (anag) (5) 7 Showbiz excitement (6-6) 8 Chain-length sporting strip (7,5) 13 Benefit (8) 16 Fish tanks (7) 17 Cold and northern (6) 19 Flexible branch (5) 21 Infant’s carriage (4) Solution No 17,304…

1 UNITED STATES Mamdani win could lead to funding cut Trump warns As New York went to the polls this week in a well-watched mayoral election, President Donald Trump issued a threat to its voters: stop Zohran Mamdani or pay. “If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The president does not directly determine how much money any city receives from the federal government; appropriation is the constitutional function of Congress. Trump’s post described a vote for Mamdani’s fellow candidate Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa as “a vote for Mamdani” and alluded to a…

Hundreds of patients and staff massacred at a hospital; unarmed men of fighting age separated and shot at close range; civilians trying to flee, stripped of their belongings and extorted for ransom; perpetrators filming much of the violence themselves. The reports of atrocities that have emerged from the Sudanese city of El Fasher since it fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last month follow a grimly familiar pattern. In 2023, as many as 15,000 civilians, mostly from the non-Arab Masalit group, were killed in massacres in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, as RSF and allied militias wrested control of the city. Fighters went house to house on a killing rampage. Homes and camps for internally displaced people (IDP) were torched. In April this year, the RSF…

When Donald Trump launched his trade war against China in April, threatening tariffs as high as 145%, the Chinese government said it would never bow to blackmail and vowed to “fight to the end”. The question is whether the consensus reached between Trump and Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, last Thursday means the fight has come to an end, and if so on whose terms. Trump rated it as a 12 out of 10 meeting. Both sides have taken some of their biggest guns off the table, but this appears closer to a truce than a durable peace setting stable boundaries for China’s relations with the US. Nevertheless the outline of a broader long-term diplomatic relationship is visible, with announced reciprocal visits by each leader within a year. That…

What happens when you put far-right populists in charge? Entrusted with ministerial responsibilities, can they deliver the radical solutions that they often preach? Or do they, when faced with complex policy dilemmas, end up self-destructing, leaving an even bigger mess in their wake? That was the question Dutch voters had to weigh last week after a tumultuous two-year experiment in which Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV) entered a rightwing coalition to run the Netherlands for the first time. At a time when populist parties are vying for power in much of Europe, including France, Germany and the UK, but may have reached their limits in Hungary, the Dutch general election could be a signpost for Europe more broadly. The Dutch liberal-progressive party D66 won the most votes, putting its…

Around As-Sawiya, rolling hills covered in fields and orchards rise to a horizon sharp against a pristine blue sky. But look closer and it becomes clear why the few thousand residents of this small town in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they are under siege – and why the olives are still on the trees long after the annual harvest began in mid-October. Mahmud Hassan, the mayor, points out the olive orchards that lie on land owned by local families but are impossible to reach without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers who live in settlements around the town, or with Israeli security forces, he says. In all, about 70% of the town’s olives have been inaccessible. The situation is the same across much of…

They’re beautifully tucked away in some of the quietest, leafiest corners of central Berlin, and for their passionate patrons, they are a way of life among the dead. The German capital has about a dozen cemetery cafes – not necessarily spaces for mourning, although they can be that, too – but mainly serving as islands of peace in busy districts. Unlike Paris or New York, where burial grounds traditionally occupy vast expanses on the historical outer reaches of the urban landscape, Berlin’s cemeteries have long been human-scale and primarily kiezbezogen, or rooted in communities. There has been a boom over the past decade, with coffee houses opening within cemetery walls and even in a former crematorium. Initial fears that customers would be spooked or mourners offended have proved largely groundless.…

Thousands of protesters have gathered in the Rio favela that last week suffered the deadliest police operation in Brazilian history to demand an inquiry into the killings and an end to security policies that have turned working-class neighbourhoods into “war zones”. At least 121 people, including four police officers, were killed on 28 October during a police assault on the Complexo da Penha and the Complexo do Alemão, two large tapestries of favelas in north Rio. The operation made global headlines when scores of mutilated bodies were dumped at the entrance to one of the favelas. Last Friday, white-clad demonstrators gathered on Vila Cruzeiro’s football pitch to condemn the violence and demand the removal of Rio’s rightwing governor, Cláudio Castro, who ordered the offensive. One woman wore Brazil’s green and…

AMANDA PREISINGER IS ANXIOUS about her daughter’s impending 13th birthday party. Not for the usual reasons related to a house full of clamorous preteen children, but because it’s the first time that she will debut her new face to friends and extended family. “Obviously I’m going to tell everyone as they come in, ‘Just so you know, this is not how I look,’” says the 30-year-old real estate agent from south Florida. How she looks is, well, a little startling – her face swollen and preternaturally lifted, as though held together by industrial-grade tape. Her new – and she’s keen to stress, temporary – look is the result of six cosmetic procedures, including an endoscopic mid-facelift, performed by a doctor in Istanbul, Turkey, in September. “My poor husband teared up…

How would you behave if your democracy was being dismantled? In most western countries, that used to be an academic question. Societies where this process had happened, such as Germany in the 1930s, seemed increasingly distant. The contrasting ways that people reacted to authoritarianism and autocracy, both politically and in their everyday lives, while darkly fascinating and important to study and remember, seemed of diminishing relevance to now. Not any more. Illiberal populism has spread across the world, either challenging for power or entrenching itself in office, from Argentina to Italy, France to Indonesia, Hungary to Britain. But probably the most significant example of a relatively free, pluralist society and political system turning into something very different remains the US, now more than nine months into Donald Trump’s second term.…

Every Christmas I’m given chutney, and I still have four barely used jars. What to do with them before the next lot arrive? Christine, Oxford, England, UK This sounds like a job for Claire Dinhut, author of The Condiment Book, who also goes by the moniker Condiment Claire. She starts with breakfast. “It might not seem so obvious,” she says, “but I put Branston pickle on my avocado toast. If you think about it, you often add acidity, which is usually lemon, but chutney is punchy and has that same tang, as well as a bit of texture.” Regardless of what jars Christine has hanging around, Dinhut would also consider the breakfast bap: “Whether it’s spicy mango, peach, chilli or tomato chutney, that would be so delicious with an egg…

MONARCHY Naval and royal titles to be stripped from Andrew The former Duke of York will lose his naval title, the defence secretary has said, as King Charles looks to draw a line under the scandal over his brother’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor will be stripped of his honorary rank of vice-admiral, which he was given in 2015 and has retained even after giving up other military positions in 2022, John Healey confirmed last weekend. Last week King Charles has initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”, who will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Buckingham palace said. It is understood the king had the support of the Prince of Wales in the decision and…

Who are the RSF and what are the origins of Sudan’s civil war? The RSF was officially formed in 2013 from the remnants of the Janjaweed militia, deputed by Sudan’s former authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir to suppress a tribal rebellion in Darfur. That operation ended with the genocide of up to 300,000 people. A civil war between the RSF and the Sudanese army began in April 2023 after a power struggle between the two forces. Both sides have been accused of a litany of human rights violations and war crimes against civilians. The US, UN and others also determined that the RSF has committed genocide and mass rape against ethnic Masalit and non-Arab communities in Darfur. In August 2023, famine was declared in the Zamzam refugee camp, south of El…

The al-Qaida-linked jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) was this week gradually converging on Mali’s capital, Bamako, after increasing attacks in recent weeks, including on armybacked convoys. Armed groups of JNIM fighters blocked key routes used by fuel tankers, disrupting supply lines to the capital and other regions across Mali. Should the city fall, the west African country would be on its way to becoming an Islamist republic with strict interpretations of sharia law. That would fulfil a jihadist mandate following in the steps of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan or Syria, where the former rebel Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is now head of state. In areas under its control, JNIM is already enforcing dress codes and punishments via courts that, as Human…

Ameen al-Zein, like many in Gaza, was overjoyed by the news of the ceasefire. It was a rare moment of relief after years of fear and loss. Last Tuesday he gave an interview to a local NGO urging people to return to their homes in northern Gaza now that fighting had stopped. Just half an hour later, Zein was dead, killed in an Israeli bombing on the school where he had been sheltering in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. He died without being able to fulfil his vow to his wife that they would return to Beit Lahia and pitch a tent over the rubble, eager to be home even if their house was no longer there. “When the most recent truce was announced, Abu Luay felt so happy and relieved,”…

On a humid evening in Dakar, an Irish jig echoes through Senegal’s air-conditioned national theatre. The breathy, woody sound of the west African Fula flute brings a different cadence to the traditional tune. Actors dance across the stage, their peasant costumes stitched from African fabrics. The dialogue is in French, the playwright is Irish and the players are Senegalese. Set in 1833, Brian Friel’s Translations – one of Ireland’s most celebrated modern plays – follows British soldiers sent to Donegal to translate Gaelic placenames into English. The encounters between villagers and soldiers become a way to explore colonial power, language and identity. It is a story that resonated deeply with the cast in Senegal. “I was surprised to learn that Ireland, a European country, had also experienced colonisation,” said David…

From Eleanor Roosevelt to Melania Trump, the East Wing of the White House served as a base for first ladies. “It was a place where first ladies could carry out the important work that they do,” said Katherine AS Sibley, a professor of history at St Joseph’s University. But since Donald Trump took office again, Melania has mostly lived in New York and Florida. During the first 108 days of Trump’s second term, she spent fewer than 14 days at the White House, the New York Times reported. Now, even if Melania were to move back to Washington DC and take a more active public role, the East Wing is no more. The president ordered it knocked down to make space for a $300m ballroom. “The destruction of the East…

With the pillars of the old world order crumbling and the US stepping away from action on climate crisis, it falls to others to assume global environmental leadership. Leaders who understand the urgency should seize the opportunity afforded by Brazil hosting Cop30 this month to build a coalition of committed countries determined to turn back the climate deniers. Many now see China – the most successful manufacturer of solar, wind, battery and electric vehicle technologies – as the global low-carbon powerhouse. But its national emission goals, recently submitted to the UN, are underwhelming and it is unclear whether China is willing to take up the mantle of climate leadership. It is the EU, Norway and the UK that have led the west in sustaining green industrial policies through thick and…

When Lily Allen released her fifth album last month, there were as many headlines breaking down the contents of the record as there were actual reviews of the music. West End Girl, surprise-announced a few days before its release, appears to concern the 40-year-old British pop star’s divorce from the US actor David Harbour, who stars in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things. In interviews, Allen has been careful to liken the album to a work of autofiction, and to tell British Vogue that it references things she experienced in her marriage “but that’s not to say that it’s all gospel”. Given its highly detailed, eye-popping allegations about a husband breaking the agreed terms of an open relationship, his emotional manipulation and sex addiction, one would imagine that lawyers heavily…

Sam came into psychotherapy during a difficult period at work. He had started to feel as if he was stagnating in his role and it was getting him down. As he approached midlife, he had reached a level of seniority that he had sought for years, but now he was starting to wonder whether this was it. It had taken him a long time to consider speaking to someone – what could they really do, in the absence of an obvious psychological disorder? Psychotherapy occupies an increasingly central place in our culture. Just as we have become inclined to understand our struggles and our sadness under the heading of “mental health”, so too we have placed ever greater authority on psychotherapists. Even those without diagnoses of depression, anxiety or obsessive…