Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly magazine is a round-up of the world news, opinion and long reads that have shaped the week. Inside, the past seven days' most memorable stories are reframed with striking photography and insightful companion pieces, all handpicked from The Guardian and The Observer.

Editor’s notes

Global report • Headlines from the last seven days

United Kingdom

Reader’s eyewitness

SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT

Does Europe now stand alone? • 10 While Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, many have come to realise that the trusting view of Russia held by the US is the diametric opposite to that held in European capitals

Line of defence • As France beefs up its military, how is Europe responding?

The trail of destruction left by rise in methanollaced alcohol

QUICK GUIDE • What is methanol poisoning and how do you recognise it?

Tower of tragedy Grief and anger after deadly blaze • With the devastating fire extinguished but many people still unaccounted for, questions are being raised of the city’s authorities

Cyclones and monsoon rains trigger deadly floods

Chancellor under fire • Starmer now has little choice but to stay closer to Reeves

Your Party divisions laid bare at first conference

Happy returns Romanians see value of recycling • The country that was once the EU’s poorest performer for recycling now sees 94% of its beverage packaging being returned

‘Trash pandas’ shapeshift to live among humans

The deadliest wait Inside the lives of five women on death row • There are between 500 and 1,000 women on death row in at least 42 countries, according to a 2023 report by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Mitigating factors such as child abuse and coercion are often ignored. Women sentenced to death are usually subjected to worse living conditions in prison, such as increased security and solitary confinement

Glass half full for Duralex after public fundraiser

Teddy talks • The dangers posed by AI toys without boundaries

Call of the wild The influencers who pushed unassisted births • A year-long Guardian special investigation into the Free Birth Society exposed serious concerns, from dangerous medical claims to FBS-linked stillbirths

Immigrant rant • Trump’s tirade ignores facts on crime and economics

On the inside • Support falls as Bolsonaro begins his jail sentence

‘NIRVANA CAN WAIT’ • Across much of south-east Asia, Buddhism is still largely viewed as a peaceful philosophy. But an increasingly extremist strand of the religion has been weaponised to serve nationalist goals

A tale of two presidents • As the World Cup draw is held in the US, what’s behind the Fifa boss Gianni Infantino’s public courtship of the most divisive politician on Earth?

Nesrine Malik • From the West Bank to Lebanon, Israeli imperialism is expanding

Stephen Burgen • Europe’s minority languages are hoping for the Kneecap effect

Simon Tisdall • While Xi runs rings around Trump, China bears down on Taiwan

The Guardian View • Rising economic division is a human-made crisis, but a way to global renewal exists

Opinion Letters

Men on the moon

‘A terrific performance’

Tom Stoppard 1937–2025 • The brilliant dramatist proved that scientific, moral and philosophical ideas could be a source of drama, as long as there was a core of genuine emotion

Wild and free • The Guardian’s pop critic is no stranger to music’s wilder shores – but free jazz is his final frontier. Can he learn to love its shrieking sonic tumult?

Reviews

Does ‘laziness’ start in the brain? • Apathy may not be a choice – but there are scientific ways...