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

Global report • United Kingdom

Reader’s eyewitness

SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT

Salvaged from the brink of disaster • It took some oblique wording, but Saudi Arabia made a last-minute decision to sign the deal that averted the collapse of the Cop30 climate talks

Gathering clouds • Five threats to progress that dogged the summit

Trump’s deal alarms EU – and risks disaster for Kyiv

Talking points • Disarray over leaked ‘peace plan’ will suit Putin just fine

The money man behind Moscow’s ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine

Shelter and food in short supply as Gaza braces for winter

Do F-35s signal a US pivot to Riyadh? • Pageantry and trillion-dollar promises show how Washington’s loyalties may be tilting away from Israel and towards the Gulf

Desert refuge

Farage denies claims of racism at school – but his response may shape his future

Covid failings • Report lays bare Johnson’s lack of leadership and direction

Did the ‘pact of forgetting’ open door to far right? • Events to mark 50th anniversary of dictator Franco’s death intend to act as a reminder – especially to the young – of dangers of fascism

Hurricane Melissa leaves spike of sickness in its wake

How a tiny island made ‘impossible’ World Cup history

The rainforest the world forgot The Congo basin is the second largest on Earth, so why is it being neglected? • It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and funding

Households feel the pinch as affordability crisis bites

World awaits Epstein cache – but could Trump block full release?

HOW TO LEAVE A CULT • Patrick Ryan and Joseph Kelly are a couple who rescue people from cults. They explain how they make their clients believe it was their decision to leave.

IS ALEX KARP THE WORLD’S SCARIEST CEO? • His company, Palantir, is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool. Now, his biographer reveals what makes him tick

George Monbiot • A catastrophic black hole in our climate data is a gift to deniers

Siri Christiansen • The Viking revival is all about searching for stability in a chaotic age

Simon Tisdall • An improbable new adversary for Trump: the Catholic church

The Guardian View • The UK’s Covid response was too little, too late. Lessons must be learned

Opinion Letters

The remains of the clay • Edmund de Waal explains why he turned his decades-long fixation with Axel Salto – maker of unsettling stoneware full of tentacle sproutings and knotty growths – into a new show

Why the right hasn’t hit culture’s high notes • Sydney Sweeney is the poster child of Hollywood’s great unwokening but her films are box-office flops

The new Celtic renaissance • Its indie acts were once ignored. But songs about the Troubles, poverty and oppression are now going global – and changing how Ireland sees itself

Reviews

Is Britain now an economic colony? • US tech dominance was meant to bring prosperity – but disempowerment seems to be the result

Any witch way • A poetic portrait of everyday sorcery and female solidarity in 17th century Denmark

Patti buoyed • The punk poet’s voice shines through in this revelatory follow up to Just Kids and M Train

Picture perfect • The graphic novelist...