Table of contents for 28 November 2025 in Guardian Weekly

We’ve been here before: the Trump administration announces a roadmap to peace in Ukraine that seems to be dramatically skewed towards Moscow’s demands; Volodymyr Zelenskyy gets on the phone to alarmed European allies; they quickly call Trump to tell him that the whole idea is unworkable; the plan quietly dies. Rinse and repeat. This time it feels a bit different, however. After details of a 28-point US-Russian “peace plan” were leaked last week, which demanded Ukraine hand over territory to Russia, limit the size of its army and agree not to pursue the Kremlin for alleged war crimes, days of frantic diplomacy ensued. By Monday Ukraine had significantly amended the US-backed document, removing some of Russia’s maximalist demands, people familiar with the negotiations said, as European leaders warned that no…

Everyone knew what was coming. But there was little the inhabitants of the tent cities that crowd the shore of southern Gaza could do as the storm approached. Sabah al-Breem, 62, was sitting with one of her daughters and several grandchildren in their current home – a makeshift construction of tarpaulins and salvaged wood – when the wind and driving rain broke across. “Everything collapsed … We repaired our shelter but in the night it fell down again under the heavy rain. All our belongings were soaked. The day the winds blew was a black day for us,” said Breem, originally from Khan Younis but displaced multiple times since October 2023. The half million or so Palestinians living in al-Mawasi, a cramped coastal zone in southern Gaza, are bracing for…

Maidel Jorge, a 36-year-old farmer, sweats as he chops down a tree to collect wood for cooking: the November weather in eastern Cuba is still as hot as summer. The tree was young, so the wood is green, which means it will take longer to burn and their meal will take longer to prepare. Jorge, his pregnant wife and their six-year-old son are among 300 people staying in a school turned into an evacuation centre in Grito de Yara, Granma province, some of the 3 million Cubans exposed to Hurricane Melissa, which barrelled into the country last month. Jorge’s family haven’t had electricity for two weeks, water is limited and mosquito-borne illnesses are rampant. In the evacuation centre, 18 people are suffering from a fever. Nobody knows which it is:…

Frozen dinners were useful when no one was home to cook. A fancy cheese or apple roll felt like a family treat. But not any more. “We can’t afford to do those little luxuries any more because they’re just too expensive to feed five with,” said Cat Hill. The 43-year-old from Hornby, New York, has been hit by both higher grocery prices and rising costs for her small equine business. She is among millions of people feeling the pain of the US’s affordability crisis. The costs of groceries, housing, childcare, education and healthcare have become intolerable to many, who in turn put the blame on politicians. During last year’s election campaign, Trump promised voters that he would bring down prices “starting on day one”. But two days after winning, he…

The supreme court can’t do it – it’s packed with conservatives who owe him their jobs. Congress won’t do it – Republicans slavishly follow his orders, Democrats are ill-led and divided. For today’s White House, the concept of constitutional limits on executive power is a quaint relic. The news media, or sections of it, does its best amid constant legal threats. But, too often, they pay him off. Brave reporters who insist on asking awkward questions are insulted or silenced: “Quiet, piggy.” So who will tame Donald Trump? Who will halt his rolling constitutional coup – his ongoing evisceration of US democracy, civil rights, living standards, global reputation and moral integrity? Voters may try to indirectly rein him in next November’s midterms (as they did recently in New York and…

I always order chocolate mousse in restaurants, but it never turns out right when I make it at home. Help! Daniel, by email “Chocolate mousse defies physics,” says Nicola Lamb, author of Sift and the Kitchen Projects newsletter. “It’s got all the flavour of your favourite chocolate, but with an aerated, dissolving texture, which is sort of extraordinary.” The first thing you must ask yourself, then, is what kind of mousse you are after: “Some people’s dream is rich and dense, while for others it’s light and airy,” Lamb says, which is probably why there are so many ways to make it. That said, in most cases you’re usually dealing with some form of melted chocolate folded into whipped eggs (whites, yolks or both), followed by lightly whipped cream. And,…

*All solutions published next week Across 7 Head of Defence follows one branch of military around protecting another in rural setting (8) 9 Feeling about a quarter (6) 10 Right to interrupt awful poet (4) 11 Toscanini initially upset with orchestration, it should be breezy (10) 12 More mature book starts to be more daring (6) 14 Evasive action leads to swearing if Dawn French is recording (8) 15 Yogi Bear ultimately stops Boo-Boo becoming zoo attraction? (7) 17 Progress without regulation – to begin with that hurt Marx? (7) 20 Quickly be silent for screening – 17’s brother mostly is (8) 22 The two making love on back of sofa pant? (6) 23 Doctor adapting an endangered species (5,5) 24 Complain about rep on vacation (4) 25 Cut ending…

1 UKRAINE/RUSSIA Macron warns against peace deal favouring Moscow The French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday warned against a deal ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine that would amount to a “capitulation” by Kyiv, stressing that it would “give Russia all the freedom to go further, including to other European [countries] and put everyone’s security in danger”. In an interview with RTL radio, Macron said that any peace deal would have to be strong enough to hold, and prevent Russia from re-invading Ukraine “six months, eight months later, two years later”. Macron’s remarks came amid a frantic diplomatic response to a 28-point US-Russia peace proposal, leaked last week, which threw Washington, Kyiv and European capitals into disarray. Talks in Geneva over last weekend saw Ukraine push back against some of…

In office, Boris Johnson liked to see himself as a latter-day Winston Churchill. But the Covid report published last week, describing his toxic, chaotic and indecisive No 10, ought finally to put paid to any delusions that he had the qualities necessary to be a prime minister, let alone one guiding a country through a deadly national emergency. The claim among Johnson’s supporters that he could make a political comeback also now looks increasingly dead in the water. The Covid report is damning about his lack of personal leadership and direction – faults that showed up later in his time at No 10 during the Partygate scandal. The report may not reveal anything truly new about Johnson’s character, but the official conclusion that more lives could have been saved if…

The delay in Dick Advocaat becoming Curaçao’s head coach might have been ominous but instead it was the foundation for glory. Frustrated by the national federation’s financial problems, he deferred starting until January 2024, when the problems were resolved and players paid, paving the way for a historic World Cup qualifying campaign. Curaçao will be the smallest nation – by land area and population – to play at the World Cup after their 0-0 draw in Jamaica last week. The Caribbean island has a population of 156,000, sinking the previous record holders, Iceland, which has about 400,000 inhabitants. Last month Cape Verde were confirmed as tournament debutants but the African nation is almost 10 times bigger by area than the former Dutch colony, showing the achievement by Advocaat and his…

They are the files that America – and the world – has long waited to see: a huge cache of documents at the Department of Justice related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. After a law passed by Congress and signed by Trump last Wednesday, those documents must now be released to the American public and a waiting army of journalists. Experts interviewed by the Guardian said the documents are certain to contain revelations about Epstein and could embarrass or damn prominent figures in politics, academia, finance and entertainment, including Donald Trump and many others. But, despite the legal mandate, experts warn that justice department officials could use loopholes to try to hinder a full release, using redactions or withholding crucial documents for a variety of reasons. They warned that…

Ibegan by trying to discover whether or not a widespread belief was true. In doing so, I tripped across something even bigger: an index of the world’s indifference. I already knew that by burning fossil fuels, gorging on meat and dairy, and failing to make even simple changes, the rich world imposes a massive burden of disaster, displacement and death on people whose responsibility for the climate crisis is minimal. What I’ve now stumbled into is the vast black hole of our ignorance about these impacts. What I wanted to discover was whether it’s true that nine times as many of the world’s people die of cold than of heat. The figure is often used by people who want to delay climate action: if we do nothing, some maintain, fewer…

I was on a walk around my local area in London when I was stopped in my tracks by a young man sauntering past me, wearing stone-wash jeans, a pair of shades and a “Reagan-Bush ’84” T-shirt. It’s a nice T-shirt, so I could see why it might be appealing. A quick search informed me that for gen Z rightwingers in the US, it has become the “ conservative take on a band shirt or the once-ubiquitous Che Guevara tee”. That casual display of conservative aesthetics reminded me of something else: a cover of New York magazine from earlier this year, after Trump 2.0’s inauguration, which showed young rightwingers celebrating as they “ contemplate cultural domination”. “Conservatism – as a cultural force, not just a political condition – is back in…

FURTHER READING Three books for a deeper dive • The Tech Coup By Marietje Schaake • Supremacy By Parmy Olson • Chip War By Chris Miller Two and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament’s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms – so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields – as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement – at times even eager to sub-sidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly…

Across 1 Dramatic setting of ancient Rome? (12) 9 Shining (5) 10 Releases (from an obligation) (7) 11 Nonsense (slang) – musician Peter (4) 12 Wine and soda water (8) 14 Come to an end (6) 15 Hungarian-born actor Bela ___, d. 1956 (6) 18 Zip, perhaps (8) 20 Unoccupied (4) 22 Bad feeling (3,4) 23 Incriminate – game of snooker (5)  24 Typical commodity – in tarot decks (anag) (5-2-5) Down 2 Feeble chap (7) 3 Sell – bird (4) 4 Commercial connections – I upset (anag) (3-3) 5 Retired professor’s title (8) 6 Often-yellow gemstone – and 1969 Hitchcock film (5) 7 Former soldiers (2-10) 8 Latest FBI two (anag) – struggle to outsmart opponent (6,2,4) 13 Means to resume football game (4,4) 16 Experienced individual (3,4)  17…

MEDIA Ex-adviser disputes claims of systemic bias at BBC Claims of “serious and systemic problems” in the BBC’s coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans issues – which led to the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie – have been disputed by a former adviser to the corporation. Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, also resigned after the allegations by Michael Prescott, a PR executive and former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC). Prescott’s memo, sent to the BBC’s board and eventually leaked to the Daily Telegraph, contained a series of claims of bias. He claimed the corporation’s leaders had ignored his concerns or not properly followed through on mistakes. Speaking to the Commons culture, media and sport committee, Prescott…

Cop30 in Belém wrapped up on Saturday night more than 24 hours later than planned, and with an Amazonian rainstorm thundering down on the conference centre. The structure just about held, as it has done these past three weeks despite fire, savage tropical heat and blistering political attacks on the multilateral system of global environmental governance. Dozens of agreements were gavelled through on the final day, as the most collective form of humanity worked to resolve the most complex and dangerous challenge that our species has ever faced. It was chaotic. The process very nearly collapsed and had to be rescued by last-ditch talks that went on into the early morning. Veteran observers told me the Paris agreement was on life-support. But it survived. For now at least. The outcome…

When relations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin soured in recent months, with the US president publicly accusing Moscow of blocking a path to a peace in Ukraine and announcing significant sanctions against Russia’s oil sector, one man saw an opening. Kirill Dmitriev, the US-savvy, Harvard-educated head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, boarded a plane to Florida in late October, where he met Steve Witkoff, the property developer serving as Trump’s freelance envoy on Ukraine. The two men, neither of whom has any real diplomatic experience, began drafting a plan that would impose draconian terms on Ukraine and hand Moscow sweeping influence over the country’s political and military sovereignty. The scheme, which surfaced last week, thrust Dmitriev back into the global spotlight, a position sources said he craves. “Dmitriev is…

A Sudanese refugee from El Fasher is pictured with a water container at the Tine transit refugee camp, in eastern Chad, where many have fled from the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army. Grave fears remain for many civilians who survived the capture of El Fasher by the RSF last month, as the UN warned relief operations were on the brink of collapse and an aid group said malnutrition in displacement camps had reached “staggering” levels. The RSF captured El Fasher – the capital of North Darfur state and the last urban centre outside its grasp in the wider Darfur region – on 26 October. Survivor accounts and video and satellite evidence suggest more than 1,500 people were killed in ethnically targeted massacres in…

Mingorrubio municipal cemetery, which sits where the suburbs of north-west Madrid fade out into the countryside, must have been something of a comedown for a man who was originally laid to rest with a 150-metre-high cross for a headstone and four enormous bronze archangels to watch over him. But six years after his remains were disinterred from the grotesque splen-dour of the Valley of the Fallen and flown by helicopter to Mingorrubio for reburial, Francisco Franco is at least in good company. On the opposite side of the cemetery to the generalísimo ’s mausoleum is the grave of his right-hand man Luis Carrero Blanco, whose tenure as prime minister was brought to a sudden end by a bomb that blew his car 30 metres into the air in 1973. Also…

In October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction. For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” said Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI). “It didn’t really fly as a conference or a set of policy proposals to better invest in that region of the world.”…

Thor!” The priestess and her heathens, standing in a circle, raised their mead-filled horns. We were gathered in a pine forest outside Stockholm. This was our temple, and a large, ‘Hail mossy stone was our altar. I was relieved to see that the animal-based sacrificial offerings were long-dead and highly processed. A dozen people had gathered for an autumn sacrifice to summon Thor, the hammer-wielding Norse god of harvests and storms. Many pleaded for him to bring rain, after a summer of drought. Others asked for the strength to battle unemployment, or for the recovery of a sick mother. We all had our own reasons for being there. I was there because pagan events kept popping up in my Facebook feed, and I couldn’t fathom why. I’m staunchly secular, I…

After the summer’s cacophony of greens, the broadleafs among the Scots pines are turning – the larches to green-yellow and bronze, the birches to a warmer yellow, but turning to bronze and copper too. I’m walking along a path with a line of larches and mostly pines behind. Storm Amy has made its presence felt, and a number of trees are windthrown. Through new gaps I see a couple of gnarly “granny” pines I’d not noticed before, so I head in towards them, crackling over fallen twigs and branches festooned with lichens. This area is mainly plantation, so the trees are quite uniform in age, spacing and girth, with some granny outliers that speak to an earlier time. I find a storm path of sorts, diagonal lines where trees have…