Guardian Weekly 14 January 2022

After an inferno People wander in the ruins of burned-out homes after fire gutted parts of a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, leaving thousands homeless. A round 850,000 people belonging to the persecuted Muslim minority – many of whom escaped a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar – live in camps in the region. 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 account in the name of the public interest, to uphold liberal and progressive…

It couldn’t happen again … could it? Reflections on last year’s 6 January Capitol riot in the US – amid a trenchantly divided political landscape between Democrats and Republicans – have led many observers to wonder whether the country could seriously be on the path to another civil war. Washington bureau chief David Smith asks the experts, while columnist Jonathan Freedland ponders the sinister influence of Donald Trump and a make-or-break year for democracy in the US. The big story Page 10→ Startling unrest in Kazakhstan last week led to hundreds of people being killed and several thousand detained by authorities. An information blackout in the authoritarian central Asian nation meant that much remained unclear about the circumstances. But, as Shaun Walker and Peter Leonard write, it was probably born from frustrations…

1 DIPLOMACY ‘Useful’ US-Russia meeting opens crucial week of talks US and Russian diplomats emerged on Monday from negotiations in Geneva over the fate of Ukraine, describing the talks as “useful” and “very professional” – but also stressing they had not made progress towards resolving fundamental disagreements. The two sides largely spent the eight hours of talks presenting their points of view on the situation in Ukraine, currently hemmed in by some 100,000 Russian troops, and on European security in general. Wendy Sherman, the deputy US secretary of state, said the issues of reciprocal limits on military exercises and missile deployments were discussed, but the US ruled out the idea of a guarantee that Ukraine would never join Nato, restating that it was the country’s sovereign right to decide. Her Russian counterpart, Sergei Ryabkov, said…

Sidney Poitier Oscar-winning actor who broke down racial barriers in Hollywood. He died on 6 January, aged 94. Tribute, page 33 Peter Bogdanovich Film-maker known for The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon. He died on 6 January, aged 82. Marilyn Bergman Oscar-winning lyricist who, with husband Alan, wrote The Way We Were and Windmills of Your Mind among other hits. She died on 8 January, aged 93. Michael Lang Co-creator of 1969 Woodstock music festival. He died on 8 January, aged 77. Craig Ruddy Artist known for his paintings of leading Indigenous Australian figures. He died on 4 January, aged 53. Lawrence N Brooks The oldest second world war veteran in the US and believed to be the oldest man in the country. He died on 5 January, aged 112.…

WILDLIFE Room at the stables for rare bats to breed Rare bats that are breeding in southeast England for the first time in a century will be encouraged to rear their young in an innovative maternity unit. A derelict stable block at a secret location in Sussex is due to be purchased for greater horseshoe bats by the Vincent Wildlife Trust and Sussex Bat Group. The protection of the stables comes after the return to Sussex of Britain’s rarest bat. The only known greater mouse-eared bat in the country has been rediscovered in a railway tunnel, two years after it was previously spotted. Greater horseshoe bats and the greater mouse-eared bat are benefiting from climate change but may also be thriving in Sussex because of the spread of vineyards, experts say. MEDICAL RESEARCH Doctors transplant…

New No 10 lockdown party claims rock Boris Johnson Boris Johnson was accused on Monday of an “utterly outrageous” breach of lockdown rules as a leaked email showed one of his top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the UK’s first lockdown. The police are now investigating. The prime minister is believed to have attended the No 10 garden party on 20 May 2020 along with Carrie Johnson, then his fiancee, after it was advertised by his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds. The email invited just over 100 employees to the gathering at a time when social mixing was banned except with one other person from another household outdoors in a public place. About 30 to 40 are said to have attended,…