Guardian Weekly 3rd December 2021

Festival of light Hundreds of people gathered in Berlin last Sunday to celebrate the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah by lighting a giant menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal (centre) said it was a sign of Germany’s renewal after the horrors of the Holocaust. The menorah is believed to be the biggest in Europe. The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 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…

The Covid B.1.1.529 mutation was first identified by South African and Botswanan scientists early last week. Within 72 hours, it had been renamed Omicron and designated the fifth variant of global concern. By last Friday, the first cases had been detected in Europe, and travel restrictions were being imposed. Quite what the Omicron variant has in store for the world remains to be seen, but the winners and losers are again likely to fall along lines of rich and poor. For our big story, David Cox and Linda Geddes survey the uncertain landscape. Then, in our longer-read section, author Kwame Anthony Appiah argues powerfully why the pandemic should be the basis for building a fairer global society. The big story Page 10 ➝ The two pandemics Page 34 ➝ The death last week of 27…

1 UNITED STATES Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial begins Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial began in federal court in Manhattan on Monday with opening statements about the eagerly awaited case. Maxwell “preyed on vulnerable young girls, manipulated them and served them up to be sexually abused” by Jeffrey Epstein, said prosecutor Lara Pomerantz. “The defendant was trafficking kids for sex. Maxwell was Epstein’s best friend and right hand.” The late financier Epstein was arrested in July 2019 in relation to sexually abusing teenage girls. “She was involved in every detail of Epstein’s life. They were partners in crime,” said Pomerantz. The first arguments set the stage for a six-week trial in which the British socialite’s alleged involvement in Epstein’s crimes will be aired in gruelling detail. Maxwell, 59 (pictured below in 2013), has pleaded not guilty on six…

Stephen Sondheim American giant of musical theatre. He died on 26 November, aged 91. Appreciation, page 33. Virgil Abloh American fashion designer and creative director for Louis Vuitton and his own Off-White label. He died on 28 November, aged 41. Frank Williams British founder of the Williams Formula One motor racing team. He died on 28 November, aged 79. Zena Stein South African-born epidemiologist and champion for women afflicted by poverty and the Aids crisis. She died on 7 November, aged 99. Prince Norodom Ranariddh Cambodian former prime minister who was ousted by current ruler, Hun Sen, in 1997. He died on 28 November, aged 77.…

SPACE Nasa craft takes off for collision test with asteroid A spacecraft that must ultimately crash in order to succeed took off last week on a Nasa mission to demonstrate the world’s first planetary defence system. The Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft is planned to crash into the moonlet Dimorphos at 24,100 km/h and change its path by a fraction. If the mission is successful, it will mean that Nasa and other space agencies could deflect an asteroid heading towards Earth and avert an Armageddon-style impact. The Dart payload, about the size of a small car, will take a 10-month journey into deep space, some 11m km) from Earth. Once there Dart will test its ability to alter an asteroid’s trajectory with sheer kinetic force. The asteroid being targeted by Dart poses…

MIGRATION EU border agency plane to monitor French coast The European Union’s border agency will provide a plane to monitor France’s northern coastline in an attempt to stop people making the dangerous Channel crossing, as the French government insisted it would “not be held hostage” by British domestic politics on the issue. Speaking after an emergency meeting of EU ministers in Calais last Sunday that excluded the UK, the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said France was ready for a serious discussion with Britain on illegal migration, but would not be held hostage by London’s domestic politics. Darmanin said the EU border and coast guard agency Frontex would provide a plane from 1 December to monitor France’s northern coastline. Ministers also discussed using drones and Frontex border guards, as part of wider efforts to…