There’s a border friction theme to the forthcoming edition of Guardian Weekly. From the Korean peninsula, where residents near the demilitarised zone are dusting down their basement bunkers, to the increasingly tense relations between east Asia’s regional giants, China and Japan, to Russia’s planned massive military exercises along its border with Nato’s European member states.
It’s the last subject that leads the paper this week, as defence correspondent Ewen MacAskill outlines the ramifications of what could be Moscow’s biggest show of military strength since the cold war.
It’s been another busy news week around the world, not least in the US where flooding from tropical storm Harvey continues to wreak devastation on Houston, the nation’s fourth-biggest city.
In Europe, several countries are poised to begin sending back asylum seekers who first sought refuge in Greece, despite the country’s ongoing economic crisis. World Diary visits a Rhineland village viewed as a microcosm of Germany, and hears its mixed messages to Angela Merkel ahead of forthcoming elections.
There’s a spread of Latin American environmental coverage, taking in reportage from Belize, Brazil and Peru. And there’s good (if well overdue) news from India, where an Islamic practice permitting men to instantly divorce their wives has been declared unconstitutional.
On the Comment pages, regular columnist Jonathan Freedland skewers Donald Trump over his ambivalence towards the neo-Nazi demonstrators in Charlottesville, while from the UK the Observer’s Andrew Rawnsley explains why Labour now looks set to become the party of Brexit resistance.
Discovery delves into the murky world of unnecessary surgical procedures. The Books pages delve into the even murkier world of black holes. And the Culture section raises us back out again with ruminations on Cézanne, Marlene Dietrich and the techno DJ Ricardo Villalobos.
As many of us in the northern hemisphere return from summer breaks, Oliver Burkeman reminds us that when it comes to work, fewer physical hours can often lead to greater productivity. It’s something I pondered while spending time in an Italian hammock recently. Back at my desk in London, I know the mantra – but will I be able to stick to it? We will see!
Finally this week, on behalf of the Guardian Weekly team I’d like to express our best wishes to the paper’s outgoing editor Abby Deveney, who steps down from the role this week after five and a half years in the job. She may not thank me for saying this as she is, by her own admission, not a fan of grand departing gestures, but it has been a pleasure to work with Abby and to benefit from her vast knowledge of world affairs, as well as her brilliant, incisive editorship of the paper. I hope you will join us in wishing her the very best in her new endeavours.
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