When Angela Merkel announced Germany’s “open door” policy to refugees last autumn, she offered real hope for hundreds of thousands of Europe’s newly arrived asylum seekers and a gesture of international leadership not witnessed for many years. Now, in the cold light of a new year, and following a series of disturbing mass sexual assaults in which some refugees are suspected of involvement, is German public opinion turning against the controversial policy? For our cover story this week, Emma Graham-Harrison visits Cologne and finds a rising wave of anger and foreboding.
As part of a wider look at the social and political fallout from Europe’s migrant crisis, inside the paper you’ll find a terrific read from Ian Traynor on the fast-fading prospects for the Schengen zone, the EU’s passport-free travel bloc named after a nondescript Luxembourg border village. Just to prove that not everyone is raising the barricades, there’s news of a possible underwater Baltic tunnel to link Finland and Estonia.
In Mexico, the notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is back behind bars after a police chase straight out of a Hollywood action thriller. Rory Carroll recounts the remarkable details and considers Mexico’s prospects of keeping El Chapo in jail at the third attempt.
In Argentina, hope is rapidly fading after the new centre-right president, Mauricio Macri, bypassed congress with a series of controversial measures. Centre-right politicians in Venezuela, meanwhile, encountered harsh reality after recent election gains as the Socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, set about making life as difficult as possible for them.
In Hong Kong, the disappearance of several publishers sparked street protests from civil libertarians directed at China, the prime suspects in the affair. To the east, political fallout from North Korea’s latest nuclear test sent regional tensions soaring.
Le Monde reports from Algeria, where a new presidential decree proposes long-overdue national language rights for indigenous Berber people. World Diary visits South Sudan, where child soldiers discharged from civil war militias dream of new lives away from the horrors of conflict.
The Weekly Review section opens with a long read delving into the background of an exam-rigging scandal that shines a grim light on the country’s intricate and systemic webs of corruption. In Japan, a team of female sushi chefs is taking on the culture of machismo surrounding the profession. And in the south Atlantic, Le Monde reports from the remote island of St Helena, which is preparing for a Napoleon-inspired tourist boom when its first airport opens later this year.
In this age of technical advancement, Discovery asks why doctors still have a need for stethoscopes. Books considers the Sussex landscapes that inspired AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories.
Notes & Queries considers classical English novelists and the cause of women. Good to Meet You catches up with another of our incredible globetrotting readers, all the way around the world from Sheffield and back again.
Talking of lives well lived, you’ll also find plenty of reflection on the work of David Bowie, who died this week aged 69. As the Weekly went to press here in London, the office chatter was largely filled with reminiscences of Bowie songs and moments. Such was his incredible output across musical styles, genres and generations, I have no doubt it was a similar story all around the world.
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