Democracy is one thing, but when it comes to outward global infrastructure investment, China leads the world by some distance. Regardless of whether you share Xi Jinping’s vision of nations flying like a skein of fiscally harmonised geese – and there are more than a few nations that view it with scepticism – it is hard not to admire the sheer scale and ambition of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan to transform large swaths of Asia and the world beyond.
For the Guardian Weekly’s cover story this week, Beijing correspondent Tom Phillips travels to China’s most westerly settlement, Tashkurgan, which is about to become much less remote as it lies on a new $62bn route to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast. It may be one of Belt and Road’s key projects but, finds Phillips, local people have mixed feelings about how it might change their lives.
China was also badly affected last week by a global cyber-attack that saw more than 200,000 computers in around 150 countries infected with ransomware. We bring you up to speed with developments, including a report from Britain’s National Health Service, which was particularly badly hit.
Washington DC saw perhaps the most explosive week so far for the Trump administration (already this feels like quite an achievement), after the president sacked FBI chief James Comey and dragged his election team’s alleged links with Russia back into the spotlight. David Smith’s analytical take on the affair crafts a complex story into one highly readable recap.
A personal favourite dispatch this week comes from Jason Burke in Mogadishu, the beleaguered capital of Somalia, where encouraging signs of economic transformation are being overshadowed by a potentially catastrophic famine.
Our Weekly review lead is a sobering exploration of the connections between the Trump and Brexit elections, the gathering of voters’ personal data and how individuals are targeted with political messages on social media. A terrific piece of investigative reporting from the Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr, which lifts the lid on a murky new electoral battleground.
Discovery takes a look at the growing use of antidepressants: the miracle cure in a jar or an addictive happiness trap? Books reviews a memoir from Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, exploring the universality of loss.
The Culture pages include a great read from the Guardian’s former foreign news editor Charlie English on the heroic efforts to save Timbuktu’s ancient manuscripts from Islamist extremists during Mali’s recent civil war. And we meet the enigmatic young pianist Yuja Wang, who is shaking up the classical music establishment with her brash but brilliant performances.
Sport reflects on another Premier League football title for Chelsea, while columnist Suzanne Moore rounds things off on the back page with a provocative look at societal attitudes towards sleep (or the lack thereof). If this is a subject that resonates with you, why not drop a line to our Reply page and let us know whether you are on the same pillow as Suzanne?
This was another busy news week. Hopefully we’ve done it justice; as ever, your views on the edition are welcomed.
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