It’s the depths of the summer holiday season here in London. Schools are shuttered, city workers are on summer breaks and the normally busy streets feel oddly soporific.
Not so in Honduras, though, where each week for the last three months, protesters have filled the streets of the capital over a graft scandal that has nearly bled the country’s health service dry. In neighbouring Guatemala, meanwhile, a separate corruption scandal embroils the government and political classes.
Corruption in officialdom has long been viewed as a given in Central American states, but the deep, sustained nature of demonstrations in both countries suggests that citizens are starting to believe that they deserve better. From the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, Sibylla Brodzinsky charts the popular discontent that some believe could herald a new dawn for governance in the region.
In the Greek islands, many European holidaymakers will have been getting a first-hand glimpse of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. The Guardian’s Patrick Kingsley reports from Kos, where migrants have complained of being imprisoned in a football stadium as authorities struggle to cope. We also visit a town in Germany which is hoping an influx of migrants can kickstart the ailing local economy.
There’s a special report from the Turkish-Kurdish border regions, where tensions are escalating sharply and suddenly after two years of relative peace. In Russia, meanwhile, the furore over imports of EU goods has taken a turn for the bizarre as customs officials burn Dutch chrysanthemums with blowtorches.
In Finance, the Observer’s Heather Stewart analyses the possible ramifications for the global economy of China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan last week. And as Google becomes Alphabet in an attempt to diversify its business, we look at why the global search giant will remain in hock to its investors.
The Weekly Review kicks off with a long look at developments in combating the effects of old age. There’s a look at parts of the world where Christians are finding themselves increasingly persecuted for their beliefs. And from Argentina we discover how a lack of formal identity papers keeps many people trapped in poverty.
Could a comet strike on the sea near Sardinia have given rise to the myth of Atlantis, asks Le Monde’s Florence Evin on our Discovery pages. Sticking close to the shoreline, the Books pages examine the spiral beauty of seashells. And there’s a visit to Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast – one of my favourite childhood holiday spots – where the town’s literary association with Bram Stoker’s Dracula continues to bewitch vampire fanatics.
Notes & Queries draws up a shortlist of the main characters in this world, and ponders the components of a world-class city. Good to Meet You hears from a reader who first became acquainted with the Weekly on a long and noisy flight across the Canadian sub-Arctic.
If you’ve been jetting off for a break this northern summer, or even just taking it easy closer to home, we hope the Weekly has helped you keep abreast of the news that matters around the world. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to email your thoughts about the edition to me.
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