The Weekly went to press this week just in time to catch Justin Trudeau’s landmark victory in the Canadian general election. We know from our mailbox that many of our readers in Canada – and beyond – will welcome the change of direction from the new Liberal government in Ottawa, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on how Trudeau fares in the coming weeks, particularly in the run-up to next month’s Paris climate summit. For now, though, we reflect on a return to “sunny ways”, as Trudeau put it, and a new dawn for a Canadian political dynasty.
Brazil is a country that, on the face of things, should have a great deal going for it. Yet as our cover story explores this week, corruption scandals engulfing the government – and associated efforts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff and veteran politician Eduardo Cunha – are plunging the country into unprecedented political turmoil. Jonathan Watts reports from Brasília on an increasingly chaotic and demeaning parliamentary battle.
China’s President Xi Jinping arrived in Britain for a state visit this week, a lavish occasion underlining London’s growing economic ties with Beijing. But the Sino-British entente is not without political and diplomatic controversy, as we explore on our UK news pages.
Elsewhere in the edition we look at the battle for Aleppo in Syria, problems for the Bachelet government in Chile, the refugee crisis on the US-Mexican border and the fight against rhino poachers in South Africa. We even report from Italy, where moves are afoot to retry a woman convicted of witchcraft more than 300 years ago.
Beer is a subject close to many people’s hearts, and on our Finance page we look at the growing popularity of artisanal craft beers in the light of a huge corporate merger between two international brewing giants.
Our Weekly Review section kicks off with a critical look at the banking system, asking whether the lessons of the 2008 crash have really been absorbed by the big financial institutions. There’s a look round the lavish London hotels beloved of the city’s plutocrats, and, from North Korea, a typically peculiar tale of Kim Jong-un’s efforts to revive the hermit nation’s international sporting prowess.
On our Discovery pages our partner paper the Washington Post consider the case of the rare moustached kingfisher, and whether it is ever justifiable to “collect” rare species of birds in the name of conservation. This is a deeply emotive topic and one that divided online readers. What’s your view on the subject? Email us here and we’ll publish a cross-section of your views on our Reply page.
On Culture, Le Monde delves into the nature of exhibitions with two pieces exploring sensory exhibits and the factors that motivate people to visit museums. Books catches up with Jamaica’s Man Booker prize-winning author Marlon James.
Notes & Queries considers the rhetorical question, and the nature of protest fasting. Good to Meet You catches up with a university lecturer who says the Weekly encourages her students to think critically.
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