There was global shock over the dreadful Easter Sunday bombings on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people and injured hundreds more: the worst bloodshed seen in the country since its civil war ended a decade ago. Sri Lanka’s government blamed a small, locally based Islamist extremist organisation while the global terrorist group Islamic State later claimed responsibility. From Colombo, the Guardian’s South Asia correspondent Michael Safi reports on a nation caught between grief and anger.
Last week a redacted version was released of Robert Mueller’s 448-page report into potential ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. What new light did it shed on the US president and possible attempts to obstruct justice? Our Washington bureau chief David Smith says the special counsel’s report would have sunk any other president, but it shows that Trump runs his team like a mob boss. Guardian writer Luke Harding says it is the redactions themselves that may reveal the most.
Ukrainian voters this week replaced their president with an actor who has no prior political experience other than his role in a TV sitcom about a teacher who accidentally becomes Ukraine’s president. Yes, you read that right. “I promise I won’t mess up,” said Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his victory speech, but that may prove easier said than done. The Guardian’s Eastern Europe correspondent Shaun Walker looks at the numerous challenges facing Zelenskiy, including a struggling economy and an ongoing war against Russia-backed separatist forces in the east.
France was this week still coming to terms with the terrible fire damage to Notre Dame cathedral. President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild it within five years, even as restoration experts warned the work could take much longer. On our culture pages, Guardian writers look at the cathedral’s unique role as an inspiration to generations of artists, musicians and film makers. In the opinion section, Natalie Nougayrède criticises the European far right’s attempts to profit politically from the tragedy.
