THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘How the World Cup beacame an $80bn behemoth’

It’s long been a golden rule of sport that football World Cups get bigger and badder every four years. The latest edition of the tournament, however, may put that universal law to the test after a six-week journey through Trump’s America, which is expected to generate $80bn of global economic output through its full timeline.

As the world’s biggest sporting event meets the world’s biggest market, it’s hard to see how even the World Cup can get much more bloated than this. But if anyone can make it happen it’s Gianni Infantino, the opportunist Fifa overlord who has schmoozed with the planet’s most divisive leaders to extract maximum gains from his travelling global roadshow. As Barney Ronay says in his tournament scenesetter for our cover story this week, welcome to the heart of darkness.

The big story | How the murder of Henry Nowak shook Britain
The aftermath of a tragedy revealed a country grappling with how easily such events can be co‑opted into a far-right rallying cry. Libby Brooks reports

Technology | Can autonomous AI killer drones be taught morality?
While the technology is set to play a growing role in modern warfare, there remains an unresolved ethical challenge. Dan Milmo and Aisha Down size up the terrain

Feature | Hello, goodbye: inside the final Beatles tour
By the mid-1960s, the Beatles were ready to quit touring for good. A new collection of pictures by rock photographer Jim Marshall captures their last gigs. With a foreword by Ian Leslie

Opinion | Trump’s failure to maintain ceasefires is part of the new world disorder
The US president brags about ending wars but look at Ukraine, Gaza, Iran and Lebanon to see what his casual disregard for diplomacy and obsession with instant results have achieved, argues Simon Tisdall

Culture | The ruthlessness and redemption of Rupert Everett
The 67-year-old actor lied to his partners, disrespected his audiences and betrayed his friends. But has this indiscreet, unreliable heartbreaker finally grown up and settled down? Simon Hattenstone went to find out

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Fully Charged’ – Inside Australia’s Battery-Powered Energy Revolution….

Last week, as the war in Iran continued to choke global oil supplies, the UK government announced a 13% increase in the cap on energy prices. But it was another related story on the other side of the world that caught my eye.

In Australia, the energy minister announced a fall of up to 10% in the benchmark electricity price in parts of the country, driven by record levels of renewables and batteries in the power grid.

Australia was already a world leader in domestic solar power. But with little fanfare, it is also pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery usage, proving that with the right policy initiatives, profound changes can be made to the ways energy markets work.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

The big story | Is the Iran war Trump’s Vietnam moment?
The current Middle East conflict has been far shorter than the war that defined the 1960s and early 1970s, but it has rapidly revealed the strategic weakness of US firepower in an interconnected world, argues Patrick Wintour

Health | Cancer breakthroughs from the world’s largest oncology conference
From groundbreaking genomic tests to tumour-shrinking injections, health editor Andrew Gregory reports from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago

Feature | The people fighting back against pothole-riddled roads
The dire state of roads has provoked pothole vigilantes and become a political flashpoint from Manchester to Manhattan. How did we get here? Oliver Franklin-Wallis reports

Opinion | If you’re still on Elon Musk’s X, ask yourself this: why?
Some argue that quitting the platform formerly known as Twitter cedes the space to malign actors. But it’s an open sewer, beyond redemption, says Jonathan Liew

Culture | Children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling
From The Twits to The Gruffalo and an angry bear in search of his hat … famous illustrators talk to Stuart Heritage about how they bring children’s books to life