Firefighters were trying to fully extinguish the blaze more than 24 hours after it engulfed several towers in the complex. Dozens of people were still missing.
Bitter rows, implacably opposed delegations, threatened walkouts and then, hours after the planned deadline with fear of failure stalking the delegates, a statement towards which recalcitrant countries have been nudged into agreeing is produced. Cop30, which concluded last Saturday in Belém, Brazil, was little different from its recent predecessors, despite the growing urgency of needing to find a solution to our ever hotter planet. For this week’s big story, environment editor Fiona Harvey details how weak consensus was forged between states on the frontline of climate change and the petrostates that sought a rollback from the need to “transition away from fossil” fuels agreed two years ago in Dubai.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | Is Ukraine edging closer to a peace deal? A whirl of international diplomacy was sparked by a US-Russian authored ‘peace plan’ to end the Ukraine war. Luke Harding and Pjotr Sauer cast a critical eye over the prospects for an agreement.
Spotlight | Trump, Saudi Arabia and shifting Middle Eastern sands Pageantry and trillion-dollar promises reveal how Washington’s regional loyalties may be tilting away from Israel and towards the Gulf, writes Julian Borger
Feature | Is Alex Karp the world’s scariest CEO? His company, Palantir, is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool. Now, Alex Karp’s biographer reveals what makes him tick. BySteve Rose
Opinion | An improbable new adversary for Trump – the Catholic church Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church – and some other Christian denominations – are fighting the Trump administration, writes Simon Tisdall
Culture | Edmund de Waal’s loose ends The celebrated ceramicist explains to Charlotte Higgins why he turned his decades-long f ixation with Axel Salto – the maker of unsettling stoneware full of tentacle sproutings and knotty growths – into a new show
A judge dismissed indictments against two of the president’s foes, but an inquiry shows how he is using a whole-of-government approach to punish those who cross him.
A U.S. proposal appears to cross a number of red lines for the Russian leader, who sees little to lose and much to potentially gain from continuing to fight.
Maria Corina Machado faces criticism that she is exaggerating threats posed by Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, to justify U.S. force to overthrow him.
The decision to toss out the charges against James Comey and Letitia James is a setback to President Trump’s efforts to wield the criminal justice against his perceived foes.
The Trump administration is trading billions of dollars of taxpayer money for ownership stakes in companies. The unusual practice shows no sign of slowing.
While President Trump attacked the Ukrainians, Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Geneva to seize control of negotiations that were going off the rails.
Initially cut out of development of the 28-point peace plan, European leaders are now trying to recast its pro-Russian slant. So far, it seems to be working.
U.S. Plans Compounds to House Palestinians in Israeli-Held Half of Gaza
The project could offer relief for tens of thousands of Palestinians, but has raised questions about whether it could entrench the partition of Gaza.
A U.S. government cable said that Kremlin-run outlets had scaled up their efforts across Latin America, seeking to turn people against the United States and garner support for Russia.
The F.B.I. director’s travel on government jets has also contributed to growing questions inside the administration about his use of taxpayer-funded resources.
Russia is remaking Mariupol, which was under siege in 2022. Ukrainians seeking to move back are finding it hard to recognize the city, or to reclaim their property.
For Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Rough Education in MAGA Politics
The Georgia congresswoman strove to be both the ultimate Trump warrior and to be taken seriously. She wound up in political exile.
President Trump sought credit for the legislation, despite his pressure to kill it. The bill’s exceptions could mean much of it would stay confidential.
The release last week of a tranche of Jeffrey Epstein’s private emails raised more questions about Donald Trump’s links to the disgraced financier.
The US president had spent much of this year trying to bat away questions about Epstein while rejecting pressure to release the bulk of the files. But in an abrupt reversal on Sunday – widely seen as an admission that he cannot control his Maga base on the issue – Trump urged House Republicans to back the release of the files after all.
That was duly passed this week and if the Senate also votes the same way, the justice department will be compelled to release all unclassified materials on Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
So we may soon find out what Trump has tried for so long to keep buried. As David Smith writes for our big story, last week’s email release pointed less to a grand conspiracy and more to an elite world in which wealthy, powerful and privileged individuals operate above the law.
One thing’s for sure: despite Trump’s wishes, the Epstein scandal isn’t going away just yet.
Spotlight | Can methane cuts avert climate disaster? With temperatures breaching limits set out in the Paris Agreement, designed to mitigate climate change, experts say tackling the powerful gas could buy crucial time as the clean-energy shift stalls. Fiona Harvey reports
Spotlight | The US military’s plans for a divided Gaza A ‘green zone’ will be secured by international and Israeli troops, while almost all Palestinians have been displaced to a ‘red zone’ where no reconstruction is planned, reports Emma Graham-Harrison
Feature | What chance did one boy have to survive on Britain’s streets? When documentary film-maker Pamela Gordon first met Craig in Nottingham, he was 13 and homeless. She still thought his life might turn around, but she was tragically wrong
Opinion | Labour’s asylum plans are cruel, overspun and unachievable There is mounting disquiet among Labour MPs, while the vulnerable refugees at the heart of this story are living with a renewed sense of panic, writes Diane Taylor
Culture | Stranger Things reaches its upside down finale After a decade, the Netflix hit is bowing out. Ahead of its last episodes, the show’s creators and cast talk to Rebecca Nicholson about big 80s hair, recruiting a Terminator killer – and the birds Kate Bush sent them
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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