Earthquake offers Assad the pariah a road to redemption

Walking through Aleppo last month, Bashar al-Assad did not look like a man shouldering the fate of a nation.

In from the cold After years of isolation, Xi looks to lead on global stage

In Xi Jinping's closing speech at China's annual parliamentary meeting on Monday, his message was clear: China is back.

The view from Beijing

As Xi Jinping starts his third term as China's president, high on his agenda is strengthening Beying’s position on the world stage. After three years of isolation as it tried to impose a harsh zero-Covid policy, the country is now reopening to the outside world. But much has changed since China closed its borders in 2020. Its economy has been hobbled, its ally Russia has started a war in Europe and relations withthe US are at an all-time low. Here are the geopolitical relationships that Xi will have to navigate as he attempts to assert his global vision.

Bands on the run

Live music ticket prices are rising and state-of-the-art arenas are being built to meet demand. So are gigs just for the rich now - and what does it all mean for acts who are just starting out?

Trump can still draw a crowd, but empty seats tell a story

It fell to Steve Bannon, far-right podcaster and political pugilist, to wake up the crowd with a jolt.

Tik'd off? App faces uncertain future as ban calls grow

The Chinese spy balloon that hovered over the US earlier this year did not just damage relations between Beijing and Washington, it also cast a shadow over the future of TikTok.

Loop dreams

After losing his father when he was 10, Ronald Mallett read HG Wells and Einstein - and resolved to investigate whether time travel is possible

Indigenous lands where elite force is targeting mine gangs

A special unit is on a mission to expel the illegal miners who devastated Yanomami territory in Bolsonaro's tenure

Has sensible Sunak saved Tory ship-or has Johnson scuttled it?

PM's deal with EU boosted his hopes, then Partygate roared back to remind voters of Conservative chaos

'Someone has to pay Grief and fury over rail disaster

First came the mourning, then the handover of loved ones, then the funerals.

'Putin has gone mad with power': dissident speaks out

Writing from a cell in a Russian jail known as the Bear, Ilya Yashin remained defiant. In neat, blue-ink lettering, the opposition politician was able to express himself candidly despite his incarceration.

Have schoolgirls been poisoned for daring to protest?

More than 1,000 cases have emerged since November but there is little confidence that authorities will act to find the perpetrators

Old guard Why Africa's 'dinosaur' leaders keep on winning

A couple of kilometres from the crashing breakers of the Atlantic, in one of the most affluent parts of Lagos, visitors admire the paintings on the walls of the Nike Art Gallery, one of the biggest such private institutions in Africa.

A ticking timebomb of methane leaks

Super-emitting releases of CH4, along with massive future surges, represent a huge threat-but curbing emissions would rapidly reduce global heating

There I was, with a ringside seat on history

At 24, Gary Younge was sent to report for the Guardian on South Africa's first democratic elections. Almost 30 years on, he reflects on a career writing about race, politics and people - and what still needs to change

THE AGE OF FEMALE RAGE

Public displays of anger by women were once frowned upon. But, fired up by issues such as police brutality and domestic inequality, female fury is rising to the fore.

Biden's Crusade For Global Democracy Is So Last Century

It was Joe Biden’s week.

In The Earthquake's Aftermath, Border Divisions Rise Up

A once quiet Turkish town with a large Syrian population could be a model of neighbourly tolerance - or are the cracks being laid bare?

Man of steel

Steel pan ace Leon Foster Thomas garnered acclaim for his solo work and has joined the band that inspired him. Now, his new album brings it all home

Reclaiming Shylock

As a new adaptation of The Merchant of Venice opens, Jewish creatives explain how they tackle the notorious role.

Apothecarists now

Ancient remedies for wound care are enjoying a revival after their efficacy amazed doctors. Now researchers are poring over historical documents to unearth other medicines in the face of antibiotic resistance

Baghdad memories

When US troops arrived in Baghdad, they were hailed as liberators bringing democracy where there had been oppression. What I saw was the unfurling of -lawlesschaos that would ripple across the region

How Ohio freight train disaster was racialised by the right

Until 2 February it was business as usual in the small rural community of East Pales-tine, Ohio.

Cracking the case

A life-changing encounter with the secretive giant armadillo led conservationist Arnaud Desbiez to dedicate his work to saving the mammal from extinction

Cost of calm Gangs may be gone but human rights under threat

War on criminals by populist leader Nayib Bukele produces dramatic change, but 'cure could be as harmful as disease'

'It was a beautiful city'

For more than 80 days, the Russians bombarded Mariupol, determined to take the Black Sea port, even if they had to raze it to the ground first. After Russian forces finally crushed Ukrainian resistance last May, they set about putting their stamp on the city, erasing evidence of the recent atrocities and of past Ukrainian history in the city. A year on from the invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian tells the story of Mariupol perhaps the bloodiest and most shocking chapter of Russia's brutal war

'Nature has a judgment'

Asif Kapadia has never seen a ballet, and Akram Khan has never made a film: the duo talk about their new climate crisis dance movie, Creature

Back in black

From Wednesday Addams to Siouxsie Sioux, goth's fishnet-draped brigade is back, in a revival of the original outsider youth cult - or did it ever go away?

Keep it in the family: why succession is an obsession for leaders

For a Ugandan general trained by the British army at Sandhurst, Muhoozi Kainerugaba is an unorthodox kind of guy.

The links between Modi's violent nationalism and big business

India is under attack by foreign powers. Specifically the United Kingdom and the United States.