{"id":38748,"date":"2025-12-23T05:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T05:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=38748"},"modified":"2025-12-23T05:46:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T05:46:17","slug":"the-best-of-the-long-read-in-2025-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=38748","title":{"rendered":"The best of the long read in 2025 | World news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad\u2019s fighters could get him killed<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not everyone was convinced \u2013 and the bitter argument that followed has consumed the lives of scholars ever since<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Philippa Barnes was a child when her family joined the Jesus Fellowship. As an adult, she helped expose the shocking scale of abuse it had perpetrated<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Many of his supporters hoped the prime minister would restore the UK\u2019s commitment to international law. Yet Labour\u2019s record over the past year has been curiously mixed<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Black Swan follows a repentant master criminal as she sets up corrupt clients in front of hidden cameras. But is she really reformed<strong> \u2013 <\/strong>and is the director up to his own tricks?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">From murder scenes to whale blubber, Ben Giles has seen it \u2013 and cleaned it \u2013 all. In their stickiest hours, people rely on him to restore order<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Beset by colonial controversy, difficult finances and the discovery of a thief on the inside, Britain\u2019s No 1 museum is in deep trouble. Can it restore its reputation?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Victorians called it \u2018pernicious vomiting of pregnancy\u2019, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum \u2013 until now<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A violent fanatic and pioneer in bigotry, Meir Kahane died a political outcast 35 years ago. Today, his ideas influence the very highest levels of government<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">With his brilliant mind and impeccable credentials, it\u2019s little wonder that wealthy clients trusted him with their fortunes. Then they started to get suspicious<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The tiny, astonishingly wealthy country has become a major player on the world stage, trying to solve some of the most intractable conflicts. What\u2019s driving this project?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Deeply unpopular in France, President Macron relishes the international stage, where he projects himself as the leader best placed to handle Trump. Seven years after our last encounter, I joined him as he prepared for battle<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">How did the daughter of an aristocrat end up at the Old Bailey with her partner, charged with killing their two-week-old baby?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When Donald Trump set about dismantling USAID, many around the world were shocked. But on the ground in Sierra Leone, the latest betrayal was not unexpected<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When details about a scientific study in the 1960s became public, there was shock, outrage and anxiety. But exactly what happened?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He\u2019s spent 24 hours immersed in slime, two days buried alive \u2013 and showered vast amounts of cash on lucky participants. But are MrBeast\u2019s videos simply very savvy clickbait \u2013 or acts of avant garde genius?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">With sea levels rising, much of the nation\u2019s population is confronting the prospect that their home may soon cease to exist. Where are they going to go?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">I knew he was running away from something. It wasn\u2019t until many years later that I discovered the truth<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">And finally: In case you\u2019re curious, these were our Top 10 most read pieces of 2025 and these were the 10 most read pieces from our archive. And here are our best ofs for 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><\/span> Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><em><span data-dcr-style=\"bullet\"\/> The best stories take time<\/em>. From politics to philosophy, personal stories to true crime, discover a selection of the Guardian\u2019s finest longform journalism, in one beautiful edition. In the new Guardian Long Read Magazine, you\u2019ll find pieces on how MrBeast became the world\u2019s biggest YouTube star, how Emmanuel Macron deals with Donald Trump, and shocking revelations at the British Museum. Order your copy today at the Guardian bookshop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><span data-dcr-style=\"bullet\"\/> Listen to our podcasts here and sign up to the long read weekly email here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><span data-dcr-style=\"bullet\"\/> Show your support for the Guardian\u2019s open, independent journalism in 2025 and beyond, including the long read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[3483,150,2563,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-38748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-long","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-read","11":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}