Hello and welcome to the ‘Best of the Week’, your guide to some of The National’s most compelling, informative and entertaining content of the past seven days.

 

COVER STORY

Members of the public enter a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing site in Osaka, Japan, on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Japan is reckoning with a surge in omicron cases that’s burdening the health-care system and prompting an overhaul in how the virus is handled. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
Members of the public enter a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing site in Osaka, Japan, on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Japan is reckoning with a surge in omicron cases that’s burdening the health-care system and prompting an overhaul in how the virus is handled. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg

Read our dispatch from Herat as government fighters battle to protect the city from the advancing Taliban.

To mark the anniversary of the Beirut bomb blast, survivors told us of their fight for justice, and we investigated what happened to ”the case that could break the regime”.

Our correspondent joined the clifftop spotters overlooking the English Channel who brave online threats to help migrants making the perilous crossing from France.

 

WEEKEND READS

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 27: Ashleigh Barty of Australia serves in her Women's Singles Semifinals match against Madison Keys of United States during day 11 of the 2022 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 27, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 27: Ashleigh Barty of Australia serves in her Women's Singles Semifinals match against Madison Keys of United States during day 11 of the 2022 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 27, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

The inside story of how scientists came up with the breakthrough Covid-19 treatment Sotrovimab.

Pakistani writers who have tackled the subject of domestic violence in the country told us why they had to speak out.

We took a trip inside the gaping tunnel in the Hajar mountains created by a ‘mighty mole’ boring machine to make way for Etihad Rail.

 

THE ESSAY

‘The floods that hit Derna were so severe that little attention has been paid to the migrants who were passing through the city on their way to Europe’
 

Pierre Boussel
 

CULTURE

BERLIN, GERMANY - JANUARY 27: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz departs after attending a wreath-laying ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe on January 27, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is held on January 27, the day in 1945 Soviet Red Army forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, commemorates the millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis. (Photo by Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY - JANUARY 27: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz departs after attending a wreath-laying ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe on January 27, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is held on January 27, the day in 1945 Soviet Red Army forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, commemorates the millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis. (Photo by Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

Meet the Jordanian diplomat who became hooked on the UAE’s beloved jiu-jitsu during his time in Abu Dhabi.

And we found out why Oman’s Amouage fragrances are among the world’s most valuable.

Watch the haunting moment Beirut fell silent to remember the victims of the port explosion.

 

MONEY

As Barack Obama turns 60, find out about his legacy in the Middle East.

And we sat down with Mohamed Ramadan, the Egyptian star of screen, song and social media.

 

PLUS

In a four-part Beyond the Headlines special, we investigated the Beirut blast to find out how it happened - and what comes next.

Business Extra asked the World Economic Forum's head of AI: can robots care?

And don't forget to get all the daily news you need in our Trending Middle East podcast.

Raghida Dergham considered whether Joe Biden's exit from the Middle East would go down well in Tehran.

HA Hellyer condemned the European Court of Justice's recent ruling against the hijab as prejudice veiled in neutrality.

And Nick March penned a eulogy to the Tokyo Olympics - faster, higher, stronger than ever before.

 

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