The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Wang Yi hits out at 20% levy on Chinese goods and warns ‘law of the jungle’ could emerge from Donald Trump’s policy

China’s foreign minister has accused the US of “two-faced” behaviour, condemning the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods and warning against the “law of the jungle” that could emerge from Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.

Speaking at the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary gathering, Wang Yi said China would “firmly counter” US pressure. “No country should think that it can suppress China and maintain good relations,” he added.

The new programme on BBC Two will be very different from 42 years ago when the eighth and final series of The Master Game was never shown due to industrial action

Four decades ago, the eighth and last series of BBC Two’s much-admired chess programme The Master Game was never screened in the UK, because of industrial action by technicians. Tony Miles defeated Anatoly Karpov in the 1983 final, the Englishman’s second victory over the then world champion after his stunning 1 e4 a6 win at the 1980 European Teams.

It was the end of an iconic programme, first launched in 1975 in the wake of the Fischer-Spassky boom. The Master Game’s innovative production made it appear that the players were speaking their thoughts on the game while it was in progress. Nigel Short, later a world title challenger, competed aged 11, in 1977, when his opponent Bill Hartston asked: “Has nobody told this boy never to accept pawns from strange men?” Short went on to win the event in 1981. An entire generation of English talents watched and learned from The Master Game.

In a world run by bullies, with sports subsumed by greed, England v Italy – never mind Ireland v France – offers comfort

I recently caught myself telling someone I couldn’t wait for England’s Six Nations match against Italy on Sunday, which seemed a bit, well, enthusiastic. Clearly, rugby fans of all stripes will be salivating at Saturday’s key clash between Ireland and France. It’s a bit less usual to get excited at the kind of historical mismatch which, in the past, I might have watched as highlights, late in the evening, when I already knew the result.

Is it because I expect the action to be good? Uncertain. Italy pushed England close last year and dominated Wales in Rome last month, which salts the dish. The home team need a sizeable win – four tries for the bonus point – to stay in the title hunt, which raises the question of whether Steve Borthwick’s reformatted backline can finally cut loose and run in a cricket score. Or will Italy bounce back from a drubbing at the hands of the French and provide a last-minute Twickenham thriller for the third game running?

A gag-filled doomscroll through the history of armageddon demonstrates that, for some, the end has always been nigh

At 9.45pm on 13 April 2029, you might want to take a look out of the window. That rock in the sky heading your way fast is actually an asteroid called 99942 Apophis, named after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos. Roughly the size of Wembley Stadium, when Apophis hits it’ll do to our species what another asteroid did to the dinosaurs 66m years ago.

Did I say “when”? I obviously meant “if”. After all, as Tom Phillips puts it, space is big, and little Earth easily missable – despite the nominative determinism of what he nicknames Smashy McDeathrock. Plus, in 2022 Nasa deliberately crashed the Dart spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos, knocking if off course. If Smashy hits London, hypothesises Phillips, it’ll engulf everywhere from Camden to Clapham in a fireball and leave a crater three miles wide that “would have previously contained approximately 150 branches of Pret”. Truly, any survivors will envy the dead.