World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

01.12 Ibra 0 komentar

World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

Pfizer blocks its drugs from being used in lethal injections in prisons

Posted: 13 May 2016 03:44 PM PDT

Move throws death penalty states into deeper disarray as they struggle to obtain drugs and carry out executions

Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, has imposed a new set of controls on its products to ensure they are not used by US prisons to execute death row inmates, according to a New York Times report.

The move shuts off the last remaining legal source of the drugs used in lethal injections, throwing death penalty states into deeper disarray as they struggle to obtain drugs and carry out executions.

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Erdoğan says west cares more about gay and animal rights than Syria

Posted: 13 May 2016 12:11 PM PDT

Turkish president's anti-west outburst came amid standoff with EU over demand Turkey amend anti-terrorism laws

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has criticised western countries, saying they care more about gay rights and animal welfare than the fate of conflict-stricken Syrians.

Addressing a large crowd in north-west Turkey, Erdoğan also accused the west of possessing a mindset "remnant of slavery and colonialism".

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Thousands gather for funeral of Hezbollah's Mustafa Badreddine

Posted: 13 May 2016 11:39 AM PDT

Lebanese group buries its military commander in Beirut as it investigates his death in large explosion in Syria

Hezbollah says it will soon reveal who it believes killed its military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, in a large explosion in Syria, the biggest blow to the militant Lebanese group in the past eight years.

Ahead of the findings of an investigation launched by Hezbollah members at the scene of the explosion near Damascus airport, leaders of the political bloc cum powerful militia were on Friday already pointing the finger of blame at Israel.

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World’s oldest person Susannah Mushatt Jones dies aged 116

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:32 AM PDT

Death of New Yorker, whose secret to long life was plenty of sleep and no alcohol, means just one person born in 19th century still lives

Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world's oldest person, has died aged 116 – leaving only one person born in the 19th century still alive.

Jones, who co-founded a scholarship fund for young African-American women to go to college and was active in her public building's tenant patrol until the age of 106, died in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday.

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China has reclaimed 3,200 acres in the South China Sea, says Pentagon

Posted: 13 May 2016 01:38 PM PDT

Defense department says China is developing and weaponizing islands in its most detailed assessment to date of the country's island-building program

A new Pentagon report says China has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in the south-eastern South China Sea. But the country's focus has shifted to developing and weaponizing those man-made islands so it will have greater control over the maritime region without resorting to armed conflict.

In its most detailed assessment to date of China's island-building program, the defense department said three of the land features in the Spratly Islands now have nearly 10,000ft runways and large ports in various stages of construction.

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Ukraine's Eurovision singer urges voters to show Crimea solidarity

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:26 AM PDT

Jamala says 1944 song is not only about the pain of Crimean Tatars' deportation, but also about recent Russian annexation

Europeans can show they are "not indifferent to suffering" in Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia, by voting for Ukraine in the Eurovision song contest, the Ukrainian contestant has suggested.

Before what is likely to be the most politicised Eurovision in recent memory, 32-year-old jazz singer Jamala said her ballad, 1944, was not only about the deportation of the Crimean Tatar population during the second world war, but the events of the past two years in the peninsula.

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US navy officer faces trial for allegedly leaking secrets to Taiwan and China

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:50 AM PDT

Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin faces espionage and other charges stemming from allegations that he shared information on national defense

A US navy officer will stand trial on espionage charges for allegedly handing military secrets to Taiwan and China, an official said Friday.

Prosecutors say Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin committed a string of offenses including espionage, mishandling classified information and failing to follow lawful orders. He was also accused of adultery and using a prostitute.

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Munich police brace for rival protests at anti-refugee party's meeting

Posted: 13 May 2016 09:47 AM PDT

Right- and leftwing protesters expected at Alternative for Germany event in beer hall where Adolf Hitler once gave a speech

Rival demonstrations are expected to take place on Friday night outside one of Munich's best-known beer halls, where Adolf Hitler gave his first political speech and where the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is hosting a meeting.

Police in the southern German city said they were ready to respond and were "fully determined" to prevent a repeat of violent clashes that saw more than 400 demonstrators arrested outside the rightwing party's first full conference in Stuttgart last month. "We hope everything will go peacefully but if it doesn't, we're ready," a spokesman said.

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Russia accused of series of international cyber-attacks

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:07 AM PDT

German BfV intelligence agency alleges Russian hackers are behind attacks against Nato, a French TV channel and Ukraine's power grid in recent years

Germany's domestic secret service has accused Russia of a series of international cyber-attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in "hybrid warfare" that also targeted the German parliament last year.

The operations cited by the BfV intelligence agency ranged from an aggressive attack called Sofacy or APT 28 that hit Nato members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off air, to a hacking campaign called Sandworm that brought down part of Ukraine's power grid last year.

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Crowds steal flour, chicken and underwear in looting spree in Venezuela

Posted: 13 May 2016 01:28 PM PDT

Episodes of looting increase as basic products run short in oil-exporting country, with opposition blaming president's economic policies

Crowds of people in Venezuela have stolen flour, chicken and even underwear this week as looting increases across the country in the wake of shortages of many basic products. Many people have adopted the habit of getting up in the dead of night to spend hours in long lines in front of supermarkets. But as more end up empty-handed and black market prices soar, plundering is rising in Venezuela, an Opec nation that was already one of the world's most violent countries.

There is no official data, but the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict, a rights group, have reported 107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016. Videos of crowds breaking into shops, swarming on to trucks or fighting over products frequently make the rounds on social media, though footage is often hard to confirm.

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'He’s our hero': Hindu nationalists rally for Donald Trump in India

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:36 AM PDT

Trump's stance on Muslim immigration to the US and his rhetoric against Isis has caught the attention of Hindu nationalist groups in India

On a hot afternoon in Delhi, a group of men sat around a fire chanting Hindu mantras.

Idols of Shiva and Hanuman watched on as the group performed a havan puja, a ceremony of worship which they hoped would bring good fortune for the subject of their prayers.

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Auction for George Zimmerman's gun hits $65m before bidder account deleted

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:17 AM PDT

Leading bidder 'Racist McShootFace' has account deleted after online auction on website for United Gun Group appears to be hijacked

Bidding in an online auction for the pistol that George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin appears to have been hijacked by fake accounts posting astronomically high bids.

At one point early on Friday, the bidding surpassed $65m with the leading bidder using the screen name "Racist McShootFace". The site later showed that account had been deleted.

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12,000 people trapped in Syria refugee camp by bombs, shells and bullets

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:11 AM PDT

Save the Children says Palestianian refugee camp Khan Eshieh cut off by heavy shelling, with supplies of food and medicine running out

A new siege at a refugee camp in Syria has left 12,000 people, including 3,000 children, running out of food and medicine as they endure shelling, barrel bombs and sniper fire, Save the Children said on Friday.

The international charity said the last remaining open road out of Khan Eshieh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, was shut this week by heavy shelling and sniper fire. Save the Children said three youths were reportedly shot dead trying to escape the camp, while bombing has increased, with dozens of barrel bombs being dropped on the area.

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‘We can no longer stay silent’: fury erupts over sexism in French politics

Posted: 13 May 2016 09:32 AM PDT

Female politicians, campaigners and journalists demand change as shocking tales of harassment emerge

Isabelle Attard, a French MP from Normandy, stood outside the French parliament flanked by dozens of protesting female politicians and feminist campaigners. Armed with placards and loudspeakers, they demanded an end to a dangerous French taboo: the everyday groping, harassment, sexist comments and sexual assault that women are still subjected to in parliament by male politicians.

"We can no longer stay silent," Attard said. "Women must feel able to speak out." Riot police stood by on the sidelines.

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Irish leader to campaign in UK for remain vote

Posted: 13 May 2016 11:22 AM PDT

Enda Kenny says Brexit might spark a return to violence in Northern Ireland and trigger economic slowdown in Ireland

Ireland's taoiseach has stepped up his warnings about the consequences of a British exit from the European Union, saying it might spark a return to violence in Northern Ireland and trigger an economic slowdown in the Republic. Enda Kenny said he and his ministers would be campaigning in the UK to try to persuade Irish-born residents to vote to remain.

It is understood that there is concern in Ireland that some younger Irish people in the UK are less inclined to vote to remain than more established Irish settlers.

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Is the 'Ferguson effect' real? Researcher has second thoughts

Posted: 13 May 2016 01:23 PM PDT

'Some version' of theory linking protests over police killings to increase in crime may be best explanation for increase in murders in 2015, St Louis criminologist says after deeper analysis of crime trends

For nearly a year, Richard Rosenfeld's research on crime trends has been used to debunk the existence of a "Ferguson effect", a suggested link between protests over police killings of black Americans and an increase in crime and murder. Now, the St Louis criminologist says, a deeper analysis of the increase in homicides in 2015 has convinced him that "some version" of the Ferguson effect may be real.

Looking at data from 56 large cities across the country, Rosenfeld found a 17% increase in homicide in 2015. Much of that increase came from only 10 cities, which saw an average 33% increase in homicide.

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Justin Trudeau visits Fort McMurray to survey wildfire damage

Posted: 13 May 2016 01:16 PM PDT

The Canadian prime minister said he doesn't think people understand the scope of destruction that forced mass evacuations as he toured oils sands city

Canada's prime minister arrived in wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray on Friday and after taking a helicopter tour to assess the damage said he doesn't think most Canadians comprehend yet the scope of what happened in the oil sands capital, where more than 88,000 people were forced to evacuate.

Just Trudeau arrived in the northern Alberta city almost two weeks after a massive wildfire ignited, tearing through the isolated region and surrounding areas, causing several oil sands operations to shut down. Alberta officials say they will have a plan within two weeks for getting residents back into their homes.

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Spanish tyre dump fire triggers evacuation of 9,000 people

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:40 AM PDT

Residents of nearby Seseña ordered to leave after blaze at vast dump south of Madrid produces toxic cloud

Spanish officials have ordered the evacuation of 9,000 people living in a sprawling apartment complex close to a raging tyre dump fire in a town near Madrid.

The massive fire broke out before dawn at the vast tyre dump, located south of the Spanish capital, sending a spectacular billowing cloud of thick black smoke into the air that was visible for at least 20 miles (30km).

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Hezbollah blames Sunni militants for commander's death

Posted: 14 May 2016 12:54 AM PDT

Lebanese group says Mustafa Badreddine was killed due to shelling near Syrian airport

Hezbollah said its top military commander died as a result of artillery shellingm by Islamist extremists near Damascus airport this week.

The Lebanese Shia Muslim group announced Mustafa Badreddine's death on Friday, and a military funeral was held for him on the same day in the group's stronghold in southern Beirut.

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Afghanistan ready to sign truce with insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami

Posted: 14 May 2016 12:31 AM PDT

Kabul officials say deal could be inked as soon as Sunday, which it hopes will eventually lead to peace with Taliban

The Afghan government is expected to finalise a peace deal with a notorious militant insurgent group within days, marking a breakthrough in attempts to end the 15-year war, an official and a representative of the group said on Saturday.

Ataul Rahman Saleem, deputy head of Kabul's high peace council, said that the deal with the armed wing of Hezb-i-Islami could be completed on Sunday, after two years of negotiations.

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British woman in Peru prison for drug smuggling to be released

Posted: 14 May 2016 12:18 AM PDT

Melissa Reid set to be expelled by Latin American nation, after serving two years of her sentence and showing remorse to judges

The Briton jailed in Peru for cocaine smuggling is to be released after authorities gave their strongest indication yet that they agreed to expel her from the South American country, according to reports.

The 22-year-old was imprisoned for smuggling in 2013 and had appealed to be expelled and serve the remainder of her sentence closer to home.

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Zimbabwe’s trillion-dollar note: from worthless paper to hot investment

Posted: 13 May 2016 11:00 PM PDT

The central bank of Zimbabwe issued $100,000,000,000,000 notes during the last days of hyperinflation in 2009, and they barely paid for a loaf of bread. But their value has shot up

What's been one of the best-performing investments of the past seven years? Shares in Facebook? London property? Bitcoin? Up there with the best, believe it or not, are Zimbabwean 100 trillion dollar notes.

A trillion, by the way, is a million million. There are 12 zeros in a trillion. Add another two to reach the total on the Zimbabwean 100 trillion dollar bill, the note with the most zeroes of any legal tender in all recorded history. The bills circulated for a few months in 2009 at the zenith – or, more precisely, the nadir – of one of the most terrible instances of hyperinflation in history, before Harare finally abandoned the Zimbabwean dollar in favour of the South African rand, the US dollar and several other foreign currencies.

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Stephen Collins on Brexit – cartoon

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:00 PM PDT

Stylish cover-up: inside International Modest fashion week

Posted: 13 May 2016 04:02 PM PDT

New event in Turkey aiming to showcase the best of conservative wear was awash with spring colours

International Modest fashion week opened on Thursday in Istanbul as Turkey sought to make a name for itself as a creative hotspot for conservative wear around the world. Seventy designers are taking part in the two-day event hosted by Modanisa, an online retailer of Muslim fashion, at a railway station flooded with spotlights for the occasion.

"[We want] to create mainstream fashion out of modest fashion and to energise Islamic communities to produce [clothing] for Muslim women," Modanisa CEO Kerim Ture said. "They want to have their rules but they also want to look chic."

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By ignoring corruption's colonial roots, Cameron's summit was destined to fail

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:32 AM PDT

Nigeria may be corrupt, but denying the historical role Britain and others played in this rendered the event useless, argues Ventures Africa

Ahead of his anti-corruption summit to tackle what must be the world's oldest skill, the art of looting, David Cameron was overheard telling the Queen that Nigeria and Afghanistan are the "two most corrupt countries in the world."

But wasn't the art of looting perfected and then institutionalised by the colonial enterprises of the erstwhile British Empire? It's hard not to think of this history when you see the footage of old and greying white men and their queen as they discuss two countries that were once "possessions".

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South African court allows landmark silicosis suit against gold firms

Posted: 13 May 2016 03:00 AM PDT

Up to 500,000 miners may be eligible to seek damages for lung diseases, a decision that could cost the industry millions

South Africa's High Court have given the green light for class action suits seeking damages from gold firms, on behalf of up to half a million miners who contracted fatal lung diseases while working underground.

The decision by Judge Phineas Mojapelo sets the stage for protracted proceedings in South Africa's largest class action suit, which analysts have said could cost the gold industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

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The '28 pages': Americans deserve to know if Saudis financed terror | Mohamad Bazzi

Posted: 13 May 2016 09:03 AM PDT

A former 9/11 commission member told the Guardian there was evidence that Saudi government employees helped 9/11 hijackers. The nation needs answers

For years, Saudi Arabia's leaders have argued that the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks were Saudis is irrelevant. They insist there is no evidence Saudi officials or institutions provided a support network for al-Qaida and its hijackers. For a long time, Americans largely accepted that explanation.

But in recent months, the façade of Saudi Arabia as America's most important ally in the Arab world and a force for stability in the Middle East has begun to crack. US public anger against Saudi Arabia is rising – over its war in Yemen, its treatment of women and dissidents and the use of its oil wealth to export extremist ideology by building mosques and dispatching preachers throughout the Muslim world. Prodded by some relatives of the 9/11 victims, Americans want a reexamination of whether any Saudi officials played a role in the attacks.

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Hadley Freeman: I’m back in America. Is this where I belong?

Posted: 14 May 2016 01:00 AM PDT

There's so much I love about the US – prefer, even, to Britain. Most importantly, the candy

I am writing from America this week, staying here for a few days for work. I have what a therapist would call a "complicated relationship" with this country. For a long time, America was like that first boyfriend I always assumed I'd one day get back with and marry – only to turn up at my 20th school reunion and realise that he's a lot fatter and a bit more racist than I remembered.

I was born in New York and moved to London when I was 11, because of my father's job. For many years, I saw my life as a train that had come off the correct track and ended up derailed in this strange European country, where people were obsessed with Australian soap operas and novelty singles by superstars such as Mr Blobby. This, I was certain, was not where I was meant to be and, boy, did I let my blameless parents know exactly how much they'd ruined my life by forcing me to leave my home, my friends and my norfolk terrier back in Manhattan (truthfully, I was mainly upset about the dog). It didn't help that, soon after we moved, I got very sick and had to spend the next three years in hospital, so Britain came to represent hospital life, while America was the place where I could go outside without the supervision of a nurse. Things like that matter to a teenager.

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Asia has yet to confront its past – be grateful Europe did | Natalie Nougayrède

Posted: 14 May 2016 01:00 AM PDT

China and Japan may be thriving, but so are old antagonisms that poison diplomacy and politics. The progress of the entire east Asia region is at stake

Travelling from Europe to Asia can provoke a tinge of envy. Asia will define the 21st century. Europe resembles a basket case. Asia is the new world. Europe is the old continent. That is, until you arrive and take stock of east Asia's reality, a tangled web of unresolved historical disputes and rising tensions. It makes Europe's accomplishments over the past six decades seem dazzling.

"Let us learn from the mistakes of the past," reads a sign at Hiroshima's memorial to the 140,000 victims of the A-bomb. In a park tourists stroll past the gutted dome of the only building left standing by the atomic blast of 6 August 1945. A museum displays waxworks of the living dead who struggled from the rubble, their clothes torn, their bodies scorched. There are few places where the devastation wreaked by the 20th century comes across as powerfully as in Hiroshima – which Barack Obama will visit later this month – and it is this that explains why Japanese people see themselves as victims, not perpetrators, of second world war atrocities.

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Nauru emergency caesarean: Peter Dutton defends island's health services

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:53 PM PDT

Immigration minister says facilities are 'significant' after Somalian woman and newborn flown to Brisbane hospital

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has defended health services on Nauru as "significant" after an asylum seeker was flown to Brisbane following an emergency caesarean section.

Naima Ahmed, a 22-year-old Somali woman, and her newborn, who was one month premature, were taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's hospital this week following the procedure.

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Travel agency cancels offer to fly with Tokyo student in 'book of beautiful girls'

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:49 PM PDT

Japan's H.I.S. Co halts promotion after online backlash criticising offer to pick a woman to 'sit next to you for a fun flight'

A major Japanese travel agency has cancelled a promotion offering passengers the chance to fly with female university students chosen from a "pictorial book of beautiful girls" after an online backlash.

Local media reported that H.I.S. Co offered five groups of winners the in-flight companionship of female students enrolled at the University of Tokyo, who would share their knowledge en route about the overseas destination and its tourist attractions.

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Elderly Buddhist monk hacked to death in Bangladesh, say police

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:40 PM PDT

Latest in spate of murders of religious minorities and secular activists in Muslim-majority nation

An elderly Buddhist monk was found hacked to death on Saturday in Bangladesh, police said, the latest in a spate of murders of religious minorities and secular activists in the Muslim-majority nation.

Related: 'Anyone could become a target': wave of Islamist killings hits Bangladesh

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Venezuela president declares 60-day state of emergency, blaming US for instability

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:04 PM PDT

Nicolas Maduro says 'Washington is activating measures at the request of Venezuela's fascist right'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and from the US to topple his leftist government.

Maduro did not provide details of the measure. A previous state of emergency, implemented in states near the Colombian border last year, suspended constitutional guarantees in those areas, except for guarantees relating to human rights.

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US to renew most Myanmar sanctions, say officials

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:51 PM PDT

Restrictions expected to be relaxed for certain individuals and companies in order to encourage trade

The US plans to renew the bulk of its sanctions against Myanmar when they expire next week, but will make some changes aimed at boosting investment and trade, according to several senior US officials and congressional aides.

Related: US defies Myanmar government request to stop using term Rohingya

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Boko Haram may be sending fighters to Isis in Libya – US officials

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:16 PM PDT

Nigeria asks US to sell it aircraft to fight Islamist group, which has waged seven-year insurgency and pledged loyalty to Isis

There are signs that Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists are sending fighters to join Isis in Libya, and of increased cooperation between the two groups, a senior US official said on Friday.

Nigeria has asked the US to sell it aircraft to fight Boko Haram, which has been waging a seven-year insurgency in the north and last year pledged loyalty to Isis, which is active in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

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Three dead after Amtrak train hits truck in California

Posted: 13 May 2016 04:47 PM PDT

Three men were killed instantly when an Amtrak passenger train hit their truck as they tried to take a shortcut across the tracks

Three men who had taken a shortcut to circumvent a stopped freight train were killed instantly as an Amtrak passenger train hit their truck as they crossed the tracks, police confirmed on Friday.

The three, who were described as Hispanic males between 20 and 30, were all killed instantly on impact. No injuries were reported among the 217 passengers and crew on board the train, said Vernae Graham, a spokesperson for Amtrak.

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Man pleads guilty to pulling off Muslim woman's hijab during US flight

Posted: 13 May 2016 02:18 PM PDT

Gill Parker Payne of North Carolina was given a federal misdemeanor charge for grabbing woman's headscarf on Southwest Airlines flight in December

A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities say he grabbed a Muslim woman's hijab on a Southwest Airlines flight in December and pulled it off.

Federal authorities say 37-year-old Gill Parker Payne, of Gastonia, North Carolina, entered the plea Friday. He was charged with using force or threat of force to obstruct a Muslim woman in the free exercise of her religious beliefs.

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Homeland Security: 'be patient' as airport lines reach extreme lengths

Posted: 13 May 2016 12:59 PM PDT

Chicago security lines peaked at one hour and 45 minutes on Thursday, while on Friday American Airlines was forced to hold at least five flights in Dallas

Facing a growing backlash over extremely long airport security lines, Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson on Friday asked fliers "to be patient" as the government takes steps to get them onto planes more quickly.

Travelers across the country have endured lengthy lines, some snaking up and down escalators, or through food courts and into terminal lobbies. At some airports, lines during peak hours have topped 90 minutes. Airlines have reported holding planes at gates to wait for passengers to clear security.

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Thousands mourn top Hezbollah commander killed in Syria – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 12:01 PM PDT

Thousands attended the funeral of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine in Beirut on Friday, a day after he was killed in Syria. His death is the biggest blow to the Lebanese Shia organization since its military chief was killed in 2008. Badreddine was one of the highest ranking officials in the group and was assessed by the US to be responsible for Hezbollah's operations in Syria

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'A lot of testosterone and little pigment': Brazil's old elite deals a blow to diversity

Posted: 13 May 2016 11:35 AM PDT

With Dilma Rousseff out, many doubt that the all-male, mostly white cabinet taking over can unite one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations

Brazil's image as a socially liberal, multi-ethnic democracy may always have been more myth than reality, but any lingering illusions of this type have been swept away by interim president Michel Temer's appointment of the country's first all-male cabinet since the end of dictatorship in1985.

After conspiring to suspend Brazil's first female president, his former running mate Dilma Rousseff, the 75-year-old patrician quickly showed his conservative instincts with a mostly white lineup of ministers that also included a soy baron in charge of agriculture, and a finance minister who immediately declared the need for sweeping cuts.

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Fire rages at one of Europe's largest tyre dumps – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 11:08 AM PDT

Spanish authorities ordered residents to remain indoors and close their windows Friday as a fire raged in one of Europe's largest tyre dumps near the town of Sesena in central Spain, 36km from the capital Madrid. The blaze is reported to have begun at 2am local time. The cause is yet unknown, Spanish emergency services said

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Iran urged to call off teenager's execution

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:07 AM PDT

Alireza Tajiki was 15 at time of crime and Amnesty says his trial relied heavily on confessions obtained by torture

A 19-year-old in Iran is due to be executed this weekend following a trial that human rights groups say relied on forced confessions to a crime he is alleged to have committed when he was 15.

In a case that highlights Iran's continuing use of capital punishment against juvenile offenders, Alireza Tajiki, who was found guilty of raping and fatally stabbing a friend, is scheduled to be hanged on Sunday at Adel Abad prison in the southern city of Shiraz.

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Arson in the pigeon lofts: spate of attacks leaves fanciers baffled

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:05 AM PDT

Stuart Russell, whose birds were burned alive, believes culprits come from 'pigeon fraternity' while others reckon they're 'just yobbos'

Stuart Russell was at home in Street, Somerset, when a friend knocked on his door at about 11pm and asked if he knew that his pigeon lofts were on fire.

Russell, 71, has kept racing pigeons for almost half a century, taking a cleaning job after he retired as a lorry driver to be able to still afford his hobby.

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Brazil's political chaos: what's the mood where you are?

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:25 AM PDT

Dilma Rousseff suspension has resulted in Michel Temer taking over as interim president - we want your views on the current state of Brazilian politics

There have been a lot of words said and written about Brazil's political situation in the past few days, and not many of them have been very complimentary.

With the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, who has been replaced by an interim in the form of Michel Temer, it has been a particularly turbulent week in a country beset by economic difficulties and social unrest.

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Mustafa Badreddine: a long, violent career won him many enemies

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:18 AM PDT

Hezbollah commander will be mourned in Beirut, Damascus and Tehran but few tears will be shed in other Middle East capitals

It may take time for the full story of the death in Syria of the Hezbollah military commander Mustafa Badreddine to emerge – was he killed in Damascus or elsewhere, by a car bomb, artillery shell or an airstrike? In the chaos of war, establishing even basic facts is not easy.

But what is certain is that he had acquired many enemies over a long and violent career. Israel tops the list, but Hezbollah's backing for the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, widens the circle of suspects.

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Oyinbo Princess: the former BA flight attendant who has taken Nollywood by storm – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:43 AM PDT

Claire Edun, a former flight attendant from Winchester in Hampshire, has become an unlikely star of the Nigerian film industry after she fell in love with the country and taught herself pidgin English. Edun, who is known as Oyinbo Princess ('White Princess') in Nigeria, was spotted online and cast in a romantic comedy, ATM (Authentic Tentative Marriage)

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'Necessary evil': saving the endangered caribou might mean killing wolves

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:39 AM PDT

There are only 12 woodland caribou left in the contiguous United States. To avoid extinction, a recovery team agreed to a drastic and controversial measure

The blood had dried by the time Bart George pulled his Ford pickup over on a high mountain pass in southern British Columbia. It was late fall in 2015. George always kept his passport in the truck – he never knew when he'd need to rush across the border between the US and Canada to investigate a kill.

Now was one of those times.

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Bath residents flee after second world war bomb found in playground

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:30 AM PDT

Hundreds evacuated from homes after being woken in the night upon discovery of unexploded 500lb bomb at former school

Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from their homes in Bath after an unexploded 500lb second world war bomb was found in a playground.

A 300-metre exclusion zone was set up following the discovery at the former school in Lansdown Road, and residents were woken up in the night and told to leave.

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Turrialba volcano erupts in Costa Rica – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:25 AM PDT

Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano erupts early on Thursday 31 miles east of the capital, San José. This video shows the eruption from outside and inside the volcano using infrared cameras. The plume of volcanic ash, gas and rocks reaches more than two miles high

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Nollywood's new star: meet Claire Edun AKA Nigeria's Oyinbo Princess

Posted: 13 May 2016 06:09 AM PDT

Pidgin-speaking former BA cabin crew member is YouTube sensation in Nigeria where she premieres in major film role

Nollywood has a new star. Oyinbo Princess, as she is known in the Nigerian film industry, is as dramatic, expressive and fluent in pidgin English as any other actor in the west African powerhouse. She makes a kissing noise with her lips to get a barman's attention, and raps out a sharp "aa-aa" if she disagrees with you.

Oyinbo Princess is not Nigerian, though; her alias means White Princess. Her real name is Claire Edun, and in another life she is a young woman from the southern English city of Winchester who used to be a British Airways cabin crew member.

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East Asian words make it into Oxford English Dictionary

Posted: 13 May 2016 05:42 AM PDT

Latest update to OED includes words used by English speakers in Hong Kong and Singapore such as 'wah' and 'dai pai dong'

Words most commonly heard on the streets of Hong Kong and Singapore such as "yum cha" and "wah" have been included in the Oxford English Dictionary's latest update.

The terms – a type of Chinese breakfast and an expression of delight, respectively – enter, along with phrases such as "dai pai dong", "ang moh" and "chilli crab" (an open-air food stall, a light-skinned person, and a regional delicacy).

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China to put former presidential aide Ling Jihua on trial

Posted: 13 May 2016 04:41 AM PDT

Adviser to ex-president Hu Jintao faces corruption charges as part of battle against graft within Communist party

More than four years after a high-speed Ferrari crash precipitated his fall from grace, the gatekeeper to the former Chinese president faces court, accused of taking "massive" bribes and illegally obtaining state secrets.

Ling Jihua, 59, served as the top aide to China's then president and Communist party chief, Hu Jintao, from 2007 to 2012, when he was demoted after his son was killed in a horrific and scandalous road accident.

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Mongolian nomads' spring migration – in pictures

Posted: 13 May 2016 04:40 AM PDT

Timothy Allen is the first outsider to walk with a Kazakh family on their spring migration. The Kazakhs of western Mongolia are known for hunting with eagles and each year between February and April about 200 families make the 90-mile trip across the Altai mountains

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The unexpected beauty of road intersections – in pictures

Posted: 13 May 2016 02:23 AM PDT

Digital designer Nicholas Rougeux's Interchange Choreography project finds simple beauty in the apparent chaos of some of the world's most complicated road layouts – from Birmingham's iconic Spaghetti Junction to examples from China, Russia and the US

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The cost of drugs is killing us. How can we foster access for all? | Mihir Mankad

Posted: 14 May 2016 01:00 AM PDT

Big pharma says high prices fund research and development, but costly drugs hit poor people hard and divert money needed to build clinics and pay nurses

Over the past year, high medicine prices have made the headlines. In the UK, two cancer treatments were dropped because they were deemed too expensive. A US Senate subcommittee criticised pharmaceutical company Gilead for charging $84,000 (£57,000) for a full course of its new hepatitis C treatments and found that fostering broad, affordable access for other drugs was not a major concern for the firm.

This is all without even mentioning the antics of everyone's favourite villain, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, who was called the most hated man in America for hiking the price of Daraprim, a malaria drug.

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Why is the cost of hosting refugees falling on the world's poorest states?

Posted: 13 May 2016 10:19 AM PDT

As long as rich nations pay lip service to meeting the needs of the world's displaced, they cannot blame Kenya for closing refugee camps like Dadaab

The government of Kenya says it plans to close Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, which hosts approximately 330,000 people, as well as shutting the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA). The announcement, on Friday 6 May, was no doubt a pre-election stunt of Trump-like proportions that plays to an electorate's fear of generating instability and outsiders taking jobs, playing to the same xenophobic narrative that has become commonplace in election campaigns across the world. It has been met with outrage and concern by many national and international actors alike – and, more important, by the hundreds of thousands of refugees whose lives are likely to be affected by this decision. Others have dismissed it as an empty threat, albeit a dangerous and irresponsible one.

Related: Refugees urge Kenyan leaders to rethink closure of Dadaab camp

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EU rapid reaction medical force targets yellow fever in Angola

Posted: 13 May 2016 05:08 AM PDT

The European Medical Corps set up after the Ebola crisis is being sent to tackle the yellow fever outbreak that has claimed nearly 300 lives in Angola

The European Medical Corps (EMC) recently set up by the EU is being sent on its first mission – to help tackle the outbreak of yellow fever in Angola.

Since the first case of the mosquito-transmitted disease was reported in the capital, Luanda, in December 2015, 293 people have died, amid some 2,267 reported cases.

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Boko Haram is losing ground – but will not be defeated by weapons alone | Vincent Foucher

Posted: 13 May 2016 04:52 AM PDT

Leaders meeting at the Lake Chad basin summit must battle the region's humanitarian and development needs to combat the insurgency

Nigeria has scored important successes against Boko Haram. The military campaign that President Muhammadu Buhari launched after his election last year is stronger and better coordinated. The insurgency is now less of a military threat, after seven years of conflict that have killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions, damaged local economies and cross-border trade, and spread to the Lake Chad basin states of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

However, as regional states and their international partners gather in Abuja on Saturday to discuss their strategy, Boko Haram remains a major security challenge requiring a coordinated response. It may prove tough to eradicate, and the toughest challenge remains: to dry up its pool of recruits through better development and governance.

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White House issues 'guidance' on transgender bathrooms – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 08:00 AM PDT

In a letter to the states, the Obama administration is telling every public school district to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. The letter, signed by officials from the Departments of Justice and Education, is not bound by law, but contains an implicit threat: that schools choosing not to abide by the recommendation could face lawsuits or lose federal aid

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Susannah Mushatt Jones, world's oldest person, dies: 1899-2016 – video

Posted: 13 May 2016 07:55 AM PDT

Jones died on Thursday in New York City, leaving an Italian woman, also 116, with the title. Affectionately known as 'Miss Susie', Jones was born in Alabama and was the daughter of sharecroppers and the granddaughter of slaves. She retired in 1965 and had said her secret to longevity was lots of sleep and never smoking or drinking

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Life is Inspiration

Saya senang blogging, untuk sharing apa yang saya fikirkan. Saya menganggap setiap perjalanan hidup memiliki keunikan..

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