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Global markets hit by political tensions-business live
Syria crisis and California wildfires continue: the best news pictures of the day
Taliban kill six government workers in Herat
Syria crisis: discussions continue over intervention - live updates
Measles outbreak: 10 cases detected in Victoria in three weeks
Syria crisis: US signals intent to take action against Assad regime
Campaign diary: when two heavily armed warships cross paths ...
M23 rebels attack Congo troops near Goma
Kevin Rudd looks to relocate navy to Queensland - video
Taliban attack Pakistani army camp near Afghan border
Tony Abbott says work policy good for Indigenous unemployed
Chris Herries becomes first female chair of Co-operatives UK
Philippines hit by anti-corruption protests
Badger cull begins in Gloucestershire and Somerset amid protests
India approves food bill to subsidise grain for the poor
Election 2013: Kevin Rudd to discuss future of navy – politics live blog - as it happened
Coalition refuses to say which health bodies it would cut
India turns to yoga to steer boozy bus drivers on road to recovery
Tony Abbott king hit comments 'offensive and irresponsible'
GlaxoSmithKline case: China charges British-American couple
Clive Palmer 'twerks' on the Kyle and Jackie O show – video
Opposition to Tony Abbott's key policies raises possibility of double dissolution
How likely is a crocodile attack?
One in five people on welfare in parts of western Sydney
Coalition announces plan to abolish national gambling regulator

Global markets hit by political tensions-business live

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:47 AM PDT

Escalating Syrian crisis pushes oil price and hits Turkish lira, as eurozone woes also weigh on markets

Graeme Wearden

Syria crisis and California wildfires continue: the best news pictures of the day

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:43 AM PDT

The Guardian's award-winning picture team rounds up the most eye-catching images

Taliban kill six government workers in Herat

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:36 AM PDT

Men who worked for World-Bank-funded programme are shot dead despite efforts at negotiation by governor

The Afghan Taliban have killed six men who worked for a government programme in western Herat, one of the war-ravaged country's most stable provinces whose small but promising private sector is driving the national economy, the governor has said.

The men were shot in the head late on Monday, despite efforts by the governor, Fazlullah Wahidi, to convince the Taliban the men did not work for him.

"We had gathered some elders to meet the Taliban to tell them that they … worked for everyone in the country, but the Taliban killed them before they arrived for negotiations," Wahidi said.

The Afghan men worked for a World-Bank-funded programme created by the ministry of rural rehabilitation and development that aims to improve project management before the pullout of most foreign troops from the country next year.

Elections are to be held on 5 April to replace the president, Hamid Karzai, who came to power in 2001 after US-led forces toppled the Taliban.

Many Afghans say the elections are an essential part of bringing peace, but attacks by the Islamist Taliban are causing increasing concern.

Herat's $1bn-a-year economy contributed about a fifth of Afghanistan's revenue in 2012 and the west has pinned hopes on the province helping to wean the country off international aid.

The western province has been mostly stable, but Taliban fighters stormed a court where militants were standing trial in April, killing seven and wounding 75.

Random killings by the Taliban are not rare in Afghanistan but recent attacks have typically occurred in more restive provinces. About two weeks ago, eight people who worked for Afghan security forces were killed in violent Ghazni on their way to Kabul by bus.

They had been tricked into identifying themselves at an improvised checkpoint by Taliban fighters dressed as Afghan soldiers, who told them there was a Taliban checkpoint ahead and to get off the bus to avoid being killed.

Syria crisis: discussions continue over intervention - live updates

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:31 AM PDT

Follow the day's events as they unfold

Peter Walker

Measles outbreak: 10 cases detected in Victoria in three weeks

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:21 AM PDT

Melbourne man linked to four cases in Victoria and one in Queensland; health officials expect more people will be infected

More people are expected to be diagnosed with measles after 10 cases of the infectious disease were detected in Victoria in three weeks.

A Melbourne man, 26, has been linked to four cases in Victoria and one in Queensland after his diagnosis this month prompted health alerts in both states.

Victoria's chief health officer, Rosemary Lester, said another cluster of four and an unrelated case had also been detected.

The 10th case was a Chinese woman who went to Box Hill hospital almost two weeks ago.

"Unfortunately we do expect more cases," Dr Lester said. "There's really no way of predicting how wide it will spread."

She said the incubation period could be from seven to 18 days from the last contact.

Aside from a person exposed to the Melbourne man while he visited Brisbane in late July, Queensland Health says no new measles cases have been diagnosed in that state.

Victoria's new cases include a 21-year-old man who returned to Melbourne from Europe on August 6 and has passed the disease on to three family members.

He was infectious from August 1 to 10, during which time he and his family were in Ivanhoe, Collingwood, Upper Heidelberg and Donvale.

Tests on a Chinese woman who went to the emergency department at Box Hill hospital on August 15 have confirmed she had measles.

The woman, who has since returned to China, attended two other medical centres which are alerting medical staff and patients.

Dr Lester said measles is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause serious illness. "There can also be serious complications like pneumonia and encephalitis which is a brain inflammation."

She said the Victorian health department was not aware of any other cases linked to the woman at Box Hill, but she asked people to be alert for symptoms.

In very rare cases, brain inflammation caused by measles can be fatal.

Eleven cases of measles were detected in Victoria in 2012.

Syria crisis: US signals intent to take action against Assad regime

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 01:00 AM PDT

Tehran threat comes as John Kerry says US would respond to 'undeniable' use of chemical weapons by Assad regime

Iran has warned that foreign military intervention in Syria will result in a conflict that would engulf the region.

The threatening rhetoric from Tehran came in response to a statement by the secretary of state, John Kerry, on Monday that the US would respond to the "undeniable" use of chemical weapons in Syria.

In the strongest signal yet that the US intends to take military action against the Assad regime, Kerry said President Bashar al-Assad's forces had committed a "moral obscenity" against his own people.

"Make no mistake," Kerry said. "President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapon against the world's most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny".

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Araqchi, indicated it was equally resolved to defend Assad.

"We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region," Araqchi told a news conference. "These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region."

Shi'ite Iran is Syria's closest ally and has accused an alliance of militant Sunni Islamists, Israel and western powers of trying to use the conflict to take over the region.

The White House immediately echoed Kerry's comments, and said it would release an intelligence assessment about the use of chemical weapons in the coming days.

"The fact that chemical weapons were used on a widespread basis, against innocent civilians, with tragic results is undeniable," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "And there is very little doubt in our minds that the Syrian regime is culpable."

He added that while the president is still considering the appropriate response, he had already concluded that the attack constituted a "horrific violation of an international norm".

Pressed on whether the US would take military action, Carney said the last time the administration determined chemical weapons had been used, "on a smaller scale", it had decided to provide opposition fighters with assistance. On that occasion, in June, the US announced the CIA would begin supplying rebel groups with small arms and ammunition.

"The incident we're talking about now is of a much more grave and broader scale, and merits a response accordingly," Carney said, adding that the attack in Damscus was "obviously significantly more serious, with dramatically more heinous results".

The hardening of Washington's response came on a day which saw the UK, France, Germany and Turkey join the calls for intervention. David Cameron cut short his holiday in Cornwall to return to work in Downing Street on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday. However, Russia maintained its opposition to military action, with its foreign minister appearing to rule out becoming embroiled in any conflict.

On Monday night the rift between Russia and the western allies appeared to deepen when the White House postponed a meeting with diplomats from Moscow that had been scheduled for Wednesday in The Hague.

Washington said the high-level talks meant to discuss a Syria peace conference, had been put off because of "ongoing consultations" over the alleged chemical weapons attack But Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said it was a "regrettable" decision that the US had taken unilaterally.

Kerry said that Obama was liaising with world leaders to determine the appropriate response to an "indiscriminate use of chemical weapons" in Syria, but provided no timetable, and no further indication about what form any US-led action might take.

On Monday night the White House announced Obama had spoken with Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of staunch wartime ally Australia, about the Syrian situation and "possible responses by the international community".

Australia takes the rotating chair of the UN security council from Sunday. Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, Rudd said: "I do not believe the world can simply turn a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population resulting in nearly 300 deaths, or more, and some 3,600 people hospitalised."

UN inspectors were able to access some of the alleged sites of chemical attacks in the east Ghouta region of Damascus on Monday, but had to cut short their trip after regime officials warned that they could not guarantee the inspectors' safety.

The UN team collected some biological and environmental samples but refused to accept other samples of blood and urine that had already been taken by medical workers, presumably because they were unable to verify their source.

Earlier in the day two mortars landed near the Four Seasons hotel where the inspectors are staying before they set off for east Ghouta, and on the way there their convoy was hit by gunfire as they crossed the buffer zone from the regime-controlled centre of Damascus to the rebel-held east of the city.

The presence of the inspectors had been a central demand of the UN and their belated permission to enter the affected areas did little to calm the situation.

A build-up of military aircraft on RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus suggested that planning had reached a developed stage. With Russia and China likely to block a UN resolution, the UK and US have both signalled that they are prepared to act without a UN mandate. International law experts say intervention could be legally justified without a security council resolution under the UN's "responsibility to protect".

Earlier the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was outspoken over the necessity to act if his inspectors found evidence of chemical weapons use. "If proven, any use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is a serious violation of international law and an outrageous crime. We cannot allow impunity in what appears to be a grave crime against humanity," he said.

Under the terms of its mandate negotiated in the security council, the UN inspection team under Swedish scientist, Ake Sellstrom, can determine whether chemical agents have been used, but not who has used them.

Kerry said that regardless of the outcome of the UN weapons inspections, the US had already concluded that Syria had used chemical weapons. "Anyone who could claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass," he said "What is before us today is real. And it is compelling."

Chemical weapons could only have been used by Assad's forces, which has "custody" over chemical weapons in the country, Kerry said. He added that failure to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors for five days, and its decision to shell the affected neighbourhoods, "destroying evidence", indicated an attempt to conceal the truth. "That is not the behaviour of a government that is has nothing to hide," he said. "That is not the behaviour of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons".

"Our sense of basic humanity is offended, not only by this cowardly crime, but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up," Kerry said. He said the decision to allow weapons inspectors to the scene of the attack on Monday "is too late, and is too late to be credible".

"What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world," Kerry said. "It defies any code of morality. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standards, it is inexcusable, and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable," Kerry said, adding that the US and its allies had gathered more information about the atrocity which it would release in the "days ahead".

In Britain, No 10 said that the prime minister earlier clashed with Vladimir Putin over whether the Assad regime was responsible for the attack. In a telephone conversation, the Russian president said Moscow had no evidence as to whether such an attack had taken place – or who was responsible – after Cameron said there was "little doubt" that the Syrian regime was responsible.

Nick Clegg has cancelled a trip to Afghanistan to allow him to attend the NSC amid a growing expectation that parliament could be recalled before the end of the week to allow MPs to debate developments in Syria.

William Hague, who insisted Britain shared a common position with the US and France, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have tried those other methods – the diplomatic methods – and we will continue to try those. But they have failed so far."

Meanwhile, General Sir Nick Houghton, chief of the UK defence staff, discussed military options with his US counterpart, General Martin Dempsey, and other allied military chiefs at a military summit in the Jordanian capital Amman.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The chief of defence staff has met with General Dempsey in Amman as part of pre-planned talks with the Americans and other allies to consider how the international community should best respond to the ongoing crisis in Syria.

"As you would expect, the discussions have focused on the chemical weapons attack in Damascus last Wednesday. No decisions have been taken – as we've said, we are looking at all the options."

On Monday night, British government sources were downplaying expectations that a strike could be imminent. They said that Britain and the US wanted to consider the findings of the UN weapons inspectors with care before deciding whether to act. Downing Street said it would consult attorney general Dominic Grieve on the legalities of intervention.

However, it seemed unlikely on Monday night that the findings of the UN inspection team would heal the deep rift over Syria in the UN security council. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, warned that any attack on Syria without security council sanction would be "a crude violation of international law." He compared the situation to the run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. Asked what Russian would do if missile strikes were launched, he appeared to rule out military retaliation, saying Russia is "not planning to go to war with anyone".

In a reminder of the potential for any military action to escalate across the Middle East, Israel warned that it would hit back if there were any Syrian reprisals in the wake of western air strikes. The Israeli minister for intelligence and strategic affairs, Yuval Steinitz, said on Monday: "If we are under attack, we will protect ourselves and we will act decisively."

In Paris, France's president, Francois Hollande, said it was unthinkable that the international community would fail to respond to the use of chemical weapons, telling the Parisien newspaper: "Everything will be decided this week."

• Additional reporting: Mona Mahmood, Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, Constanze Letsch in Istanbul, Kate Connolly in Berlin, Alec Luhn in Moscow, and Kim Willsher in Paris

Campaign diary: when two heavily armed warships cross paths ...

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 12:59 AM PDT

Barry O'Farrell gets testy, Clive Palmer twerks it out and Jaimie Abbott denies any relationship to Tony

Quote of the day

The premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, and the prime minister were like ships in the day when they crossed paths for a press conference with a backdrop of Garden Island, thanks to Kevin Rudd's announcement of a naval taskforce.

A phone call would have been nice Kevin. A phone call.

Rudd later called O'Farrell grumpy.

Tweet of the day

The verb "to twerk" is to shake your booty Miley Cyrus-style. Clive Palmer, leader of the Palmer United party, was doing it for votes on Tuesday. Alex Johnston on Palmer "twerking" for a Sydney commercial radio station:

Prop of the day: the Vegemite files

Garden Island The renowned Sydney naval port loomed large in several press conferences, notably behind Rudd and O'Farrell, as the two leaders bumped chests over the prime minister's plans for a taskforce to investigate moving naval assets north.

Stats of the day

276,648 Prepoll votes completed to Monday 26 August

14,712,799 people are enrolled to vote in the 2013 federal election

Candidate of the day

Jaimie Abbott is the Liberal candidate for Newcastle. At the Liberal campaign launch on Sunday, Tony Abbott's daughters Bridget and Frances introduced their father, the netball dad and all-round family man. When he joined Jaimie Abbott in her seat for a bit of campaigning, she was keen to make the distinction at the start of the speech. "No relation," she said.

M23 rebels attack Congo troops near Goma

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 12:52 AM PDT

Both sides reportedly suffer heavy casualties and three UN peacekeepers are wounded near Rwandan border

Congolese troops have come under fire from rebels in the country's volatile east as fighting resumed just outside Goma, a city of nearly 1 million people near the volatile Congolese-Rwandan border, army officials say.

Heavy weapons fire rang out at around 4.30pm near the frontline just nine miles (11km) outside the city.

Hostilities resumed last week after weeks of relative calm, and on Thursday a new United Nations intervention brigade with a stronger mandate than past missions shelled rebel positions for the first time.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties over the weekend, with more than 50 rebels killed and 23 government soldiers dead, according to a doctor near the frontline and an army chaplain. Three UN peacekeepers were wounded: two South Africans and a Tanzanian, the UN-backed Radio Okapi reported.

Dr Isaac Warwanamiza, treating casualties of the conflict, said he had seen 82 bodies since early Sunday, 23 of whom he claimed were government soldiers, the highest death toll reported since hostilities broke out last week. "I'm overwhelmed by what I've seen: bodies blown apart, arms and feet here and there," he said, speaking to the Associated Press by phone from a hospital north of Goma.

Eight of the dead had no uniforms, 23 were government troops and the rest were March 23 Movement (M23) rebels, the doctor added.

There are 720 wounded Congolese troops at the military hospital, according to the army chaplain Lea Masika.

The head of the United Nations mission in Congo, Martin Kobler, visited two hospitals on Sunday and paid his respects to wounded government and UN soldiers, hailing them as "heroes fighting to restore peace", Radio Okapi reported.

The Congolese forces have advanced less than a mile since Wednesday and have yet to achieve their immediate objective – cutting off the M23 from a border crossing where the rebel group is believed to get supplies from neighbouring Rwanda, say observers.

The Congolese are fighting with the help of a new UN intervention brigade, which was created after the M23 rebels invaded and briefly held Goma in November.

The M23 has been pounding Goma from its positions just north of the strategic city, killing civilians in Goma's residential neighbourhoods. By Saturday, scores of angry residents took to the streets in protest, claiming the UN had not done enough to protect them. A UN car was set on fire, and in the melée two protesters were killed.

Some Goma residents claim the UN opened fire on the mob, but the president of Uruguay, José Mujica, said in a statement over the weekend that Uruguayan peacekeepers had only fired rubber bullets to control the crowd. Mujica said it was Congolese police who had used live ammunition.

On Monday, the Congolese government called for an investigation into the deaths of the civilians. The minister of the interior, Richard Muyej, told the Associated Press: "We are absolutely in agreement that a joint commission needs to be created."

Medical services were struggling to cope with the scale of the casualties among government troops and the M23 fighters. Subsequent peace talks in neighbouring Uganda have repeatedly stalled.

This weekend's clashes are the first time the Congolese army has been backed by the new UN intervention force, which was created in March.

The M23 is made up of hundreds of Congolese soldiers, mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group, who deserted the national army last year after accusing the government of failing to honour the terms of a deal signed in March 2009. Many of the movement's commanders are veterans of previous rebellions backed by Rwanda, which vigorously denies allegations that it has been supporting and reinforcing the M23.

In Washington, the state department condemned the actions of the M23, calling on the rebel group to immediately cease hostilities, disarm and disband. The US also suggested Rwanda was assisting the rebels.

"We urgently call on [Congolese] and Rwandan governments to exercise restraint to prevent military escalation of the conflict or any action that puts civilians at risk," the statement said. "We reiterate our call for Rwanda to cease any and all support to the M23."

Kevin Rudd looks to relocate navy to Queensland - video

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 12:46 AM PDT

The Labor leader says moving the navy out of Sydney makes long term economic and strategic sense

Taliban attack Pakistani army camp near Afghan border

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 12:05 AM PDT

Officials say at least one soldier has been killed in South Waziristan tribal area

Security officials say Pakistani Taliban fighters have attacked an army camp near the Afghan border, killing at least one soldier.

The officials said on Tuesday that four militants had tried to enter the camp in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area around midnight, triggering a shootout with soldiers. Three militants were shot and killed and the fourth, wearing an explosive-rigged vest, blew himself up.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll. One set of security officials said one soldier had been killed, while another said two soldiers had died and nine were wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military policy.

A Taliban spokesman, Asimullah Mehsud, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tony Abbott says work policy good for Indigenous unemployed

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 12:03 AM PDT

The plan, developed with Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, will succeed whether taken up by 500 or 5,000, says Coalition

Gabrielle Chan

Chris Herries becomes first female chair of Co-operatives UK

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:59 PM PDT

Co-ops pioneered gender equality within business, but it took 143 years of male leadership before a woman got the top job

The election of Chris Herries as Co-operatives UK's new chair this summer marks an historic first. Chris, a teacher by background, is the first female chair, following a long line of male chairmen stretching back to the founding of predecessor the Co-operative Union in Victorian times. "Yes, there have been no women chairs for the whole 143 years of the Co-operative Union and Co-ops UK," says Chris.

The co-operative movement is alone in having remained stubbornly male dominated into the 21st century, but there is something particularly inappropriate about it given it was women who enabled the co-operative idea to grow in Britain. As co-operative historian Rachael Vorberg-Rugh points out, the independent local co-operative stores that sprang up following the success of the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844 were dependent on their shoppers, and those shoppers were predominantly women. "Co-ops would not have succeeded if women hadn't chosen to make their purchasing decisions in co-op shops," she says.

To be fair, the principle of gender equality was established, at least on paper, right from the start. The Rochdale Pioneers' rules gave full membership rights to men and women alike, a radical stance at the time. Vorberg-Rugh points to the entry in the original minute book (now saved in the National Co-operative Archive in Manchester) when the first woman was admitted in 1846: the name of this first female pioneer was Eliza Brierley.

For several generations, co-operative society boards were entirely male, although because dividends were generally paid to women (even when her husband was technically the co-op member) co-ops directly helped working-class women manage the household budgets. "It was a means of saving a nest-egg without taking an immediate bite out of often very limited weekly income," Vorberg-Rugh explains. She mentions that the early Fabian Beatrice Potter (Beatrice Webb) was one of the first to stress the importance of women in the co-operative movement. "There is a hugely interesting class and gender history in the movement which is slowly being explored," she adds.

Women slowly began to take up elected positions on co-op boards following the establishment – by women – of the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1883. However, it took until 1922 for the first woman, Mary Cottrell, to appear on the board of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (now merged into the Co-operative Group) and another 37 years for a second woman to follow her.

Today the Co-operative Group's 20-strong board of directors comprises 16 men and four women, an underwhelming division given that 70% of the group's members are women. Herries (herself a former Co-operative Group Board member) accepts that there is a long way to go, but says that the consumer co-operative movement is now addressing gender equality issues much more seriously. The Co-operative Group's board recently resolved to reach 40% women directors by 2018, and set similar targets for its lower tiers of democracy, the Area Committees (parity by 2016) and the Regional Boards (2017). At the same time, moves are being taken to improve the number of women in senior management. "Women are encouraged to work with other women and to use mentoring to help know how they can best find their way through the structures," Chris Herries says.

Other consumer co-operative societies, most notably Lincolnshire (which has, in Ursula Lidbetter, a female chief executive), Midcounties and Channel Islands already have much stronger gender balance on their boards. Herries also points to other parts of the co-operative movement, especially workers' co-ops, housing co-ops and credit unions, where women tend to be much more active and occupying positions of responsibility and power. Co-ops UK is looking to see if there are lessons here that consumer co-ops can learn, she says. One current initiative towards this is the Co-operative Women's Challenge, jointly set up by Co-ops UK and the Co-operative Group.

Internationally, the co-operative movement now has a strong female presence at the top with Dame Pauline Green as the elected chair of the International Co-operative Alliance. Pauline Green, formerly an English MEP before becoming the first chief executive of Co-ops UK, used last year's UN International Year of Co-operatives particularly adroitly to raise the visibility of the co-op movement globally. There is also a strong cohort of female chief executives in the co-operative insurance world, including two prominent Canadians, Kathy Bardswick (The Co-operators) and Monique Leroux (Desjardins). A survey of women CEOs and their approach to management is forthcoming from the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation.

For Herries, better gender balance both in co-operative governance and management is not only more equitable, it also directly benefits co-operatives themselves by enabling them to tap a wider group of skills and talents. The question, perhaps, is whether a more gender-balanced Co-operative Group board might have reined in the recently retired chief executive Peter Marks and prevented the Co-operative Bank debacle. Herries does not answer directly, but she does stress that co-operatives need to refocus on their core purpose of serving their members' needs – and not just going out for unnecessary growth.

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Philippines hit by anti-corruption protests

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:57 PM PDT

Protesters call on Benigno Aquino's government to abolish 'pork barrel' funds used for legislators' pet projects

Tens of thousands of Filipinos angry at official corruption have marched through the centre of Manila and other cities to demand the abolition of a misused fund for legislators' pet projects, the biggest protest aimed at Benigno Aquino's government.

Protesters, responding to a call to wear white, converged on Manila's largest park on Monday, angry at the misuse of "pork barrel" funds under the priority development assistance fund (PDAF).

The money is frequently channelled to projects solely to impress voters, though many have turned out to be non-existent.

Aquino came to office in 2010 on a good governance and anti-corruption platform and consistently enjoys popularity ratings of more than 70%.

Aquino said on Friday the government would plug leaks in the fund, an announcement appeared timed to pre-empt Monday's march, and a presidential spokesman said the protesters and government wanted the same thing.

"The message is clear – we are on the same side. We are against corruption," the spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, told reporters.

But church and civic groups, health workers and students ignored Aquino's promise to overhaul the PDAF and called for its abolition.

"Just transfer the funds to department agencies delivering services," said Jun Bernandino, one of the protesters. "They are lawmakers, not service providers. Give the agencies enough budget to deliver the services the people need."

Police said about 60,000 protesters thronged Luneta park, some wearing pig masks. Others carried banners saying "Scrap pork barrel" and "No to pork".

Organisers had hoped for a million to join the protest, which – despite its scale – is not expected to hurt Aquino's popularity.

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, the charismatic archbishop of Manila whom many thought a strong candidate to become pope during this year's Vatican conclave, joined the protest, saying it was time for the government to show greatness.

About 1,500 police were deployed, but no incidents were reported.

Civic groups called for the protest after a state audit showed some lawmakers had funnelled 10bn pesos (£145m) in total to non-existent projects and groups under the previous government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has since been charged with plunder and electoral fraud.

Badger cull begins in Gloucestershire and Somerset amid protests

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:40 PM PDT

NFU president says badger cull is 'absolutely necessary' to fight bovine tuberculosis while protesters hit out at 'inhumane' tactics

The first pilot badger control operations have begun in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said on Tuesday.

In a letter to its members, the NFU president, Peter Kendall, said the cull was "an important step not just for cattle farmers but for the whole farming industry".

He wrote: "We cannot go on culling tens of thousands of cattle every year because of [bovine tuberculosis] TB while knowing the disease exists in wildlife uncontrolled. It is why the NFU will be working with the pilot companies to ensure the successful delivery of these pilot culls over the coming weeks."

Informing NFU members that the cull had started, Kendall wrote: "I know that many of you reading this will have suffered the misery of dealing with TB on farm – some of you for decades – and I hope now you will feel that something is finally being done to stem the cycle of infection between cattle and badgers …

"Badger control remains a controversial subject and we understand that some people will never agree with controlling badgers in this way.

"I am confident however that through the combined efforts of farmers, the NFU and government over the last year to illustrate the impact TB has on farms, and the scientific basis for badger control, more people than ever recognise the need to address the disease in badgers."

About 5,000 badgers are expected to be culled in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset over the next six weeks, where two pilot schemes are taking place in an attempt to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

But there is widespread opposition to the cull. Campaigners turned out in large numbers on Monday at the two pilot sites to protest against what they have called an "inhumane" measure.

But Kendall said that he hoped people would come to understand that the culls were "absolutely necessary".

He said: "It is also useful to remember our own survey this summer, which showed that two-thirds of the public either support or have no opinion on these badger culls.

"I hope that when time shows that these culls have reduced TB in cattle – just as has happened in Ireland – that even more people will understand that while sad, these culls are absolutely necessary.

"I hope that you will continue to show support for those farmers who are facing the nightmare of TB on farm and especially for those who are in the culling areas.

"You can rest assured that the NFU is working hard to support its members and the companies concerned with the culls."

On Monday night, Somerset Badger Patrol held a vigil event in Minehead against the cull.

A statement on its Facebook page after the event said: "Over 200 people tonight at the procession, thank you all so much for coming … We fight on, knowing that we are right helps."

Stop the Cull claimed on its Facebook page that more than 500 people had turned out to protest at both sites on Monday.

An anti-cull activist was arrested at a site belonging to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The man, named in reports as Jay Tiernan, who runs the Stop the Cull campaign, was chased on foot by police and arrested after climbing over a barbed wire fence into Aston Down in Stroud. He was arrested by Gloucestershire police on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the site.

He told ITV News he was trying to gather photographic evidence after hearing reports that 200 "rusty cages" and "industrial-sized fridges" were being prepared to hold dead badgers.

On Thursday, a high court judge made an order to stop farmers involved in badger culls being harassed and abused.

Mr Justice Turner granted an injunction at a high court hearing in London after lawyers representing the NFU said farmers had been targeted.

India approves food bill to subsidise grain for the poor

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:38 PM PDT

Vote breaks deadlock over programme, which government hopes will fight hunger and malnutrition, and boost the economy

The lower house of the Indian national assembly, the Lok Sabha, has approved a controversial £13bn ($20bn) plan to provide cheap grain to the poor – a key part of the ruling Congress party's strategy to win re-election next spring.

Under the plan, the government will sell subsidised wheat and rice to more than two-thirds of its 1.2 billion population.

India is home to a quarter of the world's hungry poor, according to United Nations data, despite being one of the biggest food producers and experiencing years of rapid economic growth.

The vote broke a long stalemate in parliament, potentially clearing the way for several reforms aimed at spurring the flagging economy, which the government hopes to pass in an extended session that ends in two weeks.

The upper house – the Raj Sabha – must approve the decree before it becomes law.

India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata party, has criticised the welfare scheme, which expands an existing cheap food programme covering more than 200 million people, as still too narrow to tackle widespread malnutrition among India's poor.

However, the party voted for the bill, which was passed on Monday evening after nearly nine hours of debate and the inclusion of amendments that government sources say could lead to an additional requirement of about 3m tonnes of grain.

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, has called child malnutrition in India, where almost 50% of children are underweight, a "national shame".

However, critics have said the plan merely expands a wasteful and inefficient public distribution system at a time when public finances are under huge stress, as global and local investors lose faith in India's potential to grow fast in the immediate future.

The rupee has plunged against foreign currencies in recent weeks, while India still imports vast quantities of oil and gold. Some say widespread reform of the agricultural sector would lead to lower food prices and boost growth.

The bill is a pet project of Sonia Gandhi, who led the Congress party to victory in the last two elections, on the back of populist programmes such as a rural jobs plan and a multibillion-pound farmer loan waiver passed just before the most recent general election in 2009.

The party has suffered from a series of corruption scandals, bitter internal feuding and its apparent inability to tackle the deep economic and social challenges facing India.

Gandhi, 66, was taken to hospital at the end of the debate, suffering from viral fever but was later discharged, having been given the all clear.

Jason Burke

Election 2013: Kevin Rudd to discuss future of navy – politics live blog - as it happened

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:26 PM PDT

The prime minister is in Sydney to talk about Australia's defence and security while Tony Abbott campaigns in Labor heartland of Newcastle

Paul Owen

Katharine Murphy

Coalition refuses to say which health bodies it would cut

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:21 PM PDT

Shadow health minister declines to say where he would cut administration to redirect funds to 'frontline' services

Lenore Taylor

India turns to yoga to steer boozy bus drivers on road to recovery

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 11:00 PM PDT

Bus company aims to reduce road deaths through pioneering scheme to wean its drivers off alcohol

In a clinic in Bengaluru, a stooped yogi in an orange shawl weaves through a group of 15 men kneeling on a carpet. His pupils place their right thumb on one nostril and exhale slowly. "I am erasing all negative thoughts," he says. "Slow and steady wins the game."

His session drawing to a close, Prakash Yogi doles out some practical advice: drink plenty of water, take brisk walks and shun alcohol. "Your body is like a vehicle. It should always be in condition," he says.

The men stretched out in front of him know a lot about vehicles. They are bus drivers, conductors and mechanics on government pay cheques, courtesy of the Karnataka State Road Transportation Corporation (KSRTC) and its affiliates. All have a good working knowledge of their favourite alcohol brands – mostly whiskey, rum and brandy – that have cost the company dearly in absenteeism and low productivity while putting the lives of passengers and pedestrians at risk.

The company, determined to get its drivers to clean up and to restore passenger confidence in the sobriety of public transport, has pioneered this 40-day rehabilitation programme, held in a Bengaluru hospital.

The drivers are put through a strict detox regime augmented by daily yoga sessions, counselling, medical lectures, gardening and volleyball. Cash and mobile phones are confiscated.

The company pays just over £100 for each employee, a bargain by international rehab standards. Over the past 18 months, 155 men from Karnataka state have attended the sessions at the clinic.

"Most commercial drivers, especially bus drivers, drive under the influence of liquor and other drugs," says Harman Singh Sindhu, president of ArriveSafe, a road safety NGO in Chandigarh. He says it is often the bus operators that supply illicit substances to drivers so they complete their routes quickly and make more trips. "To maximise profits, they compromise the safety of drivers and passengers and other road users," he says.

According to Dinesh Mohan, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, "There are a disturbing number of buses involved in serious crashes that result in fatalities." Mohan, who works with the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, thinks alcohol ignition interlocks should be installed in buses to guarantee the vehicle will not start if a drunk driver sits at the wheel.

Most of those at the Bengaluru rehab centre have been ordered to attend by their supervisors, under threat of losing their jobs. Some, like Shivaswamy, 41, from Hassan district, say they have come voluntarily.

He started drinking nine shots of whiskey after finishing a typical overtime shift, when he would drive from 5:30am to midnight for two consecutive days, covering 746 miles on bad roads. "My hands used to shake. It was difficult to steer the bus. I wouldn't be able to fall asleep," he says. Though he insists he never caused an accident, there were mornings when he knew he could not risk turning up for duty.

Pradeep AR, 28, a driver in Bengaluru, recalls how he would pour whiskey into coconut shells for surreptitious sips. "As soon as I got my salary, I used to drink for a week," he says.

Keeping bus passengers safe from drunk drivers is just one major challenge facing India. According to the World Health Organisation's global status report on road safety, published in March, nearly 134,000 people lost their lives in road accidents in 2010.

The number of traffic deaths is increasing by 8% each year, with badly maintained roads, speeding and fatigue cited as contributing causes.

However, health experts and traffic technocrats in India argue that alcohol plays a far bigger part in the country's poor road safety record than acknowledged or understood. Many Indian hospitals do not have breathalysers or other detection equipment. Police often hold back too. "A dead man is forgiven," explains Praveen Sood, co-director general of police in Karnataka. "It is culturally incorrect to check his blood and tell his family that he was drunk and that's why he died."

Almost two-thirds of crash fatalities occur on the highways a deadly combination of drunk driving, speeding and poor visibility. Police say they lack the resources to carry out random alcohol testing on the highways, and with state budgets heavily reliant on revenues from spiralling alcohol sales, state excise commissioners are largely deaf to pleas from the central government to remove liquor shops from the sides of highways.

But action is being taken. More than 50,000 drunk drivers have faced legal action in Mumbai since 2007, and the city of Visakhapatnam has quadrupled its drunk driving cases in just over three years.

In Bengaluru, police have been lobbying bars across the city to get their inebriated customers home safely. "We are trying to bring the bars around to the idea that 'your customers should remain alive, so you get more business'," says Sood.

Back in the rehab centre, the detoxed employees stare at a chalkboard as psychiatrist Mamatha Shetty circles the word "liver". She prompts them to call out the names of physical ailments linked to alcohol, and asks them to describe psychological symptoms, including alcoholic hallucinations.

It is unclear how effective such sessions are. According to Shetty, worldwide relapse rates are 40% to 60%, "and KSRTC is no exception". But company officials cite a success rate of almost 60% – drawing on follow-up data from local supervisors – and emphasise that those who keep drinking are sent elsewhere for another attempt at rehab here.

Yet with no sign that bus companies across India will follow KSRTC's example and implement testing and rehab programmes for the hundreds of thousands of drivers at the wheels of buses across the country, the carnage on the roads looks set to continue.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Tony Abbott king hit comments 'offensive and irresponsible'

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 10:14 PM PDT

Exclusive: Father of Thomas Kelly, who was killed in unprovoked attack in Kings Cross in 2012, criticises Abbott over comments suggesting those out at 2am 'maybe shouldn't be there'

Oliver Laughland

GlaxoSmithKline case: China charges British-American couple

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 10:02 PM PDT

Private investigators Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng were arrested as part of investigation into bribery scandal

China has given the first official confirmation of charges against a British-American couple embroiled in the GlaxoSmithKline bribery case.

An announcement by the Xinhua News Agency said Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, who both operate private investigation firm ChinaWhys, had been detained since July on charges of illegally trading in personal information about Chinese citizens.

Xinhua said reports prepared by their agency included information that infringed the privacy rights of Chinese citizens. ChinaWhys says its services for corporate clients include screening potential employees or business partners.

The couple's arrest had earlier been announced by their family and the British embassy in Beijing.

GSK has been accused by China of funnelling up to 3bn yuan (£312m) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials. It remains unclear whether the couple's arrest relates directly to that case but they were apparently arrested as part of the GSK investigation.

Humphrey and Yu's ChinaWhys had done work with drug companies including GSK, according to sources of the Reuters news agency where Humphrey worked as a journalist in the 1980s and 90s. The ChinaWhys website says he has been a risk management specialist and corporate detective for 14 years.

Humphrey, a Briton, and Yu, an American, were detained in Shanghai on 10 July by police investigating bribery allegations against GlaxoSmithKline.

In China an arrest typically means police believe they have enough evidence for a case to be brought to trial. Detentions can last for weeks and end in release without charges being filed.

Clive Palmer 'twerks' on the Kyle and Jackie O show – video

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 09:57 PM PDT

Palmer United party leader Clive Palmer speaks about how he entered politics after a challenge from his wife and how his family have a strong commitment to Australia during a breakfast radio interview on the Kyle and Jackie O show on 2Day FM – and then he shows off his 'twerking' abilities

Opposition to Tony Abbott's key policies raises possibility of double dissolution

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 09:53 PM PDT

Climate plan and paid parental leave scheme may be blocked in Senate if Coalition wins election

Tony Abbott's central policies, including the "direct action" climate plan and his paid parental leave scheme, are likely to face major problems in the upper house whichever way the unpredictable Senate ballot falls on 7 September, leaving open the possibility of a double dissolution election.

If the Coalition wins government, as all major polls are predicting, it is unlikely to win control of the Senate in its own right.

Abbott would prefer to deal with a Senate where the balance of power was held by a collection of right-of-centre independents, rather than the Greens, and this has been widely regarded as a workable result for the Coalition.

But even if this is the outcome of the Senate election, with the possible election of a rightwing "micro-party" candidate in NSW, a Katter's Australia Party candidate in Queensland and the re-election of independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon to join the sitting Victorian DLP Senator John Madigan, Abbott's "signature" policies are not assured.

Xenophon has made it clear he will not support the $3.2bn direct action scheme as it stands and will propose amendments to transform it into a carbon pricing scheme similar to the one proposed by modelling from Frontier Economics and considered by then coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull in 2009.

"I would want to see significant modifications to direct action to make it more efficient economically and environmentally before I could vote for it," Xenophon told Guardian Australia. "At the moment it is clunky and inefficient and not the best way forward."

Madigan is also "extremely sceptical about direct action and whether it will actually deliver any gains". He said: "I'm looking at the Frontier model that Nick [Xenophon] has shown me."

And both Xenophon and Madigan are also unimpressed with Abbott's $5.5bn paid parental leave plan.

"I think it's over the top. There is a looming crisis in the childcare sector and that's the most important thing to address if you want to get more women into the workforce. I think the Coalition's scheme is way too generous and it would be better to spend the money on childcare," Xenophon says.

According to Madigan: "The Coalition's paid parental leave scheme as it stands favours the top end of town and I am not impressed with it and I wouldn't be voting for it because it offers so much less for the majority of people."

Abbott could turn to the Greens for support for his paid parental leave plans. The Greens have a very similar policy, but they want to lower the annual wage "cap" for which a full replacement wage would be paid from the Coalition's proposed $150,000 to $100,000 and allow shareholders to be paid tax credits for the 1.5% levy on big business, which partly pays for the scheme – something that would add $1.6bn a year to the scheme's already-sizeable price tag.

The fate of these policies would be critical to the early years of an Abbott government, with the Coalition determined to implement its biggest pledges but also to deliver political stability and therefore reluctant to go to a second double dissolution election if the policies are blocked in the upper house.

Abbott avoided specifically answering a question on Tuesday about whether or not he would go to a double dissolution election if his "signature policies" such as direct action and paid parental leave were blocked, but predicted that any party that defied his mandate to implement his "landmark reforms" would be "swept away by the tide of history".

He has promised an immediate double dissolution election if the Senate blocks the repeal of the carbon tax.

Labor strategists are studying carefully Abbott's own success in opposing almost all of Labor's initiatives in the last term of government to deny Labor a sense of stability and legitimacy in office.

With hundreds of candidates and complex preference deals, the result of the Senate election is impossible to predict. But to win a majority in its own right the Coalition would need to win four out of six available Senate seats in at least three states – something most analysts consider unlikely.

The Greens are defending Senate seats in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia, with senator Sarah Hanson Young in South Australia facing an uphill battle to retain her seat.

But it is quite possible that a rightwing "micro party" – possible even One Nation's Pauline Hanson – could win the sixth seat in New South Wales. Hanson is likely to benefit from the preferences of a score of other small parties, including the Shooters, Katter's Australia Party and Reverend Fred Nile's Christian Democrats.

And in Queensland, where Bob Katter's lead Senate candidate, singer James Blundell, and Clive Palmer's lead candidate, former rugby league player Glenn Lazarus, have exchanged preferences, a rightwing candidate could win the seat usually taken by the third candidate on the Liberal National party ticket.

Frontier Economics has proposed an intensity-based emissions trading scheme imposed initially only on electricity generators – but Tony Abbott has ruled out any form of carbon price or "tax".

Lenore Taylor

How likely is a crocodile attack?

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 09:44 PM PDT

In terms of comparative risk, Australians should worry more about climbing their ladders

Nick Evershed

One in five people on welfare in parts of western Sydney

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 09:41 PM PDT

Four of the 10 electorates in Australia with the highest rates of unemployment were in New South Wales, analysis suggests

Bridie Jabour

Coalition announces plan to abolish national gambling regulator

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 09:39 PM PDT

Advisory council made up of representatives of gaming industry would take over watchdog role

The Coalition will abolish the national gambling regulator should it win power, setting up an advisory council comprising representatives of the gaming industry in its stead.

In a set of proposals that has won it the endorsement of Clubs Australia, the peak body for gaming venues, the Coalition said it would also halt a trial into mandatory pre-commitment – under which gamblers must specify an overall bet limit on poker machines – in the ACT.

The opposition would hand responsibility for problem gambling support services to the states and ban the extension of credit to online gamblers.

The Coalition said it supported a "national voluntary pre-commitment program for electronic gaming machines", but accused Labor of ditching meaningful reform and hindering services to help problem gambling, which it notes is a "major problem" for some Australians.

Clubs Australia said: "The Coalition's approach recognises the work already done and reflects the reality that policies based on proper consultation and consideration work better for problem gamblers than those that are the product of hasty political deals."

The government estimates around 500,000 Australians are at risk of becoming, or are, problem gamblers. The problem is largely based around poker machines, which account for $12bn of the $19bn Australians spend on gambling each year.

Gambling reform advocates have reacted with dismay at the idea of making the gaming industry the key advisers on problem gambling.

"It's just bizarre to put the gambling industry in charge of the advisory group," said Dr Colin McLeod, who has studied the industry as senior fellow at the University of Melbourne. "What you're asking the industry to do is to find ways to curtail the spending of its most profitable customers."

Tom Cummings, a former problem gambler turned reform advocate, said the Coalition's policies were "pretty shocking".

"The industry has consistently refused to accept that the product it is selling has something wrong about it, so the focus is always about self-exclusion and counselling," he said.

"That completely ignores the fact they can do something at the machine level. This is pretty much like putting the anti-vaccination crowd in charge of hospitals.

"One of the worst parts is the move away from a national platform, given the dog's dinner the states have made of gambling. If the Coalition comes in, it will take the issue off the national agenda and hand it to the states, who are reliant on money from gambling."

Cummings said he was disappointed the Coalition hadn't looked at "simple fixes" to curb problem gambling, such as $1 bet limits.

"I had a big win and money in my pocket, I'd up the bet by five or 10 times," he said. "Before I knew it, there would be a couple of grand gone in a few hours.

"One-dollar bet limits would help put the brakes on when things are going well, because it's a rare day indeed when you end up in front. Around 90% of gamblers only bet $1 at a time anyway."

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie championed mandatory pre-commitment of poker machines in the last parliament. Labor initially adopted the proposals in return for Willkie's support but then backed away from the idea after intense lobbying from the pokies and clubs industry, which claimed that important community hubs would be hurt by the fall in revenue.

McLeod said there was little proof that mandatory pre-commitment would work, but said more needed to be done to help problem gamblers.

"We have got to start thinking about problem gambling as public health problem," he said. "You go to any sporting match and there is a huge amount of advertising for gambling. It has become so intrusive in Australians' lives."

Oliver Milman