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Heathrow expansion - Airports Commission publishes interim report: Politics live blog
UK inflation falls to four-year low of 2.1%; house prices hit record high - business live
Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum
Intimacy, love and separation in contemporary Iranian theatre
Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate US spying in exchange for asylum – live
North Korea marks anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death - video
Japan increases defence budget amid tensions with China
Best pictures of the day - live
Thames estuary airport plan not dead yet, Boris Johnson declares
1D singer Harry Styles wins paparazzi court order
Kipper Williams on female Lloyd's of London chief
Sandman movie wakes up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Jeh Johnson confirmed as US homeland security chief
Alastair Cook: no explanation for Australia's margin of Ashes victory – video
GlaxoSmithKline to stop paying doctors to promote products
2013's worst champion of gender equality: Michelle Young
Big Sur wildfire destroys 15 homes and 500 acres of national forest
Guardian Women awards 2013: from Miley to Malala
Thinktank director Tim Wilson appointed human rights commissioner
Brazil's bolsa familia scheme marks a decade of pioneering poverty relief
Heathrow and Gatwick shortlisted for new runways
West Papuan 'massacre': investigating lawyers ask what Australia knew
Oklahoma killers get life in jail
Brazil has more ATMs than any other country. Where are all the world's cash machines?
Google buys robot firm Boston Dynamics

Heathrow expansion - Airports Commission publishes interim report: Politics live blog

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:00 AM PST

• Airports Commission report - Snap summary
• Heathrow and Gatwick shortlisted for new airports

Andrew Sparrow

UK inflation falls to four-year low of 2.1%; house prices hit record high - business live

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:59 AM PST

Cost of living in Britain rises by lowest rate since November 2009, but still well ahead of wages

Graeme Wearden

Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:58 AM PST

NSA whistleblower says in letter he is willing to help in wake of revelations that President Dilma Rousseff's phone was hacked

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has written in "an open letter to the Brazilian people" that he would be willing to help Brazil's government investigate US spying on its soil, but that he could do so only if granted political asylum.

In a letter obtained and published early on Tuesday by the Folha de S Paulo newspaper, Snowden said he impressed by the Brazilian government's strong criticism of the NSA spy programme targeting internet and telecommunications world wide, including monitoring the mobile phone of the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.

Brazilian senators have asked for Snowden's help during hearings about the NSA programme's aggressive targeting of Brazil, an important transit hub for transatlantic fibre-optic cables.

"I've expressed my willingness to assist where it's appropriate and legal, but, unfortunately, the US government has been working hard to limit my ability to do so," Snowden says in the letter, translated into Portuguese by the newspaper. It did not make the English original available online.

"Until a country grants me permanent political asylum, the US government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak out," it adds.

Early morning calls to Brazil's presidential office and to the foreign ministry were not answered.

The Guardian first published accounts of the NSA's spy programmes in June, based on some of the thousands of documents Snowden handed over to the Brazil-based American journalist Glenn Greenwald and his reporting partner Laura Poitras, a US filmmaker.

Rousseff cancelled a visit to Washington in October that was to include a state dinner. She has joined Germany in pushing for the United Nations to adopt a symbolic resolution that seeks to extend personal privacy rights to all people.

Rousseff has also ordered her government to take measures including laying fibre-optic lines directly to Europe and South American nations in an effort to "divorce" Brazil from the US-centric backbone of the internet that experts say has facilitated NSA spying.

The Snowden letter was published a day after a US district judge ruled that the NSA's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records likely violates the US constitution's ban on unreasonable search. The case is likely to go all the way the supreme court for a final decision.

Intimacy, love and separation in contemporary Iranian theatre

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:57 AM PST

Amir Reza Koohestani tackles issues of love and intimacy on stage in Tehran

Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate US spying in exchange for asylum – live

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:56 AM PST

• NSA whistleblower writes open letter to Brazilian people
• White House dashes hopes of US amnesty
• US judge rules NSA phone spying is probably unconstitutional

Paul Owen

North Korea marks anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death - video

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:53 AM PST

North Korea marks the second anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death, with pledges of allegiance to his son Kim Jong-un

Japan increases defence budget amid tensions with China

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:53 AM PST

Tokyo announces plans to buy drones, jet fighters and destroyers, and set up amphibious unit similar to US marines

Japan has approved a plan to increase defence spending by 5% over the next five years to purchase its first surveillance drones, more jet fighters and naval destroyers in the face of China's military expansion.

The revised five-year defence plan was adopted by the cabinet along with a new national security strategy that reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to raise the profile of Japan's military and expand the country's role in international diplomacy and security.

Experts say the plans are in line with a power shift that has been ongoing for several years, but Japan's neighbours and some Japanese citizens worry that they constitute a move away from the pacifist constitution the country adopted after the second world war.

"Many people worry inside Japan and outside that maybe Abe hasn't really learned the lesson from the wartime history of Japan and that there's a danger that a greater role played by Japan actually means the rise of militarism in the long-term," said Koichi Nakano, an international politics professor at Sophia University in Tokyo.

The previous five-year plan for 2011 to 2016, which was adopted by the opposition Democratic party of Japan when it was in government, cut the defence budget by ¥750bn (£4.5bn), or 3%. It also cut troop numbers by 1,000.

Abe's new plan maintains current troop levels. The strategy also reflects a shift in Japan's defence priorities from its northern reaches to the East China Sea, where Tokyo and Beijing dispute the sovereignty of a chain of uninhabited islands.

The new defence plan calls for setting up an amphibious unit similar to the US marines to respond quickly in case of a foreign invasion of the disputed islands. It will also deploy an early warning system, submarines and an anti-missile defence system in the area.

Broader defence programme guidelines also adopted on Tuesday stated that Tokyo was "gravely concerned" about China's growing maritime and military presence in the East China Sea, its lack of transparency and "high-handed" approach.

Late last month, China said all aircraft entering a vast zone over the East China Sea must identify themselves and follow Chinese instructions. The US, Japan and South Korea have ignored Beijing's demand.

Abe said the national security strategy set out Japan's diplomatic and security policy "with clarity and transparency".

During the 2014 to 2019 period, Japan plans to buy three drones, most likely Global Hawks, 28 F-35A jet fighters, 17 Osprey aircraft and five destroyers, including two with Aegis anti-ballistic missile systems. The purchases would cost ¥24.7tn yen, up 5 % from the previous plan.

The new plan says Japan would demonstrate its commitment to upgrade equipment, increase troop activity, step up defence capability and raise deterrence levels amid an increasingly tense regional security environment.

Narushige Michishita, a national security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said Abe's plans set the stage for Japan to come out of its post-war isolationism.

"Isolationism was very convenient and comfortable, but now China is rising rapidly and the US commitment to Asia is not growing, so maybe we should be a little more proactive," said Michishita, who helped develop the previous defence guidelines in 2010.

Best pictures of the day - live

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:49 AM PST

The Guardian's photo team brings you a daily round up from the world of photography

Joanna Ruck

Thames estuary airport plan not dead yet, Boris Johnson declares

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:48 AM PST

London mayor responds to publication of Airports Commission recommendations for expansion of capacity in south-east

Boris Johnson's dream of a hub airport in the Thames estuary is "not dead yet", the London mayor has said after the Airports Commission said it would give him another six months to put forward fresh arguments.

Johnson said expansion at Heathrow would "entrench a grievous planning error" and require the closure of M25 for five years as the new runway was built.

He said the good news "is that we not dead yet" but described the recommendations of the government-appointed independent commission led by Sir Howard Davies, as a "fudgerama", saying his own proposal was now "half in and half out".

He argued that the commission had left a clear choice between going for Heathrow or his own option, arguing an extra runway Gatwick airport south of London "would not make a bean of difference because the airlines will still want to go to Heathrow".

"To build another runway in a west London suburb is completely crackers," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that "as soon as the third runway is completed in 2030, this will "as sure as eggs are eggs be accompanied by an insatiable and vociferous clamour for a fourth runway". Even a third runway, he said, "would be catastrophic for the quality of life consigning millions of people to extra noise pollution".

He promised he could allay the fears of Davies about the cost of an airport on the Thames estuary saying the transport infrastructure would cost £20bn, and the airport itself less.

He indicated that Davies had agreed a stay of execution for his plan in the last few days, and said this would give him the chance to highlight to the commission the huge regeneration benefits for the east of London

Johnson said: "What is being proposed at Heathrow is not some oven-ready peasy scheme. Both the Heathrow options require concreting the M25 probably closing it for five years and doing major realignments of the M4 at a cost of £10bn. Why entrench a huge planning error and consign future generations to misery?"

Johnson acknowledged that he also had yet to convince the commission that there was an inexorable demand for a hub airport but insisted that was clear from the demand curve for air travel in the last 50 years, pointing to what is happening in China India, Istanbul and Dubai.

Johnson insisted he was not giving up on the estuary plan, but said of the three main options selected by Davies, Gatwick was "the least injurious to Londoners". But he said it would not produce the competitive boost the country needs since the airlines would not migrate to Gatwick.

He refused to contemplate resigning from the Conservative party if David Cameron plumped for Heathrow, saying: "I believe in going on in winning fights rather than flouncing out."

Patrick Wintour

1D singer Harry Styles wins paparazzi court order

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:17 AM PST

Unnamed photographers banned from pursuing star in the street or loitering outside his London home

One Direction's Harry Styles has won a rare court order banning some members of the paparazzi from pursuing him in the street or waiting outside his house.

The 19-year-old asked the high court to intervene after trying to persuade the photographers to change their behaviour, according to his lawyer.

The order prevents unnamed photographers from pursuing Styles by car or motorcycle, placing him under surveillance or loitering within 50m of his London home.

"This is not a privacy injunction," the singer's lawyer, David Sherborne, told the high court in London. "Mr Styles is not trying to prevent fans approaching him in the street and taking photos. He remains happy to do that, as he always has. Rather, it is the method or tactics which have been used by a certain type of photographer."

Sherborne said the case concerned a series of paparazzi photographers, four of whom were in the process of being identified.

The injunction against "Paparazzi AAA and others" will remain in place until the new year, when the judge Mrs Justice Nicola Davies will decide how the action should proceed.

Styles, who shot to fame in 2010 after auditioning for the X Factor, was not in court for the short hearing on Monday morning.

The injunction places the One Direction singer among a handful of stars who have asked the high court to settle their skirmishes with the paparazzi. The singer Cheryl Cole won a similar high court order last year after complaining about the "intense and very annoying" experience of photographers camping outside her home. In 2011 Tinglan Hong obtained an injunction against the paparazzi to deal with the sudden interest in her private life after she gave birth to Hugh Grant's daughter.

According to Gideon Benaim, a media lawyer at Michael Simkins LLP, celebrities can be left with little choice but to take their grievance to the high court because the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is "limited" in its powers.

"Photographers are not signatories to the PCC so the PCC can't adjudicate against them but the PCC can inform newspapers that a specific person does not consent to being approached or hounded," he said. "Ultimately newspapers and magazines pay for photographs of this nature so some of the blame lays with them. Everyone, including people in the public eye, should be entitled to live without persistent harassment and intrusion."

Paul Tweed, a media lawyers whose clients have included Britney Spears and the Duchess of York, said he had witnessed a "dramatic increase" of complaints from public figures about relating to photographs taken of their children.

"The only options available are the PCC and injunctions," he said. "Once the PCC come in it's too late. Injunctions are going to become more commonplace because they can stop the harassment but, for privacy, often the horse has bolted."

However, the freelance photographer Charlie Pycraft had little sympathy for celebrities such as Styles who actively court publicity on Twitter and other social networks.

"If you're putting it out there on Twitter, you are exposing yourself," he said. "They're invading their own privacy 24/7 so why shouldn't someone else? What right do they have to lecture on privacy?"

He added: "I think it's an abuse of the law because these laws were set up for people being harassed and stalked when their lives are in danger. It's a misuse because they are not really being harassed – they are inviting it."

Legal experts agree that the UK is unlikely to introduce anti-paparazzi legislation like that signed into law in California in September. That legislation, championed by actors including Halle Berry, increases penalties on anyone attempting to record or photograph a child because of the identity of their parents in a manner that "seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorises" them.

Josh Halliday

Kipper Williams on female Lloyd's of London chief

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:16 AM PST

Claims: 'Somebody's broken the glass ceiling'

Sandman movie wakes up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:13 AM PST

Film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's cult comic book series gets a shot in the arm as Batman star signs on as producer

• Video: Don Jon star Joseph Gordon-Levitt: 'True love isn't some shiny trophy'
• The Wind Rises – Venice 2013: first look review

An adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic books has taken a step closer with the news that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become attached to the project, with a view to directing and/or acting in the resulting film.

The 500 Days of Summer and Inception star is currently riding high after the success of his directorial debut Don Jon, which has given him increased creative clout in Hollywood. He has joined forces with Batman Begins/Man of Steel writer David S Goyer to work on the project, though no writer has yet been hired.

Gaiman's Sandman series, which originally ran between 1989 and 1996, and which revolve around a figure called Dream, has been regularly targeted for film adaptation, but nothing as yet has materialised.

Gordon-Levitt subsequently tweeted: "I've signed on as a producer on Sandman. The rest remains to be seen. Delighted you guys are excited. I am too!" Gaiman, a prolific user of social media, is yet to issue any comment, though his retweeting of Gordon-Levitt's announcement suggests he approves. An earlier tweet from Gordon Levitt implies Gaiman himself is involved in the adaptation.

Meanwhile, Gordon-Levitt has also tweeted a photo of himself recording the English language voice track for Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. The latest film from the Japanese animation maestro has proved controversial as it is a biopic of the designer of the country's feared wartime Zero fighter plane, but it has not prevented the film from registering a presence on the US awards circuit, including a Golden Globe nomination for best animated film.

• Video: Don Jon star Joseph Gordon-Levitt: 'True love isn't some shiny trophy'
• The Wind Rises – Venice 2013: first look review

Andrew Pulver

Jeh Johnson confirmed as US homeland security chief

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:08 AM PST

Johnson will succeed Janet Napolitano after Senate approved appointment on vote of 78-16 as part of a raft of confirmations

The US Senate on Monday confirmed Jeh Johnson, a national security expert who has served as the Pentagon's top lawyer, as head of the US department of homeland security.

Johnson, who was the defence department's general counsel during Barack Obama's first term as president, will succeed Janet Napolitano, who left in September to become the president of the University of California system.

The Senate approved Johnson on a vote of 78-16 as part of a raft of confirmations pushed forward after a recent rule change stripped Republicans of their power to block nominees with a procedural roadblock known as a filibuster.

Obama said in a statement he was pleased that Johnson was confirmed with broad bipartisan support.

"Jeh will play a leading role in our efforts to protect the homeland against terrorist attacks, adapt to changing threats, stay prepared for natural disasters, strengthen our border security, and make our immigration system fairer – while upholding the values, civil liberties, and laws that make America great," he said.

The Senate also confirmed Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Egypt, as an assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs. Like Johnson, she was approved by a vote of 78-16.

The Senate is also expected this week to confirm Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve. Yellen is the Fed's vice-chair.

Alastair Cook: no explanation for Australia's margin of Ashes victory – video

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:03 AM PST

England's captain, Alastair Cook, pays tribute to a 'ruthless' Australia over the course of the three Tests in which they reclaimed the Ashes

GlaxoSmithKline to stop paying doctors to promote products

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:01 AM PST

Pharmaceutical company will also stop paying doctors and medical professionals to attend conferences

Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products as it attempts to modernise at a difficult time for the company.

The British pharmaceutical company will also stop paying bonuses to its sales staff based on the number of prescriptions written by doctors and will no longer pay doctors and medical professionals to attend conferences. A report earlier this year found drug companies were paying an estimated £40m a year to British doctors in service fees, flights, hotel and other travel expenses.

The changes, which will be completed on a global basis by 2016 and bring an end to long-established practices, are being driven by a desire "to try and make sure we stay in step with how the world is changing", said chief executive Sir Andrew Witty.

He told the New York Times: "We keep asking ourselves, are there different ways, more effective ways of operating than perhaps the ways we as an industry have been operating over the last 30, 40 years?"

The move to change the culture comes as it faces allegations of corruption in China. GSK is accused of using a £320m fund to bribe doctors and hospital officials with cash and prostitutes in order to sell its products.

Witty declined to comment on the investigation but denied the latest changes to the way the business operates were related to the problems in China, where the company's sales have been sharply hit since the scandal emerged.

GSK shares were down 0.7% in early trading on Tuesday at £15.76.

Angela Monaghan

2013's worst champion of gender equality: Michelle Young

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

Michelle Young's epic divorce battle with her property developer husband proves women's greed can be as rank as men's

Michelle Young thinks that she has "made a stand for women" by fighting for seven years, through 65 separate court hearings, at a cost to her of £6.5m, to get what she considers to be a fair share of her gazillionnaire ex-husband's wealth. But all she's proved is that women can be just as obsessive and greedy as men, and can live in a world where £20m is peanuts. If only she had fought all those years to get half of her stinkpot husband's money so that she might distribute it among the destitute and desperate among us.

She either doesn't know about such women, or knows and doesn't care. But imagine what she could have done with all those squillions: regenerated the women's services for domestic violence, refugees and trafficked women closed down by government cuts. In London alone, £1.9m has been cut from refuges and domestic violence centres since 2009/10. A snip to Michelle. She could have paid to keep them all going and still had £18.1m left to play with.

What else are she and her daughters to buy with her hard-won gains? They might have to rough it in a £10m house instead of the £25m one that she considers necessary. True, it is galling to see one's husband get away with being so stingy and carry on wallowing in money with his new and younger girlfriend, but why envy him? How much of his squillions can he spend in one lifetime? What does he want it for? Is he unwell? How sick everyone must be of the tremendously rich and their squabbles. And this squabble is to continue, because Michelle wants to fight on until the last hidden groat is found and she gets her share of it. It gives me no pleasure to present this award, but this is not the kind of woman we want "making a stand" for us. Hopefully, no one will win it next year.

Michele Hanson

Big Sur wildfire destroys 15 homes and 500 acres of national forest

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:51 AM PST

Home of California town's fire chief among properties destroyed by blaze in Los Padres national forest

A wildfire in the Big Sur area of California destroyed at least 15 homes and forced about 100 people to evacuate as it burned through dry vegetation on its way towards the ocean on Monday. No injuries have been reported.

The fire burned about 500 acres (200 hectares) in the Pfeiffer Ridge area of Los Padres national forest near state highway 1, forest spokesman Andrew Madsen said.

Madsen said the fire destroyed the home of Big Sur fire chief, Martha Karstens.

"She left thinking that she was going to go protect other people's homes," Madsen said, "and it turns out that her own home has been consumed".

Officials were hopeful that they could contain the blaze this week.

"This is a completely wind-driven fire," Madsen said. "We're cautiously optimistic that we're going to pin this thing down within the next couple of days."

The Red Cross set up an overnight shelter for people who have been displaced by the fire, Madsen said.

Big Sur is a popular tourist destination along the central California coast with high-end resorts and beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean.

Residences were scattered in the path of the fire that was being battled by 625 firefighters. Officials also brought in air tankers and helicopters.

Evacuations of the area remained in effect as of 10.30pm on Monday.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

A wildfire so late in the year is unusual but not surprising given that California is enduring the driest calendar year on record.

A lightning-sparked wildfire in 2008 forced the evacuation of Big Sur and blackened 250 square miles (650 qp km) before it was contained. That blaze burned more than a dozen homes.

Guardian Women awards 2013: from Miley to Malala

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:50 AM PST

We round up the highs and lows for women this year, with awards for 2013's feminist heroines – and brickbats for the villains …

Biggest crush: Jennifer Lawrence

Refusing to lose weight for her breakthrough role, the 23-year-old, who said she wanted kick-ass Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen to be "strong", not skinny, is our crush of the year. She is funny, self-deprecating and no-nonsense, and parents fought young 'uns to get front-row seats for the Mockinjay instalment. When's the next one?

Best video slapdown: Amanda Palmer

The Daily Mail had no idea who it was taking on with a piece snittering that singer Amanda Palmer had made a "boob of herself" when her bra rose up at Glastonbury. Appearing on stage soon after, she encouraged fans to get their smartphones out to record a song in which she calls the Mail's editors a "misogynist pile of twats" before stripping naked. A singer who once got fans to write all over her body, she sings: "If you'd googled my tits you'd find that your pictures are hardly exclusive." Just one of the many videos uploaded to YouTube got 775,000 views.

Troll slayer: Mary Beard

The professor of classics at Cambridge University was on a radio show complaining about the vile, sexist abuse she received from Twitter trolls when she was called a "filthy old slut" by one of the gremlins. Instead of ignoring it, she retweeted the post from Oliver Rawlings to her 55,000 followers, prompting the private school-educated Nottingham University student to apologise, while his aunt was left to say how unimpressed his parents would be. Beard has previously named, if not shamed, Sunday Times columnist AA Gill, who said she was too ugly for TV. In response, she said he was too stupid to justify his opinions.

Worst 1950s throwback: Godfrey Bloom

The Yorkshire and Humber MEP said his view that women of childbearing age should not be employed had been "vindicated" this year, then explained that they would otherwise not have time to clean behind their fridges, the "sluts". Subsequently quitting Ukip, presumably because it was too full of pesky pinkos and feminazis, he has just shown how seriously he takes the complaints with a Christmas card in which his wife is dressed up as the most famous fictional cleaner on TV. Or, at least, Hilda Ogden was the most famous when last seen regularly on Coronation Street 26 years ago. He told Radio 4's Today programme that he only said outrageous things "to upset the Guardian", then tried to charge us a fortune to reprint the image. Which was upsetting.

Throwback runner-up: Boris Johnson

Why do women go to university? To "find men to marry", according to the mayor of London. Boom boom. On the plus side, lots of women bombarded his official @MayorofLondon Twitter account looking for advice. "Hey Boris, I've managed to finish my degree with a first but no husband, can you give me some dating advice?" asked Caitlin Gleeson, while @charcoaltache asked: "I went to uni twice and still don't have a husband. Is it because I studied science? Advice appreciated."

Most belated tribute: Jane Austen

Nearly 200 years after she died, the author whose work consistently tops polls for most-loved books is to appear on a £10 note, the only woman on our banknotes apart from the Queen. Caroline Criado-Perez, also runner-up in the troll-slaying category for her campaign against the rape threats she received, was instrumental in showing the Bank of England where they went wrong with an online petition and campaign.

Worst advert: Samsung

First the March launch event for the Galaxy S4 provoked uproar on social media websites with its portrayal of women as obsessed with marriage, nail varnish and eating too much cheesecake; then the technology giant came up with an ad in the summer that managed to suggest that women are too stupid to understand computers. The campaign for its new SSD trotted out the tired old stereotypes of the geeky Asian guy who plays computer games and the woman who just doesn't get that newfangled technology stuff. While the menfolk look cross about the fact that their machines just aren't fast enough, the woman chirps: "I look at pictures and videos of my kids. I use the internet – that's about it." At one point, she gasps: "I did it! Did you see that?" in the tone of a child who has just learned to ride a bike. In a final bid for our award, the company celebrates successful "women of steel" by giving them … free kitchens. OK, you've won.

Best advert: Pantene

Most shampoo ads leave you wanting to go bald, but not the one from Pantene. To a soulful soundtrack of Tears for Fears's Mad World, the ad shows how men and women are labelled differently when exhibiting the same behaviour. So a man is described as a boss where a woman might be bossy, a hard-working man is dedicated where a woman is selfish. With not so much as a hint of plastic shampoo bottle, the ad – "Don't let labels hold you back" – is great.

Track least likely to be danced to at university: Robin Thicke

We knew he wanted it, he really wanted it, so we just had to given Robin Thicke the award for most sexist video this year, which has now been banned from more than 20 universities. The lyrics of Blurred Lines, with their suggestion that no doesn't always mean no, might have gone unnoticed were it not for the lovely video of the singer and his male friends dressed in suits while looking suitably bemused as naked lovelies cavorted round them looking desperate.

Biggest sleazebag: Terry Richardson

Tired of your wholesome, prepubescent image? Who you going to call? Terry Richardson, of course. The controversial photographer behind the Wrecking Ball video, in which a 20-year-old Miley Cyrus cavorts naked, then released a series of shots of the former children's TV star near naked in his New York apartment. Since the start of his career, the man beloved by many in the fashion business has been in the habit of taking photographs of what he calls the "spontaneous sex acts" that occasionally take place when he invites young models into his studio.

Best hope for the future (UK): Yas Necati

Sex and relationship education was last updated in 2000, before the likes of Facebook and Twitter were around – something that Necati wants to change. So she launched an online petition that has so far garnered more than 50,000 signatures, and spent her 17th birthday trying to get the deputy prime minister to admit that change is needed. In between studying for her A-levels, she also formed Campaign4Consent with fellow teenager Lili Evans and joined the committee of the No More Page 3 campaign.

Best hope for the future (overseas): Malala Yousafzai

There have been so many amazing young people making us feel better about the world this year that this category had to be split for our poor addled female brains (pace Godfrey and Boris) to cope. OK, the Pakistani teenager almost killed by the Taliban for daring to go to school now lives in Birmingham, UK. But this young woman is an international inspiration to all of us. Where the shadowy Nobel prize committee fear to tread, we stomp in.

Most resistant to change: David Dinsmore

Despite pressure from anti-sexism campaigners, politicians and student bodies in his first few months in the job, the new editor of the Sun says his readers want the largest picture of a woman seen every day in the Murdoch-owned tabloid to be one wearing just knickers. "Breasts have always been a big part of our life," he said. "I think my mother had them and my wife has them and they are pretty commonplace." So that's OK then.

Best use of celebrity: Waris Dirie

Many have campaigned to make the world see that female genital mutilation is not a cultural norm but child abuse, but few have given this most personal of causes a more high-profile face than Waris Dirie. Born to a nomadic family in Somalia and cut when she was five, she has used her fame as a model and activist to call for action. Twenty-eight years after the act became a crime in the UK, we are still waiting for a prosecution, but there are signs that this could change in 2014.

Target of most bizarre insult: Julia Gillard

What is it about women and birds? Some of the world's most powerful women have been compared with our feathered friends. The former prime minister of Australia became an internet sensation last year with her speech on misogyny, but the fanfare did not stop organisers of a fundraiser in Brisbane offering "Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – Small Breasts, Huge Thighs & A Big Red Box". She kept her counsel until leaving office, when she dished out an excoriating denunciation of her treatment.

Most awesome speech: Wendy Davis

Standing for 10 hours without food or water and denied the option of even leaning on her desk, the Texan senator managed to block a bill to close most of Texas's abortion clinics and ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. A Fox news commentator called her "abortion Barbie" for her pains, but now she's standing to become governor of Texas.

Michele Hanson award for worst gender-equality role model: Michelle Young

Michelle Young thinks that she has "made a stand for women" by fighting for seven years, through 65 separate court hearings, at a cost to her of £6.5m, to get what she considers to be a fair share of her gazillionnaire ex-husband's wealth. It gives me no pleasure to present this award, but this is not the kind of woman we want "making a stand" for us. Hopefully, no one will win it next year.

• Additional reporting by Laura Bates.

Jane Martinson

Thinktank director Tim Wilson appointed human rights commissioner

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:49 AM PST

Attorney general says director of right-wing Institute of Public Affairs will 'restore balance' to Human Rights Commission

Bridie Jabour

Brazil's bolsa familia scheme marks a decade of pioneering poverty relief

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:45 AM PST

Widely praised and often pilloried, Brazil's flagship social welfare programme is still going strong a decade after its inception

As one of the poorest residents in the poorest county in Brazil, life has always been a struggle for Maria Eunice Alvis.

The roof of her adobe home leaks during the storm season and vermin pose a constant threat to the health of her 10 children. There is so little money to go around, the family often goes hungry.

For most of her 40 years, survival depended on farinha, the yellowish flour from the manioc root. In wealthy cities like Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, this is a powdery side dish. But for Alvis and other disadvantaged families in Belágua, Maranhão, it was until recently the only staple that got them through the hard times.

Today, however, the government has thrown them another lifeline – a cash handout known as bolsa familia that is paid on condition children go to school and get vaccinated.

Each month, Alvis receives 250 reais (£65). This sum is not nearly enough to end all her problems but, for the first time in her life, she has a regular income.

"I was so happy when I got the first payment. Now I'm used to it. But it's still good to know that there is money coming in every month," says Alvis, sitting in the small but spotlessly clean two-bedroom home she shares with 11 others.

It has been 10 years since Brazil's former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made bolsa familia a central pillar of the country's social welfare strategy. In the years since, similar poverty relief projects have spread across the globe. The pioneering programme is now arguably Brazil's most successful export, though the pros and cons of such a targeted and conditional approach remain fiercely debated.

On its anniversary this year, supporters celebrate the programme as a cheap and efficient way to improve the lives of the most destitute. Critics say it merely locks the poor into a holding pattern and has little impact on inequality.

Few, however, doubt that by directly giving spending money to the poor, bolsa familia represents a paradigm shift.

At its most basic, bolsa familia is a payment of 70 reais a person to any family living below the poverty line of 140 reais a month.

The programme has grown rapidly. In the past 10 years, the number of recipient families has risen from 3.6 million to 13.8 million, which means bolsa familia now covers about a quarter of Brazil's population of 199 million.

Its importance should not be overstated. Bolsa familia is only one of four pillars in the government's Plano Brasil Sem Miséria (Brazil Without Poverty) strategy, which also includes a minimum wage, formalising employment, and policies to support rural families. There are also pension schemes and housing projects that aim to tackle inequality.

But it is the conditional payment scheme that has grabbed the world's attention because it is innovative, bold and particularly suited to an age of austerity, social networking and platform building.

Social development minister Tereza Campello says bolsa familia was politically harder to introduce because there was a deep-seated resistance to giving people cash handouts.

"Critics quote Confucius and say it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish, but bolsa familia recipients aren't poor because they are lazy or don't know how to work, they are poor because they have no opportunities, no education and poor health. How can they compete with those disadvantages? By giving people the money to survive, we are empowering them, including them and giving them the rights of a citizen in a consumer society."

Compared to a fully funded welfare state or social pension system, the outlays are small. Annual disbursements have gone up from 4.2bn reais to 23.95bn reais, but still cost less than 0.5% of GDP. The government says the scheme is also cost effective, with a return of 1.78 reais to the economy for every 1 reais spent.

The headline gain is a fall in extreme poverty for 36 million people. The proportion of Brazilians living in this state (defined as less than 70 reais a month) declined from 8.8% to 3.6% between 2002 and 2012. Strong economic growth during this period and the introduction of the minimum wage were the major reasons, but the government credits bolsa familia for more than a third of the improvement.

"All of those people are in our programme. If it disappeared, they would all fall back into extreme poverty," Campello said.

The numbers are disputed. Lena Lavinas, professor of welfare economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, says the government overstates the importance of bolsa familia and has exaggerated its achievements by failing to account adequately for inflation in its statistics. If rising prices are properly factored into the calculation, she says, the extreme poverty rate ought to be 90 reais a month, which would mean bolsa familia has lifted only 7 million people above this line.

But while the scale of the gains may be debated, there is no doubt the scheme has eased the pressure on the most deprived communities. That is definitely the sense in Belágua, where the average monthly income of the roughly 7,000 residents is 146.7 reais (£38.2).

"This is a very poor area. About 80% of the people here rely on bolsa familia. Some people still get by on farinha and salt, but things are better than before thanks to bolsa familia," said the head of the local council, Sidra Soares.

The money doesn't go far, especially for big families, which are common in Belágua. Alvis finds that after buying rice (2.2 reais a kilogramme), black beans (5.4 reais a kg), tapioca (5 reais a kg) and farinha (3.5 reais a kg), she has little left for nappies and toothpaste. The bolsa income usually lasts no more than a week. For the remainder of the month, the family often has just one meal a day, either eating what the chickens lay or using any income Alvis's husband can find on the rare occasions he can labour in the fields or on a construction site.

"There are no jobs here," shrugs Alvis. "The only income in this town is bolsa familia."

This is one the main criticisms of bolsa familia – that it does little to address inequality because it keeps the poor just above a subsistence level, without the means to move up the social ladder. But there is an element of the programme that makes it a long-term investment in the future.

Bolsa familia is used as an enforcement method for public health and education goals. Parents who fail to have their children vaccinated or send them to school are penalised with reduced payments. In Belágua, this is a real threat, according to local teacher Rosimat dos Santos Souza.

"When I started teaching 10 years ago, I'd say that no more than 40% of children went to school, but now it is more than 70%. When kids are truant now, I go to see their parents and I tell them they might lose their bolsa familia. They're really afraid of that, so it works," says Souza.

Nationwide, the government says children are about 10% more likely to go to school if their parents receive bolsa familia, while mothers are 25% more likely to sign up for health checks.

The biggest gains have been in what were traditionally the poorest areas. For the first time in Brazil's history, the graduation rates from schools in the north and north-east are higher than the national average, according to the social development minister.

"Bolsa familia is a platform not just to alleviate poverty, but to get more kids into school and improve public health," Campello said. "The income is an incentive that we can use to solve other social programmes. Once people are in our database, we can offer them other benefits and target programmes at them. In this way, bolsa familia is an instrument for wider programmes. It's a platform."

As an example, she says president Dilma Rousseff is now trying to introduce all-day schools, instead of the half-day that is the norm. This is a vast and expensive programme that is aimed first at the poorest communities, which have the greatest need for extra education and school meals. The bolsa familia database has helped the government to identify such neighbourhoods. Of the first 40,000 students to attend all-day public schools, more than 75% are from families that receive bolsa familia.

There have been other gains since the programme started – albeit on a less impressive scale – in child malnutrition and infant mortality. These have raised the human development index of Maranhão state, which has long had the highest illiteracy rate in Brazil.

While the bolsa familia is unlikely to lift adults out of poverty, the hope is that it will create the health and education conditions for the next generation to think beyond the next meal of farinha.

"There has never been a social programme of this size and significance in Brazil before," said Maria Ozaniro da Silva of the Federal University of Maranhão. "Bolsa familia is bringing the biggest benefits to children. In the future, their lives will be better than that of their mothers or fathers."

• Additional research by Anna Kaiser

Jonathan Watts

Heathrow and Gatwick shortlisted for new runways

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:40 AM PST

Airports Commission shortlists options for south-east England including expansion at Heathrow and Gatwick airports

A new battle looms over a Heathrow third runway after the Airports Commission said that additional capacity was needed in the south-east of England, with extra runways at London's two biggest airports among the options that it will study before issuing its final recommendation.

The government-appointed independent commission led by Sir Howard Davies has issued a shortlist of three options for building new runways in the south-east in its interim report.

The three options set out by Davies are: a third runway to the north of Heathrow, a second proposal for Heathrow expansion put forward by the Heathrow Hub group, and a new second runway to the south of Gatwick.

The commission said it had concluded there was a need for one net additional runway in the south-east by 2030, and likely demand for a second by 2050.

The Thames estuary airport proposal, backed primarily by the London mayor, Boris Johnson, has not been included for now, although the commission said it would undertake further study of the Isle of Grain option in the first half of 2014 to reach a view later next year whether that option could be shortlisted after all.

The other most high-profile omission from the shortlist is Stansted airport, whose owners, MAG, had supported proposals for expansion, but whose potential for major expansion into a four-runway hub had been primarily promoted by Johnson as an alternative to his estuary plan.

The commission will request and examine detailed proposals for all of the options, and will give its final recommendation after the next general election.

Launching the report, Davies said: "Decisions on airport capacity are important national strategic choices and must be based upon the best evidence available. The commission has undertaken a fresh, comprehensive and transparent study of the issues. This report is the product of extensive consultation, independent analysis and careful consideration by the commissioners.

"The UK enjoys excellent connectivity today. The capacity challenge is not yet critical but it will become so if no action is taken soon and our analysis clearly supports the provision of one net additional runway by 2030. In the meantime we encourage the government to act on our recommendations to make the best of our existing capacity.

"The commission will now focus on the challenge of appraising the three options, further assessing the case for a new airport in the Thames estuary, and delivering a robust final recommendation to government in summer 2015."

Davies told the Today programme that he not included the Thames estuary proposals on the shortlist because they were not equivalent to runway plans at existing airports. He said: "What we've said is that sometime next year this is an option. The shortlist we've got is exactly the shortlist we had before we talked to anyone."

While both Heathrow airport and Johnson have argued that only expansion of a bigger "hub" airport – ie one big enough to generate connecting flights and passengers – was necessary, Davies said he did not accept that there was a simple "hub or no hub" debate, hence his shortlisting of possible Gatwick expansion.

He said: "Stansted is only half full and has a lot of room to expand whereas Gatwick is 85% full. Demand has shown it is a lot more popular with airlines and passengers at the moment."

He said that the second extra runway he believed necessary by 2050 would probably not be at Heathrow: "The balance between hub and no hub has shifted to point to point so I would be surprised if it was Heathrow but certainly haven't ruled it out."

Although the coalition scrapped plans for a Heathrow third runway in 2010, pressure from business groups and the aviation industry convinced Downing Street to reexamine the issue, and the commission was formed in November 2012.

But west London Tory MPs in particular have been infuriated by developments, with one, Zac Goldsmith, saying to back Heathrow expansion would be an "off-the-scale betrayal". Ministers insist David Cameron's pledge not to build additional runways was for this parliament only and any decision will be made after 2015.

Colin Matthews, the Heathrow chief executive, issued a cautious welcome but said it was only an interim shortlist. He added that any recommendation would "need broad support and political leadership once the commission has finished its report to make something happen".

Davies has reduced the extent of possible blight by naming specific options at each airport. The north-west option at Heathrow – one of three possible locations the airport had put forward – would mean the village of Harmondsworth is demolished, and has been described as the worst possible option for residents of Sipson, which would be spared but now overflown at the tip of the runway.

The second Heathrow proposal, from the Heathrow Hub firm, which hopes to develop land to the north into an integrated transport hub, would extend the existing northern runway to at least 6km (almost 4 miles), potentially enabling the extended runway to operate as two independent runways - a surprise inclusion on the shortlist.

The commission has also put forward some short-term options to improve the operational efficiency of UK airports and airspace, including revised air traffic practices and better road and rail access to existing airports.

Gwyn Topham

West Papuan 'massacre': investigating lawyers ask what Australia knew

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:38 AM PST

Nick Cowdery says it is difficult to believe news of a well-planned attack was not picked up by defence intelligence beforehand

Marni Cordell

Oklahoma killers get life in jail

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:35 AM PST

Alvin Watts and Jake England plead guilty to murder after 2012 shootings of William Allen, Bobby Clark and Dannaer Fields

Two men charged with first-degree murder and hate crimes after shooting dead three people last year have been sentenced to life in prison.

Alvin Watts and Jake England changed their previous pleas of not guilty in district court as part of a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against them.

England apologised and admitted responsibility for his actions. Watts said nothing when offered a chance to speak in court.

Watts, 24, and England, 21, were charged with first-degree murder, shooting with intent to kill and five hate crimes in the Easter weekend 2012 shootings of William Allen, Bobby Clark and Dannaer Fields, who were killed as they walked near their homes in Tulsa. Two others were shot and wounded.

All five victims were black. Watts is white and England has said he is Cherokee Indian.

District court judge James Caputo sentenced both men to three terms of life in prison without parole for the murder convictions. The pair were each given two more life terms for shooting with intent to kill and five, one-year prison terms for the hate crimes.

Brazil has more ATMs than any other country. Where are all the world's cash machines?

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:31 AM PST

We find out which countries have the most automated teller machines per person and where in the world there still aren't any

Mona Chalabi

Google buys robot firm Boston Dynamics

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:28 AM PST

Google's new robotics division now owns BigDog, an all-terrain, four-legged robot developed for the US military

BigDog, a four-legged robot that can climb muddy hills, and Cheetah, a robot that can outrun the fastest human, now belong to Google.

The world's largest internet search company has acquired Boston Dynamics, a privately held company best known for building robots that look as if they belong in a science-fiction movie and which are often co-developed or funded by the US military.

The acquisition is the latest by Google's secretive robotics division, led by Andy Rubin, former boss of the company's Android mobile operating system. Google's robotics division has acquired more than six other robotics companies.

Google declined to comment on the deal while Boston Dynamics did not return requests for comment. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the deal, which was first reported by the New York Times on Saturday, and said Google would honour Boston Dynamics's military contracts.

The financial terms of the deal could not be established.

Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 as a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company works with the US army, navy, marine corps and the defense department's advanced research projects agency (Darpa), according to its website.

The company's website lists a catalogue of nine different robots, including a Darpa-funded machine capable of scaling vertical walls using "micro-claws", and a small four-wheeled vehicle that can jump nine metres (30ft) into the air and which is being developed with the US army's Rapid Equipping Force.

The four-legged Cheetah robot, which can surpass speeds of 29 miles (46km) an hour, according to the website, is billed as the "fastest legged robot in the world".

Google has been tight-lipped about what it plans to do with the robots. Media reports earlier this month suggested the company's efforts were focused on developing robotics technology to be used in factories.

Aneka Info