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

Cigarettes or war: which is the biggest killer?
Best pictures of the day - live
Spying claims suggest an obsessive order at Ikea's heart | Owen Hatherley
Mega Millions lottery: winning tickets sold in California and Georgia
Jailed Pussy Riot members could be freed on Thursday, officials say
Turkish police chiefs sacked after ministers' sons detained
211 journalists in world's jails in 2013 - with three countries holding most
Britain's EU future will be decided by the sceptical centre, not the fanatics | Matthew Goodwin
Man tries to swap live alligator for pack of beers – video report
'Excellent prospects' for better military relations with US, says China
Prince Charles highlights plight of Christians in Middle East – video
Car parts suppliers warn 30,000 jobs hinge on keeping Toyota in Australia
Harvard student made bomb threats 'to avoid exam'
Yinka Shonibare's Christmas card: feed the world
Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard – review
New bird flu strain linked to death of Chinese woman
Apple misled customers about their consumer rights, watchdog finds
Kakadu mine: risk of uranium leakage could be greater than thought
Ronnie Biggs, Great Train Robber, dies aged 84
LAX shooting: man charged with carrying out murder as 'act of terrorism'
Australian migration figures show twice as many arrivals as departures
The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures
18. Sacred 18 of the whirling dervish
NDIS: disability commissioner warns against cutbacks
Joe Hockey's axe falls hardest on health, education and welfare

Cigarettes or war: which is the biggest killer?

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:43 AM PST

One of our readers got in touch to find out whether wars were responsible for more deaths than cigarettes in the 20th century. And the answer is...

Mona Chalabi

Best pictures of the day - live

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:39 AM PST

A southern right whale mother seen under a whale-watching boat in Peninsula Valdez, Argentina.

Joanna Ruck

Spying claims suggest an obsessive order at Ikea's heart | Owen Hatherley

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:30 AM PST

Allegations that the company spied on French staff illustrate what happens if you calibrate a humane idea towards profit

A flatpack spying apparatus – "the Trista self-assembly bug", say – has so far not appeared on the shelves of Ikea. Yet a court case being heard in France has included allegations that the furniture firm used private detectives to follow employees on sick leave and to perform data sweeps, among other infractions of privacy. The detectives were said to be surprisingly egalitarian about who they spied on. As well as ordinary employees – Virginie Paulin, Ikea France's former deputy director of communications and marketing, is among the accusers in court – a Swedish couple who complained about poor service have also claimed to be the victims of Ikea's private detectives.

The Swedish flatpack specialists appear to have overstepped the mark. Technologies of control over workers have expanded rapidly over the past couple of decades – but it should not be too surprising.

There is a lazy equation sometimes made that there is something fundamentally dubious about any kind of attempt to create order, particularly in human environments. For a certain kind of enthusiast for chaos, it is telling that Ingvar Kamprad, Ikea's unquestioned absolute ruler from its inception to the present day, was for several years in the 1940s a member of the fascist New Swedish Movement and was quoted calling its leader Per Engdahl "a great man" as late as 2010. Ordnung muss sein and all that.

Yet Ikea did not make its money from fascism, but from Scandinavian social democracy. Between the 1930s and 1980s, Sweden became possibly the most egalitarian industrial country ever. The high design of the era, encapsulated by the work of the Swede Sven Markelius, the Finn Alvar Aalto or the Dane Arne Jacobsen, was both functionalist and homely, urban and rural. Although their designs were often found in public buildings, they were was still too expensive for the average tenant on a new housing estate. That's where Ikea stepped in, for the first time making modern design easily affordable. There was just one proviso – you had to undertake some extra, unpaid labour in putting it together.

In this, Ikea's home furnishings became icons of social democracy: unpretentious, comfortable, modern, sparse, available to all. Yet if they were one of its most conspicuous international successes, Ikea also exemplified the forces that eventually ran down social democracy as an insurgent, popular force, helping it become the residual shell that it is today.

Rudolf Meidner, the economist who was crucial in creating the Swedish model, ruefully noted that the very success of the Swedish companies that had benefited from government contracts led to their internationalisation – Ikea make half of its products in China. "Swedish multinationals," he wrote, "expanded thanks to social democratic policies. Ikea had its domestic basis in furnishing the million apartments which were built as part of the social housing programme in the 1950s and 1960s."

These Swedish multinationals helped to kill the wage earner funds plan of the 1970s, a trade union-backed reform that aimed to install workers' ownership of these corporations. Ordinary folk were considered capable of assembling and enjoying modernist furniture, but not of running the economy.

If it first expanded on the basis of social planning, Ikea later thrived on its opposite: unplanned out of town developments, with their immense blue and yellow boxes being built on the edge of cities, alongside motorways. They're the acceptable face of the exurban mall. People who would never dream of going to somewhere so crass as Bluewater or Meadowhall have no compunction about inspecting plywood and meatballs in these hideous oversized sheds. As such, they've helped to exemplify an era when the more people obsess about their interiors, the more the exterior built environment becomes bleak and straggling.

Ikea is one of the great examples of what happens to a humane idea – the provision of decent, modern environments for living in – when it is calibrated purely towards profit and power. Its obsessive order is imposed at others' expense, as its alleged failure to respect the privacy of employees suggests.

Owen Hatherley

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

Mega Millions lottery: winning tickets sold in California and Georgia

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:20 AM PST

One ticket that will split $636m jackpot was sold at gift shop in San Jose, and the other at as yet unknown location in Georgia

Two winning tickets were sold in California and Georgia for the $636m (£390m) Mega Millions jackpot, which was the second largest prize in US lottery history, lottery officials said.

One ticket was sold in San Jose, California, said the California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso. Mega Millions' lead director Paula Otto said she did not yet know in which city in Georgia the other had been sold.

Otto, who is also the Virginia Lottery's executive director, said $336m in tickets were sold for Tuesday's draw, for which they had projected $319m. "Sales were a little better than we'd anticipated," Otto said. "It was a fun run, it was our first holiday run for either of the big jackpot games."

She said that because of the higher sales the jackpot may be around $645m. The final jackpot would be available by midday on Wednesday, she said.

The jackpot started its ascent on 4 October, and 22 draws came and went without a winner. Otto said $1bn worth of tickets were sold during the run, earning the places that offer the Mega Millions lottery – 43 states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands – a total of $300 million.

The winning numbers in Tuesday night's draw were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7. The jackpot resets to $15m for the next draw, on Friday night.

The San Jose ticket was sold at Jennifer's Gift Shop, Traverso said. "For us, the main thing we'd like to get across is the level of excitement we saw all across California," he said. "At one point, we were selling about 25,000 tickets per minute. It's been an amazing experience. It's unbelievable."

The winners could choose to be paid over time or in a cash lump sum, Otto said. Based on the $636m figure, the winners would receive $318m each over time or $170m each in cash.

Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase the jackpots by lowering the odds of winning the top prize. That means the chances of winning the jackpot are now about 1 in 259 million. It used to be about 1 in 176 million, nearly the same odds of winning a jackpot in Powerball, the other major US multi-state lottery.

But that has not stopped aspiring multimillionaires from playing the game.
"Oh, I think there's absolutely no way I am going to win this lottery," said Tanya Joosten, 39, an educator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who bought several tickets on Tuesday. "But it's hard for such a small amount of money to not take the chance."

Jailed Pussy Riot members could be freed on Thursday, officials say

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:17 AM PST

Legislation set to be passed by Duma could also grant amnesty to Greenpeace activists awaiting trial on hooliganism charges

The two jailed members of the punk group Pussy Riot could be released as early as Thursday, as a wide-ranging amnesty law is expected to be passed by the Russian parliament.

A late amendment to the law could also lead to the release of the Greenpeace activists charged with hooliganism and waiting on bail for trial in Saint Petersburg.

Both Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are serving two-year sentences for an impromptu punk performance in Moscow's main cathedral early last year, but fall within the scope of a major amnesty, backed by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, and timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Russia's constitution.

The Duma, Russia's parliament, passed the bill in its first reading on Tuesday, and its second reading on Wednesday morning. The third and final reading is also due on Wednesday. Once it is signed by Putin and printed in the state newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, it will then become law.

Petya Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, says he believes an order has been given to speed up the process. Although technically releases could take up to six months to be processed from the day the law is published, officials at both prisons have indicated they are ready to release the Pussy Riot duo as soon as the law is passed, he says.

Alyokhina is serving her time in a prison in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, while Tokolonnikova was recently moved from Mordovia, a region known for its Soviet-era gulags, to the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. She has said that the conditions are incomparably better than in Mordovia, from where she published a long open letter detailing slave-like conditions of forced labour and cruel punishments.

"They are slightly sceptical of course," Verzilov told the Guardian. "When you're living in these conditions it's hard to think about the Duma passing some bill, and it seems like it could never happen, so it's a big surprise for them that it does actually seem to be happening."

The amnesty, as it stands, would free roughly 2,000 people currently in jail. An amendment on Wednesday morning extended the amnesty to suspects of hooliganism, which includes the Arctic 30, arrested aboard the Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise in September.

However, it would not cover Russia's former richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been found guilty of economic crimes at two separate trials, neither would it include a group of people currently on trial for disturbances at a rally the day before Putin was inaugurated last year.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, who were both sentenced to two years in jail last summer, were due to be released in early March, as their sentence included time served since their arrest. A third member of the group, Ekaterina Samutsevich, was freed on appeal shortly after the trial concluded.

Verzilov says that on their release, the pair plan to launch a major new project related to the Russian prison system, though he declined to give details for now.

Shaun Walker

Turkish police chiefs sacked after ministers' sons detained

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:10 AM PST

Heads of five departments in Istanbul police force dismissed a day after scores of arrests in corruption inquiry

Five Turkish police commissioners were sacked a day after the sons of cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen close to the prime minister were detained in a corruption inquiry, a local news agency said on Wednesday.

The heads of five departments in the Istanbul police force, including its financial crimes, organised crime and smuggling units, were removed from their posts, the Dogan news agency said. Police declined to comment on the report.

Scores of people including the sons of three cabinet ministers and several well-known businessmen were detained on Tuesday in a corruption inquiry led by the financial crimes unit, in what was widely seen as a challenge to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The headquarters of the state-run Halkbank were searched and the general manager of Turkey's largest housing developer, the partly state-owned Emlak Konut GYO, was summoned by police.

Turkish commentators linked the sweep to the powerful US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers have long held influential positions in institutions from the police and secret services to the judiciary and Erdogan's AK party.

Gulen has helped AK win a growing vote in three elections since 2002, but a bitter row between the two in recent weeks risks fracturing their support base before local and presidential elections next year.

211 journalists in world's jails in 2013 - with three countries holding most

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:05 AM PST

There were 211 journalists in the world's prisons at the beginning of this month, meaning that 2013 had the second highest total since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began its annual census 17 years ago. It is close to the record high of 232 the previous year.

According to a special report by Elana Beiser, CPJ's editorial director, Turkey was the world's leading jailer of journalists for the second year running, followed closely by Iran and China.

In fact, those three countries accounted for more than half of all the imprisoned journalists. Beiser writes: "Intolerant governments in Ankara, Tehran and Beijing used mostly anti-state charges to silence a combined 107 critical reporters, bloggers, and editors."

Turkey improves - but 40 are still held in jail

Journalists in Turkish jails declined to 40 from 49 the previous year, as some were freed pending trial. Others benefited from new legislation that allowed defendants in lengthy pre-trial detentions to be released for time served.

Additional journalists were freed after CPJ had completed its census. Still, authorities are holding dozens of Kurdish journalists on terror-related charges and others for allegedly participating in anti-government plots.

Broadly worded anti-terror and penal code statutes allow Turkish authorities to conflate the coverage of banned groups with membership, according to CPJ research.

Iran also improves - with 35 now behind bars

In Iran, the number of jailed journalists fell to 35 from 45, as some sentences expired and the government kept up its policy of releasing some prisoners on licence. But they do not know when, or if, they will be summoned back to jail to finish serving their sentences.

The Tehran authorities also continued to make new arrests and to condemn minority and reformist journalists to lengthy prison terms despite the election in June of a new president, Hassan Rouhani.

China - as last year, 32 are in prison

With 32 reporters, editors and bloggers in prison in China, there has been no change from 2012. Although journalists, including CPJ's 2005 international press freedom award winner, Shi Tao, were released during the year, a fresh crackdown on internet criticism, especially allegations of corruption, led to several new arrests, beginning in August.

The other seven worst jailers of journalists

The list of top 10 worst jailers of journalists was rounded out by Eritrea, Vietnam, Syria, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Uzbekistan.

Egypt held five journalists in jail compared with none in 2012. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad's government held 12 (down from 15 the previous year), but the census does not take account of the dozens of reporters who have been abducted and are believed to be held by armed opposition groups. About 30 journalists are currently missing in Syria.

Vietnam was holding 18 journalists, up from 14 a year earlier, as authorities intensified a crackdown on bloggers, who represent the country's only independent press.

United States holds blogger for contempt

The single journalist behind bars in the Americas was in the United States. Roger Shuler, an independent blogger specialising in allegations of corruption and scandal in Republican circles in Alabama, was being held on contempt of court for refusing to comply with an injunction regarding content ruled defamatory.

With 106 online journalists behind bars, they accounted for half of the total. Seventy-nine worked in print. And about a third were freelancers.

Worldwide, 124 journalists were jailed on anti-state charges such as subversion or terrorism. That is far higher than any other type of charge, such as defamation.

NB: The CPJ, a New York-based press freedom watchdog, calls its census "a snapshot" of journalists incarcerated at midnight on 1 December 2013. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year. Nor does it include the journalists who either disappeared or were abducted.

Source: CPJ

Roy Greenslade

Britain's EU future will be decided by the sceptical centre, not the fanatics | Matthew Goodwin

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

The vast majority of Britons do not want to pull up the drawbridge. If migrants work and pay taxes, they're welcome

"The whole problem with the world," wrote Bertrand Russell, "is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts." This is especially true in politics where debate is dominated by opposing armies of true believers, the committed fanatics who crowd out the moderate, silent and perhaps wiser majority. Take Britain's "debate" over the forthcoming and perfectly legal free movement of workers from Bulgaria and Romania. Fanatics on the right would have us believe tens of millions of criminally minded beggars are about to fill our streets and steal our benefits. Only by breaking the law or ending our relationship with the EU, they claim, can Britain fend off the threatening hordes. Fanatics on the left, meanwhile, are so committed to repudiating such myths and to the ideals of the "Europe project' that they fail to acknowledge public anxieties over migration and institutional failings within the EU.

That those in the centre of British politics think differently to the fanatics is confirmed in a new report from British Future, an independent thinktank concerned with the question of British identity. The report investigates our views toward the EU and the free movement of workers from Bulgaria and Romania – which becomes legal in two weeks' time. In sharp contrast to those in the pro- and anti-EU camps, it reveals how most of us are actually undecided about our country's relationship with Europe and what this entails.

Sure, 24% of British voters want to leave the EU whatever the conditions; and 13% would vote to stay in regardless of the conditions. But between these poles lies an undecided mass – some 63% – who either lean towards staying in but want to know the conditions (22%), lean towards leaving but similarly want to read the small print (26%), or who just don't know what to think (15%).

Many of these voters are instinctively sceptical toward the EU, but they are also open to being persuaded either way. This is why the immediate future in British politics is genuinely exciting: through the European elections in May, a general election in 2015 and a EU referendum campaign, there is everything to play for. So it is the "sceptical centre" who will ultimately determine Britain's relationship with the EU. And British Future has answered a key question: what people think?

Their pragmatism is best reflected in their views of people who joined Britain during the last wave of migration: the Poles. When asked, most voters saw Poles as "hardworking" rather than benefit claimants, and as making a contribution to Britain, rather than not. But at the same time, they want more effort devoted to their local integration. And consider this: almost eight out of every 10 agreed that Britons would welcome Romanians and Bulgarians, so long as they work hard, pay taxes, learn the language and become part of the community.

The sceptical centre also rejects demands from renegade Tories that, if necessary, Britain should breach EU law to curb migration (only 18% endorse this). Instead, most of those in the middle shared a "broader, grudging acceptance that these are the rules of a club of which Britain is a member". Unlike some politicians, they seem to have grasped the fact that, ultimately, this is what we signed up to, although few politicians like to remind us of that.

These voters want information about how migration will make an impact on them and their neighbourhoods; 72% said the government has not given them enough information about what is happening in January; and more than 70% wanted to know more about how this will make an impact on their community. Information is especially important for the pro-EU camp: in one focus group, some of these voters could not even outline the arguments for staying in the EU.

If new migration has to happen, the sceptical centre wants fairness – a large majority wants to enforce minimum wage standards so that EU workers cannot undercut Brits, wants pressure points in public services eased and for government to ensure workers from eastern Europe do not fuel benefit claims (unlikely, given those from the EU made a particularly strong contribution in the decade up to 2011) In short, they are a long way from the "pull the drawbridge up" response that is being voiced by a growing army of rightwing rebels.

It is this sceptical centre that will ultimately determine Britain's relationship with Europe. Its members recognise that an anti-EU and anti-migration response is not in their long-term interests, and does not reflect the kind of Britain to which they want to belong.

Matthew Goodwin

Man tries to swap live alligator for pack of beers – video report

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:56 AM PST

A customer at a Miami convenience store attempts to pay for some cans of beer with a live alligator

'Excellent prospects' for better military relations with US, says China

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:55 AM PST

Defence ministry makes first official comment on confrontation this month between US and Chinese naval vessels

There is a rosy outlook for military relations with the US, China's defence ministry has said, in an apparent attempt to limit damage from a recent confrontation between the countries' navies in the South China Sea.

A ministry statement said the sides discussed issues relating to the incident on 5 December through normal channels and "carried out effective communication".

"Relations between the Chinese and US militaries enjoy excellent prospects for development and both sides are willing to boost communication, co-ordinate closely and work to maintain regional peace and stability," the statement said.

In its first official comment on the incident, the ministry offered few details other than to say the Chinese amphibious ship involved had been on regular patrol and "appropriately handled the matter in strict accordance with operational procedures".

The US Pacific Fleet has said the cruiser USS Cowpens manoeuvred to avoid a collision while operating in international waters. It said both vessels eventually "manoeuvred to ensure safe passage" after discussions between officers on board.

However, on Monday a newspaper published by the ruling Communist party accused the US ship of crowding Chinese ships accompanying the country's first aircraft carrier on sea trials. The Global Times said the Cowpens came within 30 miles of the Chinese squadron, inside what it called its "inner defence layer".

The incident came amid heightened tensions over China's expanding navy and growing assertiveness in the region, where it claims vast areas of heavily trafficked waters and numerous island groups.

Beijing recently declared a new air defence zone over parts of the East China Sea encompassing Japanese-controlled islands claimed by China, prompting heavy criticism and defiance from Washington, Tokyo and others.

During visits this week, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said Washington would provide more than $70m (£43m) in security assistance to Vietnam and the Philippines, countries locked in competing claims with China over territory in the South China Sea.

The naval confrontation was the most serious incident between the two navies since 2009, when Chinese ships and planes repeatedly harassed the US ocean surveillance vessel USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea.

Partly to avoid such confrontations, the US has been pushing for increased exchanges and limited joint exercises with the Chinese military. Next year China's navy is set to take part for the first time in an international maritime exercise known as Rim of the Pacific.

Prince Charles highlights plight of Christians in Middle East – video

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:45 AM PST

The Prince of Wales addresses an audience of religious leaders at a reception for Middle East Christians at Clarence House

Car parts suppliers warn 30,000 jobs hinge on keeping Toyota in Australia

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:21 AM PST

PM says he wants company to keep its assembly plant in Melbourne but has warned it will not get more assistance

Mark Skulley

Harvard student made bomb threats 'to avoid exam'

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:06 AM PST

Twenty-year-old Eldo Kim sent emails to Harvard police and university officials warning of shrapnel bombs, say prosecutors

Bomb threats that led to the evacuations of four Harvard University campus buildings this week were made by a student trying to get out of taking a final exam, federal prosecutors have said.

The student, 20-year-old Eldo Kim, sent emails saying bombs had been placed around campus to Harvard police, two university officials and the president of the Harvard Crimson newspaper, according to a criminal complaint filed by the US attorney's office.

The messages said shrapnel bombs would go off in two of four buildings, including one where prosecutors say Kim was supposed to take an exam at 9am on Monday. The buildings, on Harvard's campus in Cambridge, just outside Boston, were shut down for hours before investigators determined there were no explosives.

Kim, who lives in Cambridge, is to make an initial court appearance Wednesday. It was unknown if he had a lawyer.

Investigators from several agencies searched the campus buildings for hours before determining there were no explosives. One of the buildings was a freshman dormitory; classes are held in the other three.

Harvard said in a statement it was "saddened" by the allegations in the federal complaint but would have no further comment on the criminal investigation.

An FBI affidavit filed on Tuesday said Harvard determined Kim had accessed Tor, a free internet product that assigns a temporary anonymous internet protocol address, using the university's wireless network.

The affidavit says Kim told an agent on Monday night he had acted alone and sent the messages to five or six Harvard email addresses he picked at random.

Kim's LinkedIn profile says he is an undergraduate scholar at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences. The institute's website says he is a research assistant who has worked for a professor analysing partisan taunting and also writes for the Harvard International Review and dances as a member of the Harvard Breakers.

The maximum penalties for a bomb hoax are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

Yinka Shonibare's Christmas card: feed the world

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:00 AM PST

Yinka Shonibare says: 'As we're opening our Christmas presents and eating our Christmas dinner, spare a thought for the less fortunate people. As the popular song goes: Thank God it's them instead of you. Do they know it's Christmas time?'

Yinka Shonibare

Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard – review

Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:00 AM PST

A right-wing talk show host gives us salacious gossip, gory details and a Tea Party Son of God

Everyone creates God in their own image, so it's not surprising that Fox television's aggressively conservative down-home-let's-hear-it-for-the-ordinary-guy talk show host should have created a Tea Party son of God. Jesus, the little guy, is an enemy of the big corrupt tax-oppressing Roman empire, which is itself just a version of Washington, only even more venal and sexually depraved. This Jesus is a tax-liberating rebel who incurs the wrath of the Jewish and Roman powers by threatening their joint fleecing of the people. As a member of the populist right, he is not, of course, in favour of redistribution: Bill O'Reilly's Jesus does not tell the rich to give away their money to the poor.

To give them their due, O'Reilly and his co-author Martin Dugard, who one presumes did most of the research, are right that the taxation imposed by the Romans was indeed a major cause of resentment and rebellion across the empire. But the Jews had a uniquely tense relationship with Rome – not because of taxation but because of their monotheistic religion.

The authors acknowledge that Jesus was not put to death by the Romans because of his economic protests (though they do make him overturn the moneylenders' tables at the temple not once but twice). But they underplay the real reason: Jesus's name had become fatally associated with that of the Messiah, the Christ, a longed-for figure who had become increasingly politicised: he would be not just the anointed king but the ruler who would liberate the Jews from the Romans before ushering in God's rule. As far as the Romans were concerned, Jesus, one of many would-be Messiahs at the time, was therefore a seditious rebel whose crime was punishable by death.

It's easy to be snooty about this kind of bodice-ripping treatment of history, where a preoccupied Herod sighs and looks anxiously out of the window, where Mary and Joseph "gasp in shock" to see their young son holding his own among the temple elders, the son whose "destiny must be fulfilled, even if his worried parents have no idea how horrific that destiny might be" (actually, as the authors themselves make clear, crucifixion was the usual fate of traitors and criminals across the Roman empire). I stopped counting the number of chapters ending with the cliffhanger "the child with [xx] years to live is being hunted/is missing … Jesus of Nazareth has one year to live" – or perhaps my favourite: "For now he is a free man." New line: "For now" – the two words left dangling ominously on the page.

As a revved-up journalese version of the gospels, plumped up with historical detail – which though not always accurate gives the reader a good sense of what life was like at the end of the first century BC; how soldiers were trained, how taxation worked, what the temple looked like and, of course, how soldiers crucified a man – Killing Jesus is fine. Indeed the authors used the same stylistic formula for their two previous books Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln. Both were bestsellers, and Killing Jesus is already number three on the New York Times bestsellers list. Why? Because they are fabulously easy to read: because there are good guys and bad guys, with very little in between; because there is lots of journalistically juicy, salacious gossip; and because, as with some historical fiction, you learn quite a bit about a particular era without having to think too much.

But historical detail does not in itself make a history – that requires analysis. Despite the subtitle, Killing Jesus is not "A History". It is a breathy retelling of the gospel stories by two conservative Catholics, one of whom, O'Reilly, believes that he was inspired to write the book by the Holy Ghost. It might be unfair to expect too much in the way of nuance or new material from Killing Jesus, but since it calls itself a history, one does expect accuracy. So when the authors claim that "the incredible story behind the lethal struggle between good and evil has never been told" – cue drumroll – "until now", the reader is entitled to feel a little misled.

Although the authors proclaim in their introduction that they have manfully succeeded in separating fact from legend and will alert the reader if the evidence is not set in stone, they signally fail to do so. Killing Jesus relies almost exclusively on the gospels, discounting two centuries of ongoing scholarly scepticism about their historical accuracy with a breezy footnote that there is "growing acceptance of their overall historicity".

Who are the goodies and baddies? The Romans are bad, corrupt and "unrelentingly cruel" – especially in their imposition of taxes, which in the eyes of our authors is a particularly nasty vice. The Jewish elite is bad, because it is hand in glove with the Romans in brutalising and fleecing the "good people of Galilee". Ordinary Jews are good. But the Pharisees are very bad. They are arrogant, self-righteous, self-interested and power-hungry.

O'Reilly and Dugard have swallowed hook, line and sinker the gospel writers' antipathy to the Pharisees. They seem unaware that in Jesus's time the Pharisees were in fact a newish, radicalising group, trying to wrest control of the Jewish religion from the stranglehold of the Sadducees, the aristocratic priestly caste who O'Reilly and Dugard unaccountably characterise as liberals. It was the Pharisees who stirred up revolt against Herod and Roman rule; thanks to the Pharisees, many Jews felt themselves forced to make a choice between being a good religious Jew or a good Roman citizen – a choice that ended for many in the Jewish revolt of 66-73/4 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple.

Jesus's attempt to get round the problem of how to be a good Jew and a good Roman by saying "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" was unhelpful. The problem for the Jews was precisely that they could not divide Caesar from God. Uniquely at the time they had a monotheistic god and monotheistic gods brook no rivals, such as a divine emperor. Uniquely also, their god demanded obedience to his law and that law covered the whole of life – from sex, eating and how you acted in business to loving your neighbour and worshipping the one and only god.

Herod tried but failed to be a loyal client king to Rome and a good religious Jew in the eyes of his people. And it was this tension between two identities that I believe propelled Paul, the Roman citizen and erstwhile fervent Pharisee, to refashion the small Jewish cult of Jesus into a religion open to Gentiles as well as Jews, where it would be possible to be "neither Jew nor Greek". Paul, however, is given no credit for the foundation and spread of Christianity: all the credit goes to Jesus, whose body, the authors tell us in their sonorous finale, "has never been found".

• Selina O'Grady's And Man Created God: Kings, Cults and Conquests at the Time of Jesus is out from Atlantic.

New bird flu strain linked to death of Chinese woman

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:52 PM PST

Woman in Nanchang was infected with H10N8 bird flu virus, a strain not previously found in people

Chinese authorities have said a 73-year-old woman has died after being infected with a bird flu strain not previously found in people, a development that the World Health Organisation called "worrisome".

China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the woman in Nanchang had been infected with the H10N8 bird flu virus, the Jiangxi province health department said on its website.

This is the second new bird flu strain to emerge in humans this year in China. In late March the H7N9 bird flu virus broke out, infecting 140 people and killing 45, almost all of them on the mainland. The outbreak was controlled after the country closed many of its live animal markets. Scientists assumed the virus was infecting people through exposure to live birds.

Timothy O'Leary, spokesman for the WHO's regional office in Manila, said officials were working closely with Chinese authorities to better understand the new virus. He said it would not be surprising if another human case was detected.

"It's worrisome any time a disease jumps the species barrier from animals to humans. That said, the case is under investigation [by Chinese authorities] and there's no evidence of human-to-human transmission yet," O'Leary said.

The Jiangxi health department said the woman had severe pneumonia before dying on 6 December in a hospital in Nanchang. She had suffered high blood pressure, heart disease and other underlying health problems that lowered her immunity, the health department said. Her medical history showed that she had been in contact with live poultry.

The health department said no "abnormalities" had been found in people who had close contact with her. It did not say whether they had been tested or quarantined, though China has in previous outbreaks taken those measures.

Experts are cautious when it comes to bird flu viruses infecting humans. They have been closely watching the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed 384 people worldwide since 2003. The virus remains hard to catch with most human infections linked to contact with infected poultry, but scientists fear it could mutate and spread rapidly among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

Apple misled customers about their consumer rights, watchdog finds

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:52 PM PST

Apple agrees to court-enforceable agreement to ensure staff inform customers of rights under Australian consumer law

Helen Davidson

Kakadu mine: risk of uranium leakage could be greater than thought

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:47 PM PST

Guardian Australia: Study shows radioactive particles can escape into the environment, raising alarms about the World Heritage-listed national park

Oliver Milman

Ronnie Biggs, Great Train Robber, dies aged 84

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:42 PM PST

Gang member escaped from Wandsworth prison and spent 36 years on the run, leading a playboy lifestyle in South America

The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, the most well-known member of a gang that made off with £2.6m from a Glasgow to London mail train, has died at the age of 84. Biggs was caught after the robbery and received a 30-year jail sentence but escaped from Wandsworth prison and spent 36 years on the run, leading a playboy lifestyle in South America.

He finally surrendered to British police in 2001 but was freed in 2009 on health grounds. He had been ill for some time and had suffered a series of strokes.

Biggs died on the day the BBC was due to broadcast the first part of a two-part TV dramatisation of the robbery. The first part, a Robber's Tale, focuses on Bruce Reynolds, the leader of gang who died earlier this year. The second, A Copper's Tale, tells the story of Tommy Butler, the detective chief superintendent who pursued them.

The Twitter account @ronniebiggsnews, which publicises Biggs's website and autobiography, said: "Sadly we lost Ron during the night. As always, his timing was perfect to the end. Keep him and his family in your thoughts." He died on Wednesday morning, according to his spokeswoman.

At his last public appearance in two years ago, to launch his book, Odd Man Out: the Last Straw, an ailing Biggs said he would be remembered as a lovable rogue.

But many have been quick to point out that the driver of the train, Jack Mills, was struck by an iron bar during the infamous robbery and never fully recovered. Daniel Hamilton, a Conservative European election candidate, tweeted: "Ronnie Biggs was a violent criminal who evaded facing justice for decades. I find today's gushing eulogies slightly offensive."

Tory lobbyist Alex Deane tweeted: "Come on media. Biggs wasn't a cuddly heart of gold cockney character to be feted. His gang beat a man with an iron bar, ruining his life."

Peter Rayner, former chief operating officer of British Rail, has been critical of Biggs in the past but expressed sympathy for his family.

He said: "My view is that whilst I was – and am – critical of the Great Train Robbers and the heroes' welcome they got, especially in light of the death of Jack Mills, my sympathies go out to his family and I would not wish to speak further on the subject."

Poverty and poor health forced Biggs to give himself up after his high-profile time on the run. Ignoring protests from his family, including his son Michael, who begged him to reconsider, he sent an email to Scotland Yard informing them that he wanted to return and needed a passport.

He struck a deal with the Sun newspaper, which flew him back to Britain in May 2001 on an executive jet stocked with curry, Marmite and beer.

He was arrested immediately on his arrival in the UK and found himself back in a dock later that day, a feeble shadow of the cocky cockney villain he had been last time he faced a judge.

He was transferred to the high-security Belmarsh prison to continue his sentence.

Biggs had joined the gang that held up the Royal Mail night train from Glasgow to London on his 34th birthday. His role was to find a driver for the train. In fact, the driver he found had problems with the controls and the train's legitimate driver, 57-year-old Mills, was coshed with iron bars and forced to move the train. He died seven years later.

The hold-up, at Sears Crossing in Buckinghamshire, was planned in minute detail and, initially at least, was a spectacular success. The gang shared out the proceeds at isolated Leatherslade Farm – Biggs taking about £148,000 – but thereafter things started to go badly wrong, with nearly all of the gang members being rounded up by the police.

Sentenced to 30 years behind bars on 15 April 1964, Biggs was to serve just 15 months in prison.

On 8 July 1965, he made a daring escape from Wandsworth prison in London. While other prisoners created a diversion in the exercise yard, Biggs scaled a wall with a rope ladder and dropped on to a furniture van parked alongside.

After a brief stopover in Paris for £40,000 worth of plastic surgery to change his appearance, he travelled to Australia where he adopted the name Terry King, and later Terry Cook. For several months he ran a boarding house in Adelaide, and in June 1966 his wife Charmian and two children joined him, also on false passports.

He went on to build a new life for himself as jobbing carpenter under the name Michael Haynes. In 1974, he was tracked down in Rio by the Daily Express reporter Colin MacKenzie – and shortly afterwards by Detective Inspector Jack Slipper of Scotland Yard. But the Yard's efforts to get Biggs back to Britain were foiled by Brazilian law.

In 1978, Biggs made a record, No One is Innocent, with the punk rock group the Sex Pistols. In March 1981, Biggs was kidnapped in Rio by a gang of adventurers and smuggled to Barbados by boat. Their aim was to bring him back to Britain. But the Barbados high court decided the rules governing extradition to Britain had not been properly put before the island's parliament, and Biggs was allowed to return to Rio.

Biggs suffered his first stroke in 1998 though he recovered to throw a 70th birthday party. However, the second and third strokes followed, permanently ending his life of beaches and parties, and starting the chain of events that led to his return to Britain and a life as prisoner 002731.

In January 2003, his son Michael complained that his father was assaulted by a member of prison staff at Belmarsh.

Appeals to have Biggs released were ignored. In October 2003, an appeal against his sentence was thrown out by a high court judge as "hopeless" and "misconceived". Biggs was moved from Belmarsh to Norwich prison in July 2007 to live on a unit for elderly inmates.

The justice secretary, Jack Straw, refused him parole in 2009 and accused him of being "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes. But Biggs was old and severely ill, lying in a bed in Norwich hospital with pneumonia and fractures of the hip, pelvis and spine. After three strokes he was unable to eat, speak or walk.

He was finally granted compassionate release from his prison sentence on 6 August 2009, just two days before his 80th birthday.

Matthew Weaver

LAX shooting: man charged with carrying out murder as 'act of terrorism'

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:33 PM PST

Paul Anthony Ciancia accused of first-degree murder of TSA officer at Los Angeles airport, attempted murder and violent acts

A federal grand jury has indicted a man on a first-degree murder charge and 10 other felonies over the deadly 1 November shooting spree at Los Angeles international airport.

The indictment in the US district court in Los Angeles accuses Paul Anthony Ciancia of killing Transportation Security Administration officer Gerardo Hernandez "willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation and malice aforethought" and targeting two other TSA officers.

Investigators allege Ciancia had a vendetta against the federal government and targeted TSA officers when he pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and started shooting. Ciancia was wounded by airport police as passengers scrambled to safety.

The indictment says Ciancia, 23, "committed the offence after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person and to commit an act of terrorism".

If convicted he could face the death penalty.

Ciancia is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of officers Tony Leroy Grigsby and James Maurice Speer. He is charged with committing acts of violence against people at an international airport, including a passenger, teacher Brian Donovan Ludmer, who was wounded and underwent surgery for his injuries.

Australian migration figures show twice as many arrivals as departures

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:04 PM PST

Bureau of Statistics reports that the largest annual increases have come from south Asia and Africa

Bridie Jabour

The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST

Journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham have landed in Antarctica with the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition

Laurence Topham

Alok Jha

18. Sacred 18 of the whirling dervish

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST

Our festive countdown, extracted from Rogerson's Book of Numbers, continues with a number linking sacred Sufi verses, meditation and food

The 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi composed 18 verses for the introduction of his iconic teaching verse, the Mathnavi, which like all his work must be referenced back to the Qur'an. For the single great introductory phrase to every Muslim verse, prayer and blessing is "Bismi'llahi' r-rahmani' r-rahim" – "In the name of God, ever-merciful and all-forgiving" – which has 18 consonants in it.

A spiritual apprentice who wished to join the Mevlevi Sufi brotherhood (the whirling dervishes) was expected to first learn to achieve 18 kinds of service in the kitchen, each occupation requiring at least 18 days of study. Similarly, the last ladder in the apprenticeship of learning was to meditate alone for 18 days, having been escorted into one's cell by an 18-armed candelabrum. Gifts and courses of food were customarily served within the tekke (dervish monastery) in sets of nine or 18.

Tomorrow: the sacred 19 of the Bahá'í

• Taken from Rogerson's Book of Numbers by Barnaby Rogerson

Barnaby Rogerson