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

Inflation falls to 1.9%, below Bank of England's 2% target - live
Thai police officer and protester killed in Bangkok gun battles
G8 New Alliance condemned as new wave of colonialism in Africa
New Catholic cardinal renews attack on 'disgraceful' austerity cuts
Voices from Manus: 'We are in danger. Somebody please help us'
Cities in motion: how slime mould can redraw our rail and road maps
South Sudan rebel offensive threatens oilfields
Australian immigration minister announces independent inquiry into Manus Island violence
The Queen and I: Helen Mirren attends Buckingham Palace Rada event
One dead and dozens injured during Papua New Guinea detention centre riot
Thai police clear Bangkok protest sites
Shots fired as NSW police pursue stolen front-end loader
Indonesia incursions report to be released in days, says Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison announces review of Manus Island violence – video
Seven accuses police of overkill after raid over Schapelle Corby ties
Scientific knowledge is as much about culture as education | Sylvia McLain
Al-Qaida group claims it carried out Egypt bus bombing
North Korean human rights abuses systematic and unparalleled, says UN
Hospital visits for self-inflicted injuries should cost, Senate told
Australia must come clean on spying to heal our rift, says Indonesia
111th American International Toy Fair – in pictures
British savers would lose €4.4bn from financial transaction tax, study says
UK storms a result of climate change, say nearly half of poll respondents
Haiti's farmers savour sweet taste of success with ice-cream venture
SPC Ardmona's owner urges Australians to buy local farm produce

Inflation falls to 1.9%, below Bank of England's 2% target - live

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:35 AM PST

UK inflation is expected to have fallen below the Bank of England's 2% target for the first time in more than 4 years.

Thai police officer and protester killed in Bangkok gun battles

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:34 AM PST

Deaths and injuries reported as authorities attempt to clear protest sites around government offices in capital

A Thai police officer and anti-government protester have been killed and dozens wounded in gun battles and clashes in Bangkok, officials and witnesses have said.

Violence erupted as the authorities launched their most determined effort yet to clear demonstrators from sites around state offices in the capital, where anti-government rallies have been taking place since November.

"One policeman has died and 14 police were injured," the Thai national police chief, Adul Saengsingkaew, told Reuters. "The policeman … died while being sent to hospital. He was shot in the head."

A male protester aged 52 was also killed in the Thai capital, the Erawan Medical Center – which monitors city hospitals – said on its website, which also reported that 44 people had been hurt. It did not provide a breakdown of how many of the wounded were police and how many were civilians.

Television pictures showed clouds of teargas and police crouching behind riot shields as officers clashed with protesters near Government House. It was not clear who had fired the teargas and the authorities blamed protesters.

"I can guarantee that teargas was not used by security forces. The forces did not take teargas with them," the National Security Council chief, Paradorn Pattanathabutr, told Reuters. "Protesters are the ones who threw teargas at the security forces."

Live television pictures showed police with shields and batons pushing and jostling with protesters near Government House. One man could be seen bleeding from a head wound.

Security officials said four police officers had been wounded by bomb shrapnel. Police said about 100 protesters had been arrested in an early morning operation to clear demonstrators from another protest site near the energy ministry.

The protesters have been rallying since November, calling for the overthrow of the prime Mminister, Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier and telecoms tycoon toppled in a military coup in 2006.

Yingluck has been forced to abandon her offices in Government House by the protesters, who have also blocked major intersections since mid-January.

The government, haunted by memories of a bloody 2010 crackdown by a previous administration that killed dozens of pro-Thaksin "red shirt" activists, has largely tried to avoid confrontation. Tuesday's fatality brought to 12 the number of people killed in sporadic violence between protesters, security forces and government supporters since the demonstrations began. Hundreds more have been hurt.

Demonstrators accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used taxpayers' money for populist subsidies and easy loans that have bought him the loyalty of millions in the populous north and north-east of the country.

Security officials said 15,000 officers were involved in an operation called the "Peace for Bangkok Mission" to reclaim protest sites around government offices in the centre and north of the capital.

Bluesky TV, the protest movement's TV channel, had earlier shown protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban addressing police lines near Government House. "We are not fighting to get power for ourselves," Suthep said. "The reforms we will set in motion will benefit your children and grandchildren, too. The only enemy of the people is the Thaksin regime."

The labour minister, Chalerm Yoobamrung, who is in charge of the security operation, has said police would reclaim sites near Government House, the interior ministry and a government administration complex in north Bangkok as well as the energy ministry.

"We will not respond with force. We will not give up Government House and the interior Mministry," said protest spokesman Akanat Promphan.

Police have made no move against the largest protest sites in the city's main business and shopping districts.

G8 New Alliance condemned as new wave of colonialism in Africa

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:34 AM PST

Critics say landmark initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty favours big business to the detriment of small farmers

A landmark G8 initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty has been damned as a new form of colonialism after African governments agreed to change seed, land and tax laws that favour private investors over small farmers.

Ten countries made more than 200 policy commitments, including changes to laws and regulations after giant agribusinesses were granted unprecedented access to decision-makers over the past two years.

The pledges will make it easier for companies to do business in Africa through the easing of export controls and tax laws, and through governments ringfencing huge chunks of land for investment.

The Ethiopian government has said it will "refine" its land law to encourage long-term land leases and strengthen the enforcement of commercial farm contracts. In Malawi, the government has promised to set aside 200,000 hectares of prime land for commercial investors by 2015, and in Ghana, 10,000 hectares will be made available for investment by the end of next year. In Nigeria, promises include the privatisation of power companies.

A Guardian analysis of companies' plans under the initiative suggests dozens of investments are for non-food crops, including cotton, biofuels and rubber, or for projects explicitly targeting export markets.

Companies were invited to the table through the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition initiative that pledges to accelerate agricultural production and lift 50 million people out of poverty by 2022.

But small farmers, who are supposed to be the main beneficiaries of the programme, have been shut out of the negotiations.

Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said governments had been making promises to investors "completely behind the screen", with "no long-term view about the future of smallholder farmers" and without their participation.

He described Africa as the last frontier for large-scale commercial farming. "There's a struggle for land, for investment, for seed systems, and first and foremost there's a struggle for political influence," he said.

Zitto Kabwe, the chairman of the Tanzanian parliament's public accounts committee, said he was "completely against" the commitments his government has made to bolster private investment in seeds.

"By introducing this market, farmers will have to depend on imported seeds. This will definitely affect small farmers. It will also kill innovation at the local level. We have seen this with manufacturing," he said.

"It will be like colonialism. Farmers will not be able to farm until they import, linking farmers to [the] vulnerability of international prices. Big companies will benefit. We should not allow that."

Tanzania's tax commitments would also benefit companies rather than small farmers, he said, adding that the changes proposed would have to go through parliament. "The executive cannot just commit to these changes. These are sensitive issues. There has to be enough debate," he said.

Million Belay, the head of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), said the initiative could spell disaster for small farmers in Africa. "It clearly puts seed production and distribution in the hands of companies," he said.

"The trend is for companies to say they cannot invest in Africa without new laws … Yes, agriculture needs investment, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to bring greater control over farmers' lives.

"More than any other time in history, the African food production system is being challenged. More than any other time in history outside forces are deciding the future of our farming systems."

AFSA has also denounced the G8 initiative as ushering in a new wave of colonialism on the continent.

Barack Obama launched the New Alliance at the 2012 G8 summit at Camp David, following years of underinvestment in agriculture and the failure of donors to disburse millions of dollars in funding for global food security promised at the 2009 G8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy.

Just eight African governments have met their own commitment, made under the Maputo accord in 2003, to invest 10% of their budgets in agricultural development.

With traditional aid budgets under pressure, donors are increasingly turning to the private sector to fill the gap, sparking concerns that taxpayer money to help the world's poorest people is being diverted to programmes that raise the profile and promote the interests of commercial investors.

Six African countries signed up to the New Alliance at launch, and another four joined last year.

The initiative relies on the "personal commitment of top-level leaders", according to a document from its overarching leadership council, seen by the Guardian. The council brings African presidents together with the heads of donor agencies and top business executives. The CEOs of companies including Unilever and the agribusiness giants Syngenta, Yara and Cargill have had seats on the leadership council.

Companies have refused to make their full investment plans under the New Alliance available for public scrutiny, and freedom of information requests to the UK government were rejected on the basis of commercial confidentiality.

A consultant hired by donors to draft a co-operation agreement for the New Alliance in Malawi, who did not want to be named, said it helped to raise the profile of private investors' needs at the most senior level of government.

Join opportunities

Øystein Botillen, manager of global initiatives at fertiliser giant Yara International, said the initiative helped donors and companies "pull in the same direction" and created space for "dialogues on where there are opportunities, how investments can be of mutual benefit".

Kavita Prakash-Mani, Syngenta's global head of food security, said it planned to develop a $1bn business in Africa by 2022 and was working closely with the US development agency (USAid) and the UK Department for International Development (DfID). "We have ongoing conversations to see where we may be able to find joint opportunities."

Prakash-Mani said the company was not involved in drawing up countries' co-operation frameworks, but added that policy reforms were "essential to ensure that investments made by Syngenta and others have the desired impact on the ground". She added that "better coordination between regulations across countries will also help speed up the introduction of much needed technology for use by African farmers".

Critics of the New Alliance have questioned how it will help poor farmers. A document seen by the Guardian shows the initiative is based on assumptions about how investment can reduce poverty and has set no specific targets for its stated goals of boosting food security and nutrition on the continent.

Colin Poulton, a research fellow at the centre for development, environment and policy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, told the Guardian: "Without a clear theory of change indicating how increased investment in large-scale agriculture will lead to poverty reduction, improved food security or nutrition, and without clear plans to ensure that large numbers of outgrowers will be engaged in the new value chains, the New Alliance is so far primarily an initiative to commercialise agriculture in Africa."

Some civil society groups say the initiative has the potential to benefit farmers, but are concerned by the speed at which policy changes are being driven through, and the lack of consultation, particularly with groups based in Africa. Farmers the Guardian spoke to said they were unaware of the initiative or that laws were being changed.

Kato Lambrechts, Christian Aid's senior advocacy and policy officer, said: "Governments have signed on to promise to fast-track or implement policies, regulations or laws that need to be further discussed and debated in-country. The concern is that these are being pushed through in exchange for new private sector commitments to invest in agriculture value chains, which cannot be a substitute for well-developed and comprehensive policies that address the needs of poor farmers to allow them to move out of poverty."

Benito Eliasi, from the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions, which has represented civil society on the leadership council, said: "The implementation of legislation is one of the biggest problems facing farmers in Africa. We need to safeguard farmers … Farmers need to be involved. If they are not involved, this will fail."

Gawain Kripke, Oxfam America's policy director, said insufficient consultation with civil society and farmers was a fatal flaw. "There's a 100-year history of failed development projects in Africa and around the world … It's not just about being nice."

The UK development secretary, Justine Greening, told the Guardian that smallholder farmers were "absolutely a core part of the New Alliance". She said: "Do medium and large corporations have a role to play? Of course they do, but it will not be an exclusive approach. I don't believe it will be.

"I think overwhelmingly we need to be careful that we don't come at all these key projects that ultimately involve the private sector with a sense of somehow they're going to be bad."

Tony Burdon, DfID's head of growth and resilience, admitted that more consultation could have taken place with civil society and farmers' groups, and that companies could be more transparent about their investment plans, which he described as "light on detail" in some cases.

But he added that focusing on civil society and issues of accountability was missing the point of the initiative. He said the New Alliance would help to increase agricultural growth and farmers' incomes, which would in turn improve food security and reduce poverty levels, something public sector funding alone had not achieved.

Britain's aid watchdog said last month that it would be examining the New Alliance as part of its wider investigation into whether UK funding for nutrition was achieving its aims.

Claire Provost

Liz Ford

Mark Tran

New Catholic cardinal renews attack on 'disgraceful' austerity cuts

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:26 AM PST

Roman Catholic archbishop Vincent Nichols, who is to be made a cardinal by Pope Francis, inundated with messages of support

The leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales says he has been inundated with messages of support after branding the government's austerity programme a disgrace for leaving so many people in destitution.

In an interview with the BBC Radio 4's Today programme to mark his imminent appointment as a cardinal by Pope Francis, Archbishop Vincent Nichols expanded upon his comments to the Telegraph when he attacked the government's welfare reforms as "punitive".

"The voices that I hear express anger and despair … Something is going seriously wrong when, in a country as affluent as ours, people are left in that destitute situation and depend solely on the handouts of the charity of food banks," Nichols said.

In his Telegraph interview, published on Saturday, Nichols accused ministers of tearing apart the safety net that protects people from hunger and destitution. He said since he made those comments he had been "inundated with accounts from people … saying there are indeed many cases where people are left without benefits, without any support, for sometimes weeks on end".

Nichols gave an example of one such letter. "One man said 'It's quite heartbreaking the way that some of the people are treated – expected to apply for six jobs per week online in order to keep their benefits, even if they have no IT skills or no access to a computer.' This is a man saying 'I deal with people every day – thank goodness there are things like food banks to fill the gap'."

Nichols added: "These are the voices that I hear and it is my privilege to put them into the public arena."

Nichols also defended church food banks. He said one beneficiary started to cry when presented with food after not eating for three days. "It is stories like that that are part of the reality of this country today," Nichols said.

He also suggested the government's crackdown on benefit cheats was disproportionate as only 1% of the welfare budget went on fraudulent claims. "There is a problem that has to be tackled, and it is right that assistance should be targeted at the most needy," Nichols said. He added: "These are complex matters and I'm not pretending that they are simple. I'm just saying what I see and hear is people left in destitution and in a country of our wealth that shouldn't happen."

He concluded: "The moral challenge roots back to the principle that we have to regard and treat every single person with respect. That's one of the great geniuses of Pope Francis – that he manages in his gestures to show that respect to even the most unlovely of people."

Matthew Weaver

Voices from Manus: 'We are in danger. Somebody please help us'

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:18 AM PST

Asylum seekers claim they were attacked inside the compound, contradicting government accounts of two bloody days of trouble

Oliver Laughland

Cities in motion: how slime mould can redraw our rail and road maps

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:58 AM PST

Researchers use organism's search for food to work out efficient transport routes, divert around floods and even imitate rush hour

When asked, slime mould would reroute the M6. For years now, researchers in the field of urban transport have looked at biomimicry as a tool for establishing the most efficient routes around congested cities, typically by road or rail.

The use of naturally occurring living organisms to solve spatial design problems has, in this area, variously been explored by mimicking the foraging process of ants or the growth of crystal structures. But it is a particular form of slime mould, Physarum polycephalum (the "many-headed slime"), that has shown particular promise, having been applied to cities around the world and now offering the potential for mimicking regularly occurring events, such as rush hours.

P polycephalum is a plasmodial, single-celled organism which grows outward from a single point, searching for food sources. Once these have been located, the many branches it has sent out die back, leaving only the most efficient route between food source nodes.

By arranging pieces of oatmeal on a Petri dish to represent railway stations, researchers at the University of Hokkaido in Japan successfully grew a slime mould model of the Tokyo rail system in 2010. Since then, slime has mapped the optimum transport networks of numerous cities, as well as the Silk Road and a full global trade route.

In a comparison of 14 countries' motorway networks, a global team of researchers led by Professor Andrew Adamatzky – director of the unconventional computing centre at the University of the West of England – used oat flakes and slime to establish that cities in Belgium, Canada and China had existing transport networks most similar to the slime model, and thus were most efficient, while networks in the US and Africa were indicated to be the least efficient.

Closer to home, when Adamatzky's team mapped the UK motorway network, the M4 motorway between Bristol and London very rarely occurred, with the plasmodium instead routing traffic through the West Midlands.

Furthermore, according to the slime mould's point of view, the M6/M74 should be rerouted through Newcastle, linking London to Glasgow along the east rather than the west coast.

Mapping by slime mould has a number of benefits, not least its relative ease and speed. Slime mould grows at 1cm an hour in optimum conditions, and will successfully map most problems in a few days. The established network is still a living "supercell" (effectively a single cell with multiple nuclei), and as a result, can also become a dynamic modelling tool.

For example, problems in the system such as a road crash or flooding can be simulated by simply adding salt at the relevant point on the map. Salt is toxic to the plasmodium and the organism will retract from it, strengthening other lines and opening new routes across the network, which can thus provide information for traffic planning contingencies.

Up to now, research has not included types of terrain such as rivers or mountains, nor any understanding of social and political factors. It will only map the most efficient route to all points. But current research suggests the slime mould leaves chemical markers on unsuccessful routes as a reminder. This could be used in the future to indicate terrain features missing from current models.

This developing form of biomimicry demonstrates some of the possibilities of using unconventional computing in urban planning, and as slime mould techniques are increasingly employed so does our understanding of what this complex organism can teach us.

Most intriguing of all is the potential for the mould to "expect" changes in its environment. Back in 2008, researchers at Hokkaido University repeatedly subjected successfully growing slime moulds to low temperatures and dry air every 30 minutes. Not the best conditions to grow slime in; so as expected, growth rates slowed.

When the researchers then stopped applying poor growth conditions, however, half of the slime moulds tested still slowed their growth rate 30 minutes later, in expectation of the stimulus. Such behaviour could potentially be used to get transport network models to adapt to regularly occurring events, such as rush hours, or as a planning tool for project management. For the moment, though, the mechanisms behind this aspect of the slime mould's behaviour remain poorly understood.

South Sudan rebel offensive threatens oilfields

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:50 AM PST

Attack in Malakal by rebel fighters loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar fuels fears over security of vital oil supplies

South Sudanese rebels have attacked the capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile state – the first fighting in a provincial capital since rebels and the government signed a ceasefire in January.

A spokesperson for the regional administration said rebels loyal to the country's former vice-president Riek Machar attacked at around 7am local time and that SPLA government forces were engaged in battles in north, south and central Malakal.

Rebel forces could not immediately be reached for comment, but President Salva Kiir's government and rebels who support Machar have both accused the other of violating the 23 January ceasefire deal brokered by neighbouring east African states.

The clashes will fuel concerns over the security of South Sudan's northern oilfields – an economic lifeline for the world's newest state – and raise pressure on both camps to revive stalled peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia.

"The fighting is continuing, but our forces are still in control of Malakal," Philip Jiben, spokesman for the Upper Nile administration, told Reuters by telephone. Gunfire could be heard in the background as he spoke.

A UN official said he had received reports of fighting in Malakal but could not confirm them. The town fell into rebel hands after fighting broke out in mid-December before the army recaptured it last month.

It was not immediately clear which rebel faction had attacked Malakal, a dusty market town on the banks of the White Nile. Machar says he controls all anti-government forces but analysts question the loyalty of some groups, which have their own grievances against the Juba government.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than 800,000 have fled their homes since fighting erupted last year – triggered by a power struggle between President Kiir and Machar, his former deputy whom he sacked in July.

The conflict has already forced South Sudan to cut oil production by a fifth to 200,000 barrels a day, all of which is pumped from Upper Nile. Oil accounts for 98% of government revenues.

Oil firms in South Sudan, a country the size of France, include China National Petroleum Corp, India's ONGC Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas. Work in some fields has been suspended.

Peace talks had been due to resume last week but were delayed by a rebel demand that four remaining political prisoners held by the government be released and the Ugandan military – which is supporting Kiir's army – withdraw from South Sudan.

Government officials privately acknowledge negotiations are unlikely to make progress until the senior political figures are freed. The government accuses the detainees of an attempted coup.

Australian immigration minister announces independent inquiry into Manus Island violence

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:49 AM PST

Minister stands by reports that PNG police did not shoot but concedes other people may have been in the compound

Paul Farrell

The Queen and I: Helen Mirren attends Buckingham Palace Rada event

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:47 AM PST

Mirren says 'I am genuinely astounded by her aura' as British monarch appears to salute silver-screen alter ego

One dead and dozens injured during Papua New Guinea detention centre riot

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:42 AM PST

Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison has confirmed 77 people were treated for injuries and one person died of a head injury

Helen Davidson

Oliver Laughland

Thai police clear Bangkok protest sites

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:38 AM PST

Scores arrested, reports say, as authorities announce they intend to reclaim key locations from anti-government demonstrators

Shots fired as NSW police pursue stolen front-end loader

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:37 AM PST

Man and woman arrested after 40km chase along highway near Broken Hill

Paul Farrell

Indonesia incursions report to be released in days, says Scott Morrison

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:22 AM PST

Account of how Australian navy entered sovereign waters will come out after opposition spokesman has been briefed

Scott Morrison announces review of Manus Island violence – video

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:07 AM PST

Immigration minister Scott Morrison announces an independent review into the unrest on Manus Island on 16-17 January

Seven accuses police of overkill after raid over Schapelle Corby ties

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:06 AM PST

Search of Sydney offices was 'without justification', says network boss, as he denies doing any deal with drug smuggler

Scientific knowledge is as much about culture as education | Sylvia McLain

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 12:00 AM PST

Sylvia McLain: One in four Americans doesn't know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but this says much more about culture than it does about education

Sylvia McLain

Al-Qaida group claims it carried out Egypt bus bombing

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:57 PM PST

Tthree South Korean tourists and Egyptian driver killed in attack in Sinai desert

A militant group based in the Sinai has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on an Egyptian bus in the desert peninsula that killed three South Korean tourists and an Egyptian driver.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Arabic for Champions of Jerusalem, said in a statement posted on militant websites late on Monday that one of its "heroes" carried out Sunday's bombing in Taba as part of an "economic war" against army-backed government.

Egyptian officials have called it a suicide attack, but the Ansar statement did not use any language that would suggest the perpetrator was dead.

The al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks, but they have previously targeted primarily police and the military.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified but it was posted on al-Qaida-affiliated websites.

North Korean human rights abuses systematic and unparalleled, says UN

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:54 PM PST

Inquiry chairman Michael Kirby writes to Kim Jong-un warning he could face trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity

UN's dossier on North Korea's rights abuses – the main points
Sketches of prison abuse submitted to UN

North Korea's leadership is committing systematic and appalling human rights abuses against its own citizens on a scale unparalleled in the modern world, crimes against humanity with strong resemblances to those committed by the Nazis, a United Nations inquiry has concluded.

The UN's commission on human rights in North Korea, which gathered evidence for almost a year, including often harrowing testimony at public hearings worldwide, said there was compelling evidence of torture, execution and arbitrary imprisonment, deliberate starvation and an almost complete lack of free thought and belief.

The chair of the three-strong panel set up by the UN commissioner on human rights has personally written to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, to warn that he could face trial at the international criminal court (ICC) for his personal culpability as head of state and leader of the military.

"The commission wishes to draw your attention that it will therefore recommend that the United Nations refer the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [the formal name for North Korea] to the international criminal court to render accountable all those, including possibly yourself, who may be responsible for the crimes against humanity," Michael Kirby, an Australian retired judge, wrote to Kim.

At a press conference to launch the report, Kirby said there were "many parallels" between the evidence he had heard and crimes committed by the Nazis and their allies in the second world war. He noted the evidence of one prison camp inmate who said his duties involved burning the bodies of those who had starved to death and using the remains as fertiliser.

"When you see that image in your mind of bodies being burned it does bring back memories of the end of world war two, and the horror and the shame and the shock," Kirby said. "I never thought that in my lifetime it would be part of my duty to bring revelations of a similar kind."

Holding up a copy of the report, Kirby said other nations could not say of North Korea, as happened with the Nazis, that they did not know the extent of the crimes: "Now the international community does know. There will be no excusing a failure of action because we didn't know. It's too long now. The suffering and the tears of the people of North Korea demand action."

Asked how many North Korean leaders and officials could ultimately be held responsible, Kirby said it could reach the hundreds.

The inquiry heard public evidence in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington. Among more than 80 witnesses, along with 240 people who gave confidential interviews to avoid reprisals against relatives in North Korea, were escapers from the country's feared prison camps, including one who reported seeing a female prisoner forced to drown her newborn baby because it was presumed to have a Chinese father.

The near-400-page main report concludes there is overwhelming evidence that crimes against humanity have been, and are still being, committed within the hermetic nation.

It says: "These are not mere excesses of the state: they are essential components of a political system that has moved far from the ideals on which it claims to be founded. The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."

North Korea refused to participate in the investigation or allow the commission to visit, and immediately rejected the findings, calling them "a product of politicisation of human rights on the part of EU and Japan in alliance with the US hostile policy".

The report recommends that the UN refer the situation in North Korea to the ICC. While North Korea is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC, the UN security council can extend the court's remit in exceptional cases.

In practice this would probably be vetoed by China, which has close links with North Korea and maintains a policy of sending back people found to have fled across the border, despite widespread evidence that they face mistreatment and detention on their return. The commission's report heavily criticises China for this, saying the policy appears to breach international laws on refugees.

The report concludes that many of the crimes against humanity stem directly from state policies in a country which, since it was formed from the division of Korea, has been run on a highly individual variant of Stalinist-based self-reliance and centralised dynastic rule. The inquiry found "an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion", with citizens brought into an all-encompassing system of indoctrination from childhood.

Perhaps the most chilling section describes the vast network of secret prison camps, known as kwanliso, where hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have died through starvation, execution or other means. It is estimated that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners are still held, in many cases secretly.

The report says: "Their families are not informed of their fate or whereabouts. Persons accused of political crimes therefore become victims of enforced disappearance. Making the suspect disappear is a deliberate feature of the system that serves to instil fear in the population."

Other particularly disturbing parts of the report detail the experiences of women who are interned on their forced return from China when it is believed they could be pregnant from a Chinese man, something which contravenes North Korea notions of racial purity. Aside from the drowning of the newborn baby the panel heard testimony of forced abortions, sometimes using chemicals or beatings, or surgical procedures without anaesthetic.

Other sections of the report cover abuses such as the lack of food. While natural disasters were in part to blame for a famine that killed huge numbers in the 1990s, the report notes that the North Korean state has "used food as a means of control over the population". It adds: "It has prioritised those whom the authorities believe to be crucial in maintaining the regime over those deemed expendable."

The commission also condemns the almost complete lack of freedom of movement for North Koreans both within their country and abroad, the discrimination of the so-called songbun system, where the state politically classifies people based on their birth and family, and the large-scale abduction of people from other countries, mainly Japan and South Korea.

The report says the abuses clearly meet the threshold needed for proof of crimes against humanity in international law. t adds: "The perpetrators enjoy impunity. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is unwilling to implement its international obligation to prosecute and bring the perpetrators to justice, because those perpetrators act in accordance with state policy."

Asked whether he believed the report would change anything immediately in North Korea, Kirby recalled a UN mission he led in the early 1990s to report on human rights abuses in Cambodia, some years before that country's eventual UN-led tribunal on Khmer Rouge crimes. He said: "Bearing witness, collecting the stories, recording them and putting them there for future use can sometimes bear fruit a little later."

Peter Walker

Hospital visits for self-inflicted injuries should cost, Senate told

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:48 PM PST

'If you've stuck something in a place where you shouldn't have stuck something [then you should pay]'

Bridie Jabour

Australia must come clean on spying to heal our rift, says Indonesia

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:23 PM PST

Foreign minister Marty Natalegawa says there must be no more surprises if the talks to heal espionage rift are to succeed

111th American International Toy Fair – in pictures

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Toymakers from all over the world descended on the Jacob K Javits Convention Centre in New York to demonstrate the latest games and gadgets to store owners and the public

British savers would lose €4.4bn from financial transaction tax, study says

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Anti-poverty campaigners criticise report by London Economics into so-called Robin Hood tax designed to rein in banks

British savers could suffer a £3.6bn cut in the value of their savings following the introduction of a financial transaction tax, a study into Brussels plans to raise a levy on City trading has claimed.

However, German and Italian households would incur the biggest hit to their savings following the introduction of the FTT, said the report by consultancy London Economics.

Savers in Spain and Slovakia would also lose billions should their governments introduce the tax as the impact of the levy drives down the value of their holdings.

Under the most draconian version of the FTT that the 11 countries involved could agree, UK savers will suffer a €4.4bn (£3.6bn) hit, equal to 0.6% of debt and equity holdings, while the German savings market will slump by 14.1%. A light touch tax would reduce German savings by 3.6% and UK savings by 0.1%, the study claimed.

The report, which was immediately derided by anti-poverty campaigners, comes ahead of meetings in Brussels to decide the scope of the FTT and how the 11 countries should implement it.

The countries are poised to agree terms for implementing the tax, which will add a charge to trades in equity and debt markets, currency transactions and the exotic derivatives that were blamed by many economists for playing a major role in the 2008 banking crash.

EU finance ministers gave their approval last year to the FTT in the teeth of dire warnings from the financial services industry of an exodus of funds and despite abstentions by the UK, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

The levy, which could raise as much as €35bn a year for the 11 countries, is designed to prevent a repeat of the conditions that stoked the credit crunch by reining in investment banks.

According to London Economics, which wrote the report for the City of London Corporation, some savers in the UK and Luxembourg will be hit, but the cost will be small compared with the impact in Germany where 36% of household savings are in traded financial assets such as shares or bonds.

The report said savings could lose €150bn in Germany and €200bn in Italy once traders factor in the cost of the FTT. It argued that the tax will prove a major discouragement to financial activity in Europe beyond the expected funds raised by the tax and lead to a long-run reduction in savings.

The Robin Hood tax campaign, which brings together several anti-poverty charities to promote the FTT, said the report was based on the false premise that most trading by EU banks was in the interests of savers.

It said studies of the financial services industry showed most transactions were designed to generate commission and charges for the banks without bringing any benefit to savers.

To illustrate the benefits of the levy for savers, the campaign has produced a video starring Bill Nighy and directed by Harry Potter director David Yates. Spokesman David Hillman, said: "This scaremongering from the Square Mile's PR machine should be taken with an enormous pinch of salt.

"The truth is this tax will hit some of the worst offenders in the City – the high frequency speculative trades that helped cause the crisis.

"As many experts have shown, given the tax's design, the effects on people's pensions and savings will be negligible.

"It's ironic that it's often the very financial institutions that complain about a tax of 0.1% that charge their clients many times that percentage in fees."

Bill Nighy, star of Love Actually and Pirates of the Caribbean, said: "Four years after the launch of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, this tiny tax that could do so much good is on the verge of becoming a reality: France, Germany and nine other European countries are about to introduce it.

Phillip Inman

UK storms a result of climate change, say nearly half of poll respondents

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Survey for Avaaz suggests support for Ed Miliband's call for action with only 27% denying climate change linked to floods

Nearly half of people believe that the floods and storms that have ravaged Britain for the past three months are a result of climate change, compared with just over a quarter who do not, according to a new poll.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband's statement at the weekend that Britain was "sleepwalking into a national security disaster" appears to have struck a chord, with 38% of respondents saying the government needs to take more action on climate change. Just 22% of people agreed that the government is taking strong enough action.

More than one in three people said that political leadership on climate change and extreme weather events would affect how they voted in future.

The poll of more than 2,000 people was carried out by ICM for the global civic organisation Avaaz. It found that 46% of respondents agreed that the "frequency and severity of the storms" were a result of climate change, while 27% did not agree.

Women and young people are more convinced than men and older people that the storms are linked to climate change. Only 23% of all women questioned do not think the storms and floods are caused by climate change, compared with 31% of men. In the 18 to 24 age group, the figure is just 17%.

The UK winter weather has become a flashpoint in the global debate over whether climate change is taking place and how governments should respond to it.

The proportion of people who think the environment is the biggest cause of concern in the UK has jumped from 6% to 23% in the last month, according to a YouGov poll.

Senior Conservative party politicians, known to include many climate sceptics, have been divided over the causes of the floods and storms.

Philip Hammond, the Tory defence secretary, said at the weekend that climate change was "clearly a factor" in the stormy weather but Michael Fallon, the Conservative energy minister, said that "unthinking climate change worship" had damaged British industry.

Labour has questioned whether the environment secretary Owen Paterson's climate change scepticism is blinding him to the dangers of flooding and extreme weather in future years.

Young people are overwhelmingly sure that climate change will pose a threat to their way of life. Two-thirds of people under 24 questioned by ICM said they thought that climate change would affect them, compared with 29% of over-65s. In total, 57% of the people asked thought climate change threatened the UK way of life.

The ICM poll backs up an Opinium poll for the Observer last week. This suggested that 51% of people thought David Cameron had responded badly to the floods, with 28% of these saying he had reacted "very badly" and 23% "quite badly". More than half of people questioned agreed the flooding was a sign of climate change while 24% disagreed.

Iain Keith, the Avaaz campaign director, said: "David Cameron has said that he will spend whatever's necessary to help people hit by the floods. But dealing with the consequences of climate change is not just about dams and dredging; it's about backing a long-term plan to cut emissions by half by 2030, which 50,000 people have urged him to do today."

John Vidal

Haiti's farmers savour sweet taste of success with ice-cream venture

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Chance meeting with Haitian artist inspires Alabama professor and Baltimore ice-cream maker to serve desserts with a purpose

A pair of US entrepreneurs have joined forces with smallholder farmers in Haiti to help propel them out of poverty and into the delicious world of ice-cream.

A former Alabama professor and a gourmet ice-cream maker from Baltimore are working with the farmers to find new markets for their premium vanilla beans and cacao in a product they describe as "ice-cream with a purpose".

The Vanilla Export Company, which provides income for some 650 farmers in rural Haiti, this month earned its creators the Citizen Diplomat Award from Global Ties, a non-profit partner of the US state department.

The venture began with a chance encounter 14 years ago, when mother and daughter Anne and Stephanie Reynolds befriended Gracia Thelisma, a Haitian street artist.

They decided to join him on a bus trip to the north of Haiti to visit the mother he had not seen in years. The mother-daughter duo were struck by Haiti's beauty and its people – as well as its poverty.

When they returned to Alabama, they collected clothes to send to Haiti and raised funds to start a school in Plaisance, Thelisma's hometown. That quickly evolved into the pair seeking a long-term solution to employ the children who graduated from the school.

"Haiti once exported some of the finest vanilla products to Paris. They can do it again," says Anne Reynolds, 57, a former human sexuality professor at Auburn University at Montgomery.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, with a poverty rate of 77% and an average per capita income of $760 (£450), according to the World Bank.

After planting 70,000 vanilla vines, the project went into full business mode last year with the creation of the De La Sol Haiti company in Plaisance, a rural farming community of 65,000.

Stephanie Reynolds, 27, who has a degree in Latin American studies, runs the company, which has eight employees – five women and three men. While waiting for the vines to mature, De la Sol Haiti turns cocoa bought from local producers into chocolate.

The company is training farmers in new techniques to grow the vanilla vines on cacao trees, and Thelisma hopes to export the vanilla next year. It takes up to five years for the plants, which are related to the orchid family, to reach maturity.

"My dream is for De la Sol to become a leading force for Plaisance development," says Thelisma. "In the region, people do not have jobs. With the vanilla business, De la Sol could be able to expand and benefit a larger part of the population."

Reynolds was looking for culinary partners when she got a call out of the blue from Baltimore ice-cream maker Taharka Brothers. Owned and operated by young people from tough neighbourhoods, Taharka, founded in 2010, was introduced to Haiti in 2012 through Global Ties.

Vanilla and chocolate are among the world's most popular ice-cream flavours. Taharka orders between 20-50lbs of chocolate bi-monthly from De La Sol Haiti for its ice cream, which it delivers to 50 of Baltimore's restaurants, grocery stores and ice-cream shops. Wilmore hopes to see a profit next year, and start taking delivery of some Haitian vanilla beans.

Taharka Brothers joined De La Sol Haiti in Washington this month to receive the Citizen Diplomat Award, adding their names to a list of luminaries that includes US senator William Fulbright and poet-activist Maya Angelou.

Reynolds and Wilmore share a belief that traditional aid can create dependency, they say the best way to lend a hand is through collaboration.

"We are shining a light on social injustice through ice-cream," Wilmore said in his award acceptance speech.