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- Pakistan strikes at Waziristan militant hideouts
- Barton Moss anti-fracking protesters – in pictures
- Dara Ó Briain hits out at BBC ban on men-only panel shows
- How US evangelical missionaries wage war on gays in Uganda – video
- Manus violence: PNG dog squads deployed to perimeter, official confirms
- Shrek theme park to open in London
- Viktor Yanukovych no longer leading Ukraine, US declares
- Finance Department's release of briefings inconsistent, chief concedes
- Japan unveils draft energy policy in wake of Fukushima
- 2014's feminist pop stars can dance like Miley Cyrus or sing songs about misogyny
- Anthony Fisher tipped to replace George Pell as archbishop of Sydney
- Victorian arsonist 'lit test fires' before igniting long-running blaze
- Immigration estimates and question time – as it happened
- Women disappearing from corporate workforce 'due to childcare cost'
- Melbourne-Cairns flight path to be reviewed after jets came too close
- Little hostility to renewable energy target despite government review
- Seven suing federal police for raid over Schapelle Corby ties
- Science Weekly podcast: trapped in Antarctica's icy grip
- Facebook will leave your privacy settings intact after you die
- Western Sahara activists feel full force of Moroccan intimidation
- Eight-year-old girl shot dead in north Queensland Indigenous community
- Stephen Conroy accuses Operation Sovereign Borders general of 'cover-up'
- Angus Campbell takes 'extreme offence' at cover-up allegation – video
- Coles and Woolworths accused of failing to cap fuel discounts at 4c a litre
- Cameron must not dampen this Eurosceptic momentum | Paul Goodman
| Pakistan strikes at Waziristan militant hideouts Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:10 AM PST  Official says jets and helicopter gunships have attacked Taliban training compounds and ammunition stores in tribal area Air force jets and helicopter gunships have struck militant hideouts in tribal areas near the Afghan border, killing nearly 25 insurgents, Pakistani military and intelligence officials said. The strikes targeted areas in North and South Waziristan, the officials said. There is no way to confirm the claim independently. The lawless region is off limits to journalists. Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have died over the last decade in the Taliban's war against the state. The militants aim to enforce their harsh brand of Islamic Sharia law. The Waziristan tribal region is home to a mix of local and foreign al-Qaida linked militants. Insurgents fighting American and Nato troops across border in Afghanistan also operate there. Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has long favoured peace talks over military action to end the bloodshed in the northwest, but he is also under pressure to retaliate for any Taliban violence. Critics also say the militants have used the peace talks to strengthen their ranks and regroup, and call for military operations to disrupt the insurgents' use of their northwestern bases to stage attacks elsewhere in the country. Local media reported that Sharif's cabinet was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss options for operations in the region. One official claimed that the latest air strikes were specifically targeting compounds where the militants train recruits and store explosives and ammunition. Pakistan has regularly launched strikes against Taliban targets after recent peace talks broke down over the killing of 23 soldiers by the militants. Several of Sharif's ministers have recently said that negotiations were still an option, but the Taliban have to acknowledge the country's constitution as supreme law. The militants have rejected the constitution. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Barton Moss anti-fracking protesters – in pictures Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:00 AM PST Plans to evict up to 60 activists, who have been camped outside the Barton Moss gas fracking exploration facility since November last year, are on hold while their lawyers make a legal challenge in the courts       |
| Dara Ó Briain hits out at BBC ban on men-only panel shows Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:00 AM PST  Mock the Week presenter says corporation should not legislate for 'token woman' in attempt to tackle gender imbalance Comedian Dara Ó Briain has criticised the BBC's ban on all-male line-ups for panel shows, saying the move will make female guests appear as the "token woman". The Mock the Week presenter said more emphasis should be placed on tackling gender inequality in other areas, such as "women in computer coding". "I wish a tenth of the energy that was put into the women-on-panel-shows debate was put into women in computer coding, in which there are hundreds of thousands of jobs in Europe, and 11% of them are done by women," he told the Radio Times. "It seems a more sensible challenge than these 300 people [in stand-up comedy] and how they are represented." Ó Briain's intervention comes after the BBC director of television, Danny Cohen, announced that the corporation would ban all-male panel programmes in an attempt to address the gender imbalance on shows such as Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You. The comedian said the corporation should have "evolved" instead of "legislating for token woman". Ó Briain told the Radio Times: "I wouldn't have announced it, is what I'd say, because it means [comedians] Katherine Ryan or Holly Walsh, who've been on millions of times, will suddenly look like the token woman. "It would have been better if it had evolved without showing your workings, if you know what I mean. Legislating for token women isn't much help. "A certain number of women want to go into comedy and they should be cherished and nurtured, but you're not going to shift the fact that loads more men want to do it." Appointed BBC director of television in April last year, Cohen announced the blanket ban on all-male comedy panels in an interview with the Observer earlier this month. "We're not going to have panel shows on any more with no women on them. You can't do that. It's not acceptable," he said. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| How US evangelical missionaries wage war on gays in Uganda – video Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:59 AM PST Undercover filming shows the influence of anti-gay evangelical campaigners from the US in Uganda       |
| Manus violence: PNG dog squads deployed to perimeter, official confirms Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:52 AM PST But top bureaucrat refuses to verify eyewitness accounts of riots and tells Senate hearing that review is still ongoing       |
| Shrek theme park to open in London Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:46 AM PST  DreamWorks to open attraction inspired by the series of hit animations about the green ogre, with a fifth film also mooted Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation will partner with the company behind the London Eye ferris wheel for a Shrek-themed attraction on the capital's South Bank. Shrek's Far Far Away Adventure will be one of six similar sites across the globe. The attraction is due to open in summer 2015 and will celebrate the four-film animated fantasy saga about a grumpy green ogre that has so far taken more than $3.5bn at the worldwide box office, as well as other films from DreamWorks Animation. "The 20,000-square-foot experience will be based on a brand-new adventure being written by the DreamWorks team," said the studio and partner Merlin in a statement. "It will feature a Shrek interactive walk-through adventure, a character courtyard where visitors will be able to meet Shrek and his swamp friends, along with characters from Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon." The attraction will be installed at County Hall, near the London Eye, the London Sea Life Aquarium and the London Dungeon, all of which are owned by Merlin. The theme park operator is the largest company of its kind in Europe. "We're excited to work with Merlin to build something that we think is going to be a singularly unique way to experience Shrek and his world," said DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. "This attraction is going to be unlike anything that currently exists and will undoubtedly become a new type of destination for families." The London Shrek attraction will be the first to open, with a further five sites set to be built between now and 2023. In a separate interview with the US Fox Business Network, Katzenberg said a fifth Shrek movie was also likely to hit the big screen in the future. "We like to let them have a little bit of time to rest," he said. "But I think you can be confident that we'll have another chapter in the Shrek series. We're not finished, and more importantly, neither is he." The most recent Shrek film, Shrek Forever After, took $752m globally in 2010 despite lukewarm reviews. • Stuart Heritage: why the last 10 minutes of Shrek 2 is cinematic genius theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Viktor Yanukovych no longer leading Ukraine, US declares Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:42 AM PST Obama administration signals that it is swinging behind new leadership but says Russia can still play constructive role       |
| Finance Department's release of briefings inconsistent, chief concedes Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:38 AM PST Asked why 108 pages of brief prepared in 2010 were released compared with 18 pages of document written for Coalition, bureaucrat says he changed his mind between elections       |
| Japan unveils draft energy policy in wake of Fukushima Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:32 AM PST  Tokyo says nuclear power remains important source of electricity and reactors should be restarted Japan has unveiled its first draft energy policy since the Fukushima meltdowns three years ago, saying nuclear power remains an important source of electricity for the country. The draft, presented to the cabinet on Tuesday for approval expected in March, says Japan's nuclear energy dependency will be reduced but that reactors meeting new safety standards set after the 2011 nuclear crisis should be restarted. Japan has 48 commercial reactors, but all are offline until they pass the new safety requirements. The draft of the Basic Energy Plan says a mix of nuclear, renewables and fossil fuel will be the most reliable and stable source of electricity to meet Japan's energy needs. The government had planned to release the draft in January but a recommendation submitted by a panel of experts was judged to be too pro-nuclear. Tuesday's draft added more emphasis on renewable energy. The economy, trade and industry minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, told reporters that "in principle, the direction has not changed". He called for additional efforts to accelerate the development of renewable energy over the next few years. The draft says Japan will continue its nuclear fuel recycling policy, but adds there is a need for flexibility for possible later changes to the policy. Japan has tonnes of spent fuel and a stockpile of extracted plutonium, causing international concerns about nuclear proliferation. Officials have said the most realistic way to consume and reduce the plutonium is to restart the reactors to burn it. The previous energy plan in 2010 called for a boost in nuclear power to about half of Japan's electricity needs by 2030 from about one-third before the Fukushima disaster. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| 2014's feminist pop stars can dance like Miley Cyrus or sing songs about misogyny Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:00 AM PST  Skin and Annie Lennox have complained that today's singers aren't the trailblazers that they once were. But they need to listen up: being a feminist and a pop star in 2014 is a very different thing Where are contemporary pop's young feminists? It's the question Skin, frontwoman of 90s rock group Skunk Anansie, asked at One Billion Rising in London's Trafalgar Square earlier this month. Back in her day, Skin says: "there were artists, rock singers, that were political. Now it seems the word feminism, even strong females, isn't there. [Female artists today] are judged by looks, their bodies and how static you can be." It's not a new observation, this. Annie Lennox, as Skin pointed out, is "still speaking out" against what she considers are pop stars degrading themselves, "behaving like pimp and prostitute at the same time". The usual names are spun on the feminist carousel of shame: Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Katy Perry (the latter being the only one of the four who officially declared herself a "non-feminist"; while Cyrus, on the other hand, considers herself as "one of the biggest feminists in the world").
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the video Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the video Women not being political enough in pop music isn't where the battle lines need to be drawn. Skin acknowledges as much when she describes "attacking other female artists" as an "easy target and a red herring". Feminism in pop is still with us. If you know where to look. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Anthony Fisher tipped to replace George Pell as archbishop of Sydney Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:58 PM PST Bishop of Parramatta the firm favourite after Pell called to Vatican to oversee budget       |
| Victorian arsonist 'lit test fires' before igniting long-running blaze Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:56 PM PST Arsonist who started Hazelwood coal mine blaze lit two test fires in extreme conditions to cause maximum impact, police believe       |
| Immigration estimates and question time – as it happened Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:49 PM PST Labor's primary vote up four points amidst continuing speculation about budget cuts.       |
| Women disappearing from corporate workforce 'due to childcare cost' Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:38 PM PST Goldman Sachs CEO Simon Rothery calls for national debate on cost of childcare to stem rising female talent drain       |
| Melbourne-Cairns flight path to be reviewed after jets came too close Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:34 PM PST Planes had to take evasive action after coming within 25km of each other at the same altitude over south-west NSW       |
| Little hostility to renewable energy target despite government review Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:19 PM PST Nearly two-thirds of Australians think target is about right or too low, poll finds, with only 13% judging it too high  |
| Seven suing federal police for raid over Schapelle Corby ties Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:16 PM PST Move comes after AFP searched the network's Sydney offices over expected interview with convicted drug smuggler  |
| Science Weekly podcast: trapped in Antarctica's icy grip Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST As Kevin Fong takes over Science Weekly presenting duties for the next seven months, Guardian journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham join him for this in-depth interview about their dramatic rescue from a ship stuck in ice in the Antarctic over Christmas. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 came close to disaster as the sea ice and icebergs threatened to crush their ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy. To see Laurence's video and explore Alok's extended blogs and articles on the expedition, click here. A full-length film about the expedition will be available exclusively on theguardian.com from Saturday 1 March. Subscribe for free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed). Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science. Email scienceweeklypodcast@gmail.com. Guardian Science is now on Facebook. You can also join our Science Weekly Facebook group. We're always here when you need us. Listen back through our archive.       |
| Facebook will leave your privacy settings intact after you die Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST The social network will no longer change dead users' pages to the highest privacy setting. By Alex Hern       |
| Western Sahara activists feel full force of Moroccan intimidation Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST  Moroccan security forces use heavy-handed tactics to repress Saharawi organisations and campaigns for independence Western Sahara can only be described as a police state. I was there recently with the first British parliamentary delegation to the occupied territory and everywhere we went we were closely shadowed by undercover agents. Wherever we were driven by our Saharawi hosts, we were tailed by Moroccan police. Most chilling of all was the heavy police intimidation of a peaceful Saharawi demonstration we witnessed in the capital, Laayoune, the day before we left. The demonstration was the latest in a series of monthly protests called by human rights groups to demand the release of all Saharawi political prisoners being held in Moroccan jails, and an extension of the mandate of the UN monitoring body, Minurso, to include human rights. Saharawi human rights groups had duly informed the Moroccan authorities of the protest in advance, but because all Saharawi organisations are banned, they were denied permission to hold the demonstration. The occupying forces in Western Sahara are not big on freedom of assembly. Instead, those trying to make it to the protest found their way blocked by gangs of uniformed and plainclothes police and paramilitary auxiliaries to prevent the rally from taking place. Wherever groups of Saharawi began to gather in surrounding streets, we saw police vans driven fast towards them and plainclothes officers jumping out to disperse people with baton charges. The small numbers who did manage to make it through were immediately set upon. Next morning we were shown video footage of uniformed and plainclothes police surrounding protesters and roughly bundling them away. We also met a number of those the police had assaulted, including one woman sporting bandages where she had been hit. Most shrugged off their injuries as an unavoidable hazard of activism under Moroccan occupation. The delegation, which included the MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Mark Williams and the co-ordinator of the Western Sahara Campaign John Gurr, was in the territory to witness the human rights situation facing the Saharawi people after 39 years of Moroccan occupation. We too had a brief taste of police harassment when the car in which we were driving was pulled over and impounded on the pretext that its papers were not in order. While we were remonstrating with the crowd of plainclothes police who descended upon us, one reached into the car and snatched the camera with which we had been taking photos of the demonstration. We managed to retrieve it after making representations to the prefect of police, but all images of the rally had been wiped from its memory card. In UN parlance, Western Sahara is officially a non-self-governing territory. This makes it Africa's last remaining colony, and no other country in the world recognises Morocco's sovereignty. When Spanish colonial forces quit the area in 1975, the Moroccans moved in from the north and the Mauritanians from the south. Mauritania soon pulled its forces out again but Morocco stayed, launching successive waves of immigration into the territory that have turned the Saharawi people into a minority in their own land. Any call for Saharawi independence is considered a crime against the integrity of the Moroccan state, as is showing the Saharawi flag in public. This did not stop several people proudly displaying it to us throughout our visit, as a sign of their refusal to bow to Moroccan military rule. Morocco has pumped large amounts of money into Western Sahara to entice more settlers to move in and create the appearance of progress and normality. We were shown grandiose plans for public parks and municipal buildings in a development spree designed to turn Laayoune into a desert Disneyland. In return, Morocco helps itself to the territory's natural resources, foremost among them phosphates, fish and the prospect of significant oil and mineral reserves. As Europeans, we are also complicit in the dispossession of Saharawi resources. Last December our representatives in the European parliament signed us up to a new fisheries agreement with Morocco that allows European boats to fish in Saharawi waters in return for a healthy fee to the Moroccan authorities. This was a major step backwards in the fight for justice in Western Sahara, not least because the parliament had previously voted against such a deal. Under international law Morocco has no right to trade away the resources of the Saharawi people. We visited the fishing port close to Laayoune and saw the many boats moored there waiting to head out for the next catch. Almost all those employed in the industry are Moroccan settlers, with few job opportunities available for the Saharawi themselves. All Saharawi activists we met were adamant that the only solution to their plight can come from the referendum on self-determination they were promised by the UN security council in 1991. Until that promise is honoured, the struggle for Saharawi independence will continue. • The delegation will hold a public meeting to report its findings in the House of Commons at 7pm on 25 February. It will also be addressed by the prominent Saharawi human rights activist Brahim Dahane. Full details can be found on the War on Want website. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Eight-year-old girl shot dead in north Queensland Indigenous community Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:56 PM PST Cape York police are investigating the possibility that another child in the house was playing with a gun       |
| Stephen Conroy accuses Operation Sovereign Borders general of 'cover-up' Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:56 PM PST Lieutenant General Angus Campbell takes 'extreme offence' at charge and senator is forced to withdraw it       |
| Angus Campbell takes 'extreme offence' at cover-up allegation – video Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:51 PM PST There were heated scenes at the Senate estimates committee on Tuesday after Stephen Conroy accused Lieutenant General Angus Campbell of a 'cover-up'       |
| Coles and Woolworths accused of failing to cap fuel discounts at 4c a litre Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:43 PM PST Competition watchdog to take supermarket giants to court, accusing them of breaching 4c a litre discount for shoppers       |
| Cameron must not dampen this Eurosceptic momentum | Paul Goodman Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:30 PM PST  If Alternative für Deutschland wants to join the Tories in Europe, it should be allowed to, no matter what Merkel thinks The Tory MEP Timothy Kirkhope will have known exactly what he was doing when he warned in the Guardian on Friday against an alliance between British Conservatives and Germany's anti-euro AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). This possibility – that Tory MEPs would welcome AfD members into their European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) in the European parliament after May's elections – was first floated last year. At first glance, the question is arcane: a squabble over who sits where in an assembly that few care about. A second look, however, reveals that there is more to the matter. For it touches the heart of David Cameron's view on Europe – his relationship with Angela Merkel, his authority over his party and what he believes the Tory approach to the EU should be. First things first: there is no good reason why the AfD and the Conservatives should not sit together in the European parliament. The former isn't the Front National or the Freedom party, let alone Jobbik or Golden Dawn. Indeed, it is arguably not a Eurosceptic party at all, strictly speaking. Earnest and academic in flavour, its bete noire is not the imperial aspirations of Brussels but the particular effects on Germany of the euro. Two of its most prominent candidates in the European elections are Bernd Lucke, a professor of macroeconomics at Hamburg University, and Hans-Olaf Henkel, a former president of the Federation of German Industries. The Conservatives' main allies in the ECR, the Czechs and Poles, would be quite happy for the AfD to join it. But this apparently easy prospect is a very painful headache for Cameron. The AfD is a centre-right competitor for Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel was displeased when British Conservative MEPs pulled out of the European People's party (EPP), of which her party is a member, to set up the more Eurosceptic ECR group in the first place. She would be discomforted again were they to team up with a domestic rival. And Cameron needs her help if he is to deliver a renegotiated relationship with the EU to put to his party and the country in a referendum. No wonder, then, that with Merkel visiting the UK this week, Downing Street rushed to rule out a Tory-AfD deal on Sunday. However, that is not quite the end of the matter. In many respects Cameron and Merkel have a European outlook in common. Both are America-friendly, pro-free trade, and concerned about competitiveness, welfare and costs: last year they ganged up to help force an EU budget cut. As leaders of better-off northern countries that help pay for the poorer south, they have interests in common that endure after passions are spent. Merkel got over the Tories leaving the main conservative grouping in the European parliament for a smaller, more radical one; she would doubtless get over them admitting the AfD to it, too. Downing Street's words, of course, dealt with its immediate needs, but it may take another view in May. After all, pledging to leave the EPP was a crucial element of Cameron's leadership campaign in 2005 – one that swung the voices and votes of some younger Tory MPs behind him. A key question for him now is whether, having taken the time and trouble to help set up the new group in the first place, he wants it to grow and flourish. A presence from Europe's powerhouse nation would give it additional numbers and weight. The group that he led needs to expand to thrive. If it doesn't, there is the possibility of it being folded back into the arms of the larger EPP. This was doubtless not the intention of Kirkhope's intervention, but it will, nonetheless, have been unwelcome in Number 10. The elections are still more than three months away. There was no need to embarass Cameron over the issue now – especially with Merkel due to visit. It is worth noting that, technically, Cameron cannot stop AfD joining the ECR group. This is because it is the MEPs themselves, not a British prime minister, who would make any such decision. These include Czech and Polish ones to whom Cameron's blandishments mean little, though he could certainly try to throw his weight around in Prague and Warsaw – which might get results. But although the consequences of these short-term calculations are uncertain, the longer-term logic for Cameron is very clear. If Conservative MEPs are to be a growing force in the European parliament, he must carry on the policy he began right back at the time of that Conservative leadership election. That means allowing his MEPs to travel in a more Eurosceptic direction – even at the risk of temporarily riling Merkel. And that, in turn, means him smiling on them joining up with any AfD candidates who win seats in May. Paul Goodman is editor of ConservativeHome.com theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
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