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

European stock markets open lower on China fears - live
MH370 search extended into Andaman Sea - live updates
How to draw… Rattus
Kiev will not use army to stop Crimea seceding, says Ukraine president
Victorian anti-protest laws passed amid outcry from public gallery
Bill Shorten backs principle of mining tax but won't rule out policy change
Pistorius trial live - toilet door set up in court room
Malaysia Airlines search mired in confusion over plane's final path
MH370 search goes on amid confusion over plane's disappearance – live
The west's do-somethings will do nothing for Ukraine | Simon Jenkins
Death of Soviet president Chernenko causes political uncertainty: From the archive, 12 March 1985
Scandimania: 'Stipsters', digital innovation and now, social business
The best books on Peru: start your reading here
Melbourne abortion clinic takes legal action in effort to end daily protests
Death row inmate released from Louisiana jail 30 years after wrongful conviction
Fire at Barangaroo construction site - video
Louisiana death row inmate released after 30 years - video
WA Greens lash out at EPA for not investigating shark drum lines
Fire at Barangaroo building site on Sydney Harbour
Labor election pamphlet a ‘thinly veiled racist attack’
My favourite work: Richard Lewer’s Worse Luck I’m Still Here at the Adelaide Biennial 2014 - video
Malcolm Turnbull has opened a can of worms on media reform, says Labor
Julia Gillard offered me seat of Denison 'for keeps', says Andrew Wilkie
Daniel Ricciardo carries Australia's hopes for Melbourne grand prix
My local 'atheist church' is part of the long, inglorious march of gentrification | Adam Brereton

European stock markets open lower on China fears - live

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:41 AM PDT

Fears of more credit defaults in China weigh on markets

MH370 search extended into Andaman Sea - live updates

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:41 AM PDT

Follow live updates as the search goes on for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared early last Saturday morning with 239 passengers on board.

Matthew Weaver

How to draw… Rattus

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:30 AM PDT

Horrible Histories illustrator Martin Brown teaches us how to draw Rattus, the helpful narrator of the Horrible Histories series including the Terrible Trenches, which is one of the World Book Day £1 reads

Kiev will not use army to stop Crimea seceding, says Ukraine president

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:29 AM PDT

Oleksandr Turchynov says intervention would leave Ukraine exposed in east, where Russia has 'significant tank units'

Ukraine's acting president has said the country will not use its army to stop Crimea from seceding, in the latest indication that a Russian annexation of the peninsula may be imminent.

The interim leader said intervening on the south-eastern Black Sea peninsula, where Kremlin-backed forces have seized control, would leave Ukraine exposed on its eastern border, where he said Russia has massed "significant tank units".

"We cannot launch a military operation in Crimea, as we would expose the eastern border and Ukraine would not be protected," Oleksandr Turchynov told AFP.

"They're provoking us to have a pretext to intervene on the Ukrainian mainland … [but] we cannot follow the scenario written by the Kremlin."

Crimea is due to hold a referendum on joining Russia this Sunday – organised by the peninsula's self-appointed leaders.

Turchynov described the secession referendum as a sham whose outcome would be decided "in the offices of the Kremlin".

The European Union is poised to impose travel bans and to freeze the assets of Russian officials and military officers involved in the occupation of Crimea by next Monday if Moscow declines to accept the formation of a "contact group" to establish a dialogue with Ukraine.

But Russian leaders are currently refusing to communicate with Ukraine and refuse to accept Turchynov's legitimacy.

"Unfortunately, for now Russia is rejecting a diplomatic solution to the conflict," he said.

A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday is being seen as an unofficial deadline for the introduction of the sanctions, which would exempt the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, as the EU tries to keep open lines of communication.

Ukraine's parliament warned the regional assembly in Crimea on Tuesday that it faces dissolution unless it cancels the referendum, which has been condemned by the EU and the US as illegal. But the Russian foreign ministry said it would respect the result of the vote.

On Wednesday, a Russian court issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian far-right leader Dmytro Yarosh in absentia on Wednesday on charges of inciting terrorism – a symbolic move in support of Moscow's argument that "extremists" stole power in neighbouring Ukraine.

Russian news agencies said Moscow's Basmanny district court ruled that Yarosh – one of the most influential leaders of the protest movement which ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich – should be arrested for making "public calls for terrorist and extremist activities via the media".

Ukraine's new justice authorities have issued warrants for the arrest of pro-Russia leaders in Ukraine's southern Crimea region.

EU sanctions against Moscow are what leaders describe as phase II of a three-stage plan that would involve curbs on energy, trade and financial relations if Russian forces move beyond Crimea to the main part of eastern Ukraine.

David Cameron's spokesman said: "The prime minister is very much linking phase II to the need for dialogue to start in the new few days. We are asking [the officials] to do preparatory work and we still believe there is an opportunity for the dialogue to start and we very much encourage the Russian authorities to start that.

"The focus [of the sanctions will] be on officials who are closely linked to infringements on Ukrainian sovereignty."

Nicholas Watt

Victorian anti-protest laws passed amid outcry from public gallery

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:29 AM PDT

Four people removed from Legislative Council after act amendment broadens police powers to remove protesters

David Donaldson

Bill Shorten backs principle of mining tax but won't rule out policy change

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:52 AM PDT

Opposition leader talks of consultation with the resources sector before next federal election

Daniel Hurst

Pistorius trial live - toilet door set up in court room

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:33 AM PDT

Live updates as the trial of Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp continues

David Smith

Malaysia Airlines search mired in confusion over plane's final path

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:05 AM PDT

Vietnam cuts back efforts to find flight MH370, blaming Malaysia, amid swirl of contradictory statements by officials

Tania Branigan

MH370 search goes on amid confusion over plane's disappearance – live

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:04 AM PDT

Latest developments in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Paul Farrell

The west's do-somethings will do nothing for Ukraine | Simon Jenkins

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT

The response to Crimea shows just how easily misjudgment can emerge from political machismo and belligerent posturing

At least the west is agreed on the Ukraine crisis. It agrees that something must be done to stop Russia's re-occupation of Crimea, and it agrees that nothing can be done to stop it. Paradox is the stuff of foreign policy. It produces summits, holds conferences, forms and reforms contact groups. Leaders make interminable phone calls and thinktanks rush joyfully to club-class lounges. Everywhere, something must be done and nothing can be done. Must fights can.

On Monday night I visited a Ukraine seminar in Westminster organised by Prospect magazine. It was crammed with diplomats, defence experts and Russian and Ukrainian pundits, and was a sombre occasion. The understand-Russia tribe argued with the understand-Ukraine tribe. Legal sticklers fought pragmatists. Stand-firmers fought realpolitikers. Putin's bombast was pitted against Putin's paranoia. The west's righteous indignation was pitted against its double standards.

Yet all agreed on one thing. Something must be done. It was not a seminar on Ukraine, it was a meeting of the global trade union of professional something-must-be-dones. Participants were curiously liberated by the impossibility of driving Vladimir Putin out of Crimea by force. Since military hawks have had to take leave of absence from this crisis, diplomatic ones were having a field day. The masters of the velvet glove seemed not to mind they had no iron fist inside it.

Hence we enjoyed the familiar cold buffet of messages, warnings, deterrents, red lines, sanctions, gestures, carrots and sticks. To the do-something persuasion appearance is crucial, because appearances are cheap. Thus Barack Obama "must not appear weak", Nato must give "a clear signal", the EU must appear united. The air is thick with unacceptables, inexcusables and intolerables. Gestures are stock in trade. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, must decline to meet his Russian counterpart. Lots of people must refuse to attend Olympics and conferences – a sanction of peculiar savagery to any do-something.

I am no Kremlinologist, but I find the idea that such gestures might leave Putin quaking in his boots as ludicrous as the idea that they terrified Osama bin Laden or the Taliban. Great emphasis is laid on making Putin and "those round him" realise they have "miscalculated" the west's response. Yet every one of these gestures seems utterly predictable. Bombs and drones may break your bones but, when these thugs go to war, words will never hurt you. At which point, "something" escalates into our old friend, economic sanctions. As David Cameron and Obama say over and again, "Putin must know that there is a price to pay for his actions." Some think visas should be withdrawn with blood-curdling screams: "Your oligarchs will never darken the doors of Harvey Nicks again!" Others think sanctions should be quietly imposed through border controls on "bad guys". It is a strange world that equates invading Crimea with being banned from Kensington.

Then come the celebrated "options" – the nuclear sanction of freezing bank balances, stopping credit lines, cancelling barter deals and suspending joint projects. An upward ratchet of supposed misery is to be imposed on Russians, somehow commensurate with Putin's increasing lawlessness. It is the diplomats' equivalent of "bombing the enemy back to the stone age". This will teach them, they cry. This will deter them.

The rationale is puzzling. It has always been doubtful that the maxim "It's the economy, stupid" applies to international relations, especially those involving the economies of authoritarian regimes. Putin will have embarked on his Crimean adventure with some assessment of possible retaliation and, if not, with an acceptance that the retaliation was worth it. Pushing back at Nato and the EU after two decades of sustained advance along Russia's eastern border has been hugely popular. National pride usually trumps cost.

Besides, Russia is now a serious economic player, if not on the scale of China. It is not Iraq or Afghanistan or Burma, small poor countries that western governments can easily impoverish to suit their moral whims. Russia can at least reply with a degree of mayhem, as indicated in last week's leaked (and sensible) Downing Street memorandum. Germany, increasingly a point of sanity in European diplomacy, clearly opposes cutting relations with Russia over Crimea. Trade is in all of Europe's interest, and is the long-term glue most likely to reduce friction between Europe and Russia.

I accept that there are conversations between states that sometimes require plain speaking. But the words must be fit for the purpose in hand. This would surely extend to an acceptance of what used to be called "spheres of interest" along the still new and sensitive borders in Europe and Asia. Putin's rectifying of Nikita Khrushchev's 1954 "donation" of Crimea to Ukraine may be technically illegal. So was the west's war on Serbia over Kosovo. It is hardly on a par with Hitler's invasion of the Sudetenland, or the west's violent seizure of Iraq and Afghanistan. In the catalogue of global outrage, it is no big deal.

In his book America and the Imperialism of Ignorance, Andrew Alexander showed from an examination of Soviet documents how far the west misjudged Moscow's intentions during the cold war. A mix of belligerent posturing and over-reaction to provocation was heavily driven by the Pentagon's military-industrial complex, with Nato trotting along behind. The result took an appalling risk with European security, and at a horrific cost.

The current response to Crimea shows how easily misjudgment can emerge from such political machismo. Perhaps the better parallel is Sarajevo 1914. One leader's wounded pride triggers another's pursuit of self-interest, a reckless treaty triggers a pre-emptive strike. Bluffs are called, prices thought "worth paying". As pandemonium ensues, no one can recall how it all started.

Today's reign of the do-somethings is oozing from the musty corridors of a once-imperial Foreign Office. It is seeping from under-employed defence lobbyists and thinktanks. It begs, weeps, screams that "something must be done" about Crimea. It derides "doing nothing" as so much wimpish, pseudo-pacifist appeasement. It must, or how else will Chatham House feed its young?

Russia's occupation of Crimea may or may not reflect Putin's paranoia at the west's muscle-flexing along its border. Kiev's fight for independence may or may not reflect a justified fear of Russian revanchism. I do not know. I know only that neither country threatens us, and neither "belongs to us". Some people just cannot bear to be left out of a fight.

Simon Jenkins

Death of Soviet president Chernenko causes political uncertainty: From the archive, 12 March 1985

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Chernenko made early attempts at greater ideological cohesion but did not persist with this

For the countries of eastern Europe, Mr Chernenko's leadership has been an uneasy interim period during which the Kremlin's policies towards them have been marked by indecision.

Chernenko made early attempts at greater ideological cohesion but did not persist with this.

He convened a summit of Comecon, the Socialist organisation for economic cooperation and integration. But virtually nothing has been done to follow up the apparently important decisions taken at the meeting held last summer.

On foreign policy, the Kremlin's signals to the east European countries have been mixed, often confusing, and disappointing to their leaders.

While Mr Andropov lead the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries all believed that he understood their individual situations and was willing to give them a considerable amount of freedom in deciding how best to maintain stability in the Communist bloc. They did not have this assurance under Chernenko, even though Poland was given a surprisingly wide degree of freedom.

While few of the Warsaw Pact leaders know Mr Gorbachev at all well, there is optimism that he will initiate long needed economic reforms in the Soviet Union that will also make it easier for them to press ahead with economic change and modernisation. They also believe that under his leadership there would be a genuine prospect for reshaping Comecon as an instrument for modernisation and technological innovation.

It is already certain that the Warsaw Pact will be renewed on its existing terms, for at least another 20 years with a possible extension of 10 more years.

The Warsaw pact countries had been so certain for several weeks that Chernenko's illness had entered its terminal stage, that speculation about the future leadership was occasionally shared with Western visitors.

Warsaw pact leaders, assembling in Sofia, in January, were told that their own long-planned summit had been abruptly postponed.

The meeting in the Bulgarian capital would have been the first summit of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact since Chernenko became leader early last year. It was impossible to hold the summit in his absence, even though a far reaching foreign declaration was ready.

Early during Chernenko's tenure eastern Europe believed it had the Kremlin's encouragement for an improvement of their ties with eastern Europe.

But the signals from Moscow suddenly changed. Instead the Warsaw Pact countries were expected to join the Kremlin in attacking revanchist tendancies in West Germany. The Warsaw pact declaration, prepared for their abortive summit, is said to have contained a very strong warning for German revanchism and against supporting the Reagan Administration's strategic defence initiative.

By all accounts even the most loyal members of the Warsaw Pact were unhappy when the Soviet Union, still under Andropov, broke off arms control negotiations with the US in November, 1983.

The dismissal of the head of the Soviet armed forces, Marshal Ogarkov, further distressed several of the east European countries, who remain convinced that the decision reflected the Kremlin old guard's resistance to weapons modernisation, and a reconsideration of the strategic relationships with the US.

Hella Pick

Scandimania: 'Stipsters', digital innovation and now, social business

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:59 PM PDT

Scandinavian countries are some of the world's happiest places to live. How is this impacting their social sector?

"We have a word for social entrepreneurs in Sweden. They're called 'Stipsters' – it means a startup hipster," says Johan Wendt, the entrepreneur behind world-leading Scandinavian social enterprise Mattecentrum.

Recently highlighted in Channel 4's series Scandimania as being the happiest place to live, Scandinavia has a unique business culture of innovation and co-operation.

In Denmark, for example, more than 40% of citizens do voluntary work. With similar co-operative values, Sweden has one of the most equal pay systems in the world – with much of their economy focused on small and medium sized businesses.

Nordic businesses are also responsible for giving us platforms such as SoundCloud, Skype and Spotify, and are pioneering in terms of digital innovation.

"Being one of the top countries in the world both when it comes to sustainability, innovation and gender equality Sweden has an excellent environment for social entrepreneurs," says Hanna Sigsjö, manager of Forum for Social Innovation Sweden. "However it is only the last few years that things have really started to happen."

This growth is underpinned by the recent establishment of social investment funds and a number of support organisations, including: Ashoka, Reach for change, SE Forum and Forum for Social Innovation Sweden.

"Social enterprises are exploding in Sweden!" says Dennis Lennartsson, chief executive of Spread the Sign. "The internet burst has caused shorter communications between the user and buyer – it's more direct. Anyone can examine an organisation and their core values, which has forced companies to become more transparent and open, creating opportunities for social enterprises."

Scandinavia's political structure is also influencing the nature of the social enterprise sector. "Being socialist countries for 100 years, Sweden and Denmark had welfare systems which meant the individual didn't have to take care of anything. Now this is changing, and social enterprises are filling the gaps," says Wendt. "This has also influenced the type of social enterprises in Scandinavia. Our social businesses tend to focus more on welfare issues such as education, healthcare, finding missing people and helping women to progress in the workplace. I think this is more the case than in the UK and US."

Another aspect driving social entrepreneurship across Europe is its youth appeal. "It's becoming fashionable to be a social entrepreneur," says Benjamin Kainz, a social entrepreneur who co-founded Young Care – an organisation which connects young workers with elderly people living in care homes. "Social businesses in Sweden are a younger movement – they are more likely to think that you can be involved in politics by using your company as a tool for change in our society, not just a company with social schemes added on."

Wendt agrees: "In Stockholm we have awesome social enterprise start-ups - hundreds of young, digital companies that are up and coming. Today a lot of young people say 'when I grow up I want to be a social entrepreneur' so the idea of social entrepreneurship in Sweden has gone from people not knowing it existed to something children want to be."

Lennartsson believes Scandinavia's sudden social business growth reflects a shift in consumer culture. "People expect that companies are 'good guys' to buy their stuff. If 'greed' was good in the 90s 'social care' is the new good now, which is a lot better."

However, despite enthusiasm for the sector, Scandinavian social enterpreneurship is still in its early stages. Sarah Prosser, country director for the British Council, feels Norway in particular still has a lot to learn from other countries. "There is little understanding here for what a social enterprise is. Social innovation as a term is beginning to have some traction, but is not really used much either. Basically we have a long way to go before it can be compared to Sweden, Finland or the UK."

So why is Norway behind its' Nordic counterparts? "I believe Norway is lagging because it's richest," says Prosser. "It doesn't have a need for social enterprises to replace missing services – though increasingly it's being trialled as a business model to encourage diversity."

Despite having the highest social entrepreneurship growth in Scandinavia, Sweden is still perceived to be behind the UK's social sector. "In Sweden we have a strong tradition that the state should solve our societal challenges. The phenomenon 'social enterprise' is fairly new in our country," says Sofia Appelgren, founder of Mitt Liv, a social enterprises which aims to increase diversity in Sweden.

Maja Frankel, director of Ashoka Scandinavia, agrees: "Social entrepreneurship is still in its early stages in Scandinavia. We need to build an infrastructure both for social intrapreneurship and social entrepreneurship to develop the field further."

Kainz sums up the Swedish social enterprise sector: "Sweden is currently a good environment for social entrepreneurs – there are many small start-ups, a stable political structure and an open mind set for new solutions and change. The social business sector is growing."

"It is not a perfect world yet, but it is getting better."

For more news, opinions and ideas about the social enterprise sector, join our community

Charlotte Seager

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

The best books on Peru: start your reading here

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:59 PM PDT

Our literary tour of Peru embraces Manuel Odría's dictactorship, murder in Ayacucho, and the legacy of Pizarro's conquistadors

Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa

Vargas Llosa's ambitious novel is a portrait of power and politics in Peru under the dictatorship of General Manuel Odría in the 1950s.

Santiago Zavala, a young journalist, bumps into Ambrosio Pardo, his wealthy father's former chauffeur, and they go to a rundown bar in Lima (the cathedral of the title) to talk about old times. Santiago is estranged from his family, rejecting their upper middle-class values and his father Don Fermin's shady business dealings and rightwing politics. Ambrosio admires Don Fermin and served him well.

Through their reminiscences they tell the story of the country during those dark years. "At what precise moment had Peru fucked itself up?" asks Santiago on the opening page.

Vargas Llosa builds the novel around their hours-long conversation, linking it with other characters and conversations. Early on, the interlacing of dialogues between different narrators speaking at different times can be tricky, but persistence pays off.

The novel is a powerful exploration of repression, corruption and hypocrisy, along with the ugly prejudices of race and class.

Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America's best-known authors, ran for Peru's presidency in 1990. He lost, and was able to concentrate on writing rather than running the country. Twenty years later, aged 74, he won the Nobel prize.

Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo

Roncagliolo's chilling political thriller is set in the provincial town of Ayacucho in 2000, in the month leading up to Holy Week. An eccentric, mother-obsessed prosecutor, newly returned to his hometown from the capital, Lima, is asked to investigate a series of grisly murders.

He suspects the killings result from a resurgence of the Maoist-inspired Shining Path guerrillas, but the savage, two-decade insurgency that claimed 70,000 lives is officially over. "In this country, there is no terrorism, by orders from the top," a senior military officer tells him.

The lines between good and evil blur as civilians are caught between Shining Path terror and the brutal military response. Amid the violence, the state is making preparations to rig the impending presidential election. The prosecutor finds himself out of his depth as the murders get ever closer to him: "All the people I talk to die."

The suspense rises as the story takes some dramatic turns on its way to a gripping climax.

Roncagliolo excavates the dark side of his country's political and cultural turbulence, nailing entrenched corruption, impunity and racism in Peruvian society. That said, the story is served up with irony and black humour.

Peruvian writer, journalist and scriptwriter Roncagliolo now lives in Spain.

The Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming

Hemming's account of how a small band of greedy, god-fearing adventurers destroy a civilisation is a superb work of history. His impressive scholarship and sparkling prose tell an extraordinary tale of courage and cruelty, vividly describing the intrigue, treachery and slaughter that take place as Pizarro's conquistadors go about their brutish business.

The Spaniards, a mere 168 men, arrive at a time of civil wars and unrest among the native peoples, who are also decimated by the European disease of smallpox – leaving the once-mighty empire weakened. On top of that, Spanish horses, weapons and armour give the invaders superiority over the Inca forces.

The book focuses on the 40 years between the initial invasion in 1532 and the execution of the last emperor, Túpac Amaru. Although Hemming remains scrupulously impartial, it's hard not to feel sympathy for the Incas in the unequal struggle between the old and new worlds.

The Spaniards' subjugation and exploitation of the Indians shapes the hierarchical Peru of today, which still grapples with their legacy. Despite that, as Hemming points out, the Quechua-speaking population has "survived with its language and many of its customs unchanged", and forms a majority in the country.

Hemming, a British writer and explorer, is a former director of the Royal Geographic Society.

Pushpinder Khaneka

Melbourne abortion clinic takes legal action in effort to end daily protests

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:41 PM PDT

Fertility Control Clinic is trying to compel the city council to enforce public nuisance laws

Michael Safi

Death row inmate released from Louisiana jail 30 years after wrongful conviction

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:36 PM PDT

Man convicted of murder by all-white jury in deeply flawed trial had one of America's longest ever waits for exoneration

Ed Pilkington

Fire at Barangaroo construction site - video

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:28 PM PDT

Smoke billowed from a fire at Barangaroo construction site on Sydney Harbour foreshore on Wednesday after formwork in a basement caught fire, threatening the stability of a crane. Fire crews were hosing the base of the crane to prevent it buckling and toppling over.

Louisiana death row inmate released after 30 years - video

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 11:18 PM PDT

Glenn Ford was sentenced to death by a white jury after his employer died in 1983.