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

Meet the man leading Britain's fight against Ebola
The Greek election: why I went home to vote for the first time
The Greek election: voices of the voters
Cyclone Pam: Vanuatu a scene of destruction after South Pacific storm
Air raid by Burma kills four in China
Valparaiso fire: thousands evacuated as blaze threatens Chilean city
Support for China-led development bank grows despite US opposition
Weekly news quiz: Jacques Cousteau’s ship and a 'missing' leader
Rogue owl caught after year-long reign of terror in Dutch town
Iraqi Sunni preacher calls for end to Shia revenge attacks in Tikrit
Sharmeena Begum – British girl left to join Isis after upheavals at home
Ferguson police chief not sure if shooter targeted officers or link to protesters
Slender Man stabbing: Wisconsin girls must be tried as adults, judge says
Bill Cosby could be prosecuted if Nevada lifts statute of limitations on sex crimes
Can an app really make Bangladesh's notoriously deadly roads safer?
Maldives ex-president Nasheed jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges
Ebola-infected US health worker may have come into contact with co-workers
Zimbabwe activist still missing as state officials deny abducting him
Ikea drops lifestyle website in Russia over 'gay propaganda' fears
Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora in 1996 – in pictures

Meet the man leading Britain's fight against Ebola

Posted: 14 Mar 2015 01:37 AM PDT

From his lab in Liverpool, Professor Tom Solomon is heading UK efforts to combat Ebola. He's hopeful we'll have a treatment and vaccine within a year. But that's only the beginning of our worries…

The Greek election: why I went home to vote for the first time

Posted: 14 Mar 2015 01:30 AM PDT

It's six weeks since the anti-austerity party Syriza swept to power in Greece. Greek writer Alex Andreou explains what it means to him

Photographer Zed Nelson finds out if other Greek voters are still celebrating

The Greek election: voices of the voters

Posted: 14 Mar 2015 01:30 AM PDT

It's six weeks since the anti-austerity party Syriza swept to power in Greece. Photographer Zed Nelson finds out whether voters are still celebrating

Greek writer Alex Andreou explains why he went home to vote for the first time

Cyclone Pam: Vanuatu a scene of destruction after South Pacific storm

Posted: 14 Mar 2015 01:25 AM PDT

President calls for 'helping hand' from the world as aid workers tell of fierce impact and Australia and New Zealand prepare to mount relief efforts

Screaming winds and heavy rain from an extremely powerful cyclone that blasted through Vanuatu on Saturday have left widespread destruction, with fears dozens may have been killed, aid workers rushing to assess the damage and the governments of Australia and New Zealand preparing to mount a relief effort.

The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, gave an emotional address as he attended an overseas conference on disasters and emergencies, telling delegates in Japan: "I am speaking to you today with a heart that is so heavy. I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and the people to give a helping hand in this disaster."

Air raid by Burma kills four in China

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 10:55 PM PDT

Beijings summons Burmese ambassador and Chinese aerial patrols increase as tensions rise over operations against rebels in border region

Valparaiso fire: thousands evacuated as blaze threatens Chilean city

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 09:50 PM PDT

Flames spread from refuse dump and quickly burnt out large area on edge of World Heritage-listed port settlement

Support for China-led development bank grows despite US opposition

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 08:31 PM PDT

Australia indicates it could join UK, New Zealand as founding member of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, which Washington views with suspicion

Support for a Chinese-led development bank is growing despite US opposition, with Australia indicating that it could join the UK and New Zealand as a founding member.

Analysts predicted that others would follow Britain's surprise decision to put its weight behind the new $50bn institution, despite the US making its irritation clear in an unusual public rebuke.

Weekly news quiz: Jacques Cousteau’s ship and a 'missing' leader

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 07:52 PM PDT

Test your knowledge of the week's events with questions about Blurred Lines, tourist graffiti and the next Bond film Continue reading...

Rogue owl caught after year-long reign of terror in Dutch town

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 06:06 PM PDT

European eagle owl suspected of more than 50 attacks on humans in Purmerend, Netherlands

Iraqi Sunni preacher calls for end to Shia revenge attacks in Tikrit

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 05:54 PM PDT

Sheikh Abdel Sattar Abdul Jabbar urges authorities to prevent Shia militias from carrying out revenge attacks on Sunnis in Saddam Hussein's hometown

A prominent Iraqi Sunni preacher has urged authorities to prevent Shia militias from carrying out revenge attacks on Sunnis in Saddam Hussein's hometown as they fight alongside government forces to oust Islamic State extremists.

Sheikh Abdel Sattar Abdul Jabbar cited reports of Shia militiamen burning Sunni homes in the battle to win back Tikrit from Isis, and said that if the government failed to stop revenge attacks the country would face renewed sectarian tensions.

Sharmeena Begum – British girl left to join Isis after upheavals at home

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 04:52 PM PDT

Fifteen-year-old left home after 18 months of sadness following death of mother from cancer and father getting remarried, friends tell the Guardian

Ferguson police chief not sure if shooter targeted officers or link to protesters

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 04:07 PM PDT

Chief Jon Belmar 'honestly couldn't tell you for sure' but remains unapologetic about raid as police still have no suspects in shootings of two officers

Police searching for the shooter of two officers in Ferguson, Missouri, have backed away from earlier suggestions that the suspect must have directly targeted the victims and was associated with protesters, saying on Friday that this was now unclear.

Chief Jon Belmar of the St Louis County Police department said at a press conference that he "honestly couldn't tell you for sure" whether the person who shot one officer in the face and another in the shoulder on Wednesday night was linked to demonstrators at Ferguson's police station.

Slender Man stabbing: Wisconsin girls must be tried as adults, judge says

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 02:43 PM PDT

Wisconsin law says those aged 10 and older must be charged as adults for severe crimes, but an appeal to move case to juvenile court is possible

Bill Cosby could be prosecuted if Nevada lifts statute of limitations on sex crimes

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 02:05 PM PDT

Woman who accused comedian of sexual assault to testify to committee Friday
Most accusations against comedian have occurred beyond legal cut-off period

Can an app really make Bangladesh's notoriously deadly roads safer?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 01:40 PM PDT

For every two fatalities in road accidents in the US, there are 160 such deaths in Bangladesh. To help solve the problem, Jennifer Farrell has created CriticaLink, an app connecting scarce emergency services with those who need them most

Maldives ex-president Nasheed jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 01:08 PM PDT

Mohamed Nasheed found guilty of ordering arrest of chief judge in 2012
US, India and street protesters raise concerns over political nature of charges

The former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed has been convicted of a terrorism charge by a criminal court and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Ebola-infected US health worker may have come into contact with co-workers

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:59 PM PDT

CDC identifying and monitoring any who may have had contact in Sierra Leone
Patient said to be in 'serious' condition at NIH facility in Bethesda, Maryland

Several American volunteer healthcare workers may have come into contact with a colleague who has tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

The infected worker, who contracted the disease while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, returned to the US on Friday morning and was admitted to a National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Maryland, for treatment. NIH physicians have listed the patient's condition as "serious".

Zimbabwe activist still missing as state officials deny abducting him

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:40 PM PDT

Court orders police and state intelligence agency to find Itai Dzamara, a prominent dissident of President Robert Mugabe who was kidnapped on Monday

Fears are growing for the safety of a political activist in Zimbabwe reported to have been abducted by five unidentified men almost a week ago and bundled into an unmarked truck near his home.

The country's high court on Friday ordered police and the state intelligence agency to search for Itai Dzamara, a former journalist who last year staged sit-in protests demanding the resignation of President Robert Mugabe.

Ikea drops lifestyle website in Russia over 'gay propaganda' fears

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:28 PM PDT

Swedish flat-pack giant says 'we observe the legislation of the countries where we work', which in Russia includes a 2013 law banning promotion of gay values

Ikea has announced it is closing its lifestyle website in Russia over fears it could flout a controversial law banning promotion of gay values to minors.

The Swedish flat-pack giant said it was dropping the magazine website, Ikea Family Live, because "a number of articles could be assessed as propaganda" under the law signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2013 despite opposition from activists and stars including Madonna.

Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora in 1996 – in pictures

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:26 PM PDT

Rare images of the al-Qaida leader in a mountainous region of Afghanistan released by US prosecutors during the trial of Khaled al-Fawwaz. The photographs were shot by Abdel Barri Atwan, the founder and then editor of al-Quds al-Arabi, an independent Arabic weekly published in London, who was invited to Bin Laden's compound