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- US election 2016: voters head to polls as Trump and Clinton aim to make history – live
- Election polls open in US as Clinton and Trump make final pitches
- Hong Kong lawyers prepare protest march after China inflames political crisis
- Kurdish forces enter town near Mosul as Iraqi troops find mass grave
- Glossary of graft lays bare Mexico's lexicon of corruption
- Rolling Stone 'Jackie' trial: university administrator awarded $3m for defamation
- Top French offices stop work in support of gender pay gap protest
- Daniel Ortega poised for third successive term as Nicaraguan president
- Janet Reno, first female US attorney general, dies aged 78
- 'Every breath is an effort': Delhi residents suffer amid smog crisis
- US seeks Turkish backing for Kurdish-led operation in Raqqa
- Indian government declares Delhi air pollution an emergency
- Sex offender who chained up woman killed at least seven, say police
- US army trainers killed at Jordan base identified amid investigation
- Montenegrin prosecutor says Russian nationalists behind alleged coup plot
- Police and protesters clash in Hong Kong pro-democracy march
- Myanmar police hunt for British teacher after colleague is found dead
- German ministry wants African migrants intercepted – report
- Italian priest blames earthquakes on gay civil unions
- Russia and Assad to pound rebels as east Aleppo braces for attack
- Journalists arrested as Ankara steps up crackdown on dissent
- A year after the Bataclan, Paris uses art and activism to regain its soul
- Two stuntmen drown in southern India during filming of movie
- Facebook 'pauses' WhatsApp data sharing after ICO intervention
- Fox News wrongly links Republican anti-Trump protester to voter fraud
- Hungary migrant ban narrowly fails in parliamentary vote
- US election: final campaign day – as it happened
- 'The president thinks he can suppress the truth': Burundi's guerrilla media
- 'Employ women and don't be afraid to make money': tech's future in Africa
- Kenyan crowdsourcing site invites reports of US election irregularities
- LagosPhoto: the Nigerian festival challenging the world's Afro-pessimism
- 'I froze, realising I'd stepped on a body': Syrian journalists in their own words
- Russia's intervention in Syria could have been stopped 20 years ago
- Russian dissident Ildar Dadin accuses prison staff of torture
- Turkish journalists face abuse and threats online as trolls step up attacks
- Kenya hosts world's first albino beauty pageant
- Outdoor discos to kitsch schnitzel ads: Twitter account relives the Soviet era
- It’s all for love as Spain’s Barbara Cartland finally gets a chance to woo British readers
- Nicola Payne disappearance: police search woodland after tipoff
- On the road to Mosul, the battle of Bashiqa – in pictures
- Seeking shelter at the UN's Bentiu camp in South Sudan – in pictures
- Canada to offer gender-neutral ‘other’ option for visitors
- Rurik Jutting guilty of murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong
- George Brandis is unfit to be attorney general, parliamentary committee finds
- Snow on the way for Scotland and northern England
- Syrian held on Nauru lands in Cambodia as sixth refugee to take up resettlement offer
- Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos granted ‘hero’s burial’
- Jutting's victims: how two Indonesian women met their deaths in Hong Kong
- Choi-gate: South Korean president forced to let opposition choose next PM
- India’s crackdown in Kashmir: is this the world’s first mass blinding?
- Holy men stir up riots in Delhi – archive, 8 November 1966
- Huge sinkhole opens up in Japanese city: 'I heard a loud boom'
- Estonian government in the balance with demand for PM to resign
- Stowaway snake grounds Aeromexico flight – video
- Venezuelan 'narconephews' bad at drug smuggling, defense and prosecution say
- Hoax radio transmission at Melbourne airport forces plane to abort landing
- McDonald's claims $20m from Florence over piazza restaurant rebuff
- Treasury tries to thwart EU plans for tax haven blacklist
- 'Someone should do something!' How to bluff your way through the news
- Pakistani police arrest two people over Amjad Sabri murder
- Nicaragua president re-elected in landslide amid claims of rigged vote
- Arab forces to lead fight to recapture Raqqa from Isis, US says
- Israel tells France it will not join talks aimed at reviving peace process
- Gunman in South Sudan kills 13 people watching football match in bar
- China bars Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians from office – video report
- Mikheil Saakashvili quits as governor of Ukraine's Odessa region
- UK visa policy for India could gamble away much-needed goodwill
- Capitalism, austerity, revolution: why we took part in the Million Mask March
- Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians banned by China as crisis grows
- The human zoo: Mumbai's new animal park can't hide our chronic lack of space
- From jailhouse to marijuana farm: empty US prisons get strange makeovers
- A meat-free Turin? Is Italy’s first 'vegetarian city' a recipe for disaster?
- Pimp my bike: Detroit's custom cycles – in pictures
- America’s road trip: will the US ever kick the car habit?
- Shrinking cities: the rise and fall of global urban populations – mapped
- Atomic City, USA: how once-secret Los Alamos became a millionaire's enclave
- Tolerant, generous – and a little bit lawless. Why I love living in cities
- War, persecution and ego: how do cities get their names?
- New York comes clean: the controversial story of the Fresh Kills dumpsite
- African nations attempt to suspend UN's LGBT rights monitor
- COP22 host Morocco launches action plan to fight devastating climate change
- Rebuilding in Nepal's Langtang valley – in pictures
- Every tobacco death is an avoidable tragedy. The epidemic must stop here | Margaret Chan
- Judge orders closure of low-cost Bridge International schools in Uganda
- Amazonians call on leaders to heed link between land rights and climate change
- Canada broadens aid horizons as focus falls on women and girls in Mozambique | Ben Quinn
- Nigerian communities open their homes and hearts to refugees – photo essay
- Khwezi showed how to challenge rape culture – the rest is up to us | Jessica Horn
- The last-minute map: how to read each presidential candidate’s final stops
- US presidential election: five scenarios that could play out this week
- Australia's guide to the US election: everything you need to know | Kristina Keneally
- Who is leading the polls the day before voting? Not a clear 'Clinton' or 'Trump'
- How does Donald Trump lie? A fact checker's final guide
- This is the beginning of the end of Hong Kong | Claudia Mo
- Beyond 18C: six barriers to freedom of speech in Australia
- US faces host of global threats during transition until next president
- James Comey's troubles just beginning after latest twist in Clinton email tale
- Republican anti-Trump protester debunks voter fraud claims – video
- Donald Trump rallies Michigan supporters in final speech before polls open – video
- Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi back Hillary Clinton at final campaign rally – video
- Drawing to a close – Trump v Clinton: the comic strip
- Think you're relieved the election is almost over? Hear it from the political reporters – podcast
- Obama warns voters not to be 'bamboozled' ahead of US election – video
- Donald Trump warns voters of 'rigged system' – video
| US election 2016: voters head to polls as Trump and Clinton aim to make history – live Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:15 AM PST
It was a long night for Hillary Clinton, who held a final midnight rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, joined by Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi. Clinton took to the stage at Reynolds Coliseum, at North Carolina State University, around 1am. There it is: Hillary Clinton, joined by Bill and Chelsea, takes the stage for the final rally of her campaign in Raleigh, NC pic.twitter.com/KxKZ8XlWb0 Hillary Clinton greeted by a few hundred supporters upon arrival in Westchester after final day of campaign pic.twitter.com/LBpqAfsLOu
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. It's election day, but we'll resist the temptation to wax dramatic. No reflections on the historical import of a day that could see the election of the first woman US president, or of Donald Trump. No musing about just how long these last 18 months have sometimes felt. No solicitations after your personal health, mental and physical, at this, the (apparent) end of our collective slog through a muddy field of base discourse, objectionable behavior and trampled bunting. There were some happy moments in there! We think. And we will recall them just as soon as the votes are counted. Which brings us to the main business of the day: bringing you the election results, as soon as they come in, from Maine to Alaska. That's the purpose of today's blog, and that's what you can expect as the polls begin to close, initial returns come back, state results are declared and the identity of the 45th president of the United States is revealed. No idea how late we'll have to work Tuesday night, but here's when past victory/concession speeches have started. #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/Mem7aNY9nT Continue reading... |
| Election polls open in US as Clinton and Trump make final pitches Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:14 AM PST Country goes to the polls with Democrats carrying an average national polling lead of three points after hectic final round of campaigning
American voters are heading to the polls on Tuesday after a star-studded climax to a campaign that could elect either the first female president of the United States or a celebrity billionaire who threatens to rewrite the rules of politics forever. Minutes after midnight the traditional first election day ballot was cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, as Lady Gaga in North Carolina and Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence in Michigan introduced competing last-ditch rallies. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong lawyers prepare protest march after China inflames political crisis Posted: 07 Nov 2016 07:33 PM PST Pro-Beijing newspapers praise blow to 'political extremists' after Beijing bars two lawmakers from taking seats in parliament Beijing's unprecedented eviction of two pro-independence activists from Hong Kong's parliament has dealt a severe blow to "political extremists", a Communist party-controlled newspaper has claimed as members of the city's legal community prepared to take to the streets in protest. One day after Beijing effectively barred Sixtus 'Baggio' Leung and Yau Wai-ching from taking up their seats in the former colony's 70-seat legislative council, an editorial in the Global Times praised their ousting, arguing that the appeasement of such voices would plunge the financial hub into confusion and ruin. Continue reading... |
| Kurdish forces enter town near Mosul as Iraqi troops find mass grave Posted: 07 Nov 2016 01:39 PM PST Forces advancing south of Mosul uncover evidence of Isis brutality while peshmerga goes on offensive to recapture Bashiqa Iraqi Kurdish fighters have exchanged heavy fire with militants as they entered a town held by Islamic State east of Mosul, while troops advancing south of the city discovered a mass grave containing an estimated 100 or so decapitated bodies. The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive Isis out of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, relieving those living under its brutal occupation, which has included mass killings. Continue reading... |
| Glossary of graft lays bare Mexico's lexicon of corruption Posted: 07 Nov 2016 03:30 AM PST Corruption is so endemic it has generated a vocabulary of its own. A new book, the Corrupcionario Mexicano, hopes to make people stop seeing it as normal The word chayote is a term originally from the Nahuatl language which denotes a greenish edible gourd. In Mexico, it also means a payment made by a politician to a journalist in exchange for favourable coverage. Chapulín signifies "grasshopper" – but can also mean a politician who changes party affiliation in search of financial benefit. Continue reading... |
| Rolling Stone 'Jackie' trial: university administrator awarded $3m for defamation Posted: 07 Nov 2016 06:17 PM PST Former associate dean of students Nicole Eramo wins case over discredited gang rape story that cast her as a villain Jurors have awarded a University of Virginia administrator $3m for her portrayal in a now-discredited Rolling Stone magazine article about the school's handling of a brutal gang rape a fraternity house. The 10-member jury's decision came after they concluded on Friday that the magazine, its publisher and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely were responsible for defamation, with actual malice, of former associate dean of students Nicole Eramo in the 2014 story A Rape on Campus. Continue reading... |
| Top French offices stop work in support of gender pay gap protest Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:31 AM PST Institutions including Paris City Hall stop work amid spontaneous demonstations to highlight wage disparity between men and women Staff at some of Paris's most high-profile political and cultural offices stopped work at 4.34pm on Monday in solidarity with a protest against women being paid less than men. Women's rights campaigners at the feminist newsletter Les Glorieuses had urged female workers to down tools from that time. They suggested that doing so until the end of the year – in effect taking 38.2 days off – would highlight the global wage disparity that experts say will not disappear until 2186. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Daniel Ortega poised for third successive term as Nicaraguan president Posted: 07 Nov 2016 01:09 AM PST Former guerrilla wins 70% of vote in early counting as opponents hit out at 'family dictatorship' Daniel Ortega is set for a third consecutive term as president of Nicaragua after winning more than 70% of the vote in early counting from Sunday's election. The 70-year-old former guerrilla fighter, who is running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice-president, won 72.1% of the vote, with 66.3% of polling stations counted, the electoral board said. |
| Janet Reno, first female US attorney general, dies aged 78 Posted: 07 Nov 2016 01:47 AM PST One of the highest profile figures of Bill Clinton's presidency, whose tenure included the Waco and Lewinsky scandals Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as US attorney general, has died aged 78. Reno died early on Monday from complications associated with Parkinson's disease, her goddaughter, Gabrielle D'Alemberte, said. D'Alemberte said Reno spent her final days at home in Miami surrounded by family and friends. Continue reading... |
| 'Every breath is an effort': Delhi residents suffer amid smog crisis Posted: 06 Nov 2016 05:38 PM PST Using the hashtags #DelhiSmog and #DelhiChokes, locals are voicing concern over heavy pollution shrouding the city Residents and visitors to Delhi are struggling to cope with severe levels of toxic air pollution that have prompted authorities to declare an "emergency situation" in the city. Locals have expressed their concern over the dangerous smog on Twitter, with some saying they have been forced to take their families out of Delhi due to concerns over their health. Others said they had not seen the sunrise in more than a week due to the haze that clogs the sky. Continue reading... |
| US seeks Turkish backing for Kurdish-led operation in Raqqa Posted: 06 Nov 2016 04:46 AM PST Senior military officials meet in Ankara after Turkey expressed alarm at Kurdish role in move to retake Isis stronghold Senior US military officials have met their Turkish counterparts in Ankara to seek approval for the launch of a largely Kurdish-led move to isolate Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. An alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – announced on Sunday that the isolation of Raqqa had started as part of a pincer movement designed to defeat Isis not just in Raqqa, but in Mosul, the second city of Iraq. Continue reading... |
| Indian government declares Delhi air pollution an emergency Posted: 06 Nov 2016 08:40 AM PST Capital's schools closed for three days and building work halted as harmful pollutants reach level more than 16 times safe limit The Indian government has declared severe levels of toxic air pollution in Delhi an "emergency situation" as administrators announce a plan to temporarily shut construction sites and a coal-fired power station to bring the situation under control. Schools in the capital will be closed for three days and traffic may be rationed, following six days of heavy smog and concentrations of harmful particles so high they cannot be measured by most air quality instruments. Continue reading... |
| Sex offender who chained up woman killed at least seven, say police Posted: 06 Nov 2016 03:31 PM PST Todd Kohlhepp confesses to shooting four people in South Carolina and shows police graves of two others on his property A South Carolina man killed at least seven people in a hidden crime spree that lasted more than a decade and only was uncovered when police rescued a woman chained at the neck in a storage container, authorities said. Related: Body found at home of South Carolina sex offender as kidnap details emerge Continue reading... |
| US army trainers killed at Jordan base identified amid investigation Posted: 06 Nov 2016 08:45 AM PST Pentagon says those killed were part of special forces based in Kentucky as Jordanian sources offer conflicting accounts of incident The defense department on Sunday identified three US army trainers who were killed on Friday when their convoy came under fire as it entered a military base in Jordan. Related: Three members of US military killed in Jordan army base shooting Continue reading... |
| Montenegrin prosecutor says Russian nationalists behind alleged coup plot Posted: 06 Nov 2016 10:39 AM PST Milivoje Katnić says nationalists organised criminal group that planned to break into parliament and assassinate prime minister Russian nationalists were behind an alleged coup attempt in Montenegro that included plans to assassinate the pro-western prime minister over his government's attempt to join Nato, the country's chief special prosecutor has said. Milivoje Katnić said an investigation concluded that "nationalists from Russia" organised a criminal group, which planned to break into the Montenegrin parliament on election day, kill the prime minister Milo Đukanović and bring a pro-Russian coalition to power. Continue reading... |
| Police and protesters clash in Hong Kong pro-democracy march Posted: 06 Nov 2016 07:40 AM PST Thousands take to streets after Beijing announces review of case that could stop two pro-independence MPs taking seats A pro-democracy march that drew thousands of people in Hong Kong has ended in clashes with police after Beijing announced it was reviewing a case that could see two pro-democracy lawmakers banned from taking their seats in Hong Kong's parliament. Recent weeks have seen the semi-autonomous city thrown into a fresh round of political chaos, two years after the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement occupied key roads and thoroughfares with tent protests, as a younger generation of activists faces off against Beijing loyalists. Continue reading... |
| Myanmar police hunt for British teacher after colleague is found dead Posted: 06 Nov 2016 08:51 AM PST Police believe colleague may have left country after victim, also British, was found dead with head and chest wounds in Yangon apartment Myanmar police are looking for a British teacher who they believe might have fled the country after his colleague was found dead following a night of drinking in downtown Yangon. The 45-year-old victim, also a British man, was found dead inside his co-worker's apartment with wounds on his head and chest, police said. His wife told officers the pair had been out drinking on Friday night and that she had been unable to reach her husband the following morning. Continue reading... |
| German ministry wants African migrants intercepted – report Posted: 05 Nov 2016 11:18 PM PDT Eliminating 'the prospect of reaching' Europe would deter migrants, the ministry is quoted as saying by a German newspaper The German interior ministry wants to stop migrants ever reaching Europe's Mediterranean coast by picking them up at sea and returning them to Africa, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday. In what would be a huge shift for a country with one of the most generous asylum policies, the ministry says the European Union should adopt an Australian-style system under which migrants intercepted at sea are sent for processing at camps in third countries. Continue reading... |
| Italian priest blames earthquakes on gay civil unions Posted: 05 Nov 2016 10:17 AM PDT Vatican rebukes Fr Giovanni Cavalcoli after he claims deadly quakes are divine punishment for the offence of civil unions An Italian priest has angered the Vatican after claiming the earthquakes that have shaken the country killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless were "divine punishment" for gay civil unions. Fr Giovanni Cavalcoli, a theologian known for his hardline views, made the comments on 30 October, the day central Italy was struck by a 6.6-magnitude quake - the most powerful to hit the country in 36 years. Continue reading... |
| Russia and Assad to pound rebels as east Aleppo braces for attack Posted: 05 Nov 2016 02:30 PM PDT The Syrian regime's offer of safe passage for civilians has been shunned – now they are preparing for a renewed aerial onslaught Besieged east Aleppo is braced for a fierce bombardment by Russian and Syrian aircraft as rebel forces intensify their efforts to break the siege using suicide attackers and heavy artillery. The attacks have claimed dozens of lives in western Aleppo, normally far less dangerous than the rebel-held east, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Continue reading... |
| Journalists arrested as Ankara steps up crackdown on dissent Posted: 05 Nov 2016 02:03 PM PDT Staff from the Cumhuriyet newspaper detained as critics claim Erdoğan is using failed coup as a pretext to crush the opposition Turkish authorities ordered the formal arrest of nine staff members of a leading opposition newspaper and detained more pro-Kurdish officials, widening an anti-terror probe that has drawn condemnation from the west. The arrests, a day after the co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic party (HDP) were jailed pending trial, are likely to spark more concern among Turkey's allies about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's intolerance of dissent. Continue reading... |
| A year after the Bataclan, Paris uses art and activism to regain its soul Posted: 05 Nov 2016 05:04 PM PDT The city's response to the 2015 attacks has been a creative rebirth that is open and inclusive For a few days in October, bright blue skies bathed the French capital in a light so vivid that the streets resembled a hyper-real painting. Avenue Winston Churchill was empty of traffic but full of collectors, dealers, curators and other art world types, gathered for Paris art week. They milled about in the sun or clustered around food vans, coffee stands and pieces of sculpture. On either side of the esplanade that runs between the Champs Élysées and the Seine is Charles Girault's exquisite pair of beaux arts buildings, the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. The connection their architect had originally intended between the two buildings, in 1900, has been re-established across a space now usually occupied by cars and buses. At the foot of the Grand Palais, which houses the Foire International d'Art Contemporaine (Fiac), white letters were painted on the road surface: "L'art est ce qui aide à tirer de l'inertie" – art will help to pull us out of inertia – a phrase coined in 1971 by artist-poet Henri Michaux, reiterated here by nonagenarian French poster artist Jacques Villeglé. Continue reading... |
| Two stuntmen drown in southern India during filming of movie Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:22 AM PST Raghav Uday and Anil Verma, who did not know how to swim, jumped into reservoir as part of action sequence for Kannada film Two stuntmen who did not know how to swim drowned after they jumped from a helicopter into a reservoir in southern India during the filming of a movie, police have said. The crew were shooting the climax of the film on Monday when Raghav Uday and Anil Verma jumped as part of an action sequence. Police superintendent Chandra Gupta said the two stuntmen did not know how to swim and were not wearing life vests, and that a motorboat that was supposed to rush to the scene and rescue them was found to be not working. Continue reading... |
| Facebook 'pauses' WhatsApp data sharing after ICO intervention Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:12 AM PST Information Commissioner's Office raised concerns over social network's collection of messaging app's data Facebook has agreed to "pause" its plan to use data from UK users of messaging service WhatsApp for advertising and product improvement purposes across the rest of its business, after an intervention from the UK information commissioner. Elizabeth Denham wrote to Facebook in September to express her concerns over a new plan to share more data between the social network and Whatsapp. Continue reading... |
| Fox News wrongly links Republican anti-Trump protester to voter fraud Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:06 AM PST Exclusive: Report implicated Austyn Crites in scam involving his 'dead' grandmother but Guardian can reveal she is alive and well Fox News has falsely implicated the protester who was beaten up at a Donald Trump rally in a case of voter fraud involving absentee ballots issued in the name of his "dead" grandmother. Austyn Crites, a Republican protester who was attacked at a Trump rally in Nevada, was stunned to see a TV report associating him with fraudulent voting connected to a grandmother Fox News claimed died in 2002. Continue reading... |
| Hungary migrant ban narrowly fails in parliamentary vote Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:05 AM PST Vote on proposal to bar migrants from being resettled in the country falls just short of two-thirds majority needed Hungary's parliament has narrowly failed to pass a plan proposed by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to ban the resettlement of migrants in the country. The proposed constitutional amendment got 131 votes in the 199-seat parliament – a majority of 65.8% but just short of the two-thirds majority needed to make the change. Opposition parties boycotted the vote. Continue reading... |
| US election: final campaign day – as it happened Posted: 08 Nov 2016 02:03 AM PST
That's it for this blog and the campaign. Our New York team is up early for a polling day blog. Related: US election 2016: voters head to polls as Trump and Clinton aim to make history – live
Hillary Clinton has a 70% chance of winning the election, according to a polling-day email from the respected pollster Nate Silver. That's up from a 65% chance on Sunday night, so Clinton has had a good run in the polls in the final days of the campaign. Clinton's projected margin of victory in the popular vote has increased to 3.5% from 2.9%. As a lot of you noticed, Nevada, North Carolina and Florida flipped from red to blue over the course of Monday. We don't think that's a particularly meaningful metric, because the forecasts are probabilistic — Clinton's chances of winning Florida increased to 54% from 48%, for instance, which is nontrivial but not an especially large change. Still, we know it's something a lot of readers follow. It's unlikely that any further states will flip to Clinton in our final forecast, as she's too far behind in Ohio, the next-closest state. It's possible that Florida and North Carolina could flip back to Trump by tomorrow morning, though probably not Nevada, where Clinton's lead is a bit larger. Continue reading... |
| 'The president thinks he can suppress the truth': Burundi's guerrilla media Posted: 07 Nov 2016 04:22 AM PST A coup attempt last year provoked a fierce media crackdown. A group of journalists in exile are using the internet to fight back When an attempted coup rocked Burundi last year, Jean Baptiste Bireha was one of the few journalists to report the news. The next night, members of the Imbonerakure, the feared militarised youth wing of Burundi's ruling party, turned up at his house looking for him. But Bireha was already gone. Tipped off by a government source, he was on the run. "I never slept in the house again," Bireha said. "Every independent journalist was wanted after the coup." Continue reading... |
| 'Employ women and don't be afraid to make money': tech's future in Africa Posted: 05 Nov 2016 07:52 AM PDT Entrepreneurs from around the world gather for a three-day conference looking at how the continent can get creative with the internet What is the future of the internet in Africa? How can tech save lives, educate and light homes, in communities where schools and energy suppliers are failing? For the past three days young innovators, entrepreneurs and blockchain experts convened at the inaugural Africa 4 Tech summit to discuss these questions. Here's what we learned. Continue reading... |
| Kenyan crowdsourcing site invites reports of US election irregularities Posted: 04 Nov 2016 08:57 AM PDT Ushahidi intends to track cases of voter intimidation or misdirection and any violence that may occur A Kenyan crowdsourcing platform used to monitor violence during the country's 2007 election will be deployed on voting day in the US to allow citizens to report cases of "voter intimidation, misdirection, or any other attempts to keep someone from voting". Voters witnessing any such problems will be invited to report the violations via text message, Twitter or email to Ushahidi (Swahili for "testimony"), which will create a database of incidents. Continue reading... |
| LagosPhoto: the Nigerian festival challenging the world's Afro-pessimism Posted: 03 Nov 2016 01:00 AM PDT Event provides a platform for young photographers working to change the view of Africa as a continent of the desperate Since the first colonisers landed on the continent, photography has been complicit in creating many of the modern myths about Africa. But as an increasing number of young artists get behind the lens to tell their own stories, the view of the 54 countries is changing. |
| 'I froze, realising I'd stepped on a body': Syrian journalists in their own words Posted: 03 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PDT Five reporters in exile describe the risks they have taken and the horror they have witnessed reporting the civil war The human cost of Syria's brutal and protracted civil war goes way beyond the number of reported casualties. Millions have fled in search of refuge and the residents of Aleppo in the north-west of the country have been living under siege, with Syrian and Russian airstrikes destroying their homes, hospitals and food supplies. Continue reading... |
| Russia's intervention in Syria could have been stopped 20 years ago Posted: 02 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PDT The war in Chechnya laid the foundations for the Kremlin's aggressive foreign policy – but back then western leaders were silent War and bloodshed doesn't have the power to shock you when it's been seen thousands of times before, on television, in films, in newspapers. That's why the Russian reaction to the violent bombing campaign in the Syrian city of Aleppo has been so muted. There has been no public outcry over news footage of women, children and the elderly living in ruins, and images of the dead and the maimed have largely gone unnoticed. Continue reading... |
| Russian dissident Ildar Dadin accuses prison staff of torture Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:52 AM PDT Anti-government protester says he is being beaten, tortured and threatened with death at notorious Karelia penal colony A Russian dissident jailed under a controversial new Kremlin law says he is being beaten, repeatedly tortured and threatened with murder at the penal colony where he is being held in north-west Russia. Ildar Dadin says he is the victim of systematic abuse perpetrated by the head of the prison, Maj Sergey Kossiev, and his staff. He alleges that Kossiev has told him that if he complains about his treatment he will be killed and secretly buried. Continue reading... |
| Turkish journalists face abuse and threats online as trolls step up attacks Posted: 01 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PDT Two thousand cases of online harassment, smear campaigns and hacking by pro-government 'lynch mobs' logged in 2016 Turkey has shut more than 160 media outlets and arrested about 100 journalists since a failed coup attempt in July. But that is just half the story. Away from shuttered news rooms and busy police stations, trolls have intensified a campaign to intimidate journalists online, hacking social media accounts, threatening physical and sexual abuse, and orchestrating "virtual lynch mobs" of pro-government voices to silence criticism. Continue reading... |
| Kenya hosts world's first albino beauty pageant Posted: 31 Oct 2016 09:31 AM PDT Contest in Nairobi aimed at fighting back against persecution in east Africa, where albino body parts are sold on black market, the Daily Maverick reports With its evening gowns, celebrity judges and tears of joy, this beauty pageant in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, was like many others – except for one thing: all 20 contestants had albinism. Titled Beauty Beyond Skin, the world's first albino pageant was designed to celebrate people who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes, and to fight the widespread persecution of albinos in east Africa. Continue reading... |
| Outdoor discos to kitsch schnitzel ads: Twitter account relives the Soviet era Posted: 31 Oct 2016 03:09 AM PDT Soviet Visuals curator says followers are hungry for propaganda nostalgia, whether they were born before 1991 or not In a one-minute video snippet unearthed by the new online project Soviet Visuals, hundreds of people wearing sailor hats and 80s shell suits dance at an outdoor disco in the Russian city of Ufa. Shared as part of the project's bid to celebrate the culture and aesthetics of the Soviet Union, the video was retweeted more than 1,500 times. Continue reading... |
| It’s all for love as Spain’s Barbara Cartland finally gets a chance to woo British readers Posted: 05 Nov 2016 05:05 PM PDT Corín Tellado is famed throughout the Spanish-speaking world for her light romance novellas The giants of bestselling Spanish-language fiction – the chroniclers of deluded chivalry, intellectual and psychological labyrinths and the odd dynasty condemned to a solitudinous century – enjoy a formidable worldwide reputation. Miguel de Cervantes, Jorge Luis Borges or Gabriel García Márquez are known well beyond their homelands. Not so Corín Tellado. This remarkable and unassuming Asturian author, who died in 2009, produced more than 4,000 works during a six-decade career. If she has an equivalent in the English-speaking world, it is Barbara Cartland rather than George Eliot. But her escapist tales of love and loss, suffering and redemption, have sold more than 400m copies – and a great deal more than that if the millions of pirated Latin American editions are counted. In 1962, Unesco declared her the most-read Spanish author alongside Cervantes. Continue reading... |
| Nicola Payne disappearance: police search woodland after tipoff Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:40 AM PST Police resume search at Coombe Country Park in Coventry as part of investigation into woman's suspected murder in 1991 Police investigating the disappearance of a young mother in 1991 are carrying out searches of woodland after receiving "credible" new information. Nothing of relevance to the suspected abduction and murder of Nicola Payne has been found during several weeks of inquiries at Coombe Country Park in Coventry, West Midlands police said. Continue reading... |
| On the road to Mosul, the battle of Bashiqa – in pictures Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:15 AM PST Kurdish peshmerga forces assaulted the town of Bashiqa from two fronts as the Mosul offensive entered its 21st day. Meanwhile, thousands of civilians fleeing fighting in Mosul wait to be taken to the Hasan Sham IDP camp at the screening check point in Gogjali Continue reading... |
| Seeking shelter at the UN's Bentiu camp in South Sudan – in pictures Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:00 PM PST Thousands of people in Unity state are fleeing increased fighting in Leer, heading for the UN protection of civilians camp in Bentiu, in the north of South Sudan. Across the country, more than 2.4 million people have been displaced by recent conflict Photographs by Kate Holt Continue reading... |
| Canada to offer gender-neutral ‘other’ option for visitors Posted: 07 Nov 2016 02:15 PM PST Ability to designate 'other' gender option on identity documents such as travel, residency or employment papers has become a cause among many LGBT groups Some foreign visitors to Canada will be allowed to identify themselves as male, female or other in a border document being introduced this week, as Canada joins a handful of countries offering gender-neutral options. The new Electronic Travel Authorizations (eTAs) with three gender options will be introduced on Thursday for travelers flying into or through Canada, officials said. Continue reading... |
| Rurik Jutting guilty of murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:29 AM PST British banker convicted unanimously of murders in which Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih were raped and tortured in 2014 A British banker who killed two Indonesian women in Hong Kong after three days of cocaine- and alcohol-fuelled torture and rape has been found guilty of their murders. Related: Jutting's victims: how two Indonesian women met their deaths in Hong Kong Continue reading... |
| George Brandis is unfit to be attorney general, parliamentary committee finds Posted: 08 Nov 2016 12:07 AM PST Opposition-controlled committee finds Brandis should be censured for misleading Senate over his failure to consult with solicitor general Justin Gleeson George Brandis failed to consult the solicitor general before issuing a direction giving control over access to his advice, and lacks the competence to be attorney general, a parliamentary committee has found. In a report tabled on Tuesday, the opposition-controlled legal and constitutional affairs references committee said the attorney general should be censured for misleading the Senate and recommended it tear up the direction. Continue reading... |
| Snow on the way for Scotland and northern England Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:46 AM PST Forecasters issue weather warning from midday on Tuesday, as snowfall could be up to 6in deep Winter is set to sweep in early on Tuesday, with widespread snowfall up to 6ins deep threatening to bring travel disruption. Temperatures fell as far as -5C (23F) in central England overnight on Monday, bringing frost to most parts before the arrival of sleet and snow from the west later. Continue reading... |
| Syrian held on Nauru lands in Cambodia as sixth refugee to take up resettlement offer Posted: 08 Nov 2016 12:39 AM PST Immigration chief confirms arrival of man who is one of three to have volunteered last month for transfer A Syrian man quietly arrived in Cambodia on Sunday, becoming just the sixth refugee detained by Australia on Nauru to take up an offer of resettlement in the third-party country since a $40m deal was signed two years ago. The country's immigration chief, General Sok Phal, confirmed the man's arrival to the Guardian on Tuesday but referred further questions to the head of the refugee department, General Tan Sovichea, who hung up the phone when contacted about the transfer. Continue reading... |
| Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos granted ‘hero’s burial’ Posted: 08 Nov 2016 12:38 AM PST Supreme court votes in face of protests to approve removal of former president's remains to Heroes' Cemetery in Manila The highest court in the Philippines has ruled that former president Ferdinand Marcos will be granted a "hero's burial", ending a nearly three-decade fight by those who regard him as a human rights abuser and kleptocrat. The supreme court said it had cleared all legal obstacles and petitions filed against moving his remains to the Libingan ng mga Bayani, or Heroes' Cemetery, in Manila. Continue reading... |
| Jutting's victims: how two Indonesian women met their deaths in Hong Kong Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:35 PM PST Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih travelled for work and opportunity. Instead they were trapped in a system some call modern-day slavery Like millions of Indonesian women, Sumarti Ningsih travelled thousands of miles from her village in the hopes of providing much-needed extra income for her family back home. What set her apart was not the long hours or back-breaking work as a maid she endured in a system some say amounts to modern-day slavery, but her grisly torture, rape and murder – along with another woman, Seneng Mujiasih – at the hands of Rurik Jutting, a Cambridge-educated British banker. Continue reading... |
| Choi-gate: South Korean president forced to let opposition choose next PM Posted: 07 Nov 2016 10:02 PM PST Park Geun-hye dealt severe blow to authority as she withdraws her nominee for prime minister and agrees to give up control of cabinet amid cronyism scandal The cronyism crisis engulfing the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, has deepened after she bowed to demands to withdraw her nominee for prime minister and install a candidate chosen by the opposition instead. Prosecutors have also raided the headquarters of Samsung Electronics as part of the investigation into Park's close friend Choi Soon-sil, whose undue influence over the president has triggered the country's worst political crisis in decades. Continue reading... |
| India’s crackdown in Kashmir: is this the world’s first mass blinding? Posted: 07 Nov 2016 10:00 PM PST A bloody summer of protest in Kashmir has been met with a ruthless response from Indian security forces, who fired hundreds of thousands of metal pellets into crowds of civilians, leaving hundreds blinded. For the past month, while the attention of the world has been fixed on every dramatic twist in the US presidential election, the renewal of armed conflict between India and Pakistan has barely touched the headlines. In the past few weeks, the two nuclear states have, between them, killed two dozen civilians and injured scores of others in exchanges of artillery fire across the disputed border – known as the "line of control" – that divides Kashmir into parts controlled by India and Pakistan. The latest flare-up in the long-running war of attrition between the two countries comes on the heels of a bloody summer of protest and repression in Kashmir that has now been erased from memory by the banging of war drums in Delhi and Islamabad. Since July, when the killing of a young militant leader sparked a furious civilian uprising across the Kashmir valley, the Indian state has responded with singular ruthlessness, killing more than 90 people. Most shocking of all has been the breaking up of demonstrations with "non-lethal" pellet ammunition, which has blinded hundreds of Kashmiri civilians. Continue reading... |
| Holy men stir up riots in Delhi – archive, 8 November 1966 Posted: 07 Nov 2016 09:00 PM PST 8 November 1966: A mob demanding a complete ban of the slaughter of cows storm the approaches to the Indian Parliament building New Delhi, November 7 At least a hundred thousand people, led by sadhus (holy men), ran riot, grappling with the police, burning buildings, and trying to storm Parliament. |
| Huge sinkhole opens up in Japanese city: 'I heard a loud boom' Posted: 07 Nov 2016 06:06 PM PST Street collapses outside main railway station in south-western city of Fukuoka shortly after 5am, causing chaos and evacuations
Photographs on social media showed the sinkhole forming in front of the main railway station in the south-western city of Fukuoka shortly after 5am. Continue reading... |
| Estonian government in the balance with demand for PM to resign Posted: 07 Nov 2016 05:51 PM PST Opposition seeks vote of no confidence in Taavi Roivas after two partners in ruling coalition withdraw their support Estonia's coalition government could be threatened with collapse this week after two junior coalition partners called on the prime minister to resign and the opposition called for a vote of no confidence. The prime minister of the smallest Baltic state, with a population of 1.3 million, Taavi Roivas has little room to manoeuvre to save his fractious coalition government. Continue reading... |
| Stowaway snake grounds Aeromexico flight – video Posted: 07 Nov 2016 03:52 PM PST An Aeromexico flight from Torreon to Mexico City was given priority landing after a snake was found on board. Video shot on the flight shows the snake hanging precariously above the plane's seats Continue reading... |
| Venezuelan 'narconephews' bad at drug smuggling, defense and prosecution say Posted: 07 Nov 2016 02:10 PM PST Defense says pair were 'stupid' and set up by informants while US prosecutors claim they overestimated their power in trying to ship 800 kilos of cocaine to US The nephews of Venezuela's first lady believed they were so powerful that they could dispatch drug-filled planes from the "presidential hangar" at Caracas airport, US prosecutors have said at the start of a high-profile narcotics trial in New York. Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, 31, and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, 30, are accused of attempting to send 800 kilos of cocaine from Venezuela to the US. Both are nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of embattled president Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading... |
| Hoax radio transmission at Melbourne airport forces plane to abort landing Posted: 07 Nov 2016 01:39 PM PST Police investigate 15 incidents of illegal interference with air traffic control broadcasts at Melbourne and Avalon airports Police are investigating 15 incidents of illegal radio transmissions with aircraft at Melbourne and Avalon airports, including hoax calls that forced at least one aircraft to abort its landing. In a statement issued on Monday night, the Australian federal police said there had been "unlawful interference with air traffic control broadcasts over several weeks". Continue reading... |
| McDonald's claims $20m from Florence over piazza restaurant rebuff Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:57 AM PST The fast-food chain is taking legal action over the ancient city's refusal to allow it to open an outlet in the Piazza del Duomo McDonald's has filed a $20m lawsuit against Florence for blocking a proposed outlet in the city's most revered square. The US fast-food chain said on Monday that it was claiming €17.8m ($19.65m) in damages after the city rejected an application to open an outlet in the historic Piazza del Duomo, one of the most visited places in Europe. Continue reading... |
| Treasury tries to thwart EU plans for tax haven blacklist Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:07 AM PST UK territories such as Jersey, Guernsey and Cayman Islands should not be singled out because of zero-rate tax, argues David Gauke The UK government is fighting a rearguard action to prevent Guernsey, Jersey and British overseas territories from going on an EU blacklist of tax havens. At a meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday in Brussels, David Gauke, chief secretary to the Treasury, will tell his counterparts that the UK opposes attempts to put territories with a zero rate of corporation tax on an EU list of "non-cooperative" jurisdictions. |
| 'Someone should do something!' How to bluff your way through the news Posted: 07 Nov 2016 10:36 AM PST There's a skill to dodging tricky questions about politics and the like – this chart will show how you measure up A new survey has revealed the obvious: more than half of us have bluffed our way through conversations about world events. The gaps in our knowledge range from Syria (52% of people didn't know the name of its capital) to the cabinet (almost half failed to identify Philip Hammond as chancellor), with each gap necessitating a new and frantic bluff. So, what are your options when you're asked about something about which you know nothing? Here's a flowchart to help. Continue reading... |
| Pakistani police arrest two people over Amjad Sabri murder Posted: 07 Nov 2016 08:52 AM PST Suspects accused of killing Sufi singer belong to anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, says provincial minister Pakistani police have arrested two people accused of killing one of the country's best-known Sufi musicians, a provincial minister has said. Related: Amjad Sabri: Pakistani Sufi singer shot dead in Karachi Continue reading... |
| Nicaragua president re-elected in landslide amid claims of rigged vote Posted: 07 Nov 2016 08:52 AM PST Daniel Ortega easily wins third consecutive term as opposition says he used his power to bypass term limits and prevent popular rivals from entering race Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega has been re-elected by a landslide in an election described by the opposition as the most rigged contest in the four decades since the Sandinista leader first came to power. His victory – alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, who was standing as vice-president for the first time – extends the influence of the first couple, whose children and in-laws also control many key posts in government and business. Continue reading... |
| Arab forces to lead fight to recapture Raqqa from Isis, US says Posted: 07 Nov 2016 08:27 AM PST US seeks to reassure Turkey that Kurdish troops will not be in a position to take over Sunni Arab city in Syria Arab forces will lead the fight to recapture Raqqa from Islamic State, the US has said, as it seeks to soothe Turkish concerns that Kurdish troops could take over the predominantly Sunni Arab city in Syria. Ankara, which wants to prioritise the removal of the US-backed Kurdish YPG forces from northern Syria, has reiterated its hostility towards the involvement of Kurds in the Syrian Democratic Forces, the coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters that has been on the offensive in the area. Continue reading... |
| Israel tells France it will not join talks aimed at reviving peace process Posted: 07 Nov 2016 07:56 AM PST Benjamin Netanyahu's office says summit would be a distraction from Israeli goal of direct negotiations with Palestinians Israel has formally notified France that it will not participate in a peace conference later this year that Paris had hoped might rejuvenate moribund talks with Palestinians over a two-state solution. Rejecting the initiative, Israel cited the talks as a distraction from the goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinians – despite the fact there have been no such negotiations since the collapse of the US-mediated peace process in 2014. Continue reading... |
| Gunman in South Sudan kills 13 people watching football match in bar Posted: 07 Nov 2016 06:56 AM PST Man opens fire on people watching Chelsea v Everton on television at bar in Juba after reportedly being refused entry A gunman killed at least 13 people watching a football match in a bar in South Sudan's capital, Juba, at the weekend, police have said. The death toll had risen to 13 after some who were injured in the shooting during the game between Chelsea and Liverpool on Saturday night died of their wounds, a police spokesman, Kwacijwok Dominic Amondoc, said. Ten others were being treated in hospital. Continue reading... |
| China bars Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians from office – video report Posted: 07 Nov 2016 06:03 AM PST Two Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators, Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus 'Baggio' Leung, who staged protests at their swearing-in ceremony, have been banned from office by China. This is Beijing's most direct intervention in Hong Kong's legal system since the 1997 handover from British rule. On Sunday, police in Hong Kong used pepper spray against protesters who marched against Beijing's interference Continue reading... |
| Mikheil Saakashvili quits as governor of Ukraine's Odessa region Posted: 07 Nov 2016 05:43 AM PST Former Georgian president blames corrupt officials and lack of political will for reforms for his resignation Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, has resigned as governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, citing corrupt officials and a lack of political will for reform in the country's leadership. Saakashvili staged his resignation on Monday by calling an outdoor press conference and pouring vitriol on the man who appointed him, President Petro Poroshenko. |
| UK visa policy for India could gamble away much-needed goodwill Posted: 07 Nov 2016 05:08 AM PST Answering Indian demands for more visas with fast-track checks at Heathrow is unlikely to help in forging post-Brexit trade relationship The demand for significant concessions by the UK government on visas for Indian visitors and migrants – whether to do business, work or study – has long been considered a major potential sticking point in any new trade deal, either with the EU or a Brexit Britain. Before Theresa May's first official visit outside Europe as prime minister, Indian business leaders made clear the single most important "open for business" sign she could make would be to cut the £330 cost of a two-year visitor visa to the UK to £87 – the same rate as China gets. Karan Bilimoria, chairman of Cobra Beer, declared such a move would "make the visit a success at a single stroke". Continue reading... |
| Capitalism, austerity, revolution: why we took part in the Million Mask March Posted: 07 Nov 2016 03:17 AM PST Thousands of anti-capitalism and pro-civil liberties protesters took part in a march in central London. We asked them why Masked anti-capitalism and pro-civil liberties protesters descended on central London on Saturday, Guy Fawkes night, to march near the Houses of Parliament. Supporters of the Anonymous hacking collective wore Guy Fawkes masks in reference to the cult pro-revolution film V for Vendetta. Young and older people marched together, shouting and holding banners declaring: "Capitalism, monarchy, change, revolution". Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians banned by China as crisis grows Posted: 07 Nov 2016 02:06 AM PST Beijing makes landmark ruling on future of former British colony, barring two pro-democracy parliamentarians from office Hong Kong is facing a severe political crisis after China barred two pro-independence politicians from the city's legislature. In a highly controversial move, Beijing said Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus "Baggio" Leung would not be able to hold office, striking a blow to the burgeoning movement calling for greater autonomy from the mainland. Continue reading... |
| The human zoo: Mumbai's new animal park can't hide our chronic lack of space Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:00 PM PST When a penguin imported from Seoul died in quarantine recently, it only heightened Mumbaikars' frustration at expansion plans for their beleaguered zoo – in a city where public space remains a rare commodity Rani Baug means "Queen's Garden"; the queen being Victoria, after whom this verdant 48-acre Mumbai sprawl was named in 1861. Originally established as a botanical garden, it became one of India's first zoos – and is now caught up in an empress-sized controversy. As part of a hare-brained, Rs 450m ($6.7m) redevelopment project, last July eight Humboldt penguins were imported from Seoul to take up residence in the zoo. The recent death of one of the penguins, an 18-month-old female called Dory, has only exacerbated what was an unpopular project from the start. Continue reading... |
| From jailhouse to marijuana farm: empty US prisons get strange makeovers Posted: 06 Nov 2016 03:00 AM PST As prisons close across the US, ideas for their reuse abound – from a yoga studio to a farm for medical marijuana. In Gainesville, since a medium-security jail reopened as a shelter, chronic homelessness in the Florida city has halved The cinder block buildings that dominate the campus have been painted bright pink, orange and blue. The razor wire that used to sit atop the chain-link fence has been cut down. New trees have been planted, and stark warning signs such as "No one may pass this point" have been scrubbed from concrete walls. For two decades, this was the Gainesville Correctional Institute, a medium-security state prison in Florida where the guards' main goal was to keep prisoners in. Now it's Grace Marketplace, a nonprofit campus for the homeless, where social service workers are helping residents find a way out. Around 115 people live on the property, tucked away in an industrial area of this college town, receiving free meals, work training and connections to government services, transportation and jobs. Continue reading... |
| A meat-free Turin? Is Italy’s first 'vegetarian city' a recipe for disaster? Posted: 04 Nov 2016 12:30 AM PDT Turin's new mayor has announced plans to make it a vegetarian city – even introducing a weekly meat-free day. But in an area with a meat-eating and rich culinary culture, the plans are proving divisive for residents It's midday, and the meat stalls in Turin's open-air food market, Porta Palazzo, are crowded with customers browsing the beef, salami and prosciutto on offer. Shopping for meat is an everyday ritual in the capital city of Piedmont, a region of Italy with a rich culinary history – but this could all be about to change. In the summer the new mayor Chiara Appendino – of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) – announced plans to make Turin Italy's first vegetarian city. The exact details of Appendino's five-year plan have yet to be fleshed out, but the city is expected to set up educational projects in schools to teach students about animal welfare and nutrition. There are also plans to create a vegetarian map of the city for tourists, and introduce a weekly meat-free day. Continue reading... |
| Pimp my bike: Detroit's custom cycles – in pictures Posted: 02 Nov 2016 08:51 AM PDT 'We take rusty old junk and we put love into it.' The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems – and even a family-sized BBQ |
| America’s road trip: will the US ever kick the car habit? Posted: 02 Nov 2016 06:49 AM PDT Motor City Detroit built the automobiles, oil capital Houston fuelled them and Los Angeles was carved up by freeways in their honour. Yet now all three cities are pushing walking, cycling and the use of public transport. So does this mean America's love affair with the car is finally waning? A battered Dodge Challenger roars past as I head out on the nine-lane highway, riding past shuttered shops and decaying restaurants and row upon row of vacant, overgrown housing lots. Normally I wouldn't even consider cycling on such an expanse of road, but it's not so bad in Detroit. After all, the birthplace of America's car industry doesn't have that many cars any more. |
| Shrinking cities: the rise and fall of global urban populations – mapped Posted: 02 Nov 2016 12:30 AM PDT The world is experiencing rapid urbanisation, but not every city is growing. Population is likely to decline in 17% of large cities in developed regions and 8% of cities across the world from 2015 to 2025, according to a McKinsey report Continue reading... |
| Atomic City, USA: how once-secret Los Alamos became a millionaire's enclave Posted: 01 Nov 2016 03:57 AM PDT Home to the scientists who built the nuclear bomb, the company town of Los Alamos, New Mexico is today one of the richest in the country – even as toxic waste threatens its residents and neighbouring Española struggles with poverty In August 1945, the US army dropped a secret over Japan: fully functional nuclear bombs, which instantly killed tens of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 6,000 miles away, meanwhile, in northern New Mexico, one newspaper carried a headline with uniquely local flair. "Now They Can be Told Aloud These Stoories [sic] of the Hill" blared a rushed edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican. The article revealed that Los Alamos – a mysterious settlement, built atop a picturesque mesa – had been instrumental in the creation of these new weapons of mass destruction. |
| Tolerant, generous – and a little bit lawless. Why I love living in cities Posted: 31 Oct 2016 04:21 AM PDT Cities at their best are an expression of humans at their best. Racism and bigotry may be infecting national politics but at an urban level, optimism, diversity and tenacity are values we should all applaud Obviously it's not a competition, but cities are winning. Every year, more people move to cities and they generate more of the world's prosperity. And as a result, they've become wildly unpopular in some quarters. Conservative politicians in the US jeer at "New York values", while the "metropolitan elite" are now held responsible for all of Britain's failings. A bogus moral superiority, fixation with cultural authenticity and a stifling national identity have become the abiding principles for all those who look on at the world's economic and creative powerhouses with resentment and baffled fury. Continue reading... |
| War, persecution and ego: how do cities get their names? Posted: 31 Oct 2016 12:30 AM PDT On World Cities Day, Deyan Sudjic explores the intriguing stories behind cities' names – from Soweto to Milton Keynes – in an extract from his new book To make a city, the first thing you need is a name. Any name can work, though some certainly suggest a more successful future than others. Chechnya's capital, for example, is called Grozny, which translates from the Russian as "fearsome". It goes back to the name of the colonial fort that the Tsar established in Chechnya at the start of the 19th century, around which a city of what is now 271,000 people eventually grew. It is a name that certainly reflects Grozny's tortured history: from Stalin's genocidal mass deportations and Putin's murderous war to force it back into Russia's orbit, to its subsequent descent into warlord-ism. But it is not necessarily the kind of identity that attracts eager new citizens or investors. Continue reading... |
| New York comes clean: the controversial story of the Fresh Kills dumpsite Posted: 28 Oct 2016 04:46 AM PDT The Staten Island landfill once received 10m tonnes of waste annually. After 9/11, it unexpectedly became a burial site. Now its 'trash mountains' are being turned into a public park – but where does that leave New York's waste problem? "It stinks!" This was Staten Islanders' first response when asked about Fresh Kills – their dubious civic landmark. For many years it was the largest landfill in the world, although since closing in 2001 it has been exhaustively remediated and now reportedly smells like "open meadows". Many residents still bear the scars of their role in New York City's digestive system – the receptacle of practically all of its garbage for almost 70 years (it was opened in 1947 as a temporary dump on a salt marsh and agricultural land). The landfill has long contributed to Islanders' sense of being a backwater; the forgotten borough, confirmed by its slow official response to the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Then there was Eric Garner, strangled by a cop on Staten Island in 2014 for selling loose cigarettes. That stank too. Continue reading... |
| African nations attempt to suspend UN's LGBT rights monitor Posted: 07 Nov 2016 07:34 AM PST On Tuesday the UN votes on a resolution by African states to halt the work of Vitit Muntarbhorn, reflecting deep international divisions on gay rights African nations are seeking to suspend the work of the first UN independent expert charged with investigating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Botswana's ambassador to the UN, Charles Ntwaagae, said on Friday that African nations want the general assembly to delay consideration of a Human Rights Council resolution adopted on 30 June that authorised the appointment of an expert to monitor LGBT rights to discuss "the legality of the creation of this mandate". Continue reading... |
| COP22 host Morocco launches action plan to fight devastating climate change Posted: 07 Nov 2016 04:26 AM PST As UN climate talks start in Marrakech, Morocco calls on world leaders to put the focus on concrete plans for helping Africa's small-scale farmers "Last December we had temperatures of 25C. Normally it is 1 or 2C at that time of year," says Mohammed Ibrahimi, a farmer with one hectare of apple trees in Boumia, a village near Midelt in Morocco. "These trees need at least 1,200 hours of near-freezing temperatures in the winter to help them to regenerate. This year they flowered very late; the harvest was a month late and I harvested just 20 tonnes when I'd expected 40 tonnes." Continue reading... |
| Rebuilding in Nepal's Langtang valley – in pictures Posted: 06 Nov 2016 11:00 PM PST The earthquake that hit Nepal last year devastated Langtang valley, laying waste to an economy reliant on tourism. Reconstruction work in the Himalayan region involves hauling materials up mountain tracks, but communities are slowly rebuilding their livelihoods Photographs by Benedict Grey, whose work will be exhibited in Bellevue Village, London SW17, from 1-7 December Continue reading... |
| Every tobacco death is an avoidable tragedy. The epidemic must stop here | Margaret Chan Posted: 06 Nov 2016 01:00 AM PST As India prepares to host a key global anti-tobacco conference, the world must seize the chance to end a scourge that claims 6m lives a year Tobacco use, the leading cause of death from non-communicable diseases such as heart and lung disorders and cancer, claims about 6m lives a year. On Monday, countries will gather in Delhi, India, for the seventh conference of the parties to the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control, a treaty that has sparked global action to stem the epidemic. The treaty is already one of the most widely embraced in UN history. One of my proudest accomplishments at the helm of the World Health Organisation has been rallying global efforts to drive down tobacco use. I'm pleased to say that, following the adoption of the agreement, governments around the world have taken decisive steps not only to reduce tobacco use, but also to stand up to the multinational tobacco companies standing in the way of global progress. Continue reading... |
| Judge orders closure of low-cost Bridge International schools in Uganda Posted: 04 Nov 2016 09:20 AM PDT Court rules that 63 Ugandan schools belonging to chain backed by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg had unsanitary learning conditions and unqualified teachers Uganda's high court has ordered the closure of a chain of low-cost private schools backed by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, respectively the founders of Microsoft and Facebook. Judge Patricia Basaza Wasswa ruled on Friday that the 63 Bridge International Academies provided unsanitary learning conditions, used unqualified teachers and were not properly licensed. Continue reading... |
| Amazonians call on leaders to heed link between land rights and climate change Posted: 04 Nov 2016 04:38 AM PDT As Paris climate agreement comes into force, inhabitants of Amazon rainforest demand recognition of key role their communities play in conservation The land rights of indigenous people in the Amazon must be recognised if their countries' commitments on reducing deforestation and lowering or capping carbon emissions are to be realised, according to native leaders from the nine South American countries across which the rainforest spreads. Nearly 300 representatives of the forest's several million inhabitants gathered in Lima last week to demand that their governments heed evidence of their ability to conserve the forest and thus protect their way of life. Continue reading... |
| Canada broadens aid horizons as focus falls on women and girls in Mozambique | Ben Quinn Posted: 04 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PDT A project to tackle child, early and forced marriage in Mozambique is indicative of a new direction for Canadian aid, says the country's development minister Canada is broadening its horizons on aid, and that's just the way Marie-Claude Bibeau likes it. The country's development minister, who is on a mission to "re-engage with Canadians because they have not heard about international development for 10 years", is keen to distance the government of self-described feminist Justin Trudeau from its more conservative predecessor. A project aimed at reducing the risks associated with child, early and forced marriage in Mozambique is indicative of that change in direction. "The previous government really targeted all its support to safe delivery," says Bibeau. "We want to open this to look at the full range of sexual and reproductive health services and rights. It means family planning, contraception, obviously safe delivery too, but safe abortion too when it is legal. So we really have a much larger approach to supporting women's rights." Continue reading... |
| Nigerian communities open their homes and hearts to refugees – photo essay Posted: 03 Nov 2016 07:59 AM PDT Waves of conflict between Boko Haram and the army have forced 2.1 million people in north-east Nigeria to flee their homes. Many have found shelter elsewhere in the country, with people sharing their homes, land and compassion Photographer Chris de Bode travelled to meet hosts and their guests in Yola, for the Dutch Relief Alliance Continue reading... |
| Khwezi showed how to challenge rape culture – the rest is up to us | Jessica Horn Posted: 03 Nov 2016 05:30 AM PDT The death of Fezekile 'Khwezi' Kuzwayo, the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape, must not extinguish the powerful principles for which she stood On Wednesday, hundreds gathered in front of the Johannesburg high court to mark the death of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, the feminist Aids activist who accused Jacob Zuma of rape. The tribute was organised by the One in Nine campaign, a group of feminist activists formed a decade earlier to provide solidarity as Kuzwayo testified against Zuma – a family friend and prominent member of the ruling African National Congress – inside the selfsame court. Although the media disclosed Kuzwayo's real name at the time of the trial, activists chose to defend her right to privacy with the pseudonym "Khwezi". The court proceedings were short and brutal, exposing her sexual history and questioning her sexuality. Zuma admitted to intercourse but denied rape, explaining that he had unprotected sex despite knowing Kuzwayo was HIV-positive, but took a shower afterwards to prevent infection. Continue reading... |
| The last-minute map: how to read each presidential candidate’s final stops Posted: 07 Nov 2016 06:20 PM PST Where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went in the finals days before the election offers insights based on internal polling not available to the public
In the final nine days of the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made a combined total of 50 stops in 14 states. What do these stops tell us about the race? Typically, last-minute campaign decisions are based on internal campaign polling not available to the public. Such polling explains why Al Gore campaigned at 2am in Florida on election day in 2000, as confusing as that move was for the opposition at the time. |
| US presidential election: five scenarios that could play out this week Posted: 07 Nov 2016 12:43 PM PST With less than 24 hours before election day, Tom McCarthy predicts and considers five possible results – each named after an imaginary electoral cocktail In which Donald Trump loses every state with even a hint of Democratic flavor and drops a few big Republican ones too – the fantasy scenario for every American who yearns for his/her sense of shock and offense at Trump's candidacy to be reflected in the electoral result. Continue reading... |
| Australia's guide to the US election: everything you need to know | Kristina Keneally Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:00 AM PST US-born Guardian Australia columnist Kristina Keneally on red, blue and – yes – purple states, how the electoral college works, and when we'll find out who's won The US goes to the polls on Tuesday. Results will start to come in on Wednesday from about 11am AEDT (8am in Perth) when some states close their polling stations on the eastern seaboard of the US. Some states with clear majorities for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be called very quickly. Depending on how close it is and how certain key states fall, the final result could be known anywhere between 2pm AEDT and the early evening. Bear in mind that 4pm in Sydney is midnight in New York, so it is likely that Clinton and Trump will speak to supporters sometime late Wednesday afternoon AEDT. Continue reading... |
| Who is leading the polls the day before voting? Not a clear 'Clinton' or 'Trump' Posted: 07 Nov 2016 10:41 AM PST Questions over early voting, margins of error and the accuracy of individual polls leave plenty of questions, even this close to the election
With just one day to go until the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton's support is at 46.8% while Donald Trump's is at 44.3%. When analysts refer to the Democrat's 2.5 percentage point lead, they are talking about the difference between those two figures in polling averages. Continue reading... |
| How does Donald Trump lie? A fact checker's final guide Posted: 07 Nov 2016 03:00 AM PST As the presidential campaign has gathered speed, the Guardian has gathered together the lies the Republican candidate has told. What have we learned? Donald Trump lies like he tweets: erratically, at all hours, sometimes in malice and sometimes in self-contradiction, and sometimes without any apparent purpose at all. The Guardian has catalogued more than 100 falsehoods made by the Republican nominee over the last 150 days, and sorted them according to theme. Hillary Clinton has been caught in more than a dozen falsehoods of her own, for instance about her email practices and her past support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But Clinton often makes her falsehoods in dense legalese, making them hard to pin a motive on: many could as easily be errors as lies, careless exaggeration or deliberately misleading claims. Continue reading... |
| This is the beginning of the end of Hong Kong | Claudia Mo Posted: 06 Nov 2016 10:55 PM PST The 'one country, two systems' principle and the Sino-British Joint Declaration are now completely shattered and irrelevant The Chinese government's decision to bar two elected lawmakers from taking up their seats marks the beginning of the end of Hong Kong. Samuel Johnson once said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel". And today China has said that in Hong Kong, patriotism is so vital that it trumps freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of thought, which are all now completely irrelevant. Continue reading... |
| Beyond 18C: six barriers to freedom of speech in Australia Posted: 06 Nov 2016 09:22 PM PST Attention is focused on the Racial Discrimination Act but whistleblowers who speak out on matters of public interest face serious penalties Dark forces have been gathering against freedom of speech in Australia. They have been gathering for a very long time, but not quite where you might think. As parliament enters its last few weeks of the year some politicians and news organisations have once again taken up the attack againstsection 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits offending, insulting, humiliating or intimidating someone on the grounds of race. Continue reading... |
| US faces host of global threats during transition until next president Posted: 06 Nov 2016 09:00 PM PST From Asia to the Middle East and eastern Europe, governments hostile to the US and west may try to exploit the power vacuum Sharks are circling as the US prepares to vote, on the lookout for signs of American weakness and indecision around the world during the months-long transition period until the next president is firmly established in the White House. Call it a window of vulnerability. No matter whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins on Tuesday, Barack Obama bequeaths a world fraught with danger. From Asia to the Middle East and eastern Europe, governments and forces hostile to US and the west may try to exploit America's power vacuum. Continue reading... |
| James Comey's troubles just beginning after latest twist in Clinton email tale Posted: 06 Nov 2016 03:32 PM PST The FBI director has faced loud criticism over his handling of the Clinton email investigation. Regardless of who wins the election, he is poised to pay a price Hillary Clinton's immediate FBI woes ended on Sunday with a letter whose five sentences signaled that James Comey's troubles have only begun. Related: FBI director: new Hillary Clinton emails show no criminal wrongdoing Continue reading... |
| Republican anti-Trump protester debunks voter fraud claims – video Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:58 AM PST Austyn Crites, a Republican protester who was attacked by Donald Trump supporters at a rally in Nevada, talks to Paul Lewis. He gives his response after Fox News falsely implicated him in a case of voter fraud involving absentee ballots issued in the name of his 'dead' grandmother. We meet the very much alive 90-year-old Wilda Austin along with Jacqueline Evans, a licensed notary for the state of Nevada Continue reading... |
| Donald Trump rallies Michigan supporters in final speech before polls open – video Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:56 AM PST Donald Trump gives his final speech before the US presidential election at Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday night. The Republican candidate lambasts his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and her celebrity supporters such as Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Beyoncé Continue reading... |
| Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi back Hillary Clinton at final campaign rally – video Posted: 08 Nov 2016 01:05 AM PST Hillary Clinton gives the last speech of her US presidential election campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina on Monday night. Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi were on hand to sing Living on a Prayer before introducing the Democratic candidate for the final time before voting polls open in America on Tuesday Continue reading... |
| Drawing to a close – Trump v Clinton: the comic strip Posted: 08 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PST The primaries, the debates, the allegations, the assertions, the hope and the despair – writer Paul Owen and illustrator Katie Fricas tell the story of the 2016 US election Continue reading... |
| Think you're relieved the election is almost over? Hear it from the political reporters – podcast Posted: 07 Nov 2016 12:15 PM PST Host Sabrina Siddiqui reports from the 'Hil-Force-One' campaign plane and explores the toll the campaign is taking on political journalists Are you crazy stressed right now? Struggling to think beyond whether the US will vote in favor of the apocalypse tomorrow? Soothe your nerves by listening to a series of conversations with the people who will be most relieved when this is all over: political reporters. Here are some excerpts from this week's episode: |
| Obama warns voters not to be 'bamboozled' ahead of US election – video Posted: 07 Nov 2016 11:36 AM PST On the eve of the US election, president Barack Obama campaigns in support of Democrat Hillary Clinton, telling crowds in Michigan not to fall for the "okey-doke" concerning Republican nominee Donald Trump and criticises Trump for his lack of control and failure to release tax returns Continue reading... |
| Donald Trump warns voters of 'rigged system' – video Posted: 07 Nov 2016 08:46 AM PST Republican nominee Donald Trump has again railed against the 'rigged system' following the FBI's announcement that no criminal wrongdoing was found in a new batch of emails related to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He added that the US had become an international laughing-stock Continue reading... |
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