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Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit
Boko Haram’s forgotten victims return to a humanitarian disaster
President-elect: I had to settle Trump University case 'to focus on our country'
East Aleppo’s last hospital destroyed by airstrikes
Child refugees forced to work for nothing after leaving Calais
City of Brussels set to honour killed British MP Jo Cox
Facebook announces new push against fake news after Obama comments
Tintin drawing sells for record €1.55m in Paris auction
Indian train derailment kills dozens of people
Rodrigo Duterte slams western 'hypocrisy' as he meets Putin
Nigerian clashes cast doubt on claim that Boko Haram is on its knees
Kanpur train crash: aftermath of derailment in India – video
Choi-gate prosecutors accuse South Korean president of collusion
Moment of impact: children's hospital bombed in east Aleppo – video
Storm Angus strikes UK with floods and battering winds
Trolls, killers, watchers in the woods: Danes chill to the dark side of hygge
John McCain: 'We will not waterboard. We will not do it' – video
Snorkeller dies on south coast of New South Wales
Trump Pacific Partnership? New Zealand PM's idea to save TPP
For Japan’s ‘stranded singles’, virtual love beats the real thing
Victorian abortion law ‘breaches human rights’
Aleppo hospitals cease to function after repeated bombings
‘Too old? Never!’ Alain Juppé’s home city rallies to Le Pen challenger
Pope Francis decries 'epidemic of animosity' toward minorities
Students and lecturers march against Tories' education bill
Thousands march in Malaysia demanding prime minister resigns – video
Eyewitness: Assam, India
Trump shows off Nixon letter in Fox News TV special OBJECTified – video
Lawyers settle Donald Trump fraud lawsuits for $25m – video

Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 02:03 PM PST

Fears grow about impact of populist surge as Nigel Farage predicts Marine Le Pen could win French presidential election

European leaders have come to a 27-nation consensus that a "hard Brexit" is likely to be the only way to see off future populist insurgencies, which could lead to the break-up of the European Union.

Boko Haram’s forgotten victims return to a humanitarian disaster

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:04 PM PST

Three million people fled their villages during northern Nigeria's insurgency. Two years later, they are going back

The men with the guns arrived in Moda early on a Sunday morning. There were only a dozen of them, but they were enough to send the villagers fleeing for their lives. Now, two years later, most of those who fled have come back, to find their homes destroyed, their livestock gone and their fields ruined.

They are among the more than three million people in north-east Nigeria who were displaced in what has become one of the world's worst – and least reported – humanitarian disasters. The UN has warned that up to 75,000 children could die within the next 12 months unless more help arrives urgently.

President-elect: I had to settle Trump University case 'to focus on our country'

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 12:23 PM PST

Donald Trump says $25m settlement represented 'small fraction' of potential award in Twitter post before 'great' meeting with Mitt Romney

President-elect Donald Trump sounded off on his $25m payout to students who accused him of fraud on Saturday, as he prepared for a meeting with former foe Mitt Romney, tipped as a possible nominee for secretary of state.

On Friday the US president-elect settled class-action fraud lawsuits relating to his Trump University for $25m, avoiding the public embarrassment of having to testify in court, despite having previously vowed to fight the cases to the end.

East Aleppo’s last hospital destroyed by airstrikes

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 10:30 AM PST

Russian-led attacks on Syria's second city leave up to 250,000 people without access to surgery

The last operating hospital in east Aleppo has been destroyed by airstrikes, leaving up to 250,000 residents without access to surgery or specialist care, and rebel-held districts at the point of collapse.

Another four hospitals were hit and forced to close on Friday, before the Omar bin Abdul Aziz facility was struck just after 8.30pm, capping the most deadly day yet for the medical system in Syria's second city, which has been systematically targeted by Russian and regime jets over the past year.

Child refugees forced to work for nothing after leaving Calais

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 06:59 AM PST

Lawyers voice concern over unaccompanied minors sent to 'welcome centres' after demolition of French camp

Child refugees sent from the demolished Calais "jungle" to supposedly safe welcome centres across France claim they have been pressed into forced labour.

Legal interviews with unaccompanied minors dispersed from the refugee camp to France's official reception centres have uncovered allegations that children have been forced into unpaid work and ordered on to farms to pick apples for French supermarkets. Youngsters said they were too scared to refuse the work because they feared it would harm their chances of claiming asylum to the UK.

City of Brussels set to honour killed British MP Jo Cox

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 05:50 AM PST

Labour politician on list of prominent women after whom council will name new streets, squares and buildings

The Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in her constituency, is to have a street, square or building in Brussels named in her honour.

Cox features in a long list of illustrious women drawn up by Brussels city council from which it will name newly created public places. The move is part of an initiative to increase female representation in the names of streets and squares in the Belgian capital.

Facebook announces new push against fake news after Obama comments

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 10:07 AM PST

Mark Zuckerberg says site has been 'working on problem for a long time' and 'penalizes' misinformation on news feeds to reduce chances it will spread

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new steps to counter fake news on the platform on Saturday, marking a departure from his skepticism that online misinformation is, as Barack Obama said this week, a threat to democratic institutions.

"We take misinformation seriously," Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Saturday. "We know people want accurate information. We've been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously."

Tintin drawing sells for record €1.55m in Paris auction

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 09:16 AM PST

Original artwork by Hergé from Explorers on the Moon was expected to sell for between €700,000 and €900,000

An original drawing from the popular Tintin adventure Explorers on the Moon has sold for a record €1.55m (£1.3m) in Paris, auction house Artcurial has announced.

The 50cm x 35cm drawing in Chinese ink by the Belgian cartoonist known as Hergé shows the boy reporter, his dog, Snowy, and sailor Captain Haddock wearing spacesuits and walking on the moon while looking at Earth. It had been expected to sell for between €700,000 and €900,000.

Indian train derailment kills dozens of people

Posted: 20 Nov 2016 01:26 AM PST

Fourteen coaches of passenger train roll off track near the northern city of Kanpur injuring around 150 people

Fourteen coaches of a passenger train rolled off the track early on Sunday morning, killing at least 96 people and injuring around 150 in northern India, officials say.

The derailment occurred around 3am on Sunday near Purwa, a village near the industrial city of Kanpur, when the 14 coaches jumped the track. The express train was travelling between the northeastern city of Patna and the central city of Indore. Some coaches crumpled as they crashed into others, trapping hundreds of people inside.

Rodrigo Duterte slams western 'hypocrisy' as he meets Putin

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 11:49 PM PST

Philippine president says he would happily join a 'new order' in the world under Russia and China if they created one

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, lashed out at western "bullying" and "hypocrisy" during his first meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and said that when it came to alliances the United States could not be trusted.

Nigerian clashes cast doubt on claim that Boko Haram is on its knees

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 11:00 PM PST

Islamists have launched about 60 strikes on military targets since August, despite president's claim that they have been 'technically defeated'

Boko Haram has launched a series of attacks that have inflicted substantial casualties on Nigerian government forces and contradict claims by senior officials that the extremist Islamist group is on the brink of defeat.

The group made headlines last month when it released 21 female students abducted more than two years ago. The women, taken in a night raid on a school in the small town of Chibok, were the focus of a global campaign and many analysts saw their liberation after negotiations with officials as evidence of Boko Haram's weakness following an internal split.

Kanpur train crash: aftermath of derailment in India – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 10:58 PM PST

Fourteen coaches of a passenger train left the tracks in northern India, killing scores of people. The Patna-Indore Express derailed at Pukhrayan, a town near the industrial city of Kanpur early Sunday

Choi-gate prosecutors accuse South Korean president of collusion

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 10:56 PM PST

Charges laid against president Park Geun-hye's longtime ally Choi Soon-sil and two former presidential aides

South Korean president Park Geun-hye colluded with her close confidante in a major influence-peddling scandal that has engulfed her government, prosecutors said on Sunday, as they laid out charges against Park's longtime ally and two former presidential aides.

The scandal, which has become known as Choi-gate, sparked fury across the nation with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to call for Park's resignation.

Moment of impact: children's hospital bombed in east Aleppo – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 08:49 PM PST

Video shows the moment a paediatric hospital in eastern Aleppo was struck in an airstrike on Friday. Doctors and nurses at the children's hospital scrambled to evacuate babies to safety after the facility was bombed for the second time this week. The Syrian opposition's Aleppo Health Directorate has said that all hospitals in eastern Aleppo are now out of service.

Storm Angus strikes UK with floods and battering winds

Posted: 20 Nov 2016 01:33 AM PST

80mph gusts expected as storm hampers efforts to fight fire in Bognor Regis and falling scaffolding crushes car in Brighton

Storm Angus, the first named storm of the season, caused flooding and chaos for emergency services when it hit the UK, with gusts anticipated to reach 80mph.

Winds on the south coast were recorded at up to 68mph on Sunday morning and a gust hit Guernsey at 84mph.

Trolls, killers, watchers in the woods: Danes chill to the dark side of hygge

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:05 PM PST

In Denmark they also embrace Scandinavian style's scary antithesis – uhygge

Twinkly candles, cheery teapots, woolly socks and cushions: these are the domestic trappings needed this winter to create a cosy sense of Danish "hygge". But if the prospect makes you nauseous, do not despair. There is a potent antidote available for an overdose of Scandinavian kitsch that is just as old as the original concept of "hygge".

The word "uhygge" describes the exact opposite of cosy: it is the name for the unsettling feeling that you are being watched from the forest. Perhaps by a troll or an evil witch.

John McCain: 'We will not waterboard. We will not do it' – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 09:14 PM PST

Leading US Republican John McCain says he doesn't care what Donald Trump says, the US will not reinstate waterboarding. McCain, who is chairman of the armed services committee, told the Halifax International Security Forum that any attempt to bring back harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, would quickly be challenged in court. "I don't give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do. We will not waterboard. We will not do it," McCain said.

Snorkeller dies on south coast of New South Wales

Posted: 20 Nov 2016 12:03 AM PST

Man in his 40s died after getting into trouble while snorkelling off Congo, say police, in sixth Australian ocean fatality in a week

A man has died after experiencing difficulties snorkelling on the New South Wales south coast.

Police say the man in his 40s was snorkelling with two people when he got into trouble and was assisted onto a boat off Congo around 10.30am on Sunday.

Trump Pacific Partnership? New Zealand PM's idea to save TPP

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:23 PM PST

John Key at Apec summit jokes 'cosmetic changes' could appease US president-elect over sweeping trade deal

The threatened TPP trade pact could be rebadged as the "Trump Pacific Partnership" to satisfy the US president-elect who has vowed to scrap it, New Zealand's prime minister has said.

John Key suggested "cosmetic changes" to the Trans-Pacific Partnership so that the US could be kept on board under Donald Trump, who has attacked free trade deals.

For Japan’s ‘stranded singles’, virtual love beats the real thing

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:05 PM PST

Multimillion-pound industry caters for young people enamoured of fictional computer characters

Japan's apparently waning interest in true love is creating not just a marriage crisis but a relationship crisis, leading young people to forgo finding a partner and resort to falling for fictional characters in online and video games.

New figures show that more than 70% of unmarried Japanese men and 75% of women have never had any sexual experience by the time they reach 20, though that drops to almost 50% for each gender by the time they reach 25.

Victorian abortion law ‘breaches human rights’

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:04 PM PST

Women's Equality leader calls for decriminalisation as party is set to gather for its first conference

A campaign to push for abortion to be removed from the justice statutes and decriminalised is to be launched this month by the country's newest political party.

Sophie Walker, leader of the non-partisan Women's Equality party, said it was time that abortion was made a sexual health and human rights issue, rather than left languishing under "Victorian criminal law", where a life prison sentence still exists for procuring a termination. This is a flagship policy for the party, which will hold its first conference in Manchester next weekend. It hopes that with pressure from its supporters, other political parties will take up the issue.

Aleppo hospitals cease to function after repeated bombings

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 02:14 PM PST

Leaflets were showered over the city, warning of the attacks to come – and now any sort of medical assistance has gone, wiped out with the devastation

I don't think that in all my years of doing this I've ever seen such dreadful pictures of injuries, of people lying on the floor of an emergency room, the dead mixed with the living.

One colleague, who I speak to all the time, was in despair, sending me all these photographs, and saying: "David, you have to do something to help us." But what can I do?

‘Too old? Never!’ Alain Juppé’s home city rallies to Le Pen challenger

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 12:09 PM PST

As mayor of Bordeaux, he is aiming for the presidency – and a showdown with the far right

At a brasserie in Saint Pierre, the historic heart of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé's supporters are settling down for an evening in front of the television.

On the screen is the crucial final debate in the centre-right Les Républicains' primary race, before Sunday's first-round vote. Juppé, the city's mayor, is one of seven candidates, alongside former president Nicolas Sarkozy and several ex-government ministers, but the crowd in the Café Cajou only has eyes for him. He speaks and half the audience applaud while the other half tap frenetically on their phones in an attempt to out-tweet the opposition.

Pope Francis decries 'epidemic of animosity' toward minorities

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 08:51 AM PST

Less than two weeks after Donald Trump's election, pontiff makes thinly veiled criticism of rise of populist nationalism

Pope Francis has said an "epidemic of animosity" toward religious and ethnic minorities is hurting the weakest in society, in a thinly veiled assessment of the rise of populist nationalism.

Little more than a week after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, which has buoyed anti-immigration parties in Europe, the pope said people should not be seen as enemies because they were different.

Students and lecturers march against Tories' education bill

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:25 AM PST

Unions say plans amount to 'ideologically led market experiment' and PM should not use EU students as pawns in Brexit talks

Students and lecturers have marched through central London to protest against government plans for an "ideologically led market experiment" that would open up UK higher education to the likes of Trump University and leave students facing escalating fees.

Thousands march in Malaysia demanding prime minister resigns – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:06 AM PST

Around 40,000 protesters march in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, demanding the resignation of prime minister Najib Razak over his alleged involvement in a multibillion-dollar misappropriation scandal. Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad joined the crowds. The demonstration is unlikely to shake Najib who has consolidated power by cracking down on dissenters and curbing media groups and activists

Thousands call for Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to quit

Eyewitness: Assam, India

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:33 AM PST

Photographs from the Eyewitness series

Trump shows off Nixon letter in Fox News TV special OBJECTified – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:41 AM PST

Donald Trump displays a letter from disgraced former president Richard Nixon on Fox News' special OBJECTified: Donald Trump, aired on Friday night. Interviewer Harvey Levin reads out the letter from 1987 declaring Trump's appearance on the tabloid talk show Donahue as evidence that he would make a fine public servant. The programme was filmed before the election date and shows a selection of the president-elect's favourite things

OBJECTified: Donald Trump review – a basket of objectionables

Lawyers settle Donald Trump fraud lawsuits for $25m – video

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 03:27 AM PST

Attorneys for the students involved in the fraud lawsuits relating to Trump University praise the deal settling the case in San Diego on Friday. President-elect Donald Trump agreed to pay $25m to settle, terms which attorneys say will refund plaintiffs at least 50 percent of their fees. Trump's attorney acknowledges Trump had previously vowed to fight the cases