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

Aleppo residents still await evacuation amid ceasefire deal uncertainty
'Friends forever'? China wary of Rex Tillerson wooing away Russia
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed criminals
US to halt planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia over Yemen airstrikes
Anwar Ibrahim: Malaysian court upholds jailing of key rival to PM
Gambian military takes over offices of electoral commission
Thousands protest against rightwing government in Poland
Giving business control to sons doesn't end Trump's conflicts, ethics office says
Greece 'boxed in' as EU and IMF fight over nation's debt relief plan
Uber employees 'spied on ex-partners, politicians and Beyoncé'
Mexican drug leader's mother kidnapped by vigilante group
Wave taller than a six-storey building sets 'remarkable' world record
Venezuelans rush to ditch 100-bolivar bills after president's sudden ban
Commodity price falls mean least developed nations miss UN poverty goals
Canada's recreational marijuana should come in plain packaging, panel says
Filmgoers arrested for refusing to stand for India's national anthem
Aides denied entry to Israeli parliament over 'short' dresses
Alan Thicke, star of 80s sitcom Growing Pains, dies aged 69
US grounds Osprey fleet in Japan after aircraft crashes off Okinawa
Rodrigo Duterte: I used to personally kill criminals – video
Briton loses fight to stop Mormon ex-partner taking children to Utah
Meet the vicar whose sacristy has become a surgery | Rachel Pugh
Cameroon urged to investigate deaths amid anglophone protests
Former football coach Barry Bennell remanded on child sex charges
EU easing of fishing quotas raises scientists fears dwindling stocks
Faces of defiance: the portrait exhibition celebrating FGM activists and survivors – video
Latin America’s Schindler: a forgotten hero of the 20th century | Ewen MacAskill
George Brandis appoints Stephen Donaghue as new solicitor general
Aleppo: Russia-Turkey ceasefire deal offers hope of survival for residents
Don't spread 'straight-man cancer', China feminist warns Trump
French parliament votes to extend state of emergency until after 2017 elections
Unhappy Russians nostalgic for Soviet-style rule – study
'Are you incapable of shame?': Samantha Power criticises Syria, Iran and Russia over Aleppo – video
Islamic State claims responsibility for Cairo church bombing
Voices from Aleppo: the situation is apocalyptic – video report
Widow of Bali policeman rejects compensation offer from Sara Connor
We said never again, but let Aleppo happen | Letters
Medics in Aleppo fear being killed or tortured for saving lives
International concern over claims of chemical weapon attack in Syria
Eastern Aleppo as pro-Assad forces move in – in pictures
Fight for Aleppo is almost over – but a new chapter of misery begins
British MPs bear some blame for Aleppo tragedy, says George Osborne
US airstrikes kill three key Islamic State leaders in Syria
Jeremy Corbyn: Theresa May needs to press for Syria crisis resolution
Brazil senate approves austerity package to freeze social spending for 20 years
People smuggler behind 700 deaths at sea is convicted in Italy
Aleppo civilians paying brutal price, says UN – video
The great escape: how Bucharest rolled entire churches to safety
From glamour to gunfire: the tourist city of Acapulco torn apart by violence
Nigeria's $10bn strategy to stem its vast flows of stolen oil
A lifeline for Bangladesh's poorest, and Congolese rape victims search for justice
Food crisis looming in Haiti as aid slow to reach Hurricane Matthew's victims
Trump’s relationship with Russia – what we know and what comes next
Neoliberalism turned our world into a business. And there are two big winners
Who is Donald Trump's secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson? – video profile
Trump 'flying blind' if he ignores intelligence, warns Obama – video

Aleppo residents still await evacuation amid ceasefire deal uncertainty

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 01:19 AM PST

Civilians and rebels not permitted to leave eastern districts on Wednesday, as US ambassador to UN asks Assad allies: 'Are you incapable of shame?'

The evacuation of rebel-held eastern Aleppo is yet to begin, despite a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey that was to allow civilians and opposition fighters from the besieged eastern districts of the city to leave.

'Friends forever'? China wary of Rex Tillerson wooing away Russia

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:59 PM PST

The Trump administration will have close ties to Moscow via its secretary of state but relations with Beijing are frosty. Could Sino-Russian ties be under threat?

Rex Tillerson's controversial nomination as secretary of state has delighted Moscow where the Texan oilman has deep and long-standing ties. Donald Trump's choice of the ExxonMobil chief was "100% good news" for Vladimir Putin, one opposition politician claimed.

But in Beijing, already reeling from Trump's early forays into foreign policy, the move has inspired no such celebration, instead fuelling fears that the president-elect's courtship of the Kremlin could be part of a bold strategic bid to isolate China.

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed criminals

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 09:32 PM PST

Controversial leader – who has endorsed extrajudicial executions of drug offenders – says he killed to show police officers 'if I can do it, why can't you?'

Rodrigo Duterte has announced he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of his home city of Davao in the Philippines, cruising the streets on a motorcycle and "looking for trouble".

US to halt planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia over Yemen airstrikes

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:22 AM PST

Decision to suspend sales of precision-guided munitions over high civilian death toll leaves UK diplomatically exposed

The US is preparing to halt planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the high death toll among civilians in the kingdom's bombing campaign in Yemen.

Obama administration officials were quoted on Reuters, who broke the story, saying that the "systematic, endemic problems in Saudi Arabia's targeting drove the US decision to halt a future weapons sale involving precision-guided munitions".

Anwar Ibrahim: Malaysian court upholds jailing of key rival to PM

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:32 PM PST

Former opposition leader was considered the greatest political threat to prime minister Najib Razak, but ruling bans him from running in 2018 election

Anwar Ibrahim, the former leader of the Malaysian opposition, has lost a final appeal to have his prison sentence for sodomy overturned and will serve out the remaining 16 months of his sentence in jail.

Significantly the ruling means Anwar will not be allowed to contest the next election in 2018, which the opposition saw as their best chance to unseat prime minister Najib Razak and end his ruling party's six decades in power.

Gambian military takes over offices of electoral commission

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:19 PM PST

Move comes as African heads of state try to convince Yahya Jammeh to relinquish power after losing presidential election

Yahya Jammeh, the autocratic ruler of the Gambia, has moved to resist his presidential election defeat, sending armed soldiers to take control of the electoral commission headquarters and filing a petition to the supreme court as a delegation of African leaders urged him to stand down.

The petition said the electoral commission had "failed to properly collate the results" of the election, which Jammeh lost to challenger Adama Barrow.

Thousands protest against rightwing government in Poland

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:45 PM PST

KOD leaders say illiberal agenda of ruling PiS threatens to reverse democratic freedoms won since communist era

Thousands of people have joined anti-government demonstrations across Poland, as a divided country marked the 35th anniversary of the imposition of martial law by the then communist regime.

Leaders of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD) – which organised the "citizens' strike" – argue that the illiberal agenda of the ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) threatens to reverse democratic gains made since 1989.

Giving business control to sons doesn't end Trump's conflicts, ethics office says

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 04:41 PM PST

The Office of Government Ethics advised the president-elect that failing to set up a blind trust would be a breach of the spirit if not the letter of the law

Donald Trump's plan to transfer control of his business empire to his adult children has been dealt a fresh blow by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

Tom Carper, top Democrat on the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, wrote to OGE director Walter Shaub last month asking what guidance it is providing to the president-elect about addressing potential conflicts of interest.

Greece 'boxed in' as EU and IMF fight over nation's debt relief plan

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 02:33 PM PST

IMF distances itself from policies underpinning bailout as Greek officials worry that war of words may lead to IMF pulling out of rescue programme

The row over how to stabilise the indebted Greek economy has resurfaced with renewed vigour after the European Union on Tuesday angrily rejected charges by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that its current rescue programme is "not credible".

The spectre of the country's economic crisis flaring up again deepened as the extent of the differences between creditors was laid bare. Caught in the middle, Athens also ratcheted up the rhetoric, as its finance minister told the Guardian that the IMF was "economising with the truth".

Uber employees 'spied on ex-partners, politicians and Beyoncé'

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 04:17 AM PST

Cab startup's former forensic investigator Samuel Ward Spangenberg claims he was fired from the company after blowing whistle on lack of security

Uber employees regularly abused the company's "God view" to spy on the movements of "high-profile politicians, celebrities and even personal acquaintances of Uber employees, including ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, and ex-spouses", according to testimony from the company's former forensic investigator Samuel Ward Spangenberg. Even Beyoncé's account was monitored, the investigator said.

Spangenberg, who is suing the minicab company alleging age discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, made the claims in a court declaration in October. He says he told Uber executives including the company's head of information security, John Flynn, and its HR chief Andrew Wegley, of his concerns around the lack of security, and was fired 11 months later.

Mexican drug leader's mother kidnapped by vigilante group

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 03:08 PM PST

About 220 soldiers and police to be sent to Totolapan, where 'self-defense force' took hostage to demand return of family members captured by 'El Tequilero'

In one of the stranger chapters of Mexico 's drug war, angry people in a southern town have kidnapped the mother of a gang leader to demand the release of their loved ones.

The government of Guerrero state said Tuesday that it was sending about 220 soldiers and police to try to defuse the situation in Totolapan.

Wave taller than a six-storey building sets 'remarkable' world record

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:51 AM PST

UN weather agency recorded 62ft wave in February 2013 in the North Atlantic, in a remote spot between Great Britain and Iceland after a strong cold front

A towering 19-meter (62.3ft) wave in the North Atlantic has set a world record as the highest ever measured by a buoy, according to the UN's weather agency.

An automated buoy measured the wave at a remote spot between Great Britain and Iceland on 4 February 2013 at 6.00 GMT, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.

Venezuelans rush to ditch 100-bolivar bills after president's sudden ban

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:08 PM PST

Nicolás Maduro pulled country's largest denomination bill, now worth three US cents, from circulation and many businesses stopped taking them immediately

Lining up from dawn with backpacks and plastic bags full of cash, Venezuelans flocked to banks across the country on Tuesday to ditch 100-bolivar bills after President Nicolás Maduro's surprise move to pull them from circulation.

Soldiers watched as people jostled in lines clutching Venezuela's largest denomination bill – now worth just three US cents on the streets – which they have to deposit before it becomes officially worthless.

Commodity price falls mean least developed nations miss UN poverty goals

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 09:47 AM PST

Unctad reports weakest year of GDP growth in 20 years for poorest nations scuppering hopes that half would escape extreme poverty by 2020

Hopes that half of the world's 48 least developed nations could emerge from extreme poverty by the end of the decade have been dashed after a UN body reported the weakest year of growth in more than 20 years.

The UN conference on trade and development (Unctad) said plunging commodity prices had hit the group of least developed countries hard, with 13 of them suffering a fall in living standards in 2015.

Canada's recreational marijuana should come in plain packaging, panel says

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:43 AM PST

Official recommendation may pose hurdle for companies looking to build brands as Justin Trudeau prepares push to legalize drug for recreational use

Canada's government should regulate the production of cannabis when it is legalized for recreational use and require plain packaging for such products, an official panel has recommended, in a potential setback to growers who hoped to build brands.

How cannabis is sold should be left up to the provinces and should include both retail storefronts and a mail order system, the report recommended. Authorities have been battling a surge in illegal dispensaries over the past year, particularly in Ontario and British Columbia.

Filmgoers arrested for refusing to stand for India's national anthem

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 05:46 AM PST

Arrests follow controversial supreme court order for cinemas to enforce respect of national symbols

Twelve people have been arrested at an international film festival in south India for refusing to comply with a supreme court order to stand for the national anthem at cinemas.

Protests were held on Tuesday at venues involved in the International Film Festival of Kerala over the arrests, the second police incident in recent days involving the new national anthem requirements.

Aides denied entry to Israeli parliament over 'short' dresses

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 05:56 AM PST

Two women say they were stopped by Knesset guards whom MP accuses of acting as 'modesty police'

Two female political aides working in Israel's parliament were stopped from entering the assembly in recent days after security guards deemed their dresses insufficiently "modest".

The women were stopped despite the fact that they were wearing dresses that came down to the mid-thigh. Both aides said they had worn the dresses to work before.

Alan Thicke, star of 80s sitcom Growing Pains, dies aged 69

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 02:06 AM PST

The actor and father of Robin Thicke, best known for his leading role in 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, died of a heart attack

Alan Thicke, the Canadian actor best known for his role as the father in the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains as well as being the father of singer Robin Thicke, has died, a source close to the family said on Tuesday. He was 69.

The Los Angeles Times, quoting Robin Thicke's publicist, said the actor died of a heart attack.

US grounds Osprey fleet in Japan after aircraft crashes off Okinawa

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 01:37 AM PST

TV pictures show MV-22 Osprey with main wings broken after crash-landing in sea that will fuel anger over US military presence

The US military has grounded its fleet of Osprey aircraft in Japan after one crash-landed in the sea near Okinawa, in an incident that will fuel further local anger over the US deployment on the island.

The Pentagon described the incident on Tuesday night as a "mishap" and said the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey had landed in shallow water 0.6 miles (1km) off the coast of Nago in northern Okinawa. Five crew members were injured.

Rodrigo Duterte: I used to personally kill criminals – video

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 01:19 AM PST

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of the southern city Davao. Speaking on Monday evening at a business forum in Manila, Duterte says he cruised the streets 'looking for trouble' to show police that it was possible

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed criminals

Briton loses fight to stop Mormon ex-partner taking children to Utah

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 12:03 AM PST

Judge rules that woman can move with children aged six and three to US state where Mormon church is based

A Briton who wanted to stop his former partner taking their children to live in an American state where the Mormon church is based has lost a family court fight.

The Mormon woman asked a judge to allow her to move their six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter to Utah.

Meet the vicar whose sacristy has become a surgery | Rachel Pugh

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 12:00 AM PST

With their local GP practice understaffed, some Cumbrian villagers are turning to Sarah Lunn, a Church of England rector in the village of Temple Sowerby

For rector Sarah Lunn, it's only a stone's throw from the small sandstone church of St James to the purpose-built surgery in the tiny Cumbrian village of Temple Sowerby where she often meets troubled parishioners referred to her by one of two GPs.

Cameroon urged to investigate deaths amid anglophone protests

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 04:01 AM PST

Four killed when police fire into air, as tensions rise in English-speaking areas over perceived discrimination

International organisations are calling for an investigation in Cameroon after four people were killed during unrest in the country's English-speaking regions.

Tensions have been brewing for the past month in Cameroon's two anglophone regions, where people say they are being treated as second-class citizens.

Former football coach Barry Bennell remanded on child sex charges

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 02:23 AM PST

• 62-year-old appeared via videolink at magistrates court in Crewe
• Accused of eight sexual assault offences against boy aged under 14

Former football coach Barry Bennell has been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with child sex offences.

The 62-year-old appeared at South Cheshire magistrates' court in Crewe via video-link charged with five counts of indecent assault on a boy, two counts of inciting a boy to commit an act of gross indecency and one count of assault with intent to commit buggery.

EU easing of fishing quotas raises scientists fears dwindling stocks

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 01:29 AM PST

Ministers accused of ignoring scientists' recommendations as UK fleets allowed to catch more cod, haddock and sole

British fishing fleets will be allowed to catch greater quantities of cod, haddock and sole next year, after Europe's ministers approved a new fishing quota that will cheer fish and chip shops but has alarmed scientists concerned over dwindling stocks.

The European Union's fisheries council reached an agreement in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in what may be one of the last such quota divisions in which the UK takes part if supporters of a hard Brexit have their way.

Faces of defiance: the portrait exhibition celebrating FGM activists and survivors – video

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 12:00 AM PST

Tired of survivors of female genital mutilation being portrayed as broken women, campaigner Leyla Hussein curated an exhibition of portraits at the first FGM summit in the US. While she was there she interviewed her hero F.A. Cole, her Sierra-Leone-American counterpart

Latin America’s Schindler: a forgotten hero of the 20th century | Ewen MacAskill

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:00 PM PST

Under General Pinochet's rule of terror in Chile, one man saved thousands of people from the dictator's brutal secret police. How did Roberto Kozak do it – and escape death?

Just before 10am on New Year's Eve 1986, armed men arrived at the office of a small organisation for the resettlement of migrants, in Santiago, Chile. They immediately began rounding up staff. "They tossed us in the meeting room, on the floor, face down. They cut computer cables and tied us up, wrist to wrist," recalled Eliana Infante, one of the staff. "After they tied us up, they asked, 'Which of you is the communist son of a bitch Roberto Kozak?'"

A tall, strikingly handsome and immaculately dressed man stood up. "That's me," he said, calmly.

George Brandis appoints Stephen Donaghue as new solicitor general

Posted: 14 Dec 2016 01:46 AM PST

Dr Stephen Donaghue will serve a five-year term from 16 January following the resignation of Justin Gleeson

George Brandis has appointed constitutional lawyer Stephen Donaghue as solicitor general, seven weeks after the former solicitor general Justin Gleeson resigned citing an irretrievably broken relationship with the attorney general.

A constitutional lawyer with specialties including migration and extradition, Donaghue acted as counsel assisting the royal commission into the building and construction industry and counsel for Asio in the Clarke inquiry into the case of Dr Mohammad Haneef, an Indian-born doctor falsely accused of helping terrorists.

Aleppo: Russia-Turkey ceasefire deal offers hope of survival for residents

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:47 PM PST

Turkish intelligence and Russian military negotiate Syria agreement allowing civilians and moderate rebels to flee to Idlib province

An agreement has been reached to evacuate civilians and opposition fighters from the besieged eastern districts of the city of Aleppo, a senior Turkish official and rebel officials have told the Guardian.

But as dawn broke in the city on Wednesday, reports from Syria said nobody had yet been able to leave.

Don't spread 'straight-man cancer', China feminist warns Trump

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:02 PM PST

'Big Rabbit' Zheng Churan, who was arrested for her activism in 2015, tells president-elect: 'Feminists worldwide are speaking, and we are watching you'

French parliament votes to extend state of emergency until after 2017 elections

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:07 PM PST

Lawmakers approve fifth extension of special security powers, which were put in place after attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November 2015

France's parliament has voted to extend a national state of emergency until 15 July, after next year's elections.

The security measures, in force since attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November 2015, are now expected to be approved by the Senate on Thursday. It is the fifth extension of the state of emergency, which gives police extended powers of search and arrest.

Unhappy Russians nostalgic for Soviet-style rule – study

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 06:43 PM PST

Former states under Soviet Union from Estonia to Mongolia also covered by findings that 'happiness gap' between eastern and western Europe persists

A quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet Union, life satisfaction in Russia and other ex-Soviet states remains stubbornly low, with enthusiasm wavering for democracy and open market economics, according to a survey.

The study found that only 15% of Russians think their households have a better quality of life, compared with 30% in 2010 when respondents were last asked, and only 9% see their finances as better than four years ago.

'Are you incapable of shame?': Samantha Power criticises Syria, Iran and Russia over Aleppo – video

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 05:36 PM PST

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, tells the security council that the Syrian government and its allies Russia and Iran bear responsibility for killings of civilians in Aleppo. Using strong language, she accuses the three member states of putting a 'noose' around civilians in the city. 'Is there no execution of a child that gets under your skin?' she asks. 'Is there literally nothing that shames you?'

Islamic State claims responsibility for Cairo church bombing

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 02:07 PM PST

Isis says bomb at Cairo church that killed 25 people was part of 'war against apostates'

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Cairo church on Sunday that killed 25 people, mainly women. In a statement circulated online, it said the bomber had killed and injured 80 people, vowing "to continue war against apostates". The Egyptian government earlier released footage showing images said to show the alleged suicide attacker.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Monday identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa. Isis named him by what appeared to be a nom de guerre, Abu Abdullah al-Masri.

Voices from Aleppo: the situation is apocalyptic – video report

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 01:03 PM PST

People in Aleppo leave video messages online as the Syrian army pushes further into Aleppo on Tuesday. Civilians, reporters and doctors have joined the chorus of voices in the besieged city calling for help as reports of extrajudicial killings reached the UN. Many of the people in the videos suggested the messages they published could be their last

Deal reached to evacuate rebels and civilians from Aleppo

Widow of Bali policeman rejects compensation offer from Sara Connor

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:13 PM PST

Australian woman on trial in Bali over the alleged murder of officer Wayan Sudarsa reads letter to court that she wrote to widow offering payment

The wife of the Bali police officer allegedly killed by Sara Connor and her British boyfriend has rejected the offer of a "donation" by the Australian, saying she won't accept "even a cent from her".

"I want the court to give the maximum punishment that fits what she did, based on Indonesian laws," widow Ketut Arsini told Denpasar court on Tuesday.

We said never again, but let Aleppo happen | Letters

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:52 AM PST

I write to do something that too often does not come easy for politicians; offer an apology. Back in 2013 I backed the decision of the leader of my party, Ed Miliband, not to support the bombing of President Assad in response to his use of chemical weapons on rebel-held districts in Syria. I made this decision as a new councillor ambitious to stand for parliament, but also with memories of Iraq, which I had opposed.

I now realise this was wrong. While the action proposed in 2013 was flawed and perilous, it turns out that not acting is worse. By not acting, we gave a green light for all of the war crimes we have witnessed since. By doing nothing, we told Assad and his backer, Vladimir Putin, that they could act with impunity ('This is a final distress call', 13 December). The indiscriminate barrel-bombing of civilians. Doctors and nurses killed for being indiscriminate in who they cared for. Hospitals and schools bombed. Murder and torture. The deliberate starvation of civilians. By backing the decision of my then leader, I am at least in a small way responsible for our great country shamefully standing by as these things happened. For that, I am sorry.
Councillor Sean Woodcock
Banbury, Oxfordshire

Medics in Aleppo fear being killed or tortured for saving lives

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:37 AM PST

Charities warn that doctors and nurses who stayed in opposition-held areas could be treated as rebel supporters by regime forces

Doctors and nurses who chose to stay on in rebel-held Aleppo, working in hospitals regularly hit by bombing raids, now fear being jailed, tortured or killed for their commitment to saving lives.

As a ceasefire came into effect late on Tuesday to allow the evacuation of the final opposition-held areas, medical charities warned that medics who had stayed in east Aleppo could be treated by Syrian government forces as rebel supporters.

International concern over claims of chemical weapon attack in Syria

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:06 AM PST

At least 93 reportedly killed and hundreds injured near Palmyra, with witnesses saying many child victims suffocated

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seriously concerned about claims that at least 93 people were killed by a gas attack in central Syria when airstrikes hit a cluster of five villages.

Up to 300 people were also reported to have been injured in the strikes on Monday morning around 130 miles west of the city of Palmyra, which was retaken from Syrian forces by the Islamic State group. Witnesses to the attacks say that none of those who died had blast injuries.

Eastern Aleppo as pro-Assad forces move in – in pictures

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:46 AM PST

After weeks of heavy fighting, regime forces were poised to take full control of Aleppo, dealing the biggest blow to Syria's rebellion in more than five years

• Deal reached to evacuate rebels and civilians

Fight for Aleppo is almost over – but a new chapter of misery begins

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:26 AM PST

Assad and his allies show no sign that they will be merciful towards the vanquished, as the Damascus regime enters a tricky phase

The fight for Aleppo is at an end. The clusters of desperate Syrians who remain huddled in the last rebel redoubt face an imminent reckoning, to yield to loyalist forces across the nearby dividing line or to stay and face capture. Or to accept the terms of a last-minute deal that allows anyone left to flee.

Aleppo will be cleansed of the the anti-Assad opposition and anyone who sympathised with it. Those who do flee, or who win the mercy of the conquerors will face exile, likely in Idlib province, a bastion of the latest incarnation of the al-Qaida inspired Jabhat al-Nusra, which is prescribed as a terrorist group by all of the war's protagonists.

British MPs bear some blame for Aleppo tragedy, says George Osborne

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 10:12 AM PST

Former chancellor tells emergency Commons debate on Syria that he hopes MPs learn the price of not intervening

British MPs are deceiving themselves if they believe they do not bear some of the responsibility for the "terrible tragedy" unfolding in Syria, the former chancellor, George Osborne, said on Tuesday during an often anguished emergency debate in the House of Commons on the carnage being inflicted in eastern Aleppo. In one of his first speeches in the Commons since losing office, Osborne said there had been "multiple opportunities to intervene" in Syria as he cited parliament's decision in 2013 not to take military action after the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad's regime.

US airstrikes kill three key Islamic State leaders in Syria

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 09:00 AM PST

US defense secretary Ash Carter said: 'We took out three key leaders in the last couple of weeks,' including two involved in the 2015 Paris attacks

US airstrikes have killed three key leaders of the Islamic State group in Syria, including two involved in last year's attacks in Paris, according to the US defense secretary, Ash Carter.

He announced the killings on Tuesday during an address to US airmen at a military base in Italy.

Jeremy Corbyn: Theresa May needs to press for Syria crisis resolution

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:55 AM PST

Labour leader writes to prime minister asking for urgent action on humanitarian crisis and a UN-backed ceasefire

Jeremy Corbyn has written to Theresa May calling for an urgent effort to establish humanitarian corridors in Aleppo and a boost to Foreign Office resources to aid efforts for a ceasefire.

The Labour leader, whose speech on human rights was interrupted on Saturday by activists including Peter Tatchell – who said he had not spoken out enough on the Syria crisis – said the government had to step up its pressure on regional actors and the UN.

Brazil senate approves austerity package to freeze social spending for 20 years

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:37 AM PST

Lawmakers expected to reject requests to exempt education and health spending from measure UN official calls the most socially regressive in the world

Brazil's senate has passed a controversial spending cap that will limit public spending to inflation for the next 20 years, despite protests across the country against the measure.

The spending cap, known as PEC 55, will now be signed off on 15 December.

People smuggler behind 700 deaths at sea is convicted in Italy

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:19 AM PST

Tunisian Mohammed Ali Malek found guilty of manslaughter after worst Mediterranean maritime refugee disaster

A Tunisian migrant-smuggler behind the worst maritime disaster in the Mediterranean in recent history has been found guilty of manslaughter by an Italian court and faces 18 years in jail.

About 700 people, including young children, were killed in April 2015 after Mohammed Ali Malek slammed an overcrowded fishing boat into a Portuguese merchant ship that was attempting a rescue of the passengers.

Aleppo civilians paying brutal price, says UN – video

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:18 AM PST

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville says his office has received reports of Syria's pro-government forces killing civilians as they enter the last strongholds of rebels in eastern Aleppo. Speaking on Tuesday, Colville says the reports could not be independently confirmed

Children trapped in building under attack in Aleppo, doctor tells UN

The great escape: how Bucharest rolled entire churches to safety

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:00 PM PST

When Bucharest faced a radical redesign in the 1980s under communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, engineers moved complete buildings hundreds of metres on metal tracks to preserve the Romanian capital's architectural heritage

It must be startling to look out of your window and see a centuries-old church rolling by. Even more so if you are in communist Romania in the 1980s, where news is state-controlled and everyday items rationed. And yet, between 1982 and 1988 almost a dozen churches, as well as other buildings, were moved hundreds of metres in order to save them from destruction, as dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu went about radically redesigning the heart of Bucharest, the Romanian capital.

That a communist country would go out of its way to save churches is strange enough, but the method of saving them, when other countries would probably have tried to dismantle the buildings and reassemble them elsewhere, makes the achievement all the more impressive.

From glamour to gunfire: the tourist city of Acapulco torn apart by violence

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 03:41 AM PST

In the 1950s Acapulco was a refuge for A-list celebrities; now the resort known as Mexico's most violent city is struggling to cope under the strain of gang warfare. Is there anything the mayor can do to reverse its fortunes?

When mayor Evodio Velázquez's sparkling white Jeep Cherokee SUV pulls up at the side of the road, patrols of soldiers and heavily armed federal police are waiting for him. Velázquez's "tourist police", a special unit of young female officers who wear light blue uniforms, stand in a small cluster by the kerb.

Nominally law enforcement agents, these young women are really part of Velázquez's broader marketing effort for the city of Acapulco – to add some friendly faces as the first point of contact between visitors revelling on this famous Mexican resort's golden beaches, and the security forces struggling to keep the city safe.

Nigeria's $10bn strategy to stem its vast flows of stolen oil

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:00 PM PST

A government investment plan aims to disarm militant groups fighting for a greater share of the Niger Delta's oil wealth

The sand is still hot under our feet. The oil thieves must have run the illegal oil refinery – hidden from the sea by thickets of mangrove – until just a short while ago. "Destroy everything, boys," orders the commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) unit, Helen Amakiri.

Her job is to combat oil theft, estimated to cost Nigeria a tenth of its annual oil production. It's a rate of loss that has dethroned the country as Africa's largest oil producer – Angola now has a bigger output.

A lifeline for Bangladesh's poorest, and Congolese rape victims search for justice

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:11 AM PST

Bangladesh scheme delivers financial support and long-term prosperity; plus, a battle against sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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A "poverty graduation" scheme in Bangladesh that has already transformed the livelihoods of 1.7m of the poorest households is being analysed as a model for aid programmes to alleviate extreme poverty in the long term. Since it was launched more than a decade ago by a Bangladeshi charity, the Targeting the Ultra Poor scheme has offered not just a financial lifeline out of destitution but the education and skills needed to maintain prosperity.

As part of 16 days of activism against gender violence, Ruth Maclean reports on the mothers trying to protect their daughters and the elusive search for justice for rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where sexual violence remains widespread despite official efforts to portray the country as an example of how to combat it. Also, in our video, female activists from four countries talk about the risks they face because of their work protecting women's rights.

Food crisis looming in Haiti as aid slow to reach Hurricane Matthew's victims

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 05:29 AM PST

The UN's $120m aid appeal is only 40% funded, causing 'unnecessary suffering' for the 750,000 Haitians in dire need of support

Anite Figaro remembers the night her isolated mountain community fled their homes in October as Hurricane Matthew scythed across south-west Haiti.

Battling their way through darkness, mud and flying debris that included corrugated iron roofs ripped from their flimsy shacks, families struggled to seek refuge in neighbours' homes – before realising that no building was safe.

Trump’s relationship with Russia – what we know and what comes next

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 03:00 AM PST

From Russia's possible interference in the presidential election to US intelligence fears, here are key figures and questions in play – and what it all could mean

Alarm over the rise of Donald Trump reached a new pitch early this week as officials in Washington worried that the United States has elected a leader who may be uniquely blind to threats posed by Russia, may be confused about US national interests, or who may, in his own largely invisible layers of business and personal interests, have conflicting loyalties.

Trump has stoked those concerns, in part, by repeatedly dismissing outright reports of Russian malfeasance, particularly in the US presidential election. "I think it's ridiculous," Trump said on Sunday of a newly leaked CIA report concluding that Russia had sought to tip the presidential election his way. "I think it's just another excuse [for the Democratic loss]. I don't believe it."

Neoliberalism turned our world into a business. And there are two big winners

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 03:00 AM PST

Fearmongering Donald Trump and optimistic Silicon Valley seem to epitomize opposing ideologies. But the two have far more in common than you think

Tomorrow, Silicon Valley leaders will sit down for a summit with Donald Trump. Larry Page, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and Sheryl Sandberg are all expected to attend. The agenda is unknown, but the mood is likely to be tense. After all, tech executives overwhelmingly backed Hillary Clinton and loudly railed against the dangers posed by a Trump presidency. And Trump regularly lashed out at Silicon Valley on the campaign trail, bashing the industry for building hardware overseas and importing foreign engineers.

But tech has little to fear from Trump. If his cabinet appointments are any indication, he seems keen to govern as a free-market fundamentalist, cutting taxes and regulations to the bone. Trump's elevation of ultra-hawkish ex-generals to key cabinet posts also suggests that he will aggressively expand the sprawling surveillance state inherited from Obama. This is excellent news for companies like Palantir, which sell data analytics tools to the CIA, the NSA and other agencies. Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire who broke with his Silicon Valley colleagues to embrace Trump. Thiel now sits on the transition team, and has begun drawing a select circle of tech industry allies into Trump's orbit. He and his friends are likely to make lots of money.

Who is Donald Trump's secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson? – video profile

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 06:07 AM PST

Rex Tillerson, the 64-year-old Exxon Mobile CEO, is president-elect Donald Trump's nominee for US secretary of state. Tillerson has worked at the oil giant for his entire 41-year career and has strong links with Rosneft in Russia – and with the Kremlin. His appointment now depends on finding majority support among Republicans in the Senate

Rex Tillerson named as Donald Trump's secretary of state

Trump 'flying blind' if he ignores intelligence, warns Obama – video

Posted: 13 Dec 2016 01:57 AM PST

US president Barack Obama says Russia's involvement in the email hacks that blighted the US elections was no secret. In an interview with The Daily Show host Trevor Noah on Monday, Obama warns president-elect Donald Trump against ignoring intelligence briefings