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

02.33 Ibra 0 komentar

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

Chelsea Manning's prison sentence commuted by Barack Obama

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:21 PM PST

The whistleblower, who has been imprisoned for six years for leaking state secrets, is now set to go free on 17 May

Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier who became one of the most prominent whistleblowers of modern times when she exposed the nature of warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who then went on to pay the price with a 35-year military prison sentence, is to be freed in May as a gift of outgoing president Barack Obama.

In the most audacious – and contentious – commutation decision to come from Obama yet, the sitting president used his constitutional power just three days before he leaves the White House to give Manning her freedom.

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Edward Snowden given leave to remain in Russia for 'a couple more years'

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:15 AM PST

Official confirms former US intelligence contractor who revealed the extent of NSA surveillance has had residency extended

Russia has extended Edward Snowden's leave to remain in the country by two years and will not extradite the whistleblower to the US even if relations improve under incoming president Donald Trump, an official has said.

Related: Intelligence experts urge Obama to end Edward Snowden's 'untenable exile'

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Japan to end tourists' toilet trouble with standardised buttons

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:47 AM PST

System of eight symbols is designed to save Olympic visitors from unnerving surprises using Tokyo's high-tech WCs

Navigating the array of buttons on Japan's high-tech toilets can be a disconcerting experience for the uninitiated, who, expecting to hear a familiar flushing sound, are instead subjected to a sudden, and unwanted, cleansing of the nether regions.

As Japan prepares for an influx of overseas visitors during the 2019 rugby World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics the following year, the country's sanitation industry has agreed to standardise pictograms on toilets so users know for certain if they are about to receive a blast of warm air or a jet of water.

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Taiwan carries out drills amid rising fears of Chinese invasion

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:08 PM PST

The island's armed forces test combat readiness, amid deteriorating relations between Beijing and Taipei

The Taiwanese military is preparing for a Chinese invasion as fears grow about the impact that future Donald Trump policies towards Beijing may have on regional stability.

A two-day military drill that began on Tuesday simulated an attack by the People's Liberation Army across the 112-mile (180km) Taiwan strait that separates the mainland from the island nation of 23 million, amid deteriorating relations between Beijing and Taipei.

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Nigeria air strike: dozens dead as camp for internally displaced people hit by mistake

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:25 PM PST

MSF staff report at least 50 dead in airstrike on camp in Borno state where families made homeless by Boko Haram were sheltering

Dozens of people have been killed after a Nigerian military jet mistakenly bombed a camp where thousands of families displaced during the offensive against Boko Haram militants were sheltering.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its staff in the densely populated settlement in the northern town of Rann had seen at least 200 wounded and 50 dead following the bombing on Tuesday and expected the death toll to rise.

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Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: Australia says cost didn't force suspension of search

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 03:42 PM PST

Transport minister says any future underwater search effort would be a matter for the Malaysian government

Australia's transport minister has said cost was not a factor in the suspension of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and any decision to renew an underwater effort rests primarily with the Malaysian government.

Darren Chester and his counterparts in Malaysia and China announced the decision to suspend efforts to find the plane in a tripartite announcement on Tuesday afternoon, after the completion of the search of a 120,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean.

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Putin says those behind Trump dossier are 'worse than prostitutes'

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:58 AM PST

Russian president dismisses alleged links between US president-elect and Moscow and says sex claims are 'obvious fake'

Vladimir Putin has dismissed the dossier published last week about alleged links between Moscow and Donald Trump, describing the people who ordered it as "worse than prostitutes".

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Gambian president declares state of emergency before opponent sworn in

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 12:30 PM PST

Yahya Jammeh is attempting to cling to power after refusing to accept election that saw him lose to Adama Barrow, who is due to be inaugurated on Thursday

The president of The Gambia has declared a state of emergency in the west African country two days before he is due to leave office.

The declaration is the latest in a series of attempts by Yahya Jammeh to hang onto power beyond his current tally of 22 years. Adama Barrow, a former estate agent who beat Jammeh in the December election, is due to be inaugurated on Thursday, but the incumbent is refusing to leave.

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Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos sues Donald Trump for defamation

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:52 PM PST

Suit calls president-elect sexual predator as Zervos demands he 'vindicate her reputation' by admitting to allegations that he groped her

A former contestant from The Apprentice is suing Donald Trump for defamation in relation to claims he groped and aggressively kissed her and then called her a liar.

Summer Zervos filed the lawsuit on Tuesday demanding that the president-elect "vindicate her reputation" by admitting the allegations are true.

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Top Trump adviser says post-Brexit trade deal feasible within a year

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:16 AM PST

Financier Anthony Scaramucci says US could finalise talks with UK in first six to 12 months of new administration

Teresa May's hopes of striking a trade deal with the incoming Donald Trump administration have been given a boost after a leading adviser to the president-elect said a new accord could be achieved within six to 12 months.

Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier and member of Trump's transition team, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Barack Obama's successor would seek a swift and mutually beneficial agreement.

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Campaigners call on EU to halve food waste by 2030

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:01 PM PST

The initiative, which would apply to the UK if passed, would wipe out 44m tonnes of food waste every year

People are being urged to support calls by a major pan-European group to halve 'farm to fork' food waste in Europe by 2030, on the eve of a landmark vote later this month.

The European parliament's environment committee will vote on new regulations on 24 January, which are set to shape the next 15 years of EU food waste policy and have the potential to be the most ambitious, legally binding target on food waste in the world.

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Moon Express raises $20m for 2017 voyage to the moon

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:59 PM PST

  • Robot spacecraft planned to land on moon's surface this year
  • Company will become first private enterprise to travel beyond Earth's orbit

A US company has secured funding to become the first private entity to travel to the moon, with a planned 2017 voyage that will be an international milestone in space exploration.

Moon Express, a Florida-based firm, said it had raised $20m in financing, which will allow it to send a robotic spacecraft to the moon's surface later this year.

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Man arrested after apparent attempt to slap former French PM

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 12:18 PM PST

Manuel Valls was on election tour when incident occurred with security guard wrestling 18-year-old suspect to the floor

An 18-year-old reached out apparently to slap former prime minister Manuel Valls when he was on an election tour in France's Brittany region on Tuesday and was wrestled to the ground by a security guard, a video by local media showed.

Valls, 54, who was walking past a group of people in the town of Lamballe after coming out of the municipal offices, appeared to first shake hands with the youth who said something and then appeared to try to slap the former prime minister.

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Islamic State surrounds military airport in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:52 AM PST

Isis breaks through government lines and takes control of area where World Food Programme's airdrops land

Islamic State fighters have broken through government defensive lines in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, surrounding a military airport and cutting off food supplies for roughly a quarter of a million civilians in what could become a major humanitarian disaster.

Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria is divided between the militants and the government of Bashar al-Assad. The areas controlled by the government have long been under siege but were sustained by supplies flown in to the nearby military airport and by airdrops from the World Food Programme.

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Topless feminist protester attacks Donald Trump waxwork

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:41 AM PST

Femen activist reportedly held on to statue's crotch shouting 'grab patriarchy by the balls'

A topless activist from the feminist group Femen attacked a lifesize statue of Donald Trump during an unveiling ceremony at a waxwork museum in Madrid.

The woman reportedly pushed past security ropes and placed her hand on the statue's crotch while screaming "grab patriarchy by the balls".

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Wife of Orlando nightclub gunman arrested for aiding in attack

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:58 AM PST

Noor Salman, widow of Omar Mateen, appears in court over accusations of engaging in 'misleading conduct' toward local officers and FBI agents

Noor Salman, the widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, has been charged with aiding and abetting the attack and obstruction of justice.

Salman, wife of Omar Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police during the 12 June 2016 attack at the popular LGBT night club in Florida, was arrested in northern California on Monday and appeared in court in Oakland on Tuesday morning.

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EU leaders welcome May speech but urge caution

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:34 AM PST

European officials see more clarity in PM's Brexit speech but warn proposals to turn UK into tax haven will create a 'disagreeable situation'

European leaders have given a cautious welcome to Theresa May's speech, while sounding warnings on what they perceived as the prime minister's threat to undermine the EU on tax if the UK is shut off from the single market.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, summed up May's speech in a tweet: "Sad process, surrealistic times, but at least more realistic announcement on Brexit. EU27 united and ready to negotiate after article 50."

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NFL denies Lady Gaga is banned from mentioning Donald Trump at Super Bowl

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 02:08 AM PST

Claims that showcase half-time show faces a politics gag dismissed as false by both football authorities and singer's management

Rumours that Lady Gaga would be blocked from speaking out about politics or Donald Trump during her forthcoming Super Bowl half-time show have been denied by the NFL.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the NFL told the pop star she could not "say anything or bring anything up about the election, or mention Donald Trump".

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Globalisation has made the world a better place | Jim O'Neill

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 02:07 AM PST

Trade has led to higher living standards in Asia and elsewhere. Are globalisation's critics against eradicating global poverty?

I was recently in beautiful Chile for a Futures Congress, and I had a chance to travel south to the very tip of Latin America. I also recently made a BBC radio documentary called Fixing Globalisation, in which I criss-crossed the UK in search of ideas for improving certain aspects of it and discussed topical issues with well-known experts. In both cases, I saw things that convinced me that it is past time for someone to come to globalisation's defence.

Chile today is Latin America's richest country, with per capita GDP of about $23,000 – similar to that of central European countries. This is quite an achievement for a country that depends so heavily on copper production, and it sets Chile apart from many of its neighbours. Like many other countries, Chile is facing economic challenges, and its growth rate leaves something to be desired; but it also has many promising opportunities beyond its borders.

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After Fukushima: the tenants rebuilding a destroyed community

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:24 AM PST

Before Japan's 2011 earthquake it was a quiet beachside village, now it's a construction site as Usuiso's residents pull together in the face of adversity

Like the head of residents' associations everywhere, Yoshio Ookouchi is not entirely happy. He grumbles about the poor bus service for the older people who make up the majority of tenants in two blocks of flats and 14 houses on his estate, owned and run by the local authority.

It's not easy, he points out, for residents to get to the nearest supermarket or doctor. "From our community viewpoint, we have been a little disappointed by the services provided by the city," says Ookouchi. "We understand they have been busy, but we feel there is room for improvement."

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Berlusconi ally elected head of European parliament

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:22 AM PST

Antonio Tajani's victory follows pact with Guy Verhofstadt's liberals and cements centre-right's dominance of top EU jobs

An ally of the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been elected president of the European parliament after a deal was struck between two of the institution's largest political groups, consolidating a conservative grip on key European Union institutions.

Antonio Tajani, who has been elected as an MEP four times and was previously a vice-president of the European parliament, beat the centre-left leader and fellow Italian Gianni Pittella by 351 votes to 282 in a rare fourth-round runoff, contrary to past appointments decided by mainstream parties before the voting.

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Searching for the man in the rubble: the shocking photograph that led me to the West Bank

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:36 AM PST

A shot of a Palestinian man standing in the ruins of his home affected a London GP so much that she went to the Jenin refugee camp to find him

War photographer Patrick Chauvel took this picture of a Palestinian man standing in the rubble of his home in Jenin, the West Bank, in 2002, during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising. After Chauvel put the camera down, the man's wife offered him a coffee. It was, he said, "an incredible gesture of hospitality, given the obliteration of their home".

This story captured my attention, and I bought the photograph in 2010. It sits in my GP consulting room in east London, and patients, some of whom are refugees and asylum seekers, occasionally ask me about it. Initially, they are puzzled and intrigued. Why is he standing amid the wreckage of his home? It is not the sort of picture they expect to see on a GP's wall. But when I talk about the coffee and the hospitality, they are touched.

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Big freeze in England sees temperatures drop to -6.5C

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:54 AM PST

South-east wakes up to frosty morning but temperatures vary wildly across Britain, with balmier 9C recorded in Scotland

Temperatures in Britain varied by more than 15 degrees on Wednesday morning, with the mercury passing 9C (48.2F) in Scotland and falling to -6.5C (20.3F) in south-east England.

Cloudy skies resulted in milder weather in the north, while clear skies in the south led to a much chillier start to the day.

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Parliament will not get option of reversing Brexit, says David Davis - Politics live

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:59 AM PST

Rolling coverage of the day's political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and reaction to May's Brexit speech

Here is the Press Association story on the unemployment figures.

Unemployment has plunged to its lowest total for more than a decade, but the number of people in work has also fallen.

The jobless total was 1.6m in the quarter to November, down by 52,000 on the previous three months to its lowest since early 2006.

And the Press Association has filed this on how the speech is being covered on the continent.

European newspapers have responded to Theresa May's speech setting out her priorities as she negotiates the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) with a series of striking front pages.

The prime minister confirmed on Tuesday that Britain will quit the single market and warned she will walk away from exit talks rather than accept a "punitive" deal.

Tomorrow's @welt: "Little Britain. PM Theresa May leads Britain into isolation" #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @alauraschneider) pic.twitter.com/jr33AGBCjP

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Iraq's Marsh Arabs test the waters as wetlands ruined by Saddam are reborn

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:00 AM PST

In the country's southern marshes, the government is helping families to rebuild their floating communities, 25 years after the land was drained

The morning of 20 January 1992 began much like any other for the Mohammed family in the marshlands of southern Iraq. Rising at first light, they roused their herd of buffaloes and drove the beasts snorting and protesting into the surrounding wetlands to graze. After a quick breakfast of bread and yoghurt, washed down with sugary tea, they readied themselves for a long day out on the water.

But on that day, one of the coldest on record, five-year-old Hanaa and her mother caught no fish and gathered no reeds. No sooner had they paddled past the last of their neighbours' floating reed houses than a squadron of government fighter jets emerged from the mist, guns blazing. They reduced the artificial islets to embers, and killed many of the buffaloes. Not content with shooting up a few villages as punishment for locals' alleged harbouring of defeated Shia rebels, Saddam Hussein soon dispatched his engineers to divert the Tigris and Euphrates rivers away from the marshes. The effects were disastrous. By the turn of the last century, the Middle East's largest wetlands had withered from a peak of 20,000 sq km to almost nothing.

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Kenya's slum ballet school – in pictures

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:28 AM PST

The Kibera ballet school is part of Anno's Africa project, working in slum areas in Kenya. Weekly ballet classes are held by the teacher and former dancer Mike Wamaya. In collaboration with a ballet studio in Karen, an upperclass area in Nairobi, young dancers are given the opportunity to be part of productions at the city's national theatre

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Indigenous Canadians face a crisis as climate change eats away island home

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:00 AM PST

Rising sea levels mean that Lennox Island has lost more than 400 acres in just a few generations. Now its First Nations community wonders if it has a future

His hands tucked tightly in the pockets of his jeans, Gilbert Sark nodded at the ice-covered bay stretched out before him.

Decades ago, his grandfather – at the time one of the few in this First Nations community to own a truck – would spend winters ferrying people across the frozen bay to Prince Edward Island. One wintry day, the truck hit a patch of soft ice, sending it plunging into the frigid waters below.

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NSW bushfires: two rescued by helicopter in Hunter Valley

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:25 AM PST

Reports of property lost amid deteriorating conditions near Tarago and in the Hunter region

A mother and daughter have been rescued from a burning property by helicopter and homes have reportedly been destroyed as a bushfire burnt out of control in the New South Wales Hunter region.

The woman and young girl were spotted by a Rural Fire Service rapid response crew in Kurri Kurri on Wednesday afternoon before being taken to Cessnock airport in distress.

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Snow sweeps across Europe – in pictures

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:15 AM PST

A cold wave across Europe affected many countries bringing low temperatures and snowfalls in many countries where its not a regular occurrence

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Israeli policeman and alleged attacker killed in clashes over home demolitions

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:45 AM PST

Police say man killed in Bedouin village was a terrorist who tried to ram them with car, but local residents say he did not

At least one Israeli Arab has been killed in clashes between police and demonstrators at a protest against home demolitions in the south of the country.

Police said they shot dead an attacker who tried to ram them with his car, but residents of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Heiran, in the Negev desert, said the driver was simply heading to the scene to talk with authorities in an attempt to halt the demolitions.

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'We will keep fighting': MH370 search's end a blow to Australian victims' families

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:40 AM PST

Eight Australian citizens or residents were among 239 people on the Malaysia Airlines flight when it was lost on 8 March 2014

The conclusion of the underwater search for the wreck of MH370 is another blow to the families of Australian victims, as the third anniversary of the plane's disappearance nears.

Six Australian citizens and two residents were among the 239 people on board the Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it was lost on 8 March 2014.

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Anti-abortion report challenges law reform in Northern Ireland

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

100,000 people are alive because 1967 Abortion Act was never introduced says campaign group, while proposal for legalisation bill is pending

A report by anti-abortion campaigners in Northern Ireland has claimed that 100,000 people were born in the region because the 1967 Abortion Act was never extended to the province.

The Both Lives Matter report published on Wednesday comes as the former justice minister in Northern Ireland confirmed this week that he will resubmit his private member's bill in the next Stormont assembly calling on the new devolved parliament to legalise abortions in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities where the pregnancies are doomed.

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Turkey seeks arrest of 243 military personnel in ongoing crackdown

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:52 PM PST

The suspects are being sought because they used a messaging app the government claims was used by coup plotters

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 243 members of the military in 54 provinces across the country, in an investigation related to July's failed coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Anadolu said on Wednesday the suspects were being sought on suspicion they were using Bylock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app the government says was used by the network of Fethullah Gülen, the US-based cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the attempted coup.

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Call for emigration to Canada – archive, 18 January 1901

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:00 PM PST

18 January 1901: The Canadian High Commissioner to the UK writes to the Manchester Guardian encouraging British citizens to settle in his country

To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian,
Sir, – You have been kind enough on more than one occasion to give publicity to letters from me relating to the inducements extended by the Dominion and Provincial Governments of Canada to persons who from one cause or another are contemplating emigration from the United Kingdom.

I venture to think that in no part of the world can settlers obtain greater advantages than in the Dominion of Canada. In Manitoba, the North-west Territories, and parts of Ontario free grants of 160 acres of land are to be had. In Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, as well as in Manitoba and the North-west Territories, public lands can be purchased on nominal terms. And in every part of the country improved farms may be acquired at reasonable prices by those who are possessed of a little means.

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At least four killed in gunfight in Mexican resort of Cancun

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:33 PM PST

Deaths occurred when gunmen opened fire at government offices in the beach resort days after five died at a nearby music festival

At least four people have been killed after gunmen opened fire at government offices in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun, a day after at least five people died in a shooting at a music festival nearby.

Rodolfo del Angel Campos, chief of police for the state of Quintana Roo, said gunfire broke out at the state attorney general's office in Cancun, a city that is one of the most popular seaside destinations for foreign tourists in Mexico.

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Flipping hell! New Zealand property frenzy as two houses sold five times in four days

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:03 PM PST

Real estate watchdog to investigate the dealings as Auckland red-hot market continues to soar

An investigation has been launched into how two Auckland homes were sold five times in four days as the practice of "flipping" continues to boom in New Zealand's largest city and hottest property market.

The two houses are located side by side in the suburb of Mangere Bridge in south Auckland, where flipping is most common, according to an analyst from CoreLogic.

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Compensation battle stalls for families of MH370 victims

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:34 PM PST

Malaysia Airlines has received millions in insurance for the plane's loss – yet relatives are still embroiled in court cases

Families of the victims of MH370 have found their battle for compensation has stalled over access to documents from Malaysia Airlines, which claims it has "actually gone beyond its legal obligations".

Two hundred and thirty-nine people from 15 countries were on board the Boeing 777-200ER when it deviated from the course on 8 March 2014 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The plane's final resting place remains unknown.

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Obama commutes sentence for political prisoner Oscar López Rivera

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 02:55 PM PST

López Rivera, whose commutation was announced with 208 others, has been incarcerated for 35 years for his role in fighting for Puerto Rico's independence

Barack Obama has commuted the sentence of Oscar López Rivera, a victory for the Puerto Rican independence activist who is considered to be one of the world's longest-serving political prisoners.

In his final days in office, Obama has issued a record number of pardons and commutations, including granting the release of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, the US army soldier who became one of the most famous whistleblowers in modern times.

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Activists claim to unveil leader of 'alt-right' website the Right Stuff

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 12:54 PM PST

An 'antifascist investigation team' claimed to unmask Mike Peinovich as the ringleader of the Right Stuff website, a hub for the far-right movement

Antifascist activists claim to have "doxxed", or umasked, the leading "alt-right" writer and podcaster Mike Enoch as part of a string of such actions that have convulsed the far-right movement.

Enoch has appeared at conferences hosted by Richard Spencer's National Policy Institute, including one in Washington in November that culminated in Roman salutes and widely reported shouts of "hail Trump".

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Church is working to tackle child abuse | Letters

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:06 AM PST

I dispute claims made by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi in a new book as reported in your article ('Pope has done almost nothing to halt sex abuse', 16 January). As a member of the pontifical commission for the protection of minors since its formation in 2014, I have personally attended eight plenary meetings of the commission, in addition to numerous working group meetings. Members have had more than 50 educational engagements in five continents during the last 12 months, ranging from a couple of hours to three-day dedicated workshops for church leaders, staff and volunteers.

The intensity of the global educational and policy work under way is quite different to Fittipaldi's dismissive suggestion that the commission has only met on three or four occasions. Pope Francis has endorsed our recommendations, which will require significant culture change and time to be implemented in practice. Pope Francis has a relationship with all members of the church, but would not normally interfere with the role of the local hierarchy. He is a pastor, not the governor of the local church.

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C of E archbishops call on Christians to repent for Reformation split

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:41 AM PST

Justin Welby and John Sentamu recall 'damage done five centuries ago' that saw Christian people pitted against each other

It unleashed an orgy of death and destruction across Europe. In England alone, more than 800 monasteries, abbeys, nunneries and friaries were seized, libraries were destroyed, manuscripts lost, treasures stripped and works of art appropriated. Thousands of people were hung, drawn and quartered, or burnt at the stake for their religious beliefs.

Five hundred years after the Reformation, the religious revolution that swept across Europe, the leaders of the Church of England - itself created in the decades of upheaval - have called on Christians to repent for the divisions, persecution and death.

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Hundreds of coffins to be restored in Egyptian conservation project

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:24 AM PST

More than 600 wooden coffins at Egyptian Museum in Cairo to be documented and restored by team of conservationists

Egypt will restore hundreds of coffins dating back thousands of years to the time of the pharaohs as part of an American-Egyptian project to preserve and document one of the world's oldest civilisations, a director of the project said.

The conservation effort, funded by a US grant, will restore more than 600 wooden coffins that date to various eras of ancient Egypt and which are currently stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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The battle for Mosul in maps

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:47 AM PST

Three months after the start of the operation to take back Iraq's second city from Islamic State, we map the progress of the coalition forces

In June 2014, when the leader of Isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a global caliphate, he did it from Mosul, Iraq's second city. Isis rapidly expanded its territory in Iraq and Syria throughout that year, but has since been gradually pushed back, partly due to US-led airstrikes. Losing Mosul now could spell the end of the jihadi group's ability to control large swaths of Iraq.

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Photographs from Scott's doomed polar expedition to be sold

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:03 AM PST

Herbert Ponting images intended as publicity for triumphant return are up for auction at Bonham's next month

Only the husky dogs, curled up for a snooze, look entirely happy in a photograph taken more than a century ago on the Terra Nova, the ship that carried Captain Robert Falcon Scott on his fatal final attempt to conquer the south pole.

The silvery print, taken by the expedition's official photographer Herbert Ponting, is one of five being sold at auction. Ponting's magnificent images were intended for publicity when the explorers returned victorious. Instead they helped to make the story of the expedition – during which Scott and his companions died following the bitter discovery that they had been beaten to the pole by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen – one of the most famous in the annals of polar exploration.

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Topless Femen protester at unveiling of Donald Trump waxwork in Madrid – video

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:27 AM PST

A topless activist from the feminist group Femen attacks a lifesize statue of Donald Trump during an unveiling ceremony at a waxwork museum in Madrid on Tuesday. The woman shouts 'grab patriarchy by the balls' – a reference to Trump's boasting in a leaked recording of grabbing women 'by the pussy'. Gonzalo Presa, spokesman for the museum, says it was not the type of publicity he wanted

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Germany's top court rules against ban on far-right NDP

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:18 AM PST

Court blocks attempt to outlaw party saying it presents insufficient threat to democracy despite similarities with Nazis

Germany's constitutional court has said the far-right National Democratic party resembles Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, but ruled against banning it because it presents no threat to democracy.

The country's 16 federal states had pressed for the ban amid rising support for rightwing groups that has been stoked by popular resentment over the influx of large numbers of migrants.

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Shady deal: Italian shop owners in Conegliano fight tax on shadows

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:32 AM PST

Shopkeepers in town in Veneto whose signs block light on public walkways are refusing to pay levy of €100 a year

Goethe once wrote that where there is much light, there is also strong shadow.

But for shop owners in Conegliano, a town in Veneto known for its dry prosecco, the emission of light – and shade – has taken on a meaning that is far less poetic and far more fiscal.

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US abortion rate is lowest since Roe v Wade – but contraception access may go

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 05:00 AM PST

  • Study finds strong indication contraception access linked to abortion fall
  • Republican Affordable Care Act repeal would end easier access to birth control

The rate of abortion in the US reached a lower level in 2014 than in any other year since the procedure first became legal, a study has found, a decline that appears to be due to the widespread use of contraception producing a drop in unintended pregnancies.

Related: Tennessee woman jailed for attempting abortion accepts plea deal for release

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Eyewitness: Dachi Suu, Kyrgyzstan

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:19 AM PST

Photographs from the Eyewitness series

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People power in Puerto Rico: how a canal community escaped gentrification

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:30 PM PST

How do you improve a neighbourhood without causing land prices to rise? Residents along a polluted waterway in San Juan set up a community land trust to help save their homes, as well as the environment

For years a graffiti message has appeared throughout San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, as an urgent demand: Dragado ya! (meaning "dredging now!").

Even passersby who have never set foot in the eight barrios making up the Caño Martín Peña community – a large informal settlement along 3.75 miles of canal in the central city – know the message points to the dire need to dredge the waterway, which has become so clogged with refuse that those driving by with the windows down can immediately smell the stagnant waters.

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What is the 'global gag rule', and why does Trump support it? – video

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

This US aid policy, rescinded by Obama, is likely to be brought back by Trump. Campaigners say it will endanger the lives and health of the world's poorest and most vulnerable women by denying access to life-saving family planning, sexual and reproductive health and HIV services and putting them at risk of unsafe abortion

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UK government accused of falling short on pledges to fight corruption

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:51 AM PST

Chair of international development committee calls progress 'disappointing' as government rejects proposals that followed 2016 anti-corruption summit

The British government is failing to live up to promises to tackle corruption, according to the chair of the international development committee, Stephen Twigg.

On Monday the government rejected recommendations made by the international development committee (IDC) in the wake of a major anti-corruption summit hosted in London last year by the former prime minister David Cameron. These included the introduction of country-by-country reporting of multinationals' profits and payments.

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'Ugly women don't sell burgers' – the trickle-down effect of Team Trump

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:02 AM PST

Fast food boss Andrew Puzder is the new administration's labor secretary nominee – despite his endorsement of adverts that objectify women

New research has suggested that female employees at fast food restaurants operated by Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump's nomination for labor secretary, face far higher levels of workplace sexual harassment than the industry average. According to the research conducted by Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United, around 66% of female workers reported sexual harassment at brands owned by CKE restaurants, run by Puzder, compared with the average of 40% across the fast food industry.

The man at the top of this particular food chain has repeatedly made sexist statements and expressed his backing for the infamous adverts that have objectified and sexualised women's bodies to sell hamburgers for CKE restaurants chains including Carl's Jr. "We believe in putting hot models in our commercials, because ugly ones don't sell burgers," Puzder said, in a 2009 press release. Last year he proudly endorsed the adverts, and stated: "I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis … I used to hear that brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality."

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How Chelsea Manning lifted lid on harsh facts of US wars and military justice

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 02:57 PM PST

A physically slight army private, shocked by the reality of America's military mission, revealed US diplomatic secrets and was made to pay a heavy price

"I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness."

Those words were part of an 11-page letter written by Chelsea Manning and passed to the Guardian in March 2011 in which she outlined the harsh treatment to which she was being subjected in prolonged solitary confinement in the military brig at Quantico base in Virginia. She was then awaiting trial as the suspected source of the biggest leak of state secrets in US history, and going under the male name given to her at birth before her transition to living as a woman. The details of her detention were later denounced by the UN as a form of torture.

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The legacy of Barack Obama, in seven drawings – video

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 01:00 AM PST

It is not easy to measure the impact of Barack Obama's eight years as president of the United States. But here are seven numbers that illustrate what he did – for better and for worse – during his time in the White House

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Apprentice contestant announces lawsuit against Donald Trump – video

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 12:50 AM PST

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, issues a statement on Tuesday in which she says she is left with no option other than to sue president–elect Donald Trump for defamation. The lawsuit follows Trump's refusal to retract his allegation that Zervos is a liar in relation to her claims that he groped and aggressively kissed her

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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: the town that built America – in pictures

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

Bethlehem Steel produced most of America's steel and was the country's largest shipbuilder. Based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the company provided steel for the buildings that would make up New York's skyline, for bridges and dams across the US, and for the warships of the navy. The company's 2001 closing is often seen as emblematic of the shift away from industrial manufacturing in America

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Trump has divided America. Can he really make it great again? – video

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

The Guardian visits Northampton County in Pennsylvania, a former Democratic heartland where the steel industry once built America's great bridges, buildings and warships. Why did it flip for Trump in 2016, and what do supporters want next?

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Barack Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's prison sentence – video

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:30 PM PST

White House press secretary Josh Earnest says the decision to free the whistleblower was partly because she has admitted wrongdoing through the justice system, unlike Edward Snowden

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Donald Trump mistakes council worker for daughter Ivanka – video

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:12 PM PST

Donald Trump mistakenly retweeted praise for a woman from England with the same first name as his daughter late on Monday. Trump quoted a praiseworthy tweet directed to him by another Twitter user who had used @Ivanka rather than @IvankaTrump

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Obama's White House, by official photographer Pete Souza - in pictures

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 04:00 AM PST

Pete Souza, formerly the official photographer for Ronald Reagan, was the official White House photographer for President Barack Obama. As the US awaits the inauguration of Donald Trump, Souza looks back at some of his favourite images from the last eight years

All photographs by Pete Souza for The White House

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Life is Inspiration

Saya senang blogging, untuk sharing apa yang saya fikirkan. Saya menganggap setiap perjalanan hidup memiliki keunikan..

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