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Turkey nightclub shooting: Istanbul mourns as police hunt gunman
Indonesian ferry fire leaves 23 dead and 17 missing
Trump spokesman on Russia: president-elect already getting 'wins' abroad
Jean-Claude Juncker blocked EU curbs on tax avoidance, cables show
Russian envoys leave US after sanctions for alleged hacks
Iraqi forces in Mosul performing 'at their peak', says US commander
'Hollyweed': California's Hollywood sign changed in post-election prank
Isis claims responsibility for Istanbul nightclub attack
Mobile technology takes fight against HIV in Lesotho to the people
Optimism v pessimism in 2017: the comedian and the psychologist debate
Man who tried to smuggle child refugee into UK: 'I'd never do it again. Well ... '
Donald Trump's Indonesian business partner considers running for president
Daughter of South Korea's 'female Rasputin' arrested in Denmark
Glasgow Children's Wood saved from development
Hundreds of refugees try to scale fence dividing Morocco and Spanish enclave
Obama treads on Trump's Twitter turf to reflect on presidential achievements
Melbourne swimmers face gastro risk after storms wash poo into Port Phillip Bay
Foreign nationals named among victims of Istanbul attack
China smog: millions start new year shrouded by health alerts and travel chaos
Australian road deaths rise for second year, reaching almost 1,300 in 2016
'Before I came here I was scared': Karen refugees find a haven in Victoria
India's bank note ban: how Modi botched the policy yet kept his political capital
Hundreds of Syrians flee as Assad's forces bomb groups excluded from ceasefire
Four-wheel-drive rolls off ferry on the way to Queensland's Fraser Island – video
Pentagon condemns North Korea after claim it will test missile that can reach US
Saving New Zealand's murder capital: 'We don't want to be defined by death'
Burkinis and belonging: 'It's this feeling the beach and hijab don't mix'
John Kerry’s challenge to Israel on a two-state solution | Letters
'Patients who should live are dying': Greece's public health meltdown
Mohammed Ramzan obituary
Istanbul nightclub attack caps off dreadful year for Turkey
Cornwall refugee group raises thousands to help resettle Syrian families
Eyewitness: Perarou, Belarus
Park Geun-hye calls corruption allegations against her a 'fabrication'
Reina: site of Istanbul attack, a nightclub renowned for famous guests
How the US war on piracy brought one Somali to a West Virginia prison
Giles Duley, photojournalist: ‘I promised my pictures could help Syrian war victims. At last, I’ve kept my word’

Turkey nightclub shooting: Istanbul mourns as police hunt gunman

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 11:48 AM PST

Erdoğan vows to fight terrorism 'till the end' as world leaders condemn New Year's Eve killing of 39 people at Reina nightclub

Istanbul is on high alert as the hunt for a gunman, who fled after killing 39 people at a nightclub on New Year's Eve, continues.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed in a statement that Turkey would fight terrorism "till the end" following the attack at Reina in Istanbul's upmarket Ortaköy neighbourhood.

Indonesian ferry fire leaves 23 dead and 17 missing

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 01:16 PM PST

Vessel with more than 230 people on board caught fire just 15 minutes after leaving Jakarta port of Muara Angke

At least 23 people were killed and 17 others missing after a ferry caught fire on Sunday off the coast of Indonesia's capital Jakarta, officials said.

The vessel was carrying more than 230 people from Jakarta's port of Muara Angke to Tidung, a resort island in the Kepulauan Seribu chain, when it caught fire, officials said. Most of the passengers were Indonesians celebrating the New Year's holiday, according to local media reports.

Trump spokesman on Russia: president-elect already getting 'wins' abroad

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 10:38 AM PST

Spicer: delay in Russian retaliation for sanctions 'good for our country'
Trump questions claims of Russian hacking: 'I know things others don't'

As Russian diplomats expelled by Barack Obama left the US on Sunday, Donald Trump's incoming White House spokesman attempted to cast as a diplomatic triumph the president-elect's controversial response to intelligence community reports that Moscow sought to influence the presidential election.

Jean-Claude Juncker blocked EU curbs on tax avoidance, cables show

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 05:14 AM PST

Leaked papers reveal that as Luxembourg's PM, the European commission president obstructed the bloc's tax reforms efforts

The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, spent years in his previous role as Luxembourg's prime minister secretly blocking EU efforts to tackle tax avoidance by multinational corporations, leaked documents reveal.

Years' worth of confidential German diplomatic cables provide a candid account of Luxembourg's obstructive manoeuvres inside one of Brussels' most secretive committees.

Russian envoys leave US after sanctions for alleged hacks

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 03:11 PM PST

The 35 diplomats expelled by President Obama have left the US, and Russian compounds in the country have shut down

A plane carrying 35 Russian diplomats, expelled from the United States over Moscow's alleged interference in the presidential election, took off from Washington on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported.

"The plane has taken off. Everyone is on board," said the Russian embassy in Washington, quoted by the state-owned Ria Novosti agency. Relatives of the diplomats were also on board, making 96 in all.

Iraqi forces in Mosul performing 'at their peak', says US commander

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 05:54 AM PST

Troops fighting Isis are adjusting well to changes on the ground, says Brig Gen Rick Uribe as he suggests battle could last another three months

A senior US commander in Iraq on Sunday gave a vote of confidence to Iraqi forces fighting to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants, saying such forces were currently "at their peak" and adjusting well to changing realities on the battlefield.

Speaking in an interview, Brig Gen Rick Uribe said he agreed with the forecast given by Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi that it would take another three months to liberate Mosul, the last Iraqi urban center in the hands of the extremist group.

'Hollyweed': California's Hollywood sign changed in post-election prank

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 11:05 AM PST

Following passage of measure legalizing use of recreational marijuana, prankster uses tarps to alter sign – and it's not the first time it has happened

Los Angeles residents awoke on New Year's Day to find a prankster had altered the famed Hollywood sign to read "Hollyweed".

Isis claims responsibility for Istanbul nightclub attack

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 01:46 AM PST

Authorities still hunting gunman who killed 39 on New Year's Eve, who is believed to be from central Asian nation

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a gun attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people during New Year's Eve celebrations.

The gunman who opened fire on the dancefloor of the Reina nightclub in Turkey's largest city, killing partygoers from 12 different countries, is still at large and believed to be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan.

Mobile technology takes fight against HIV in Lesotho to the people

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 01:00 AM PST

In a country where 23% of people have the HIV virus, a programme using apps and travelling clinics is providing far easier access to treatment

Maboe Ntsime remembers well the ordeal she used to go through to receive the regular treatment she and her six-year-old son, Motsamai, depend on as people living with HIV.

"It was exhausting because I walked," recalled the mother, from Lesotho, where almost 23% of the population live with the virus. "If I left home at 8am I would sleep over somewhere. Otherwise I would get back after dark. I would walk back that distance with my son on my back."

Optimism v pessimism in 2017: the comedian and the psychologist debate

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 12:00 AM PST

Liam Williams quit standup fearing his pessimissm about the state of the planet was making audiences worryingly apathetic. But is a sunny outlook really any healthier? We sat him down for a session with psychologist Philippa Perry

More uplifting culture for 2017

One day last year, Liam Williams locked himself out and tried to climb in through his bedroom window. "I'd done it before very skilfully when drunk," he says, "but this time I was hungover, so I guess I had that reduced inhibition, but not that derring-do – you know, the reckless optimism of a drunkard." It didn't end well. "It was only the first storey but I didn't have any shoes on and it was quite a high window. I fell and broke my heels. It really hurt."

The comedian is telling this story to psychologist Philippa Perry and me as we meet in a London cafe to consider the merits of optimism and pessimism. Is pessimism necessarily bad for you? What health benefits come with being optimistic? Does being optimistic help you in relationships? Does being pessimistic make you pragmatic about a prospective lover's shortcomings? If you're as bleakly pessimistic as Eeyore, can you change? If you're as misguidedly optimistic as Mr Micawber, can you get a firmer grip on reality? More troublingly, what looks like pessimism to one can seem like optimism to another. Consider Williams's attempted break-in. Perry suggests that his climb was optimistic. Liam worries it was doomed by pessimism. "It comes under the heading of risk-taking," says Perry. "Optimists are more likely to take risks – they think they can drive into that gap in traffic or climb through windows." She pauses before adding: "That's not necessarily a good thing."

Man who tried to smuggle child refugee into UK: 'I'd never do it again. Well ... '

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

Rob Lawrie, arrested at the Calais border when officers found an Afghan girl in his van, explains how his life has changed

A former soldier who narrowly avoided jail for trying to smuggle a child refugee into Britain has said he would attempt to get a minor to safety again if he thought he could get away with it.

The image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi laying facedown and lifeless on a beach near the Turkish resort of Bodrum in September 2015 sparked a wave of outrage across the world. For Rob Lawrie, a self-employed carpet cleaner from Guiseley near Leeds, it changed everything.

Donald Trump's Indonesian business partner considers running for president

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 09:42 PM PST

Billionaire developer Hary Tanoe, who is building two Trump resorts, says he has 'access' to the US president-elect

Donald Trump's Indonesian business partner, a billionaire developer and media mogul, has announced he might run for president in Indonesia's 2019 elections.

"If there is no one I can believe who can fix the problems of the country, I may try to run for president," Hary Tanoesoedibjo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Daughter of South Korea's 'female Rasputin' arrested in Denmark

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 08:04 PM PST

South Korean authorities had been seeking the arrest of Choi Soon-sil's daughter for her alleged ties to a scandal that has paralysed the government

Danish police have arrested the daughter of South Korean president Park Geun-hye's friend, Choi Soon-sil, who is at the centre of an influence-peddling scandal that has engulfed her presidency.

South Korean authorities had been seeking the arrest of Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, for her alleged ties to the scandal, which has paralysed Park's government and drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets of Seoul for weeks.

Glasgow Children's Wood saved from development

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

After a five year battle to save Glasgow's green space, campaigners are hoping to pave the way for new Scottish legislation

North Kelvin Meadow – or Children's Wood, as it has been renamed by campaigners – has been saved from housing developers after a hard-fought five year battle, some two decades on from when locals first sowed grass seed on the abandoned sports ground.

In contrast to the city's nearby Botanic Gardens, the three acre Children's Wood is a ramshackle affair, offering a very different kind of natural resource to local residents who have gradually transformed the meadow from a derelict site into a thriving civic space, close to the fashionable West End.

Hundreds of refugees try to scale fence dividing Morocco and Spanish enclave

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 06:22 PM PST

An estimated 1,100 people from sub-Saharan Africa try to reach Europe by climbing over the border fence with Ceuta on New Year's Day

Hundreds of refugees have tried to jump a high double fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, resulting in violent clashes with police.

A group of 1,100 people from sub-Saharan Africa trying to reach Europe attempted to climb the border fence just after 4am (0300 GMT) on New Year's Day in an "extremely violent and organised" way, said the central government's representative office in Ceuta.

Obama treads on Trump's Twitter turf to reflect on presidential achievements

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 01:56 PM PST

As successor's spokesman says controversial use of Twitter 'gets results', current Oval Office occupant sends out tweet storm underlining his legacy

Barack Obama on Sunday used Twitter, a medium notoriously favoured by the man who will succeed him in the White House, to tout his achievements in office.

Melbourne swimmers face gastro risk after storms wash poo into Port Phillip Bay

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 11:38 PM PST

More than half the beaches around the bay listed as having poor water quality and being unsuitable for swimming

Swimmers are being warned of gastro risk at Melbourne beaches because recent heavy storms have washed poo into Port Phillip Bay.

Environmental Protection Victoria's website listed 21 of the 36 beaches it monitors around the bay as having poor water quality on Monday, meaning the water was not suitable for swimming.

Foreign nationals named among victims of Istanbul attack

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 07:28 PM PST

Seven Saudis, four Iraqis, two Indians, two Tunisians and one each from France, Syria, Israel and Belgium reportedly killed

Citizens of up to a dozen countries, including seven Saudi nationals and four Iraqis, were among the 39 people killed when a gunman opened fire on New Year's Eve revellers in a crowded nightclub in Istanbul, Turkish media have said.

Local media said the Turkish victims at the Reina nightclub on the Bosphorus waterfront included a policeman, a female security guard and a travel agent.

China smog: millions start new year shrouded by health alerts and travel chaos

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 07:22 PM PST

On the first day of 2017 in Beijing pollution climbed as high as 24 times the level recommended by the World Health Organization

Millions in China rang in the New Year shrouded in a thick blanket of toxic smog, causing road closures and flight cancellations as 24 cities issued alerts that will last through much of the week.

On the first day of 2017 in Beijing, concentrations of tiny particles that penetrate deep into the lungs climbed as high as 24 times levels recommended by the World Health Organization. More than 100 flights were cancelled and all intercity buses were halted at the capital's airport.

Australian road deaths rise for second year, reaching almost 1,300 in 2016

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 06:56 PM PST

Two successive rises in the number of annual road deaths have bucked a long-term downward trend since 1970, when 3,798 people died

More than 1,290 people died on Australian roads in 2016, confirming the nation has experienced its second spike in road deaths in as many years.

Most states and territories have now released their final road toll figures for last year.

'Before I came here I was scared': Karen refugees find a haven in Victoria

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 06:34 PM PST

After the trauma of conflict in Myanmar and years in camps, refugees volunteer to learn English and obtain skills that will help them into the workforce

From his hat to his sock protectors, Eh Hta Dah Shee is a park ranger. The 25-year-old Karen man, known as Dutchie, has spent the past four years volunteering at the Werribee Park mansion and at Serendip sanctuary, in Melbourne's outer west.

He keeps to a strict schedule: Tuesday and Wednesday at Werribee Park, Thursday with the animals of Serendip wildlife sanctuary, Friday back at Werribee for the weekly lunch hosted by members of the Karen or Pwa Ka Nyaw community.

India's bank note ban: how Modi botched the policy yet kept his political capital

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 05:58 PM PST

His plea for 50 days of grace has expired, yet the prime minister may survive thanks to his framing of demonetisation as a strike against corrupt elites

Birja's story is typical – and to an outsider, confounding. The 32-year-old works as a housemaid in Delhi, and like more than one billion Indians, has seen her cash evaporate since November, when India suddenly recalled its two-highest value bank notes.

"Poor people like me are in trouble," she says. Two of her employers have been able to pay her only in expired currency, which needs to be deposited or exchanged at banks. That presents a problem: "I do not have a bank account," she says.

Hundreds of Syrians flee as Assad's forces bomb groups excluded from ceasefire

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 04:52 PM PST

Mountainous region near Damascus targeted with days of airstrikes and shelling but truce between government and rebels appears to hold

Hundreds of civilians fled a mountainous region outside the Syrian capital on Sunday, where government forces were battling several insurgent groups, including one linked to al-Qaida that was excluded from the recent nationwide ceasefire.

The Syrian military said 1,300 people had fled the Barada valley region, near Damascus, since Saturday. The region has been the target of days of airstrikes and shelling despite the truce, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey and appears to be holding in other parts of the country, despite some reports of fighting.

Four-wheel-drive rolls off ferry on the way to Queensland's Fraser Island – video

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 04:38 PM PST

Passengers watch as a Landcruiser tumbles off the back of a vessel travelling between Rainbow Beach on the Queensland coast and Fraser Island. The footage was captured by traveller Chlöe Swift, who said on Facebook: "Really sad and scary start to our Fraser Island trip all 4x4's were on the ferry and we were making our way to the island. One of the 4x4's at the back of the ferry completely rolled off and sank. Luckily nobody inside the car! But quite a few phones, debit cards, passports and valuables all gone." The barge company, Manta Ray Fraser Island Barges, was investigating

Pentagon condemns North Korea after claim it will test missile that can reach US

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 04:33 PM PST

Washington warns Pyongyang against 'provocative actions' after regime announces it will test an intercontinental ballistic missile

The United States on Sunday sharply condemned North Korea's claims it will test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile and warned Pyongyang against "provocative actions."

The toughly worded US statement called on "all states" to show the North that any unlawful actions would have "consequences."

Saving New Zealand's murder capital: 'We don't want to be defined by death'

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 03:43 PM PST

Kaitaia has seen four homicides and six suicides in a single year. Now the locals are trying to save their community

Ringed by golden beaches and temperate Pacific seas, Kaitaia is unconscionably pretty, dotted with flaming red pohutukawa trees and blessed by year-round blue skies.

The town of 5,000 people on the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island should be known as a holiday resort, but instead it has been dubbed the murder capital of New Zealand after four homicides and six suicides in a single year.

Burkinis and belonging: 'It's this feeling the beach and hijab don't mix'

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 12:58 PM PST

Australia prides itself on its relaxed beach culture but many Muslim women fear stares – and stereotyping

When I was 13, I started wearing hijab. I had always loved swimming but had to give it up until my mother bought some Lycra fabric from Lincraft and sewed me a fluorescent pink-and-blue two-piece wetsuit with a matching swimming cap. The local pools refused to admit me wearing the suit but I was free to go to the beach. So go to the beach I did.

John Kerry’s challenge to Israel on a two-state solution | Letters

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 10:37 AM PST

One state in which a Jewish government rules the entire territory from the Mediterranean to the Jordan and controls a Palestinian Arab population that equals the number of Jews is not the only option. There could be a single state of all its citizens, controlled by a democratically elected parliament and government in the interests of all its citizens (Kerry accuses Israel of undermining peace hopes, 29 December). This would not be a bizarre arrangement. In fact, all civilised nations apart from Israel are governed in this way.

Your Q&A section says that "This would effectively be the end of the Jewish homeland, and thus unacceptable to the vast majority of global Jews and many others." First, the "Jewish homeland" was formed by taking the land of another people, the Palestinians. And most Jews today, as shown by their distribution around the world, have no need for a Jewish homeland.

'Patients who should live are dying': Greece's public health meltdown

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 10:37 AM PST

Alexis Tsipras's austerity drive has seen hospitals become 'danger zones', doctors say, with many fearing worse is to come

Rising mortality rates, an increase in life-threatening infections and a shortage of staff and medical equipment are crippling Greece's health system as the country's dogged pursuit of austerity hammers the weakest in society.

Data and anecdote, backed up by doctors and trade unions, suggest the EU's most chaotic state is in the midst of a public health meltdown. "In the name of tough fiscal targets, people who might otherwise survive are dying," said Michalis Giannakos who heads the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees. "Our hospitals have become danger zones."

Mohammed Ramzan obituary

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 10:00 AM PST

My father, Mohammed Ramzan ("Abu"), who has died aged 79, was a community activist and religious teacher in the Sufi tradition.

In 1969 on a trip to Pakistan he met Barkat Ali, a former British Indian Army officer who had renounced the world, vowing to live the life of a fakir. Barkat Ali began a movement, Dar-ul-Ehsan ("House of Blessings") with three aims: selfless service to all without discrimination, zikr or the rhythmic chanting of the names of Allah in communal worship and the active communication of Islam in what he considered its true form. Abu became his murid (disciple) and was appointed Barkat Ali's representative in the UK.

Istanbul nightclub attack caps off dreadful year for Turkey

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 09:52 AM PST

Failed military coup, foreign policy setbacks and a string of terrorist atrocities have left country reeling

The New Year's Eve attack on an Istanbul nightclub concluded a dreadful year for Turkey, during which the country was shaken by a failed military coup, a policy setback in neighbouring Syria and a string of terrorist atrocities.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday night's attack, but suspicion will fall on Islamic State. The group repeatedly struck at Turkish cities in 2016 in retaliation for Ankara's support for international efforts to suppress its activities in Syria and Iraq.

Cornwall refugee group raises thousands to help resettle Syrian families

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 07:04 AM PST

Seaside resort of Bude wants to be one of the earliest adopters of the community sponsorship scheme to resettle refugees

A refugee support group in a small Cornwall town hopes to welcome two Syrian families after raising thousands of pounds.

Bude Welcomes Refugees, a 30-person group based in the north Cornwall seaside resort, wants to be one of the earliest adopters of the community sponsorship scheme to resettle refugee families.

Eyewitness: Perarou, Belarus

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 06:18 AM PST

Pictures from the Eyewitness series

Park Geun-hye calls corruption allegations against her a 'fabrication'

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 05:15 AM PST

South Korean president impeached on 9 December appears in public to deny claims of wrongdoing, saying she was 'framed'

Park Geun-hye, the impeached president of South Korea, has appeared in public for the first time in more than a month to deny charges of wrongdoing and say corruption allegations against her are a "fabrication and falsehood".

Park said she was set up over claims that she ordered the government to support a merger in 2015 of two affiliates of Samsung Group, a deal that has become central to a corruption investigation.

Reina: site of Istanbul attack, a nightclub renowned for famous guests

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 04:18 AM PST

Venue is popular with Turkish footballers and soap stars, as well as celebrities including Kylie Minogue and Daniel Craig

The open-air dancefloors, bars and dining terraces of the Reina nightclub in Istanbul have for more than a decade played host to scenes of undiluted glitz.

Open since 2002, the venue on the banks of the Bosphorus has earned a reputation as the place to be seen among Turkey's young, secular elite who recline on its white banquettes and are served ice buckets of drinks by aproned waiters.

How the US war on piracy brought one Somali to a West Virginia prison

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 04:00 AM PST

Mohamed Hassan Farah lost his leg and his liberty in a gun battle with a US navy ship in 2010 and although he denies he was a pirate he faces life behind bars

Mohamed Hassan Farah, a Somali in US federal prison, has little in common with the 19th-century seafarer Thomas Smith besides the fact that they are among the few people to be convicted of piracy on the high seas in a US court.

While Smith and 13 of his crewmates were hanged in 1820 for boarding and pillaging 30 vessels in three months – including one by the name of Irresistible – Farah is expected to be handed a life sentence in a matter of weeks.

Giles Duley, photojournalist: ‘I promised my pictures could help Syrian war victims. At last, I’ve kept my word’

Posted: 01 Jan 2017 02:00 AM PST

Giles Duley believes his work can create change. But when he returned to Lebanon two years after his first trip, he found the subjects of his portraits – now his friends – still in dire straits. This is what happened next

It's my last day with Khouloud and Jamal and I'm struggling with a decision. Whenever possible I like to take a print back to give to those I've documented, and in my bag I have a photograph I took of the couple two years before. But should I give it to them?

In the picture Khouloud, paralysed from the neck down, lies in the tent she shares with her family in Lebanon's Bekaa valley. Jamal sits at the end of her bed, holding her hand, the couple looking at each other with a love that is at odds with the stark, grainy black-and-white image that reflects the truth of their desperate situation.

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

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