World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Donald Trump picks Neil Gorsuch as his supreme court nomination - as it happened
- Israel evicts Amona settlers as 3,000 new homes approved elsewhere
- Marine Le Pen refuses to repay €300k of 'misspent' EU funds
- Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua 'abducted' from Hong Kong hotel
- The battle for Mosul: 'I have never seen such hard fighting like this'
- Russia accuses cybersecurity experts of treasonous links to CIA
- Backyard butchers and vigilante farmers: stock rustling on the rise in New Zealand
- François Fillon faces fresh claims over paying wife and children
- 'Islamophobia killed Canadians': anti-Muslim rhetoric blamed in Québec attack
- Bangladeshi girl could be first female with ‘tree man’ syndrome
- Philippines police paid to kill alleged drug offenders, says Amnesty
- African leaders plan mass withdrawal from international criminal court
- Spanish protest after young boy's body is washed up in Cádiz
- Austria to ban full-face veil in public
- Kiev and Kremlin trade blame over surge in fighting in east Ukraine
- 'Tinder for orangutans': Dutch zoo to let female choose mate on a tablet
- Israel president 'sorry for hurt' to Mexico over Netanyahu's border wall tweet
- Labour’s real battle over Brexit starts ‘after article 50 is triggered’
- Four states sue Trump administration over 'un-American' travel ban
- Philippines president orders police to stop all anti-drug operations
- Russian doctor defies intimidation to authorise gender reassignment surgery
- Winds of up to 80mph heading for England and Wales
- Austria’s full-face veil ban is a kneejerk reaction to the rise of the far right | Julia Ebner
- Trading in trash: Nairobi's e-waste entrepreneurs – in pictures
- Fox News deletes false Québec shooting tweet after Canadian PM's office steps in
- Barnaby Joyce says Australia should build new coal-fired power stations
- The left is stealing from the right's playbook. Call it the Herbal Tea Party
- Total submarine warfare: centenary of Germany's declaration marked
- Japan rejects Trump accusation of devaluing yen in currency war
- US travel ban leaves Iranian LGBT refugees in limbo
- Bali police officer would have taken hours to die, Sara Connor's trial told
- The battle for Mosul: a dirty war in Isis' heartland – video
- Argentina sets world record for most people floating holding hands – video
- Language gives us a glimpse of the divine | Letters
- Quebec attack is a tragedy for the peaceful majority | Letters
- Czech cyber-attack: Russia suspected of hacking diplomats’ emails
- UK issues posthumous pardons for thousands of gay men
- Canada to offer temporary residence to those stranded by Trump travel ban
- Honduras elites blamed for violence against environmental activists
- Police raid French parliament in François Fillon investigation
- Opponent of women's ordination appointed as bishop of Sheffield
- Historian Deborah Lipstadt accuses Trump advisers of 'soft Holocaust denial'
- Prince Charles: lessons of the Holocaust are being forgotten – video
- Northern Irish woman was reported to police by GP over abortion pills
- Japan urged to go smoke-free by 2020 Tokyo Olympics
- Lessons of Holocaust being forgotten, says Prince Charles
- Sydney's last stand: the residents holding out against gentrification
- Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years
- Europe ignores Nigeria humanitarian crisis at its peril, warns top UN official
- Sikkim's organic revolution at risk as local consumers fail to buy into project
- John Kelly: executive order is 'not a ban on Muslims' – video
- Ellen DeGeneres: when people are in trouble, you help them – video
- Owen Jones and Piers Morgan clash over anti-Trump protests – video
- Signs of the times: the best anti-Trump placards from across the UK - in pictures
| Donald Trump picks Neil Gorsuch as his supreme court nomination - as it happened Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:54 AM PST Gorsuch named in live broadcast as president's pick for supreme court vacancy
A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge. one of the most mainstream, respected, and exceptionally qualified supreme court nominees in American history. I hope members of the Senate will … show him fair consideration and respect the result of the recent election with an up-or-down vote on his nomination. The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream … Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch's ability to meet this standard.
[Edit: this post originally included a tweet reportedly featuring Gorsuch in a Columbia yearbook; it has been removed so we can check its veracity.] Continue reading... |
| Israel evicts Amona settlers as 3,000 new homes approved elsewhere Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:10 AM PST Security forces start evicting several hundred settlers from illegal West Bank outpost hours after announcement of new homes After years of foot-dragging and political controversy, Israeli security forces have begun to evict several hundred Jewish settlers from an illegal outpost built on private Palestinian land, even as ministers announced the approval of thousands more settlement homes in the occupied Palestinian territories. Hours before the operation to seal the outpost of Amona, Israel announced 3,000 new homes in the West Bank settlements, pressing forward with the massive surge in settlement triggered by the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president.In total, 6,000 new settlement homes have been announced since Trump's inauguration. Next week, Israel's parliament is expected to vote on a bill to allow the "legalisation" of a tranche of other illegal outposts built on private Palestinian land. Continue reading... |
| Marine Le Pen refuses to repay €300k of 'misspent' EU funds Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:10 AM PST Front National leader in France faces her MEP's salary being docked over claims she paid party staff out of EU money Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's far-right Front National, has refused a demand to repay nearly €300,000 (£258,000) of EU funds that a European parliament investigation alleged she misspent. An investigation by a European parliament watchdog claimed that between 2011 and 2012 Le Pen had illicitly paid party staff for Front National work using money that should only be used for MEPs to pay assistants for legislative tasks. Continue reading... |
| Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua 'abducted' from Hong Kong hotel Posted: 31 Jan 2017 06:45 PM PST The reported disappearance of the financier, who has ties to Xi Jinping's family, will ring alarm bells in the former British colony A billionaire with links to the family of Xi Jinping was reportedly taken from his apartment in the Four Seasons in Hong Kong by Chinese police and taken to the mainland. Xiao Jianhua, one of China's richest men, is currently in police custody on the mainland, the Financial Times and New York Times reported. He may be assisting with a graft investigation, part of the Chinese president's sweeping campaign that critics say is more about consolidating power than tackling corruption. Continue reading... |
| The battle for Mosul: 'I have never seen such hard fighting like this' Posted: 31 Jan 2017 07:00 PM PST Iraqi forces have been trying to oust Isis since October but they must fight among, protect and win over the many thousands of civilians in the city, finds Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in a report made in collaboration with PBS's Frontline Rasoul, a 26-year-old radio operator, stood in a narrow street in east Mosul a mile from the frontline, peering into the early morning light as the armoured truck packed with explosives crawled towards him. The other troops around him fired a volley of bullets that ricocheted harmlessly off its thick steel-plated armour before they ran away. But Rasoul, still wrapped in his night-time wool sleeping cloak, stood his ground shouting warnings to anyone who could hear. He darted and hid in a side street when it was just metres away. Continue reading... |
| Russia accuses cybersecurity experts of treasonous links to CIA Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:19 PM PST Rumours swirl of connection to revelations about US election hacking, as state media says Sergei Mikhailov and Dmitry Dokuchayev 'betrayed their oath' Two of Moscow's top cybersecurity officials are facing treason charges for cooperating with the CIA, according to a Russian news report. The accusations add further intrigue to a mysterious scandal that has had the Moscow rumour mill working in overdrive for the past week, and come not long after US intelligence accused Russia of interfering in the US election and hacking the Democratic party's servers. Continue reading... |
| Backyard butchers and vigilante farmers: stock rustling on the rise in New Zealand Posted: 31 Jan 2017 04:16 PM PST Last year thousands of valuable farm animals were poached from isolated farms to await slaughter in 'abhorrent' and illegal conditions The thick swarm of black flies hanging above the backyard of the rural property was the first tip-off. The metallic stench of weeks-old animal blood was another. "There were dead animals, offal and blood everywhere, spread out on an exposed concrete slab with people walking through it and birds flying through," says Gary Orr. Continue reading... |
| François Fillon faces fresh claims over paying wife and children Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:56 AM PST French presidential candidate's wife reportedly earned €300,000 more than first reported for allegedly fake job François Fillon's bid to become the next French president has been hit by damaging new claims that he paid his wife and children for allegedly non-existent jobs. The Canard Enchainé reported that the conservative candidate's Welsh-born wife, Penelope, earned €900,000 (£772,000) as his parliamentary assistant and as a contributor to a literary review owned by a friend. That is €300,000 more than the newspaper claimed last week when it broke what has become known as the "Penelopegate" scandal. Continue reading... |
| 'Islamophobia killed Canadians': anti-Muslim rhetoric blamed in Québec attack Posted: 31 Jan 2017 12:28 PM PST Attack in typically peaceful city raises concern amid global turmoil as community leader bemoans politicians acting as 'pyromaniac firefighters' Thousands of Canadians from coast to coast have sought to show their support for victims of a shooting spree on a Québec City mosque, as the country struggled to comprehend how one of Canada's safest cities had become the setting for an attack described by the country's prime minister as an act of terror. Just steps away from the mosque, residents braved the bitter cold to leave flowers and handwritten signs of support in nearby snowbanks. Continue reading... |
| Bangladeshi girl could be first female with ‘tree man’ syndrome Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST 10-year-old Sahana Khatun is in Dhaka for treatment of rare condition at hospital where young man suffering from disease received groundbreaking surgery A young Bangladeshi girl with bark-like growths on her face could be the first female afflicted by "tree man" syndrome, doctors studying the rare genetic condition said on Tuesday. Sahana Khatun, 10, has growths on her chin, ear and nose, but doctors at Dhaka's Medical College hospital are still conducting tests to establish if she has the unusual skin disorder. Fewer than half a dozen people worldwide have epidermodysplasia verruciformis but none so far have been women, said Samanta Lal Sen, the head of the hospital's burn and plastic surgery unit. "We believe she is the first woman," Sen said. Continue reading... |
| Philippines police paid to kill alleged drug offenders, says Amnesty Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:37 PM PST Police accused of planting evidence, taking cash from funeral homes and fabricating reports in Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs Amnesty International has accused police in the Philippines of paying officers and other people to kill alleged drug offenders, planting evidence and even setting up a racket with funeral homes in a "murderous war on the poor". A wave of extrajudicial killings by police and the vigilantes they work with may amount to crimes against humanity, Amnesty said. More than 7,000 people have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte, nicknamed "the punisher", unleashed a bloody crackdown seven months ago. Continue reading... |
| African leaders plan mass withdrawal from international criminal court Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:18 PM PST Decision reached at African Union summit follows announcements by South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia that they plan to leave the court African leaders have adopted a strategy calling for a collective withdrawal from the international criminal court. The non-binding decision came behind closed doors near the end of an African Union summit. Related: African exodus from ICC must be stopped, says Kofi Annan Continue reading... |
| Spanish protest after young boy's body is washed up in Cádiz Posted: 31 Jan 2017 05:48 AM PST EU's border policy criticised after sinking of boat from north Africa, which prompts comparisons with death of Alan Kurdi Spanish human rights activists and politicians have attacked Europe's treatment of migrants after the body of a young boy washed up on a beach in Cádiz on Friday, prompting comparisons with the death of Alan Kurdi. The child, who has yet to be identified, is thought to have been heading to Spain from north Africa with his mother when the boat on which they were travelling sank off the Spanish coast two weeks ago. The bodies of six people – five men and a woman – have been recovered so far. Continue reading... |
| Austria to ban full-face veil in public Posted: 31 Jan 2017 09:08 AM PST Country becomes latest European nation to prohibit veils such as the burqa and niqab, in deal to save coalition government Austria is the latest European country to move to ban the full-face veil in public spaces. The country's ruling coalition this week agreed to prohibit full-face veils such as the burqa and the niqab in courts and schools, while further investigating the possibility of banning headscarves for women employed in public services. Continue reading... |
| Kiev and Kremlin trade blame over surge in fighting in east Ukraine Posted: 31 Jan 2017 09:38 AM PST Ukrainian military and Russian-backed rebels accuse each other of launching offensives despite Minsk ceasefire deal Kiev and Moscow have blamed each other for a surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine that has led to the highest casualty toll in weeks and to power and water being cut off for thousands of civilians on the frontline. The Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists accused each other of launching offensives, including the use of heavily artillery, in the government-held industrial town of Avdiivka in defiance of the two-year-old Minsk ceasefire deal. Continue reading... |
| 'Tinder for orangutans': Dutch zoo to let female choose mate on a tablet Posted: 31 Jan 2017 06:52 AM PST Orangutan Samboja will be shown males on a touchscreen in experiment aimed at learning more about mating choices A Dutch zoo hopes to increase the breeding chances of a female orangutan by seeing if she will choose a preferred mate on a touchscreen before they are introduced. In a four-year experiment it has called "Tinder for orangutans", the Apenheul primate park in Apeldoorn will show Samboja, an 11-year-old female, pictures of possible partners from an international great ape breeding programme. Continue reading... |
| Israel president 'sorry for hurt' to Mexico over Netanyahu's border wall tweet Posted: 31 Jan 2017 12:05 PM PST
Israel's president has told his Mexican counterpart that he was "sorry for the hurt" over a tweet in which the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to praise Donald Trump's plans to build a wall on the US-Mexican border. In a tweet on Saturday that drew a rebuke from Mexico, the rightwing Netanyahu wrote: "President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel's southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea." Continue reading... |
| Labour’s real battle over Brexit starts ‘after article 50 is triggered’ Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:05 AM PST Emily Thornberry says Brexit bill must be voted through and party should focus on shaping Britain's future outside the EU Labour's fight to shape Brexit will begin in earnest after article 50 is triggered, the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, has said ahead of the Commons vote which is set to push forward the process for Britain to leave the EU. While about 90 MPs are likely to oppose the second reading of the bill giving the government the power to trigger article 50, among them a number of Labour members defying a three-line whip, Thornberry said she accepted the measure had to go through. Continue reading... |
| Four states sue Trump administration over 'un-American' travel ban Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:47 AM PST New York, Massachusetts and Virginia joined Washington state in launching legal challenges against executive order that wreaked havoc at airports at the weekend Four US states are suing the Trump administration over the president's executive order banning refugees and travelers from a list of predominantly Muslim countries from entering America. Related: Trump's travel ban: stories of those who were detained this weekend Continue reading... |
| Philippines president orders police to stop all anti-drug operations Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:04 AM PST Rodrigo Duterte says military and narcotics enforcement agency under his office will continue the war on drugs President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has ordered police to halt all operations in his deadly war on drugs, in which more than 7,000 people have been killed since he took office last year. The order, announced during a speech to soldiers at the presidential palace, does not end the campaign as Duterte added that a drug enforcement agency under his office and possibly the military would continue the fight. Continue reading... |
| Russian doctor defies intimidation to authorise gender reassignment surgery Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST Dmitri Isaev is exploiting a legal loophole to help the transgender community from a secret location in St Petersburg You won't find any mention of Dr Dmitri Isaev's clinic online, and patients can't look up the number in a phone book. Both name and address are kept secret, and those who would like an appointment with Isaev, a leading gender identity expert, must discover the location of his St Petersburg clinic by word of mouth. The doctor has been working undercover after conservative activists led a campaign of intimidation against his clinic for transgender patients at Saint Petersburg State Paediatric Medical University. Continue reading... |
| Winds of up to 80mph heading for England and Wales Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:17 AM PST Low pressure system is forecast to hit UK on Friday with potential to damage buildings, disrupt power and delay travel Winds of up to 80mph could hit England and Wales towards the end of the week with the potential to cause damage to buildings, disrupt power and delay travel, forecasters have warned. In what will be called Storm Doris if conditions meet the threshold, low pressure systems could batter southern parts of the UK on Friday. Continue reading... |
| Austria’s full-face veil ban is a kneejerk reaction to the rise of the far right | Julia Ebner Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:51 AM PST In the hope of preserving the status quo the government is enacting a symbolic policy that feeds into identity wars between Muslim and non-Muslim Austria's decision to introduce a full-face veil ban in public spaces such as courts and schools comes as anti-Muslim bigotry across the US and Europe is reaching an all-time high. The terrorist attack on the Québec City mosque should act as a warning of what can happen. It is, to say the least, rather unwise timing for the Austrian centrist coalition to announce a policy that disproportionally targets Muslims. With only about 150 women affected, the Austrian ban on the niqab and the burqa is considered a symbolic act rather than a policy aimed at responding to a security threat, or to provoke social change. It is a kneejerk reaction to the rising popularity of the far right and increasing public pressure on the coalition to take firm and visible action. In their desperate attempt to regain the public's confidence, centrist politicians across Europe have been increasingly pandering to far-right voters. Policies that were initially suggested by parties such as the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), the German Alternative für Deutschland and the French Front National are now increasingly being adopted by mainstream politicians. Continue reading... |
| Trading in trash: Nairobi's e-waste entrepreneurs – in pictures Posted: 31 Jan 2017 09:00 PM PST From small-scale traders to a company processing hundreds of tonnes of e-waste, we explore Nairobi's relationship with a burgeoning waste stream and visit the people turning it into a resource Continue reading... |
| Fox News deletes false Québec shooting tweet after Canadian PM's office steps in Posted: 31 Jan 2017 10:12 PM PST Justin Trudeau's aide says US network claim that mosque attack suspect was of Moroccan origin 'spread misinformation … and perpetuates fear and division' The office of the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has forced Fox News to apologise and retract a "false and misleading" tweet that inaccurately described the suspect in the Québec City mosque shooting as a man of Moroccan origin. Related: 'Islamophobia killed Canadians': anti-Muslim rhetoric blamed in Québec attack Continue reading... |
| Barnaby Joyce says Australia should build new coal-fired power stations Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:45 AM PST Nationals leader says he would not oppose taxpayers subsiding the building of new coal-fired plants The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, says it is "morally prudent" for Australia to build new coal-fired plants and he would have no problem if taxpayers provided support. Joyce told the ABC that subsidising new coal plants was not on the agenda right now but, if it emerged on the agenda, "it wouldn't worry me in the least." Continue reading... |
| The left is stealing from the right's playbook. Call it the Herbal Tea Party Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:00 AM PST Grassroots activists are studying tactics used by the influential Tea Party in an effort to harden Democrats' resistance to Donald Trump They came with chants and songs, banners and flyers and a chicken costume, and felt it was working – that this and other grassroots protests were steeling Democratic resistance to Donald Trump. "We need to stand and fight. We are the majority. Let's take our country back," Mimi Fleischman told the crowd outside Senator Dianne Feinstein's Los Angeles office on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading... |
| Total submarine warfare: centenary of Germany's declaration marked Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST Historic England releases striking images and plans to upgrade national memorial to submariners to mark a decisive moment Striking images of adventurous day-trippers scrambling onboard wrecked first world war German submarines off the coast of Cornwall have been released to mark the centenary of the day life at sea became infinitely more perilous for British mariners: 1 February 1917, the day Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare, meaning that its U-boats would torpedo any British ships or those trading with the UK without warning. Historic England is also upgrading to Grade II* the national memorial to submariners on the Thames embankment at Temple Pier in London. The sculpture by Frederick Hitch, showing a cross-section of a submarine surrounded by allegorical figures, was unveiled in 1922 in memory of the third of the submarine service's total personnel who died in the war, the highest percentage of any of the armed forces. Submarines had been moored near the pier as early as 1907 and in August 1916 a captured German U-boat was moored there as a tourist attraction. Continue reading... |
| Japan rejects Trump accusation of devaluing yen in currency war Posted: 31 Jan 2017 10:48 PM PST The US president, who said countries 'play the market while we sit like a bunch of dummies', signals possible retreat from strong dollar policy Japan has rejected Donald Trump's claims that Tokyo was deliberately weakening the yen to gain an unfair trade advantage over the US. Trump told a meeting of pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday that Japan, along with China and Germany, were guilty of "global freeloading" for using regulation and currency devaluation in their trade dealings with the US. Continue reading... |
| US travel ban leaves Iranian LGBT refugees in limbo Posted: 31 Jan 2017 10:30 PM PST Refugees living in Turkey fear deportation back to Iran as they see the door into the US slammed shut by Trump's policy Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender refugees from Iran have found themselves caught between a rock and a hard place after Donald Trump's executive order banning entry for people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Related: US travel ban puts 20,000 refugees in 'precarious circumstances', UN says Continue reading... |
| Bali police officer would have taken hours to die, Sara Connor's trial told Posted: 31 Jan 2017 09:07 PM PST Doctor who conducted autopsy tells court there were 42 wounds on Wayan Sudarsa's head, face, neck and upper body Sara Connor's Bali trial has heard it would have taken hours for the police officer the Australian woman and her British boyfriend are alleged to have killed to die. There were 42 wounds on Wayan Sudarsa's head, face, upper body and neck when Dr Dudut Rustyadi conducted an autopsy on 19 August last year – just two days after the officer was found covered in sand on Kuta Beach. |
| The battle for Mosul: a dirty war in Isis' heartland – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 07:00 PM PST As Iraqi forces attempt to retake Mosul from Isis, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad joins their elite Golden Division on the frontline, speaking with civilians, soldiers and Isis suspects. At constant risk from Isis snipers and suicide bombers, can commander Munthadar and his men ever bring peace to Mosul? And if they do, will the exhausted civilian population trust them?
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| Argentina sets world record for most people floating holding hands – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 01:50 PM PST Argentina sets the world record for the most people floating holding hands at one time. 1,941 people gathered to float in a line in a salty Lake Epecuen on Sunday. The Argentinian lake contains almost 10 times more salt than the sea, helping participants to float naturally Continue reading... |
| Language gives us a glimpse of the divine | Letters Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:51 AM PST Language may be limited and flawed (Church language may be hard. But God must transcend words, 27 February) as are we who use it, but surely no other medium so liberates the imagination and the intellect, so engages with the struggle to share consciousness and express the ineffable. The Word is a poetic expression of the search for a relationship and connection with God's love, both in and of the moment, beside which any amount of dumbshow, drama, bells and whistles seems more performance than performative. The Word, a thought in the mind of man, may just allow us to "see through a glass darkly" indeed, rather than as we would render it now, "to see in a mirror, dimly". "Middle-class"? Oh please. • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading... |
| Quebec attack is a tragedy for the peaceful majority | Letters Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:51 AM PST As a Muslim Canadian I am deeply troubled by what has happened in Quebec, where worshippers were attacked and killed (Report, 31 January). It is very scary now to be a Muslim or even to look like one. I felt touched by the support pouring in from fellow Canadians and people all over the world. All this is a reminder that voices of extremism are the only ones in the arena, while the peaceful majority are sidelined. It is also a reminder to politicians and the media to act responsibly and stop dehumanising an entire religion. We should ask why extremists like Donald Trump have hijacked the steering wheel. • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading... |
| Czech cyber-attack: Russia suspected of hacking diplomats’ emails Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:12 AM PST Scale and sophistication of hack points to foreign state, says Czech foreign minister, comparing it to attack on US Democratic party The Czech Republic has suffered a damaging security breach after hackers infiltrated the emails of dozens of its most senior diplomats in a massive cyber-attack thought to have been carried out by Russia. Lubomír Zaorálek, the country's foreign minister, admitted that his own email account had been breached in a "sophisticated" operation he compared to the onslaught against the Democratic party in the recent US presidential election. Continue reading... |
| UK issues posthumous pardons for thousands of gay men Posted: 31 Jan 2017 09:41 AM PST Justice minister hails 'momentous day' as so-called Turing's law receives royal assent, but critics say move does not go far enough Thousands of men convicted of offences that once criminalised homosexuality but are no longer on the statute book have been posthumously pardoned under a new law. A clause in the policing and crime bill, which received royal assent on Tuesday, extends to those who are dead the existing process of purging past criminal records. Continue reading... |
| Canada to offer temporary residence to those stranded by Trump travel ban Posted: 31 Jan 2017 07:59 AM PST Immigration minister Ahmed Hussen offers help to people stuck in the country thanks to the ban, though it is unclear how many people are affected Canada will offer temporary residence to those left stranded in the country by Donald Trump's restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority countries. The decision was announced by Ahmed Hussen, Canada's immigration minister, on Sunday. Hussen said it was unclear how many people would be eligible, given that only a handful of passengers heading to the US had been denied boarding at that point. Continue reading... |
| Honduras elites blamed for violence against environmental activists Posted: 31 Jan 2017 07:41 AM PST After the murder of at least 123 activists since 2009 military coup, the Global Witness group points to involvement of politicians and business moguls High-ranking politicians and business tycoons are implicated in a wave of violence against environmental activists in Honduras, according to an investigation by the anti-corruption group Global Witness, which says the country's elites are using criminal methods to terrorize communities with impunity. At least 123 land and environmental activists have been murdered in Honduras since a military coup d'état forced out the populist president Manuel Zelaya; many of the victims have been members of indigenous and rural communities opposing mega-projects on their territories. Continue reading... |
| Police raid French parliament in François Fillon investigation Posted: 31 Jan 2017 06:35 AM PST Search carried out as part of 'Penelopegate' inquiry into allegation that presidential candidate paid wife for work she did not do French police have raided the lower house of parliament in an investigation into whether the wife of the presidential candidate François Fillon was paid for an allegedly non-existent job. Related: French presidential hopeful François Fillon denies claims about wife Continue reading... |
| Opponent of women's ordination appointed as bishop of Sheffield Posted: 31 Jan 2017 06:21 AM PST Church of England promotes traditionalist Philip North from post of bishop on Burnley The Church of England has appointed as the new bishop of Sheffield a clergyman who opposes the ordination of women. Philip North, from the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic wing of the C of E, is being promoted from his position as bishop of Burnley, where he has championed people who are economically and socially marginalised. |
| Historian Deborah Lipstadt accuses Trump advisers of 'soft Holocaust denial' Posted: 31 Jan 2017 05:30 AM PST Expert on Nazi era who won court battle against Holocaust denier David Irving says president's team is 'de-Judaizing' genocide The internationally renowned historian Deborah Lipstadt, whose courtroom battle with Holocaust denier David Irving is the subject of the new film Denial, has accused President Donald Trump's "innermost circle" of being guilty of "soft Holocaust denial" and the "de-Judaization" of the Nazi genocide. Writing in the Atlantic, Lipstadt – a leading expert on the Nazi effort to wipe out Europe's Jews – took aim at the Trump administration for its failure last Friday to mention Jews as the primary victims of the Holocaust. Continue reading... |
| Prince Charles: lessons of the Holocaust are being forgotten – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 05:21 AM PST Prince Charles warns that the lessons of the Holocaust are being forgotten. Speaking at the annual World Jewish Relief dinner on Monday, the prince praises the work of the charity in supporting people 'practically, emotionally, and spiritually' Continue reading... |
| Northern Irish woman was reported to police by GP over abortion pills Posted: 31 Jan 2017 04:22 AM PST British Pregnancy Advisory Service says such actions are creating climate of fear that is risking lives in region A Northern Irish woman who was prosecuted for obtaining abortion pills for her underage pregnant daughter was reported to police by a GP, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service has revealed. Launching an information campaign in Northern Ireland aimed at helping women access safe abortion medication and follow-up services, the BPAS said that a climate of fear over such prosecutions was risking lives in the region. Continue reading... |
| Japan urged to go smoke-free by 2020 Tokyo Olympics Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:42 AM PST Campaigners call for full ban on smoking in bars and restaurants to comply with IOC requirement to stage healthy Games Anti-smoking campaigners in Japan have called on the government to make restaurants and bars smoke-free in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and end the country's reputation as a smoker's paradise. Japan is expected to pass legislation soon that will ban smoking in or near public buildings such as schools or hospitals, but the bill says the crackdown will apply to restaurants only in principle. Continue reading... |
| Lessons of Holocaust being forgotten, says Prince Charles Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:42 AM PST Comments at World Jewish Relief dinner seen by some as linked to Donald Trump's ban on Syrian refugees entering US The Prince of Wales has said the lessons of the Holocaust are in danger of being forgotten, in remarks which have been linked by some to Donald Trump's ban on Syrian refugees entering the US. The heir to the throne was speaking at the annual dinner of World Jewish Relief three days after Trump signed an executive order indefinitely banning Syrian refugees and suspending entry for people from seven Muslim countries. |
| Sydney's last stand: the residents holding out against gentrification Posted: 31 Jan 2017 05:00 PM PST A government-driven revitalisation project is turning public housing – including the waterfront Sirius building with its 90-year-old hold-out resident – into private developments. It is seen by some as 'aggressive social cleansing' It is one of the last few weeks in the slow emptying of Sydney's Sirius building, and Myra Demetriou is keen to talk about spoons. Sitting in her waterfront apartment, the 90-year-old ex-church deaconess has relocation on her mind, and in a cabinet above her couch, enamelled souvenir spoons keep track of every city she's ever visited. Demetriou lives alone by the harbour in the suburb of Millers Point. Her building, an architecturally adored icon of Sydney public housing, has found itself on land too valuable for its own good. In 2014, the New South Wales government told the suburb's 400 residents their government housing would be sold to private developers. Continue reading... |
| Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years Posted: 31 Jan 2017 06:47 AM PST The country left the Union in 1984 after a row over the status of Western Sahara. Morocco's readmission brings hope of peace-building over the territory Morocco has been readmitted to the African Union more than three decades after it left when the continental body recognised the independence of the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Hopes that the move could pave the way for peace-building were bolstered after Western Sahara – regarded by Morocco as part of its historic territory – welcomed the readmission. Related: Chad foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat to head African Union Continue reading... |
| Europe ignores Nigeria humanitarian crisis at its peril, warns top UN official Posted: 31 Jan 2017 04:15 AM PST UN assistant secretary general Toby Lanzer says urgent aid to help stabilise communities in the Lake Chad region is also in Europe's broader interests The humanitarian crisis in northern Nigeria has implications that Europe can ill afford to ignore, according to a top UN official. Nigeria was the third largest source of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in 2016 (pdf). Related: Boko Haram's legacy of fear and ruin delays return of displaced Nigerians Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Sikkim's organic revolution at risk as local consumers fail to buy into project Posted: 31 Jan 2017 02:51 AM PST With 66,000 farmers' livelihoods at stake, concern is growing over the Indian state's organic farming experiment, with locals reluctant to pay higher prices It is mid-morning, and Amrit Pradhan is repositioning the tomatoes on his market stall in Gangtok, capital of the Himalayan state of Sikkim in north-east India. "People always want the biggest, reddest fruit," he says. "I try to tell them, the flavour is in the smaller ones, but they don't want to know." Pradhan is one of 66,000 farmers from Sikkim who are part of a far-reaching experiment. Since last year, the state's farmers have become 100% organic – their produce is free of chemical pesticides or genetic modification. It also means their fruit and vegetables are smaller, less colourful, and more expensive than the imported, non-organic produce from the city of Siliguri in the neighbouring state of West Bengal. |
| John Kelly: executive order is 'not a ban on Muslims' – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 10:54 AM PST Homeland security secretary John Kelly defended President Trump's executive orders on immigration on Tuesday, saying: 'This is not a ban on Muslims'. Kelly said the 'temporary pause' was necessary to assess the effectiveness of the current refugee visa vetting system. 'I will not gamble with American lives,' he said Continue reading... |
| Ellen DeGeneres: when people are in trouble, you help them – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 07:20 AM PST Ellen DeGeneres responds to Donald Trump's travel ban on Tuesday by summarising the plot of the Disney animation Finding Dory, saying that when people are in trouble 'you help them'. In a segment for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the host, who voiced the lead in the film, mocks the US president's intention to build a border wall between the US and Mexico • Ellen DeGeneres hits back at Trump by explaining Finding Dory plot Continue reading... |
| Owen Jones and Piers Morgan clash over anti-Trump protests – video Posted: 31 Jan 2017 03:57 AM PST Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan clashes with Guardian journalist Owen Jones over recent protests opposing US president Donald Trump's controversial travel ban. Thousands responded to Jones's call for a march in London on Monday night Continue reading... |
| Signs of the times: the best anti-Trump placards from across the UK - in pictures Posted: 31 Jan 2017 02:53 AM PST Protesters gathered across the UK on Monday night to demonstrate against Donald Trump's travel ban. We pick out some of the best signs Continue reading... |
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