World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Turkey bans Dutch ambassador as diplomatic crisis escalates
- Spicer says quotation marks justify Trump's unverified wiretapping claims
- 'I am not afraid': the Delhi student facing death threats for taking on India's right wing
- Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia to help sick grandmother
- EU taskforce highlights security failings that facilitated terror attacks
- Missing Irish coastguard helicopter triggers major search operation
- Facebook and Instagram ban developers from using data for surveillance
- Canada's Girl Guides cancel all US travel as Trump rules spark fears at border
- Outrage after Brazil football team signs goalkeeper convicted of killing girlfriend
- 'First in Canada' supermarket donation plan aids food banks and tackles waste
- Pentagon wants to declare more parts of world as temporary battlefields
- Russia strikes provocative note for Eurovision in Ukraine
- Carlos the Jackal tells French court he is a 'professional revolutionary'
- Death toll from rubbish dump landslide in Ethiopia rises to 65
- Russian whistleblower might have been poisoned, court hears
- Catalan ex-president Artur Mas barred from holding public office
- Trump adviser heads to Israel amid absence of coherent US policy
- US retires Predator drones after 15 years that changed the 'war on terror'
- Employers can ban staff from wearing headscarves, European court rules
- Storm Stella: flights cancelled as 'life-threatening' conditions due to hit US north-east
- Cold catch: the ice fishermen of Astana – in pictures
- 'Gay moment': Disney pulls Beauty and the Beast in Malaysia following censorship
- US to deploy missile-capable drones across border from North Korea
- UK public faces mass invasion of privacy as big data and surveillance merge
- Russian special forces sent to back renegade Libyan general – reports
- The motorcycle taxis taking on Uganda’s deadly roads – in pictures
- World's first fluorescent frog discovered in South America
- Coopers pulls Bible Society beer after marriage equality video sparks outcry
- Tuesday briefing: Ed Sheeran must be stopped – plus, make like Theresa and leave
- Tasmanian family refuses to pay council tax on 'God's land'
- Myanmar may be seeking to expel all Rohingya, says UN
- Geert Wilders calls for expulsion of Turkey's ambassador in TV debate
- Viral video clip reveals assumptions about gender as much as race and class | Letters
- The pharaohs rise again: ancient Egyptian statues unearthed – in pictures
- CIA hacking tools raise huge concerns | Letters
- MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion
- Boaty McBoatface and nuclear deterrence | Letter
- Hundreds celebrate Hindu festival of Holi in northern India – video
- Holi festival: Delhi women forced into lockdown amid sexual harassment fears
- Protest and persist: why giving up hope is not an option
- Indonesia transfers US citizen to 'execution island'
- Montpellier in the spotlight: development mania in France's fastest-growing city
- Clean water finally flows to transform lives of tea pickers in Bangladesh
- Spicer: Trump ‘wiretapping’ claims about general surveillance – video
- Woman confronts Sean Spicer: 'How does it feel to work for a fascist?' – video
| Turkey bans Dutch ambassador as diplomatic crisis escalates Posted: 13 Mar 2017 03:49 PM PDT Deputy prime minister ratchets up rhetoric and prospect is raised of end to deal that has curbed migration from Turkey to Greece Turkey has suspended high-level political contacts with the Netherlands and threatened to re-evaluate a key deal to halt the flow of migrants to Europe in a dramatic escalation of its diplomatic row with EU member states. Numan Kurtulmuş, a deputy prime minister and chief government spokesman, said on Monday that the Dutch ambassador, who is on leave, would not be allowed to return in response to a ban on Turkish ministers speaking at rallies in the Netherlands. Continue reading... |
| Spicer says quotation marks justify Trump's unverified wiretapping claims Posted: 13 Mar 2017 01:53 PM PDT White House spokesman claims punctuation in tweet means Trump was using 'wiretap' to mean surveillance more broadly The White House was forced on to the back foot again on Monday over Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that he was wiretapped by Barack Obama, basing its latest argument on the US president's use of quotation marks in a tweet. Related: John McCain tells Trump: present evidence or retract wiretapping claim Continue reading... |
| 'I am not afraid': the Delhi student facing death threats for taking on India's right wing Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:50 PM PDT When Gurmehar Kaur posted a note of defiance on Facebook she became the subject of national debate – and a torrent of abuse The photograph that led to Gurmehar Kaur being put under 24-hour police protection was taken by her best friend on a camera phone in her university dorm room. The simple colour shot shows her holding a placard saying she would not be intimidated by a rightwing group she accused of disrupting her college. Only hours after she posted the image to Facebook, Kaur, a 20-year-old English student at Delhi University, found herself at the centre of a national debate that, for weeks now, has fed television shows, news stories and editorials and has involved politicians, film stars and the former captain of India's cricket team. |
| Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia to help sick grandmother Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:01 AM PDT Saglana Salchak's crossing of area filled with wolves wins praise from locals but lands mother in legal trouble A four-year-old girl who walked miles through the freezing Siberian wilderness to get help for her sick grandmother has been hailed as a hero in Russia's Tuva republic, while a criminal case has been opened against her mother. Saglana Salchak had been living with her grandparents at their remote farm deep in the taiga forest near the Mongolian border, more than 12 miles from the nearest village and five miles from their closest neighbour. Continue reading... |
| EU taskforce highlights security failings that facilitated terror attacks Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:00 PM PDT Leaked report suggests need to enhance Schengen area security, raising possibility of internal border police checks A leaked EU report examining the terror attacks in Berlin, Paris and Brussels warns of gaping holes in the ability of the security services to monitor movements in and out of Europe. The document, obtained by the Guardian, notes that all those who committed or sought to commit large-scale terror attacks in recent years crossed the EU's external border "at some point prior to committing their attacks". It warns that even EU citizens subject to a European arrest warrant were able to enter the continent freely or to leave "without being detected due to the non-systematic check of EU citizens". Continue reading... |
| Missing Irish coastguard helicopter triggers major search operation Posted: 14 Mar 2017 01:27 AM PDT One crew member in critical condition after being rescued from waters off County Mayo but three others are still missing
However, shortly before 8am on Tuesday it was confirmed that one crew member had been rescued from waters off the County Mayo coast and was in a critical condition in hospital. Continue reading... |
| Facebook and Instagram ban developers from using data for surveillance Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:31 AM PDT Company announces new privacy policy following revelations that police gained special access to the social networks to track protesters Facebook and Instagram have banned developers from using their data for surveillance with a new privacy policy that civil rights activists have long sought to curb spying by law enforcement. Following revelations last year that police departments had gained special access to the social networks to track protesters, Facebook, which owns Instagram, announced on Monday that it had updated its rules to state that developers could not "use data obtained from us to provide tools that are used for surveillance". Continue reading... |
| Canada's Girl Guides cancel all US travel as Trump rules spark fears at border Posted: 13 Mar 2017 03:37 PM PDT Spokeswoman says organization has diverse membership and wants 'to make sure that no girl gets left behind', with schools also considering cancelling trips The Girl Guides of Canada are cancelling all travel to the United States because of fears that their members might have trouble at the border due to travel restrictions enacted by Donald Trump. Related: Canadian Muslim grilled about her faith and view on Trump at US border stop Continue reading... |
| Outrage after Brazil football team signs goalkeeper convicted of killing girlfriend Posted: 13 Mar 2017 02:56 PM PDT Bruno Fernandes de Souza, who was released last month after serving partial sentence for murder of Eliza Samudio, received contract from Boa Esporte The violence and misogyny of Brazilian society was highlighted on Monday when a second-division club signed up a goalkeeper who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and having her body fed to his dogs. Amid smiles and handshakes, Boa Esporte unveiled a two-year contract for Bruno Fernandes de Souza, who was released from jail last month pending an appeal. Continue reading... |
| 'First in Canada' supermarket donation plan aids food banks and tackles waste Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:18 PM PDT Pilot project that saved more than 2.5m kg of food last year poised to expand across province, with food bank usage surging across Canada Supermarkets in Quebec will now be able to donate their unsold produce, meat and baked goods to local food banks in a program – described as the first of its kind in Canada – that also aims to keep millions of kilograms of fresh food out of landfills. The Supermarket Recovery Program launched in 2013 as a two-year pilot project. Developed by the Montreal-based food bank Moisson Montréal, the goal was to tackle the twin issues of rising food bank usage in the province and the staggering amount of edible food being regularly sent to landfills. Continue reading... |
| Pentagon wants to declare more parts of world as temporary battlefields Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:02 PM PDT White House is asked to designate 'temporary areas of active hostility', giving commanders same latitude to launch actions as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria Donald Trump's administration is considering a military proposal that would designate various undeclared battlefields worldwide to be "temporary areas of active hostility", the Guardian has learned. If approved, the Pentagon-proposed measure would give military commanders the same latitude to launch strikes, raids and campaigns against enemy forces for up to six months that they possess in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Continue reading... |
| Russia strikes provocative note for Eurovision in Ukraine Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:27 AM PDT Moscow names Yuliya Samoylova, a wheelchair user who sang in Crimea after annexation, as Kiev song contest entry Russia has announced its musical entry for the Eurovision song contest, ending speculation that it might boycott the competition, which this year is being held in Ukraine. State TV announced on Sunday that Yuliya Samoylova, who uses a wheelchair, will represent Russia in May with the song Flame is Burning, showing that "neither age nor physical limitations can be a hindrance if people want to achieve something". Continue reading... |
| Carlos the Jackal tells French court he is a 'professional revolutionary' Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:14 AM PDT Venezuelan serving life in French prison gives rambling testimony on first day of trial over 1974 Paris grenade attack Carlos the Jackal – once one of the world's most wanted criminals – has told a French court he is a "professional revolutionary" on the first day of his trial over a 1974 grenade attack in Paris that killed two people. The Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, has been held in France for 23 years after being captured in Khartoum, Sudan, by French special forces and was previously sentenced to life in jail for deadly attacks in the 1970s and 1980s. Continue reading... |
| Death toll from rubbish dump landslide in Ethiopia rises to 65 Posted: 13 Mar 2017 10:57 AM PDT Rescue workers search 74-acre site for survivors, with residents blaming construction of biogas plant for disaster At least 65 people were killed in a giant landslide at Ethiopia's largest rubbish dump this weekend, officials said on Monday, with entire families including children buried alive in the tragedy. "The rescue operation is still ongoing. Security personnel and rescuers are trying their level best to locate any possible survivors, while searching for the dead," said communication minister Negeri Lencho. Continue reading... |
| Russian whistleblower might have been poisoned, court hears Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:37 AM PDT Unanswered questions surround Alexander Perepilichnyy's mysterious death in 2012, amid calls for a wider investigation A Russian whistleblower could have been poisoned with sorrel soup, but key evidence about his last meal was "flushed away" hours after his death, a court heard. Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, died after collapsing while running near his home in Weybridge, Surrey, in November 2012. The businessman's death was originally attributed to natural causes, but traces of a chemical that can be found in the poisonous plant gelsemium were later found in his stomach. Fiona Barton QC, for Surrey police, said no "identifiable toxin" had been found in the body. Continue reading... |
| Catalan ex-president Artur Mas barred from holding public office Posted: 13 Mar 2017 05:49 AM PDT Two-year ban comes with €36,500 fine for disobeying Spanish constitutional court over 2014 independence referendum The former Catalan president Artur Mas has been banned from holding public office for two years after being found guilty of disobeying the Spanish constitutional court by holding a symbolic independence referendum three years ago. On Monday, the Catalan high court convicted Mas, former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau of defying the constitutional court by pressing ahead with the non-binding vote in November 2014. Continue reading... |
| Trump adviser heads to Israel amid absence of coherent US policy Posted: 13 Mar 2017 04:59 AM PDT Jason Greenblatt to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders as Washington attempts to construct clearer vision of peace strategy A key foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump is to meet the Israeli and Palestinian leaders as part of efforts by the White House to formulate a more coherent vision of how it will proceed with the Middle East peace process. Related: Trump casts aside decades of Middle East diplomacy in one sentence | Peter Beaumont Continue reading... |
| US retires Predator drones after 15 years that changed the 'war on terror' Posted: 13 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PDT Retirement gives military analysts a chance to review mixed history of weapon that has been associated with low-cost war, disembodiment and civilian deaths The Predator is dead; long live the Reaper. The retirement of the antiquated Predator drone MQ-1, which is to be withdrawn from service in July and replaced by the more capable MQ-9 Reaper, is giving military analysts an opportunity to review the mixed history of a weapon that has long been associated with low-cost war, a sense of disembodiment from conflict, and for inflicting a high number of civilian casualties. "There's a perception in large parts of the American political system that drone campaigns are more or less free, but that's not true," says Stephen Biddle, senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Like anything that's perceived as free, it tends to get overused." Continue reading... |
| Employers can ban staff from wearing headscarves, European court rules Posted: 14 Mar 2017 02:18 AM PDT European court of justice says ban on visible wearing of political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination Employers may bar staff from wearing visible religious symbols, the European Union's top court ruled on Tuesday in its first decision on the issue of women wearing Islamic headscarves at work. On the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration has been a key issue and a bellwether for attitudes to migration and refugee policies across Europe, the European court of justice (ECJ) gave a joined judgment in the cases of two women, in France and Belgium, who were dismissed for refusing to remove headscarves. Continue reading... |
| Storm Stella: flights cancelled as 'life-threatening' conditions due to hit US north-east Posted: 14 Mar 2017 01:30 AM PDT A blanket of heavy snow and flooding is expectedto hit New York and Philadelphia as the weather service urges people to shelter in place A "life-threatening" storm is poised to hit the US east coast, bringing blizzard conditions and a blanket of heavy snow. Meteorologists were predicting snowfall totals as high as 20in (50cm) in New York City from the storm's start late on Monday through to Tuesday evening. The National Weather Service warned that blizzard conditions of wind gusts over 35mph (56kph) and low visibility would extend from the Philadelphia area to Maine. Continue reading... |
| Cold catch: the ice fishermen of Astana – in pictures Posted: 14 Mar 2017 01:30 AM PDT Outside the Kazakh capital, Astana, the river snowscape is populated by strange figures. Detroit-based photographer Aleksey Kondratyev investigated and discovered they were ice fishermen, who brave -40C temperatures waiting patiently for their catch Continue reading... |
| 'Gay moment': Disney pulls Beauty and the Beast in Malaysia following censorship Posted: 14 Mar 2017 01:27 AM PDT Studio postpones release of film after state censorship board says scenes promoting homosexuality are forbidden Walt Disney has shelved the release of its new film Beauty and the Beast in Malaysia after film censors said it could only be approved if cut to remove a "gay moment". The country's two main cinema chains said the movie, due to begin screening on Thursday, had been postponed indefinitely. Continue reading... |
| US to deploy missile-capable drones across border from North Korea Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:45 AM PDT Deployment of Grey Eagle drones, designed to carry Hellfire missiles, in the South represents significant build-up of US military muscle The US has declared it will permanently station missile-capable drones in South Korea in the latest round of military escalation in north-eastern Asia. The drone deployment comes a week after North Korea carried out a test salvo of four missiles that landed off the coast of Japan, and a day before the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, embarks on a tour of a region widely regarded as the most dangerous corner of the world. Continue reading... |
| UK public faces mass invasion of privacy as big data and surveillance merge Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT Tony Porter, the government's surveillance camera commissioner, says regulators are struggling to keep up with pace of technological change The privacy of the public is at risk of being invaded on a mass scale without its consent as the collection of big data meshes with proliferation of video surveillance, the government's CCTV watchdog has warned. Launching a new three-year strategy, the surveillance camera commissioner, Tony Porter, admitted that regulators and the government were struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change. Continue reading... |
| Russian special forces sent to back renegade Libyan general – reports Posted: 13 Mar 2017 08:15 PM PDT Deployment just over the border in Egypt could be in support of commander Khalifa Haftar and aimed at gaining leverage over Libya's eventual ruler Russia appears to have deployed special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days, according to US, Egyptian and diplomatic sources, in a move that adds to US concerns about Moscow's deepening role in Libya. The US and diplomatic officials said any such Russian involvement might be part of a bid to support the Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who suffered a setback with an attack on 3 March by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) on oil ports controlled by his forces. Continue reading... |
| The motorcycle taxis taking on Uganda’s deadly roads – in pictures Posted: 13 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PDT In Kampala, motorcycle taxis are notoriously dangerous. SafeBoda aims to change this. The company, which has just launched an Uber-style app to connect drivers with riders, provides helmets and teaches employees to handle dangerous roads and give first aid Continue reading... |
| World's first fluorescent frog discovered in South America Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:02 PM PDT In normal light the polka-dot tree frog has a dull complexion – but under UV light it glows bright green The world's first fluorescent frog has been discovered in the Amazon basin in Argentina. Scientists at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires made the discovery by accident while studying the pigment of polka-dot tree frogs, a species common to the rainforest. Continue reading... |
| Coopers pulls Bible Society beer after marriage equality video sparks outcry Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:52 AM PDT Brewery apologises for making light of the issue and cancels limited edition release of 10,000 cases of beer Coopers brewery has cancelled the release of a limited edition light beer in association with the Bible Society after a "light-hearted" video debate about marriage equality that formed part of the publicity campaign sparked calls for a boycott. Related: Message in a bottle: Coopers under fire for Bible Society marriage equality video Continue reading... |
| Tuesday briefing: Ed Sheeran must be stopped – plus, make like Theresa and leave Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:54 PM PDT Sturgeon spoils PM's Brexit day of triumph … top 20 buckles under Sheeran's weight of numbers … and the link between screen time and diabetes Hello, it's Warren Murray taking you beyond the headlines this morning. Continue reading... |
| Tasmanian family refuses to pay council tax on 'God's land' Posted: 13 Mar 2017 08:23 PM PDT The Beerepoot family have not paid their rates for seven years, according to the council, and say that doing so would be bowing down to a false god A Tasmanian family has refused to pay council rates for seven years because they believe the land belongs to God. The Beerepoot family own the Melita Honey Farm, a popular tourist stop in Chudleigh, northern Tasmania. In correspondence with the Meander Valley council they said they believed they had no ownership over the land and that to pay rates, and claim ownership by implication, would be bowing down to a "false god". Continue reading... |
| Myanmar may be seeking to expel all Rohingya, says UN Posted: 13 Mar 2017 06:26 PM PDT Special rapporteur on human rights calls for investigation into rights abuses following bloody crackdown against the Muslim minority Myanmar may be seeking to "expel" all ethnic Rohingya from its territory, a UN rights expert has said, pushing for a high-level inquiry into abuses against the Muslim minority community. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said a full purge could be the ultimate goal of the institutional persecution and horrific violence being perpetrated against the Rohingya. Continue reading... |
| Geert Wilders calls for expulsion of Turkey's ambassador in TV debate Posted: 13 Mar 2017 05:22 PM PDT Demand made by Freedom party leader in election debate as Dutch prime minister seeks to defuse row with Erdoğan Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders has called for Turkey's ambassador to the Netherlands to be expelled in the wake of the row that erupted between the two countries over the weekend. In a televised clash on Monday night with prime minister Mark Rutte, their only nationally screened face-to-face debate before Wednesday's general election, Wilders said anything less than a firm message would be "an insult to us and our police officers". Continue reading... |
| Viral video clip reveals assumptions about gender as much as race and class | Letters Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:53 PM PDT Regarding the Korean wife-nanny illusion (Mum's the word: assumptions about woman in BBC gatecrasher clip raise hard questions, 13 March), I fail to see where the evidence for prejudice (ie, an unreasonable assertion based not on evidence) is. We all make rapid pragmatic assessments (form "stereotypes") about others – it is part of our evolutionary inheritance. Without this, it would be very difficult to navigate the social world. These assumptions are based upon, among other things, experience, ie to how many Korean maids as compared with Korean wives have we been exposed? They can, of course, as in this case, be proven to be incorrect and our assumptions are then open to revision. Related: If you saw a nanny in this BBC interview, what does that say about you? | Vera Chok Continue reading... |
| The pharaohs rise again: ancient Egyptian statues unearthed – in pictures Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:27 PM PDT An Egyptian-German archaeological mission has unearthed two 19th-dynasty royal statues near Pharaoh Ramses II's temple in ancient Heliopolis: an 80cm bust of Seti II, and an 8m statue believed to be of Ramses II himself Continue reading... |
| CIA hacking tools raise huge concerns | Letters Posted: 13 Mar 2017 12:13 PM PDT The articles by your diplomatic editor on possible Russian cyber-attacks on British political parties during an election (Report, 13 March) and alleged Russian cyber-attacks on government office and the Labour party in Norway (Report, 13 March) focus on state interruptions. But cyber-infiltration can also be achieved by malevolent individuals and groups, including terrorists. The literature now warns that not just digital televisions are attractive to the CIA (Report, 8 March) but smart meters, currently being rolled out to all households in the UK, may be infiltrated. One alarming academic article by Dheeraj Gurugubelli and Dr Chris Foreman of Purdue University sets out how a targeted attack on smart meters could potentially result in the shutdown of the power grid, disabling energy delivery systems. (They argue that "the compromise of even a single smart meter through focused attack or reverse engineering potentially provides access to the AMI network as a whole. This, coupled with the extensive use of multiple wireless technologies and geographic dispersion, results in an attack surface of unprecedented scale." Continue reading... |
| MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:54 AM PDT Offences Against the Person Act 1861 makes a woman's decision to terminate her own pregnancy punishable by life in prison MPs have won the right to introduce a bill to parliament which would decriminalise abortion for the first time by repealing a law that dates back to Victorian times. A ten-minute rule bill introduced by Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, sought permission of the House to change two sections of a law passed in 1861, before women had the vote. It succeeded by 170 votes to 142, a margin of 32. Continue reading... |
| Boaty McBoatface and nuclear deterrence | Letter Posted: 13 Mar 2017 10:25 AM PDT Related: Boaty McBoatface to go on its first Antarctic mission If the National Environmental Research Council's underwater robot can travel under the polar ice cap and send data back (Southern mission sounds like a job for Boaty McBoatface, 13 March), one suspects that the US and Russian governments possess even more sophisticated drones. Does this not further indicate the absolute uselessness of our "nuclear deterrent" submarines in the presence of such underwater robots? Would it not be better to spend the billions of pounds on something more useful, such as health, education or even on more appropriate conventional means of defence? |
| Hundreds celebrate Hindu festival of Holi in northern India – video Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:25 AM PDT Hundreds of people celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi in Vrindavan, northern India, over the weekend, covering each other in coloured powders, blessed by the god Krishna, and flower petals. Holi marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated across the world, with festivities often continuing for up to a week Continue reading... |
| Holi festival: Delhi women forced into lockdown amid sexual harassment fears Posted: 13 Mar 2017 07:55 AM PDT Students attack 'degrading' decision to confine them to halls to avoid India's colourful but sometimes rowdy festival As India's raucous spring festival of Holi approached this year, a memo circulated among two women's dormitories at the University of Delhi. Undergraduate women would be locked inside the student halls from 9pm on Sunday until 6pm on Monday, it read – well after most Indians had finished smearing each other in dye, dancing or drinking from cups of bhang lassi, a milky cannabis-based concoction. Continue reading... |
| Protest and persist: why giving up hope is not an option Posted: 13 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PDT The true impact of activism may not be felt for a generation. That alone is reason to fight, rather than surrender to despair Last month, Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden had a public conversation about democracy, transparency, whistleblowing and more. In the course of it, Snowden – who was of course Skyping in from Moscow – said that without Ellsberg's example he would not have done what he did to expose the extent to which the NSA was spying on millions of ordinary people. It was an extraordinary declaration. It meant that the consequences of Ellsberg's release of the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971 were not limited to the impact on a presidency and a war in the 1970s. The consequences were not limited to people alive at that moment. His act was to have an impact on people decades later – Snowden was born 12 years after Ellsberg risked his future for the sake of his principles. Actions often ripple far beyond their immediate objective, and remembering this is reason to live by principle and act in hope that what you do matters, even when results are unlikely to be immediate or obvious. The most important effects are often the most indirect. I sometimes wonder when I'm at a mass march like the Women's March a month ago whether the reason it matters is because some unknown young person is going to find her purpose in life that will only be evident to the rest of us when she changes the world in 20 years, when she becomes a great liberator. Continue reading... |
| Indonesia transfers US citizen to 'execution island' Posted: 13 Mar 2017 02:56 AM PDT Transfer of Frank Amado, who faces death penalty for drug trafficking, prompts fears of new round of executions Indonesia has transferred a convicted US citizen to its so-called execution island, prompting fears among rights organisations that the government may be preparing another round of firing squads. Related: Indonesia kills four prisoners in first executions in a year Continue reading... |
| Montpellier in the spotlight: development mania in France's fastest-growing city Posted: 13 Mar 2017 05:00 AM PDT This sun-kissed city has just become France's seventh largest on the back of students, biotech ... and a lively skanking scene This compact, sun-kissed city of 275,000 people, located six miles inland from France's Mediterranean coast, should be passing Strasbourg as the country's seventh-biggest. Any … time … now. Often overlooked for the bigger southern metropolises of Toulouse and Nice, and even Provençal tourist-draws such as Avignon and Arles, Montpellier has been the fastest growing French city over the last half-century, more than doubling in size from only 119,000 in 1962. Continue reading... |
| Clean water finally flows to transform lives of tea pickers in Bangladesh Posted: 13 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PDT Poor sanitation meant Surma valley workers and their families were often sick, but a hygiene project has brought them a healthy water supply and safe toilets Bina Patru is unsure of her age. She thinks she is in her mid-40s, but knows that she has spent a lifetime toiling in the tea bushes that carpet the rolling hills of the Surma valley of northern Bangladesh. A slight figure in a bright yellow sari, she has just returned from a morning pruning plants and pulling up roots as the tea gardens prepare for the start of harvest for the world's favourite drink. |
| Spicer: Trump ‘wiretapping’ claims about general surveillance – video Posted: 13 Mar 2017 03:38 PM PDT The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters in his daily briefing on Monday that when Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of 'wiretapping' his offices, he was referring to surveillance more broadly, rather than just recording phone calls. Spicer said there had been 'numerous reports ... that seem to indicate' that surveillance operations had taken place during the election Continue reading... |
| Woman confronts Sean Spicer: 'How does it feel to work for a fascist?' – video Posted: 13 Mar 2017 07:53 AM PDT White House press secretary Sean Spicer was confronted by a member of the public in a Washington DC Apple store on Saturday. The woman, identified as Shree Chauhan, angrily questioned Spicer over his support for Donald Trump and his policies. Chauhan streamed the encounter over Periscope Continue reading... |
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