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Chuck Berry, pioneer rock'n'roll guitarist, dies at age of 90
US diplomat ejected from New Zealand after police fail to get immunity waived
Chinese police officer jailed over bribes spent on property in Australia
How Erdoğan’s ruthless drive for more power is shaking a divided Europe
North Korea's Kim Jong-un hails engine test as 'new birth' of rocket industry
‘We’re cheated, first in India, then in Qatar’: how World Cup workers are deceived
Paris airport attacker had long criminal record
'That's not how it works': Donald Trump's grasp of Nato questioned after Merkel tweets
British troops land in Estonia for Nato mission to deter Russia
Romania and Italy unite to halt abuse of women migrants
France’s divided left looks set for defeat in first-round elections
Chile’s new ‘route of parks’ aims to save the wild beauty of Patagonia
Investigators find three headless corpses in mass grave of 15 at Venezuela prison
As drought sweeps Kenya, herders invade farms and old wounds are reopened
Banned and barred, Israel’s women stand up to religious hardliners
Haunted by the mystery deaths in Nicaragua’s brutal sugarcane fields
Fear stalks migrants huddled along Hungary’s border
Man allegedly found with shotgun, mask and ammunition near Golden Slipper race
China rejects Trump criticisms over North Korea
Most US young adults see Donald Trump presidency as illegitimate
Teach schoolchildren how to spot fake news, says OECD
Spicer applauds secret service after would-be White House intruder tackled
Roman Polanski cannot dictate terms of return to US over rape, say prosecutors
New drug cuts 'bad' cholesterol by 60% on average, reducing heart attack risk
'Steve being Steve': Iowa voters on King's 'somebody else's babies' remark
Chilean TV star wants to shake up politics, but don't call him Chile's Trump
'From now on you have no name': life in a Cuban jail
‘Good’ populism beat ‘bad’ in Dutch election
Boy aged one dies after incident at north London flat
White House bomb threat: man arrested after claiming to have device in car
Malcolm Turnbull delivers 'outright' rejection of pension cuts plan
Parody of Robert Kelly's BBC interview imagines how a woman would have coped
Five centuries on, Martin Luther should be feted as hero of liberty and free speech
London anti-racism march draws tens of thousands of protesters
Patel to defend aid budget as famine crisis spreads

Chuck Berry, pioneer rock'n'roll guitarist, dies at age of 90

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 04:54 PM PDT

Police in St Louis confirm musician's death after being found at a home on Saturday afternoon

The legendary guitarist Chuck Berry, who merged blues and swing into the phenomenon of early rock'n'roll, died on Saturday aged 90, according to Missouri police.

St Charles County police said in a post on Facebook they responded to a medical emergency at a home at approximately 12.40pm local time.

US diplomat ejected from New Zealand after police fail to get immunity waived

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 10:54 PM PDT

Attache in US embassy in Wellington is wanted for questioning over incident in which he suffered a broken nose

A US diplomat has been forced to leave New Zealand over allegations he was involved in a serious criminal incident in which he had his nose broken and sustained a black eye.

New Zealand police said they were called in the early hours of last Sunday in the community of Lower Hutt, just outside Wellington, where the US embassy is based.

Chinese police officer jailed over bribes spent on property in Australia

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 12:55 AM PDT

Senior officer to spend 17 years in prison for awarding construction contracts to developers based bribes

A Chinese court has sentenced a senior police officer to 17 years in prison for his part in a bribes-for-projects scandal, proceeds from which were used to buy two homes in Australia, according to court documents.

The 59-year-old police boss of Guta district of Jinzhou City in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning accepted a total of 6.8 million yuan ($A1.28m) in bribes for contracts, according to the court documents published in early March.

How Erdoğan’s ruthless drive for more power is shaking a divided Europe

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:05 PM PDT

The Turkish president's bid to widen his powers by campaigning during the Dutch elections has sparked an all-out crisis

The ruthless drive by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's pugnacious president, to expand his already considerable executive powers knows no bounds. Even cows are not safe. At the height of last week's furious row with the Netherlands, Turkey's red-meat producers' association said it was expelling 40 Holstein Friesian cattle. Dutch cows, like Dutch diplomats, were no longer welcome in Turkey.

If the political backdrop were not so deadly serious, the bovine ban might be funny. But Erdoğan's rude push to take partisan campaigning in Turkey's fraught 16 April referendum on expanded presidential powers to the doorsteps of western Europe's four-million-strong Turkish diaspora is no laughing matter. It has sparked an all-out crisis in Turkey-Europe relations that had been threatening to erupt for years.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un hails engine test as 'new birth' of rocket industry

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 06:44 PM PDT

After overseeing the test, Kim 'emphasised that the world will soon witness the great significance of the epoch-making victory we achieved today'

North Korea has conducted a test of a newly developed high-thrust engine at its Tongchang-ri rocket launch station, with Kim Jong-un claiming the successful test represented "a new birth" of the nation's rocket industry.

The engine will help the country achieve world-class satellite launch capability, the official news agency KCNA said, indicating the test involved a new type of rocket engine for long-range missiles.

‘We’re cheated, first in India, then in Qatar’: how World Cup workers are deceived

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:02 PM PDT

In India and Nepal, agents and middlemen charge up to £1,000 in illegal fees to recruit workers for World Cup 2022

A group of young men jump to attention as Vishnukanth Thapar nonchalantly sweeps past to open the front door of the Career Wings travel agency. Seconds after stepping into a shabby, ground-floor office he stops at a wooden shrine adorned with Hindu deities, bowing his head and joining his hands to pay obeisance before the day's work begins. There is a lot to be thankful for.

The men are summoned, gathering around a large wooden desk as they provide verbal CVs and contact details. Today's offering includes eight bricklayers, three metal workers, six HGV drivers and a dozen labourers. As he busily scribbles notes, a bell rings on Thapar's mobile, announcing the arrival of an email, which he flicks open with his finger. After reading it, he looks up to proclaim: "I need drivers and labourers. Who wants to go?" They all hold up their hands.

Paris airport attacker had long criminal record

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 01:35 PM PDT

Zied Ben Belgacem, 39, is believed to have been radicalised in prison and was on French terrorism watchlist

The Paris airport attacker who tried to take a soldier hostage before being shot dead had a long criminal record, French anti-terror officials have said.

Zied Ben Belgacem shot and wounded a police officer in northern Paris before travelling across the city to Orly airport, where he was killed after holding a gun to the soldier's head. He had been on a security watchlist.

'That's not how it works': Donald Trump's grasp of Nato questioned after Merkel tweets

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 01:17 AM PDT

President's claim that Germany owes the US 'vast sums of money' shows a lack of understanding, says ex-Nato representative

On the heels of a visibly awkward visit from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump said on Saturday that Germany owed "vast sums of money" to Nato and the US, even though the alliance does not stipulate payments to America.

British troops land in Estonia for Nato mission to deter Russia

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 02:12 AM PDT

800 British troops due to be stationed in the Baltic state as part of one of biggest deployments to eastern Europe in decades

British troops have arrived in Estonia as part of a major Nato mission in the Baltic states to deter Russian aggression.

Around 120 soldiers from the 5th Battalion The Rifles landed at the Amari airbase on Friday, 25 miles south-west of the capital, Tallinn.

Romania and Italy unite to halt abuse of women migrants

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:45 PM PDT

Governments act after the Observer exposed exploitation of workers in Sicily

The Romanian government has agreed to collaborate with Italian authorities to stop the abuses in the Sicilian province of Ragusa, after an Observer investigation found that thousands of Romanian agricultural workers were being used as forced labour and sexually exploited by their Italian employers.

A delegation of Romanian ministers sent by the prime minister, Sorin Grindeanu, met provincial representatives and migrants' rights organisations in Ragusa on Friday to discuss conditions for Romanian women and find a way forward.

France’s divided left looks set for defeat in first-round elections

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:04 PM PDT

The movement's failure to unite behind one candidate will be costly

This weekend is billed as the "final round" in the battle of France's bitterly, almost fatally, divided left.

Two big weekend rallies pit Benoît Hamon versus Jean-Luc Mélenchon: the socialist left versus the hard left, a battle that seems set to ensure that neither will win the ultimate struggle to become the country's next leader.

Chile’s new ‘route of parks’ aims to save the wild beauty of Patagonia

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:04 PM PDT

The country has just added 11m acres of land to the national parks

The road to Parque Pumalín is festooned with dozens of whitewater waterfalls that slip down the steep cliffs into a thick forest overrun by ferns and plants with leaves as big as beach umbrellas. An active volcano threatens to wipe out the sparse human settlements that are scattered like frontier outposts, often holding populations of fewer than 100 residents. The scenery, however, suddenly changes at El Amarillo, a town of perfect picket fences, exquisitely designed bridges and hand-lettered wooden signs offering help on camping and trekking.

It is here that a 25-year experiment in environmental conservation is finally coming to fruition. Parque Pumalín is a million-acre collection of untrammelled vistas and valleys that was patched together by a pair of American conservationists whose mission, known as "wildlands philanthropy", was to keep the lands free from industrial development.

Investigators find three headless corpses in mass grave of 15 at Venezuela prison

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 01:21 PM PDT

Grave at Guarico prison could hold as many as 100 bodies, group says
Authorities give no explanation for deaths in lawless prison system

Fifteen corpses, three of them headless, have been found in a mass grave at a Venezuelan prison and more may be discovered, investigators said on Saturday.

As drought sweeps Kenya, herders invade farms and old wounds are reopened

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:04 PM PDT

Threatened by famine, pastoralists have turned to violence

Sitting on the edge of Kenya's highest mountain, its spectacular dun-coloured vistas stretching out into the endless distance, Laikipia is one of the most beautiful corners of east Africa.

The region received a rush of publicity in 2010 when Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton at a log cabin there. Tens of thousands of tourists now flock to parks and reserves in an area that promises rare sights including the world's last three remaining northern white rhinoceroses.

Banned and barred, Israel’s women stand up to religious hardliners

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:04 PM PDT

Ultra-Orthodox influence has excluded women from speaking at funerals and public prayers, and taken them off the radio

The jeering crowds of men, held back by a thin security cordon as they screamed at the small group of women heading to the most sacred site in Judaism, occasionally made contact, kicking, pushing or tripping one of the would-be worshippers.

Sarah Moody, a 27-year-old preparing to become a rabbi, was among those knocked to the ground by the mob. As she scrambled back to her feet and headed towards the Western Wall, her knees were bruised and there were tears welling in her eyes. "It was frightening," she said, raising her voice to be heard over cries of "evil-doers", "anarchists" and other insults, and the shrill of blasting whistles. "They were right over me."

Haunted by the mystery deaths in Nicaragua’s brutal sugarcane fields

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:05 PM PDT

Kidney disease has killed 20,000 agricultural workers, but no one knows why

Two brothers stand in a dusty alley in the town of Chichigalpa in Nicaragua. They stare with suspicion at Australian photographer Josh Mcdonald, who has just captured their image – a picture that won a Wellcome Image award last week for its depiction of the impact of a medical condition that has been devastating the male population of central America.

The illness is described as "chronic kidney disease of undetermined cause" and it is responsible for 75% of deaths of young and middle-aged men in Nicaragua. Workers in the sugarcane industry are worst affected, and the disease has been destroying families and communities for 20 years. Yet the cause remains unknown.

Fear stalks migrants huddled along Hungary’s border

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:04 PM PDT

Migrants waiting in Serbia face new barriers including an electrified fence

Behind a high metal fence topped with loose curls of barbed wire, the newly positioned blue shipping containers lined neatly along Hungary's southern border at Röszke provide a glimpse of the new plans of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to detain thousands of asylum seekers, including children.

Construction on Hungary's new detention camps and a second electrified fence, which stretches 108 miles along its border with Serbia, are now under way despite virulent opposition from the UN, human rights groups and a European court ruling which it was hoped might halt the country's determination to imprison refugees.

Man allegedly found with shotgun, mask and ammunition near Golden Slipper race

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 02:50 PM PDT

Police say the 39-year-old has been charged with offences including being armed with intent and possessing a loaded firearm

A loaded shotgun has allegedly been found in the backpack of a man stopped among crowds near horse racing's Golden Slipper Day in Sydney.

Police say the man was stopped by officers conducting foot patrols near the intersection of James Ruse Drive and Hassall St at Rosehill about 5.15pm on Saturday.

China rejects Trump criticisms over North Korea

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:50 AM PDT

Chinese foreign minister speaks out after US president said Beijing had done little to deter Kim Jong-un's nuclear ambitions

China has rebuffed Donald Trump's latest Twitter attack after the US president accused Beijing of doing little to help force North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, to abandon his nuclear ambitions.

Speaking in Beijing alongside the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, claimed a responsible China had "devoted a lot of energy and effort over the years" to resolving the North Korean issue.

Most US young adults see Donald Trump presidency as illegitimate

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 07:56 AM PDT

GenForward poll shows 62% disapproval of Trump performance
African American, Latino and Asian Americans ranged against president

A majority of young adults – 57% – see Donald Trump's presidency as illegitimate, including about three-quarters of blacks and large majorities of Latinos and Asians, a new poll has found.

Teach schoolchildren how to spot fake news, says OECD

Posted: 17 Mar 2017 05:01 PM PDT

Thinktank's education lead raises concerns over social media 'echo chamber' and says ability to discern fact from fiction is vital

Children should be taught in schools how to spot fake news, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's education lead has said.

Andreas Schleicher said the ability to distinguish fact from fiction was essential in the modern age and teachers were well placed to provide guidance.

Spicer applauds secret service after would-be White House intruder tackled

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 12:35 PM PDT

Person jumps over bike rack in buffer zone but does not reach grounds
Man who scaled fence last week was on property for 16 minutes

A person jumped over a bike rack in a buffer zone in front of the White House on Saturday but was not able to make it over the fence into the grounds, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Twitter.

Roman Polanski cannot dictate terms of return to US over rape, say prosecutors

Posted: 17 Mar 2017 09:32 PM PDT

Fugitive director is told before hearing on Monday there will be no deals until he comes back to face court over admission in 1977 to sex with 13-year-old

Fugitive director Roman Polanski could face a tough US court battle next week as he seeks to resolve his four-decade rape case without spending more time in jail.

Los Angeles prosecutors said in a court filing before a hearing on Monday that the Oscar-winning movie maker could not dictate the terms of his return to the United States from afar.

New drug cuts 'bad' cholesterol by 60% on average, reducing heart attack risk

Posted: 17 Mar 2017 05:46 PM PDT

Trial of 27,000 patients found that those taking drug evolocumab saw their levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol fall

A new drug can prevent heart attacks and strokes by cutting bad cholesterol levels, scientists have found.

An international trial of 27,000 patients found that those who took the drug evolocumab saw their bad cholesterol levels fall by about 60% on average.

'Steve being Steve': Iowa voters on King's 'somebody else's babies' remark

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 08:35 AM PDT

Rural constituents largely accept the Republican as a politician who says 'what he believes', despite recent storm over allegedly racist remarks

Outside his rural congressional district stretching over 39 Iowa counties, conservative U.S. Rep. Steve King's stream of inflammatory comments generate outrage and condemnation. Back home, they rate little more than a shrug.

Chilean TV star wants to shake up politics, but don't call him Chile's Trump

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT

First-term senator Alejandro Guillier seems to be enjoying a Trump-like political ascent, but his policies have more in common with the center-left

A TV celebrity aims to become president so he can shake up a profoundly conservative political establishment, but this time it is not Donald Trump in the United States but a left wing, green-minded former news anchor in Chile who is milking his fame to make a surprisingly strong challenge for power.

Alejandro Guillier, a veteran journalist who launched the weekly TV show Zero Tolerance, has surged to second place in the polls in recent months, which puts him in a strong position to represent the ruling Nueva Mayoría (New Majority) coalition in the presidential poll on 19 November.

'From now on you have no name': life in a Cuban jail

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT

A brutal high-security prison was the last place Stephen Purvis expected to end up when he moved to Havana. Stephen Gibbs tells his story

If you happened to go to a British embassy reception in Havana in the early 2000s, you would likely have met Stephen Purvis. You could not miss him. Six foot four, cropped grey hair, rum in hand, a broad smile and no shortage of good stories.

The mood among expats soured. All knew someone who had been caught up in the series of arrests

‘Good’ populism beat ‘bad’ in Dutch election

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Authoritarianism and nativism were the real winners in Netherlands poll

If we are to believe the international media, last week the brave Dutch electorate defeated populism by denying the bid by the Party for Freedom (PVV) of "the Dutch Trump", Geert Wilders, to become the biggest party in parliament. Whether this is just a Dutch phenomenon, or whether populism more widely has peaked, seems to be the new topic of speculation – although some commentators simply shifted their gaze to Paris to apply the same analysis to the upcoming French presidential elections.

The Dutch elections were never about the defeat or victory of populism. Polls have shown for years that the biggest party in the country – be it the PVV or the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of the prime minister, Mark Rutte – would at best get a quarter of the votes, probably many fewer, and have to start the arduous process of building a coalition government of four to five parties. Even if the PVV were included in this coalition– though all other relevant parties had discounted this possibility – it would be the only populist party in government. Hardly a victory for the phenomenon.

Boy aged one dies after incident at north London flat

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 01:24 AM PDT

Girl of same age in critical condition after being found seriously injured in Finsbury Park

A one-year-old boy has died and a girl of the same age is in a critical condition after they were seriously injured in an incident in north London.

Officers were called to a flat near Finsbury Park at 11.10pm on Saturday, Scotland Yard said.

White House bomb threat: man arrested after claiming to have device in car

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 10:14 PM PDT

Roads closed and security beefed up as police check vehicle at White House gates for explosives

A man is reportedly in custody after he drove up to a White House check point claiming to have a bomb in his car.

CNN said there was no confirmation of any device in the vehicle but that security at the White House had been upgraded.

Malcolm Turnbull delivers 'outright' rejection of pension cuts plan

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 10:50 PM PDT

Prime minister takes to Twitter to deny reported plan to cut payments as health minister promises 'rock solid' commitment to Medicare in budget

Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out pension cuts in the budget after a report that the government was considering cutting welfare for those receiving less than $20.02 a fortnight.

It comes as the health minister, Greg Hunt, gave further signals on Sunday the government would unfreeze the Medicare rebate in the May budget to demonstrate what he called a "rock solid" commitment to universal healthcare.

Parody of Robert Kelly's BBC interview imagines how a woman would have coped

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 06:17 PM PDT

Comedy duo produce spoof in which a female interviewee feeds her child, cleans a toilet, cooks dinner and defuses a bomb

A video has emerged parodying the BBC's viral hit which featured a professor interrupted by his children during a live interview, re-imagining how the scene would have unfolded if a woman had been in the hot-seat.

Last week the video of university professor Robert Kelly became world-famous after his four-year-old daughter Marion barged into the room mid-interview, followed by his eight-month-old son James and finally his panicked wife Jung-a Kim.

Five centuries on, Martin Luther should be feted as hero of liberty and free speech

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:05 PM PDT

The story of the German reformer who challenged the Catholic church has resonance today

In the English version of the Reformation, Martin Luther's role amounts to little more than noises off. First, he attracted the hostility of Henry VIII, aided and abetted by Thomas More, as they flung barbs at "this venomous serpent" challenging the Catholic church's stranglehold over Europe. Then, just over a decade later, the king exploited the breach in Rome's defences that Luther had created to launch a national church.

But Henry was always keen to stress that he was no Lutheran, and the German reformer's new take on Christianity did not survive intact when crossing the Channel. So the celebrations this year of the 500th anniversary of Luther issuing his 95 theses – the key text in his onslaught against the pope's abuse of power and scripture – is set to largely pass us by.

London anti-racism march draws tens of thousands of protesters

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 10:30 AM PDT

Speakers at rally berate populism behind the rise of the far-right in Europe, Britain's vote to leave the EU, and Donald Trump

As many as 30,000 people have joined a march against racism in London during which campaigners voiced their opposition to the wave of populism they say elected Donald Trump, saw Britain vote to leave the EU and fuelled the rise of far-right politics around Europe.

The former Guantánamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg, one of the speakers at the Saturday protest, said Trump was one of the "bad dudes" who should be sent to the internment camp in Cuba.

Patel to defend aid budget as famine crisis spreads

Posted: 18 Mar 2017 05:05 PM PDT

The minister, who suggested in 2013 that the Department for International Development be scrapped, said the world was looking to Britain for leadership

Priti Patel, the international development secretary, will make her most robust defence of Britain's aid spending on Monday when she announces an "intensifying" of efforts to tackle poverty and disease abroad.

In a speech that will be cautiously welcomed by those who feared her appointment last year risked a dismantling of the department and its work in the developing world, Patel will pledge her commitment to the UK's humanitarian role. She will also call on leading aid charities to become more vocal at a "momentous" time, with the possibility of four major famines.

Aneka Info

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

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

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