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

Germany rejects Trump claim it owes Nato and US 'vast sums' for defence
Three US troops wounded after Afghan soldier opens fire
Clashes in Damascus after rebels tunnel into government-held areas
Controversial Hindu priest chosen as Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Amazon land battle pits indigenous villagers against might of Ecuador state
Ex-UK ambassador calls White House wiretap claims 'gratuitously damaging'
Germany's SPD elects Martin Schulz as leader to challenge Merkel
California waiter fired for asking customers to prove residency
Google braces for questions as more big-name firms pull adverts
Uber faces further turmoil as company president Jeff Jones quits
Rights groups lead Paris rally against police brutality
Egyptian newspaper: Sisi to meet Trump in Washington next month
Norway ousts Denmark as world's happiest country – UN report
My village didn't even have a traffic light. Now it has 1.4 million people
Sea level rise: Miami and Atlantic city fight to stay above water – video
Cancer rates are soaring in Africa, yet Tanzania's radiotherapy hub stands idle
Caroline de Bendern: 'leave campaign was lies and xenophobia'
'Half these apartments are empty': Mao’s former home city struggles with growth
Pregnant women without legal status 'too afraid to seek NHS care'
Canadian wins $1m Global Teacher Prize for work with Inuit students
Labor says publication of politicians' mobile numbers another 'serious' data failure
New roads in England create more traffic, rural campaigners claim
Monday briefing: Neighbours drama as May begins 'tin ear' Brexit tour
Rodrigo Duterte swears at European MPs over death penalty censure – video
Philippine president swears at European MPs over death penalty criticism
Wiping out crime: face-scanners placed in public toilet to tackle loo roll theft
Timor-Leste presidential election: revolutionary hero v new generation
Rex grounds planes as it investigates how aircraft lost propeller mid-air
Orly airport attack: drugs and alcohol found in gunman's blood
‘Crazy dream’: the former Delhi IT worker in the race to land on the moon
Anglican clergyman accuses Church in Wales of homophobia
Socialist Benoît Hamon tries to rouse and unite French left at rally
North Korea rocket test ups ante with belligerent Trump administration | Simon Tisdall
The other China week: what it is and how you can be involved
More than 100 Chinese cities now above 1 million people
'Keep fighting': Hillary Clinton searches for role in age of Democratic division

Germany rejects Trump claim it owes Nato and US 'vast sums' for defence

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 06:11 AM PDT

Defence minister Ursula von der Leyen rejects Trump's tweeted claim
'No debt account to Nato', minister says, explaining spending policy

The German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday rejected Donald Trump's claim that Germany owes Nato and the US "vast sums" of money for defence.

Three US troops wounded after Afghan soldier opens fire

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 08:01 AM PDT

Afghan army spokesman calls shooting a 'mistake' that was not deliberate
Shooter was shot dead at base in southern Helmand province

An Afghan soldier opened fire on Sunday inside a base in the southern Helmand province, wounding three US soldiers before being shot dead, an Afghan official said.

Colonel Mohammad Rasoul Zazai, an army spokesman, said the soldier had made a "mistake" and had not fired deliberately. A coalition-run Twitter account said an Afghan soldier shot and wounded three American soldiers, without providing further details.

Clashes in Damascus after rebels tunnel into government-held areas

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:54 AM PDT

Insurgents make unexpected advance after months of losses at the hands of government forces elsewhere in Syria

Fierce clashes broke out in the Syrian capital on Sunday after insurgents infiltrated government-held parts of the city through tunnels overnight in a rare advance after months of steady losses elsewhere in the country.

It was a surprising breach of the security perimeter in Damascus, where the government has effectively walled itself off from opposition forces encamped in two enclaves in the eastern parts of the city.

Controversial Hindu priest chosen as Uttar Pradesh chief minister

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 05:51 AM PDT

Yogi Adityanath, who likened Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan to a terrorist and praised Donald Trump's travel ban, to lead India's most populous state

A firebrand Hindu priest who praised Donald Trump's Muslim ban and once likened the Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan to a terrorist has been chosen to run India's most populous state.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which last weekend won a landslide victory in local elections in Uttar Pradesh state, announced after a party meeting on Saturday that Yogi Adityanath was its unanimous choice for chief minister.

Amazon land battle pits indigenous villagers against might of Ecuador state

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 03:29 PM PDT

Only a bridge separates the Shuar village of El Tink from threat of military and mining interests in high-profile dispute resulting in death and displacement

Ex-UK ambassador calls White House wiretap claims 'gratuitously damaging'

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 10:52 AM PDT

Sir Peter Westmacott, writing in the Guardian, has accused the White House of 'peddling falsehoods' by suggesting British intelligence spied on Trump Tower

The former British ambassador to Washington, Sir Peter Westmacott, has issued a withering criticism of Donald Trump and his inner circle, accusing them of making absurd, unthinkable and nonsensical claims about the UK's involvement in alleged wiretapping of Trump Tower that he warns could damage close ties between the two countries.

Germany's SPD elects Martin Schulz as leader to challenge Merkel

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 10:10 AM PDT

Former European parliament president wins all 605 votes at party conference and will run for chancellor in September

Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have voted overwhelmingly for former European parliament president Martin Schulz to become the party's new head and the main challenger to Angela Merkel in September's general election.

Schulz, 61, who has emerged in recent weeks as Germany's version of the US democrat Bernie Sanders, earning support in particular among young voters who have dubbed him the SPD's "fresh wind", secured all 605 votes at a special party conference in Berlin on Sunday, a record result beating even Kurt Schumacher, the party's popular postwar leader, who secured 99.71% of the vote in 1948.

California waiter fired for asking customers to prove residency

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 01:00 PM PDT

Huntington Beach restaurant employee demanded proof of legal residency
Brenda and Diana Carrillo thought waiter was joking but 'he didn't have a smile'

A waiter has been fired from a restaurant in southern California after asking customers to prove they had legal residency before serving them.

The Los Angeles Times reported that 23-year-old Brenda Carrillo said she and a friend were asked the question at the restaurant, Saint Marc in Huntington Beach. Carrillo said the waiter later asked her sister and another friend to see their proof of residency.

Google braces for questions as more big-name firms pull adverts

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 08:24 AM PDT

Vodafone and trio of high street banks take action as industry and UK government ask how their ads became attached to extremist material

Google executives are bracing for a two-pronged inquisition from the advertising industry and the government over the company's plans to stop ads being placed next to extremist material.

A slew of big-name companies, advertising firms and government departments have either pulled their adverts from Google and its YouTube video site or are considering whether to do so, with media giant Sky, telecoms group Vodafone and a trio of banks adding their names to a growing list over the weekend.

Uber faces further turmoil as company president Jeff Jones quits

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 04:27 PM PDT

Jones, hired to boost taxi hailing app's reputation, is latest in string of high-level executives to leave as firm faces multiple controversies

Taxi hailing app Uber has been thrust deeper into turmoil with the departure of company president Jeff Jones, a marketing expert hired to help bolster its reputation.

Jones quit less than seven months after joining the San Francisco company, an Uber spokesman said on Sunday.

Rights groups lead Paris rally against police brutality

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 06:48 AM PDT

French Human Rights League says protest, a month after officer charged with rape, is to express anger over police violence

Rights groups and victims' families are holding a rally in Paris on Sunday against police brutality after the recent baton-rape of a young man heightened tensions over alleged beatings and deaths in police custody.

After a police officer was charged with raping a young black man, Theo, with a baton during a violent arrest in Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris last month, clashes and rioting broke out on estates around the French capital, leading to more than 250 arrests.

Egyptian newspaper: Sisi to meet Trump in Washington next month

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 05:44 AM PDT

Al-Ahram says in front-page report US visit set for first week of April
Egyptian leader met Trump on sidelines at UN general assembly

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, will meet Donald Trump in Washington next month, Egypt's leading state-owned newspaper said on Sunday.

Norway ousts Denmark as world's happiest country – UN report

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 01:17 AM PDT

Nordic countries are most content of 155 ranked, with UK at No 19 and US at No 14, and countries in sub-Saharan Africa at the bottom

Norway has trumped Denmark as the world's happiest country in a new report that calls on nations to build social trust and equality to improve the wellbeing of their citizens.

According to the World Happiness Report 2017 produced by the United Nations, the Nordic nations are the most content.

My village didn't even have a traffic light. Now it has 1.4 million people

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 01:00 AM PDT

When author Xiaolu Guo was a child in the 1980s, her village was a remote farming settlement. Now, like hundreds of others across China, it has become a metropolis with four-lane roads, a cancer epidemic … and even a new language

I grew up in a semi-tropical southern village, and that village grew up with me. We both underwent huge changes. I went from being a skinny, snot-nosed, lonely girl into an adolescent hungry for escape, while my village grew from a small agricultural town (Xian), into a bustling city (Shi) of 1.4 million inhabitants.

Today, Wenling is a typical medium-sized metropolis in Zhejiang province, southern China. Like many of the hundreds of Chinese towns that have grown into cities over the past 30 years, it is full of brand-new but cheaply constructed skyscrapers, casting shadows on rough-looking peasants, their root vegetables stuffed in shoulder bags as they trudge along newly paved highways.

Sea level rise: Miami and Atlantic city fight to stay above water – video

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:15 AM PDT

Sea levels are rising. For many cities on the the eastern shores of the United States, the problem is existential. We take a look at how Miami and Atlantic City are tackling climate change, and the challenges they face under a skeptical Trump administration that plans to cut funding for environmental programs

Cancer rates are soaring in Africa, yet Tanzania's radiotherapy hub stands idle

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

A state-of-the-art oncology clinic lacks the funding and staff to get its equipment up and running, despite thousands of people requiring life-saving treatment

The white bulk of the cobalt-60 radiotherapy machine is just visible inside the dark cement bunker. The electricity in the room at Bugando Medical Centre is shut off. The machine, donated last year by the Indian government, looks ready to go, but it has yet to deliver a life-saving dose of radiation.

Medical staff at Bugando, a tertiary care and teaching hospital in Tanzania's second largest city, Mwanza, are keen to start offering radiotherapy to the growing number of cancer patients arriving at the hospital's doors.

Caroline de Bendern: 'leave campaign was lies and xenophobia'

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Activist, who became symbol of 1968 protests when she was photographed in Paris, prepares to march against Brexit

Her image has been symbolic of the national mood once before. Recreating a 19th-century masterpiece of Lady Liberty leading the French to revolution, a statuesque portrait of Caroline de Bendern emerged as a defining image of the protests that swept Europe in the summer of 1968.

Now almost five decades on, the British former model and disinherited aristocrat is taking to the streets again – to demonstrate her opposition to Brexit and fly the flag for the European Union at this week's Unite for Europe march.

'Half these apartments are empty': Mao’s former home city struggles with growth

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Like many second-tier Chinese cities, historic Changsha is growing at a staggering rate – 460% in 10 years – leading to gridlocked roads, polluted air, surplus housing and overstretched services. What is it like to live among such change?

A sprawling city of 3.7 million people, Changsha boasts more than 2,000 years of history. The capital of China's Hunan province extends along the east bank of the Xiang river, in whose waters Chairman Mao used to swim when he was a student. Two millennia before, the city was a state capital under the Han Dynasty. There's little trace of it today.

Much was wiped out in 1938 when the city burned for three days. More than 20,000 people died and two-thirds of the city's buildings were destroyed after the ruling Nationalist authorities started the fire to stop the Japanese army from gaining supplies. In the words of an American missionary present at the time, Changsha "lay flat, wrecked and totally vulnerable".

Pregnant women without legal status 'too afraid to seek NHS care'

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Growing number of women who fear being reported to Home Office or being hit with high bills are avoiding NHS, charities say

Hundreds of pregnant women without legal status are avoiding seeking NHS antenatal care because of growing fears that they will be reported to the Home Office or face high medical bills, according to charities that work with vulnerable migrant women.

The Guardian has seen letters from one NHS trust sent to women with complex asylum claims warning they will have their antenatal care cancelled if they fail to bring credit cards to pay fees of more than £5,000 for maternity care. These letters contravene NHS guidelines, which state that maternity care should never be denied.

Canadian wins $1m Global Teacher Prize for work with Inuit students

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 12:50 PM PDT

Maggie MacDonnell praised for 'transforming her community' in village of Salluit, which has a high rate of suicide

A Canadian who teaches at a school in a fly-in-only village in the Arctic has won a $1m (£800,000) Global Teacher Prize at a ceremony in Dubai.

Maggie MacDonnell, praised for "changing the lives of her students and transforming her community", was among 10 finalists chosen from 20,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries.

Labor says publication of politicians' mobile numbers another 'serious' data failure

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:29 PM PDT

Only excluded numbers reportedly those of Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and several other senior figures

Federal ministers' personal mobile phone numbers were reportedly available online for three months after a government department failed to ensure they were properly deleted from a report.

The Department of Parliamentary Services regularly releases six-monthly reports on MPs' mobile phone and internet spending details. The latest report for January to June 2016 included the mobile phone numbers of most MPs and senators, including most ministers, Fairfax Media reported.

New roads in England create more traffic, rural campaigners claim

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Campaign to Protect Rural England calls for halt to expansion in roadbuilding after study shows traffic actually increased faster in areas with new roads

New roads built in England have almost all failed to either relieve congestion or boost local economies, according to what campaigners claim is the biggest ever independent review of completed schemes.

A study of 86 road schemes commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found most roads increased traffic while destroying the countryside.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Monday briefing: Neighbours drama as May begins 'tin ear' Brexit tour

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:44 PM PDT

Devolution row grows as PM visits Wales … FBI director to testify on Trump wiretapping claims … fears Neighbours could disappear

Good morning all, this is Graham Russell bringing you the news to kick off your week.

Rodrigo Duterte swears at European MPs over death penalty censure – video

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 10:48 PM PDT

The president of the Philippines tells the European Parliament to 'mind your own business' and to not 'fuck with us' after it passed a resolution condemning his plans to revive the death penalty for drug convicts. 'Do not impose your culture or your beliefs ... on other countries, especially us,' he said in a press conference

Philippine president swears at European MPs over death penalty criticism

Philippine president swears at European MPs over death penalty criticism

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 10:47 PM PDT

Rodrigo Duterte uses colourful language, telling European parliament to mind its own business

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has berated the European parliament for passing a resolution condemning his plans to revive the death penalty for drug convicts.

"I'll talk in English," he said, speaking to Filipino expatriates on a two-day state visit to Myanmar. "Do not impose your culture or your belief in what would be a government in this planet. Do not impose on other countries, especially us.

Wiping out crime: face-scanners placed in public toilet to tackle loo roll theft

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 09:15 PM PDT

Facial recognition software installed in Beijing convenience to crack down on people taking large amounts of toilet paper

One of Beijing's busiest public toilets is fighting the scourge of toilet paper theft through the use technology – giving out loo roll only to patrons who use a face scanner.

Timor-Leste presidential election: revolutionary hero v new generation

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 08:45 PM PDT

Former independence fighter Francisco 'Lú-Olo' Guterres is expected to win, but the next generation of leaders is rising to tackle Timor-Leste's challenges

A former revolutionary hero is expected to become Timor-Leste's next president as voters head to the polls in the country's first election since the departure of United Nations peacekeepers in 2012.

It is also the first time Timorese Australians have been allowed to cast absentee votes – in Sydney and Darwin – without having to travel back to Dili.

Rex grounds planes as it investigates how aircraft lost propeller mid-air

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 07:39 PM PDT

Airline reveals crew shut down right-hand engine of Saab 340 before propeller fell and is investigating all propeller gear boxes and shafts of the same series

Regional airline Rex has grounded some of its planes as an investigation continues into how a propeller fell off an aircraft as it approached Sydney airport late last week.

Regional Express has revealed the crew had shut down the right-hand engine of the Saab 340 before the propeller assembly "was seen by the first officer to separate from its shaft" on Friday when the flight from Albury was 25km south-west of Sydney.

Orly airport attack: drugs and alcohol found in gunman's blood

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 07:04 PM PDT

Toxicology tests showed Ziyed Ben Belgacem had consumed alcohol, cannabis and cocaine before he attacked a soldier and was later shot dead

The man shot dead at Paris's Orly airport after attacking a soldier was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time.

Investigators are still trying to understand the motive behind Saturday's assault by 39-year-old Ziyed Ben Belgacem, which led to a major security scare and the temporary closure of the capital's second-busiest airport.

‘Crazy dream’: the former Delhi IT worker in the race to land on the moon

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 05:45 PM PDT

TeamIndus is one of four teams competing to win Google's Lunar XPrize for the first ever private moon landing, worth $20m

To this day, Rahul Narayan doesn't know why he said yes, except that it was the very last day to sign up, and if he didn't agree to it, then there would be no Indian teams in the running. He threw together a proposal and clicked submit.

Perhaps it was the dullness of his day job in IT services, or a last-ditch effort to recapture some adolescent Star Trek-themed fantasy; but once the idea got into his head, it stuck.

Anglican clergyman accuses Church in Wales of homophobia

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 12:55 PM PDT

Jeffrey John claims he was rejected for appointment as bishop of Llandaff after objections to his sexuality were raised

A senior Anglican clergyman has accused the Church in Wales of homophobia, claiming he was rejected for appointment as bishop of Llandaff after objections to his sexuality were raised.

Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans Cathedral, has said he was told that bishops considering the appointment "were 'just too exhausted' to deal with the problems they believed my appointment would cause". This, he said, "is not a moral or legal basis on which to exclude me".

Socialist Benoît Hamon tries to rouse and unite French left at rally

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:09 AM PDT

The left's leading presidential candidate delivers an impassioned speech to 20,000 supporters at a stadium in Paris

The French Socialist leader Benoît Hamon rose to the challenge of giving his presidential campaign the kiss of life on Sunday in a rousing appeal to thousands of supporters.

At a packed Paris arena more accustomed to hosting entertainment's great and good, he was given the reception normally reserved for pop stars.

North Korea rocket test ups ante with belligerent Trump administration | Simon Tisdall

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 07:39 AM PDT

Washington's own provocative stance may play into Pyongyang's hands and reduce China's willingness to cooperate

North Korea's latest provocation, a weekend rocket engine test coinciding with high-level US-China talks in Beijing, has underlined just how dangerous and unpredictable the escalating military confrontation on the Korean peninsula is becoming.

The Trump administration, far from calming matters, appears set on raising the stakes in a power contest nobody can win. The reportedly successful test of the high-thrust engine at the Tongchang-ri rocket launch station, announced on Sunday, was hailed by North Korea's maverick dictator, Kim Jong-un, as a breakthrough. The official KCNA news agency said the engine would be used to launch space satellites.

The other China week: what it is and how you can be involved

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

This week Guardian Cities is exploring the huge but rarely reported cities on the front line of China's unprecedented urbanisation

While Beijing, Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta get most of the headlines, all this week Guardian Cities will explore the other China – the huge but rarely reported cities on the front line of the country's unprecedented urbanisation.

The pace of China's urban transformation is staggering. It is already home to 119 cities bigger than Liverpool, and more than 100 with populations above 1 million people. By 2025, that number may have doubled.

More than 100 Chinese cities now above 1 million people

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Government policy and a shift westward have fed the staggering scale of China's urban ambitions – 119 cities as big as Liverpool, and likely double that by 2025

The other China: explore our special investigative series

China now has more than 100 cities of over 1 million residents, a number that is likely to double in the next decade.

According to the Demographia research group, the world's most populous country boasts 102 cities bigger than 1 million people, many of which are little known outside the country – or even within its borders.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

'Keep fighting': Hillary Clinton searches for role in age of Democratic division

Posted: 19 Mar 2017 04:00 AM PDT

Her appearances since the election have been rare, but she recently hinted at a return. What part will she play in the party's future?

Wherever she goes – a hike in the woods near her Chappaqua home, at the theater for a Broadway show, delivering a speech to a room of women and girls – Hillary Clinton causes a stir. Fans ask for photographs. Crowds stand for extended ovations.

Such appearances have been rare. In the more than four months since her devastating election loss to Donald Trump, Clinton has largely resisted the spotlight. On Friday, however, she hinted that she is ready to return to public life.

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

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

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