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North Korea: Trump keeps options open against 'smart cookie' Kim Jong-Un
Renowned climber Ueli Steck dies near Mount Everest
France on extra high alert for May Day as protesters march against Le Pen
Irish reunification referendum would be dangerous, says Bertie Ahern
Iranian TV executive shot dead in Istanbul, Turkish media report
Girl, 2, killed by falling goalpost as tornadoes hit south and midwest
Trump's 100-day rally: president launches attack on 'failing' media
Pentagon puts civilian deaths in strikes on Isis way lower than outside groups
German finance minister hails progress in Greek economic reforms
'It feels like Groundhog Day': US Marines return to Helmand province
Chinese economy cools as key sectors continue to slow
Armed neo-Nazis prepare for potential clash in small Kentucky town
Ueli Steck dies in climbing accident in Himalayas – video obituary
State-owned Swedish firm Vattenfall enters UK energy market
Uncatchable: the fruitless quest for Kony – in pictures
Sebastian Gorka to leave White House amid accusations of links to far-right
Pleas weak, qualms are heavy: Eminem copyright case plays out in New Zealand court
Central Africa fears return of LRA after hunt for Joseph Kony ends
The party city grows up: how Berlin's clubbers built their own urban village
National Trust to display rescued Arts and Crafts De Morgan collection
Amid the rubble, Aleppo tries to return to normal life
Adelaide woman in Colombian jail accused of trafficking 5.8kg of cocaine
Community health boss rorted more than $500,000, Icac told
Ever-closer ties between US and Kurds stoke Turkish border tensions | Martin Chulov and Fazel Hawramy
'Police won't intervene': Indian brides given wooden paddles to beat drunk husbands
Microsoft creates first city typeface for Dubai
UK researchers lead effort to design climate-proof refugee housing
Scientists search for Caribbean quake clues
Slavery’s echoes in Bristol and beyond | Letters
Gay vicar quits and attacks ‘institutional homophobia’
How to become a ‘hedgehog hero’ | Letters
‘Jihadists were going to burn it all’: the amazing story of Timbuktu’s book smugglers
Acrush: the boyband of girls winning hearts in China
End of Joseph Kony hunt raises fears Lord’s Resistance Army could return
Trump: Kim Jong-un is a ‘pretty smart cookie’ – video

North Korea: Trump keeps options open against 'smart cookie' Kim Jong-Un

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 02:54 PM PDT

Nuclear tensions rise as McMaster reassures South over defence costs
President to CBS after missile test: 'Eventually, he'll have good missiles'

As tensions between the US and North Korea continued on Sunday, Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was "a pretty smart cookie" for managing to hold on to power after taking over at a young age.

Renowned climber Ueli Steck dies near Mount Everest

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 03:23 AM PDT

Mountaineer known as 'Swiss Machine' had been planning to ascend Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month

The renowned mountaineer Ueli Steck, known for his rapid ascents of the Alps which earned him the nickname the "Swiss Machine", has died in an accident in Nepal near Mount Everest.

Steck, who was 40 and one of the most celebrated climbers of his generation, was killed on Sunday after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area, according to Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks company that had organised the expedition.

France on extra high alert for May Day as protesters march against Le Pen

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 05:55 AM PDT

Protesters to use 1 May marches to oppose far-right presidential candidate as Front National holds annual gathering

France will be on extra high alert on Monday as workers and protesters use the traditional 1 May marches to stage a show of force against the far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Up to 250 events have been planned across France on a day of symbolic importance in the Front National calendar when it holds its annual gathering to honour the party's heroine, Joan of Arc.

Irish reunification referendum would be dangerous, says Bertie Ahern

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 10:12 AM PDT

Ex-taoiseach, a key player in Good Friday agreement, says a border poll could lead to trouble in Northern Ireland

Former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern has said a referendum on Irish reunification would be dangerous and could lead to fresh trouble in Northern Ireland. The ex-taoiseach, a key partner for the British government during the Good Friday negotiations, was reacting to the EU's decision in Brussels on Saturday to allow for a united Ireland that absorbed the north to join the EU if the province voted to leave the UK.

On a possible border poll – a key Sinn Féin demand – within Northern Ireland, Ahern said: "If you want trouble again in the north play that game. It's a dangerous game."

Iranian TV executive shot dead in Istanbul, Turkish media report

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 07:36 AM PDT

Saeed Karimian, founder of Farsi-language network GEM TV, reportedly shot dead along with his Kuwaiti business partner

The Iranian founder of a popular Farsi-language satellite television network has been shot dead in Istanbul alongside a Kuwaiti business partner, according to Turkish media, months after reportedly being convicted of spreading "propaganda" against the Islamic Republic.

GEM TV founder Saeed Karimian was travelling through Istanbul's Maslak neighbourhood after 8pm (1700 GMT) on Saturday when the car was blocked by a Jeep and shots were fired, Turkey's Doğan news agency said on Sunday.

Girl, 2, killed by falling goalpost as tornadoes hit south and midwest

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 05:39 PM PDT

Area east of Dallas hit hard by storms, sending 56 people to hospital
At least three dead in Arkansas; fatalities in Mississippi and Missouri

At least 13 people have been killed by tornadoes and flooding in the south and midwest, including a two-year-old girl who died after being hit by a falling soccer goalpost in Tennessee.

Tornadoes hit several small towns in east Texas, killing four people. Three people were killed by flooding and winds in Arkansas, with officials saying two small children were missing.

Trump's 100-day rally: president launches attack on 'failing' media

Posted: 29 Apr 2017 06:07 PM PDT

The speech in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania returns to familiar campaign themes and includes a dig at the 'very boring' White House correspondents' dinner

Donald Trump returned to familiar territory on Saturday in a bullish campaign-style speech in Pennsylvania to mark his 100 days in office.

In a performance that suggested the US president was still in election mode, he repeated his scathing attacks on the media and his well-worn pledges to build a wall, destroy Islamic State, drain the swamp and revive the military.

Pentagon puts civilian deaths in strikes on Isis way lower than outside groups

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 02:58 PM PDT

US military says at least 352 civilians killed in Iraq and Syria since 2014
Monitoring group Airwars puts total killed by coalition strikes at 3,164

At least 352 civilians have been killed in US-led strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since the operation began in 2014, the US military said on Sunday.

German finance minister hails progress in Greek economic reforms

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 09:21 AM PDT

Wolfgang Schäuble says eurozone could conclude review into reform demands in May and release next tranche of bailout funds

Greece has received some rare praise for its reform push from Germany's finance minister, who has raised hopes that the debt-stricken country will get more bailout funds soon.

Wolfgang Schäuble, who recently said Greece must implement unpopular economic reforms or leave the eurozone, appeared to soften his tone in an interview published over the weekend. He implied that a review into Greece's compliance with reform demands was progressing and could pave the way for the release of more bailout funds that are badly needed to help Athens meet debt repayments due in July.

'It feels like Groundhog Day': US Marines return to Helmand province

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 03:57 AM PDT

With the Taliban resurgent and the security situation deteriorating, elite US forces have been redeployed in southern Afghanistan

When thousands of US Marines flooded into Helmand eight years ago, they demonstrated Barack Obama's resolve to quash the Taliban once and for all and leave a peaceful province for Afghans to take over.

Two years after the US flag was lowered, however, the Marines are back, in a sign that things turned out rather differently.

Chinese economy cools as key sectors continue to slow

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 07:42 AM PDT

Manufacturing and services fall as Beijing tries to rein in property and credit boom

China's economy has shown more signs of cooling with key barometers from its manufacturing and services sectors dipping in April. The latest data comes as Beijing attempts to rein in a booming property market and rapid credit growth.

Two surveys on Sunday suggested activity in the world's second largest economy eased back in April. Manufacturing slowed more than expected as demand was hit by government moves to curb risks associated with a run of high borrowing in China.

Armed neo-Nazis prepare for potential clash in small Kentucky town

Posted: 29 Apr 2017 09:14 AM PDT

Hate groups have come to tiny Pikeville in a bid for support, but locals fear a violent standoff between the neo-Nazis and anti-fascist protesters

In a tent deep in the woods of rural Kentucky, an old neo-Nazi spoke bitterly of how he feels "betrayed" by Donald Trump.

"I'm sorry I voted for the son of a bitch, I really am," said Art Jones, who the Anti-Defamation League identifies as a Holocaust denier who has been dressing in Nazi garb and celebrating Hitler since the 1970s.

Ueli Steck dies in climbing accident in Himalayas – video obituary

Posted: 01 May 2017 01:22 AM PDT

One of the world's most renowned climbers, Ueli Steck from Switzerland, has been killed in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal. Steck, who was 40 and one of the most celebrated climbers of his generation, was killed on Sunday after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse

Renowned climber Ueli Steck dies near Mount Everest

State-owned Swedish firm Vattenfall enters UK energy market

Posted: 01 May 2017 01:00 AM PDT

Company is latest foreign publicly owned entity to join lucrative UK market with plan to sell energy from windfarms to big business

A state-owned Swedish company has become the latest European firm to enter the UK's lucrative energy market, as Britain's appeal to continental power suppliers shows no sign of abating after the Brexit vote.

Vattenfall, which is 100% controlled by the Swedish government, is launching its first foray into UK energy supply as it joins a competitive field of European players including France's EDF, German-owned E.ON and Npower, and Spanish-backed Scottish Power.

Uncatchable: the fruitless quest for Kony – in pictures

Posted: 01 May 2017 01:00 AM PDT

The curtain may be falling on the six-year hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, but the terror and suffering he and the Lord's Resistance Army wreaked in Uganda and beyond will never be forgotten by those affected

Sebastian Gorka to leave White House amid accusations of links to far-right

Posted: 01 May 2017 12:20 AM PDT

Briton, who previously worked for Fox News and Breitbart, had been hired to sit on an advisory panel created by Steve Bannon

Sebastian Gorka, an adviser to Donald Trump who has been under pressure over his links to Hungarian far-right groups, is leaving the White House.

A senior official said Gorka, a former counterterrorism analyst for Fox News who joined the administration as an adviser, will be leaving the White House in the coming days.

Pleas weak, qualms are heavy: Eminem copyright case plays out in New Zealand court

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:04 PM PDT

Rapper filed proceedings against National party in 2014 for allegedly using an unlicensed version of his song in an election campaign advertisement

Eminem's hit Lose Yourself has been played to a New Zealand court tasked with determining whether the National party infringed the rapper's copyright in a 2014 election campaign advertisement.

Eminem filed proceedings against the National party in September 2014 for allegedly using an unlicensed version of his chart-topping song in an election campaign advertisement. The hearing began in the Wellington high court on Monday.

Central Africa fears return of LRA after hunt for Joseph Kony ends

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Decision by US and African allies to call off hunt for Lord's Resistance Army leader may give fighters chance to regroup

The US and its African allies have called off their hunt for Joseph Kony, one of the world's most wanted fugitives ,who is blamed for the deaths of at least 100,000 people and the suffering of millions more in central Africa.

Kony leads the Lord's Resistance Army and has a $5m (£3.9m) price on his head. He was one of the first people the international criminal court in The Hague indicted for crimes against humanity.

The party city grows up: how Berlin's clubbers built their own urban village

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 04:00 AM PDT

What if a city allowed a huge regeneration project to be led, not by the wealthiest property developer, but by the club owners who put on the best parties in town? With the opening of Holzmarkt, Berlin is about to find out

For the first decade of the 21st century, the industrial wasteland between Berlin's Ostbahnhof station and the river Spree was earmarked for a huge urban regeneration project – one that would show that the German capital could keep up with London and New York. Where flowing water had once marked the divide between communist and capitalist spheres of influence were to be a phalanx of high-rise blocks made of shiny glass, some of them 80 metres tall, containing luxury apartments, hotels and offices.

But tomorrow, that same 12,000m²patch of land will open with an altogether different look: an urban village made of recycled windows, secondhand bricks and scrap wood, containing among other things a studio for circus acrobats, a children's theatre, a cake shop and a nursery where parents can drop off their children while they go clubbing next door. There's even a landing stage for beavers.

National Trust to display rescued Arts and Crafts De Morgan collection

Posted: 01 May 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Paintings and ceramics by William and Evelyn de Morgan to go on display at new gallery at Wightwick Manor

More than 70 years after the owner of a mansion in Wolverhampton volunteered to rescue an internationally important collection of paintings and ceramics, the offer has been accepted, and the homeless De Morgan collection is about to go on display in a new gallery.

For at least the next 10 years, the gallery will be a showcase for the beautiful ceramics and dreamy paintings by the Arts and Crafts couple William and Evelyn De Morgan. It has been created at a cost of £170,000 by the National Trust at Wightwick Manor.

Amid the rubble, Aleppo tries to return to normal life

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Even though conditions are dire, the remaining citizens of the once thriving city are trying to pick up the pieces of their former lives

Near Aleppo's ancient citadel, the scent of rose and jasmine rises from the rubble of a half-destroyed shop covered in bullet holes. Months ago it was a battleground, but for years before that it was a perfumery, and war has not changed its smell.

For centuries Aleppo's souk, its alleyway marketplace, was world-famous. The city was one of the westernmost points on the Silk Road and in both modern and ancient times it was full of haggling customers, canny businessmen, donkeys, and piles of goods – pistachios, za'atar and soap – from across the region.

Adelaide woman in Colombian jail accused of trafficking 5.8kg of cocaine

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 05:13 PM PDT

Cassandra Sainsbury, 22, who says she is innocent, was detained at airport in Bogotá after drugs found concealed inside headphones in her luggage

A young Adelaide woman on a working holiday in Colombia has reportedly been arrested with 5.8kg of cocaine in her luggage.

Cassandra Sainsbury, 22, a personal trainer and a volunteer for South Australia's Country Fire Service, is facing up to 25 years in jail for allegedly carrying the cocaine concealed in 15 boxes of headphones inside her suitcase as she tried to fly home from El Dorado international airport in Bogotá on 12 April.

Community health boss rorted more than $500,000, Icac told

Posted: 01 May 2017 01:06 AM PDT

Eman Sharobeem allegedly used money to pay for holidays, gym memberships, jewellery, furniture and luxury goods

A contender for the New South Wales Australian of the Year awards rorted more than half a million dollars in public funds while she was in charge of two publicly funded community health organisations, a corruption inquiry has been told.

Eman Sharobeem allegedly used the money to pay for holidays, gym memberships, jewellery, furniture and luxury goods for her family.

Ever-closer ties between US and Kurds stoke Turkish border tensions | Martin Chulov and Fazel Hawramy

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Following Turkish airstrikes last week, US armoured vehicles have been deployed as a buffer between Kurdish and Turkish forces

In the aftermath of Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish positions in north-east Syria last week, US troops escorted an ageing militant through an angry crowd to inspect the damage.

As a senior leader of the Kurdish militant organisation the PKK, Abdi Ferhad Şahin, known as Şahin Cilo, has a $1.1m Turkish government bounty on his head. Cameras were present to record the moment, which amounted to Cilo's remarkable transformation from hunted to courted.

'Police won't intervene': Indian brides given wooden paddles to beat drunk husbands

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 05:48 PM PDT

State minister gives out hundreds of bats at a mass wedding emblazoned with messages that read: 'For beating drunkards'

An Indian state minister has given hundreds of wooden bats to newly-wed brides, urging them to use the paddle as a weapon if their husbands turn alcoholic or abusive.

Gopal Bhargava gave the bats – which are used to get dirt out of clothes in traditional laundries – to nearly 700 brides at a mass wedding organised by the government of central Madhya Pradesh state on Saturday.

Microsoft creates first city typeface for Dubai

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 05:19 PM PDT

Crown prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum has urged all government institutions to adopt the font in official correspondence

The Dubai government on Sunday announced the launch of "Dubai font", the first typeface developed by Microsoft for a city, which will be available in 23 languages.

The font was developed simultaneously in Latin and Arabic script and is available to 100 million Office 365 users around the world.

UK researchers lead effort to design climate-proof refugee housing

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 04:01 PM PDT

Bath University staff head an international team working on shelters capable of withstanding extremes of temperature

Researchers will today begin a three-year project to design housing for refugee camps in extreme climates where temperatures range from 45C to -10C. The international team behind the Healthy Housing for the Displaced project, led by Bath University, aim to improve living conditions for refugees by creating low-cost and easy-to-construct housing.

Their 20 shelter designs will moderate extremes of temperature and ensure the privacy, comfort and dignity of residents. The research will be the largest global study into thermal, social and air-quality conditions in camps housing displaced people.

Scientists search for Caribbean quake clues

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 01:30 PM PDT

By following the flow of seawater deep into the earth's crust, researchers hope to understand the region's instability

Geologically speaking the Caribbean is a lively place. Recent reminders include the 1995 volcanic eruption on Montserrat, and the devastating magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. Occasionally the Caribbean produces even more powerful outbursts.

Back in February 1843 the region was shaken by an estimated magnitude 8.3 quake, reducing Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe to ruins and killing one third (1,500) of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, 2,000 people are thought to have perished in a quake of unspecified magnitude which shook Jamaica in 1692.

Slavery’s echoes in Bristol and beyond | Letters

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:10 AM PDT

A distant relative of Edward Colston responds to the debate over whether his ancestor should any longer be commemorated in Bristol, where he made his fortune out of slavery

As a distant descendant of Edward Colston I have followed with interest the debate (Report, 26 April) about how or whether he should be commemorated. Slavery was an abomination and a stain on many nations' histories. In Britain's case the profits from slavery created a commercial and financial system that supported the start of the industrial revolution – from which all of us have benefited, not just the citizens of Bristol.

To use Hugh Muir's phrase, from an article in G2 in 2014, if we are to make peace with the past then we should recognise the fact that the sins of the past helped forge the present.

Gay vicar quits and attacks ‘institutional homophobia’

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:04 AM PDT

Andrew Foreshew-Cain, the first C of E vicar in a same-sex marriage, leaves his London parish and says he is blacklisted

The first Church of England vicar in a same-sex marriage is leaving his parish and claims "institutional homophobia" in the church means he is blacklisted from getting another job.

Andrew Foreshew-Cain, 53, a member of the General Synod, resigned from his London parish on Sunday, telling parishioners it was a "relief" because his ministry, and that of other gay and lesbian clergy, was "barely tolerated rather than fully accepted and celebrated".

How to become a ‘hedgehog hero’ | Letters

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:02 AM PDT

Fay Vass of the Hedgehog Preservation Society on protecting the animals

It's Hedgehog Awareness Week. This year efforts are focused on our "Hedgehog Heroes" campaign. We are asking councils, tool-hire companies etc to place waterproof stickers on to their cutting machines that remind the operators to check for hedgehogs before starting work. Stickers are free of charge to such groups, and we will add those sending photographs of the stickers "in action" to the Hedgehog Heroes Roll of Honour (that can be viewed on the website). With hedgehog numbers in decline, getting involved is more important now than ever.
Fay Vass
Chief executive, British Hedgehog Preservation Society

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

‘Jihadists were going to burn it all’: the amazing story of Timbuktu’s book smugglers

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 08:00 AM PDT

In 2012, tens of thousands of artefacts from the golden age of Timbuktu were at risk in Mali's civil war. This exclusive extract describes the race to save them from the flames – and how lethal attacks could still threaten the town's treasures

One hazy morning in 2012 in Bamako, the capital of the west African state of Mali, an ageing Toyota Land Cruiser picked its way to the end of a concrete driveway and pulled out into the busy morning traffic. In its front passenger seat sat a large man in billowing robes and a pillbox prayer cap. He was 47 years old, stood over 6ft tall, and weighed around 14st, and, although a small, French-style moustache balanced jauntily on his upper lip, there was something commanding about his appearance. In his brown eyes lurked a sharp, almost impish intelligence. He was Abdel Kader Haidara, librarian of Timbuktu, and his name would soon become famous around the world.

Haidara was not an indecisive man, but that morning, as his driver piloted the heavy vehicle through the clouds of buzzing Chinese-made motorbikes and beat-up green minibuses that plied the city's streets, he was caught in an agony of indecision. The car stereo, tuned to Radio France Internationale, spewed alarming updates on the situation in the north, while the cheap mobile phones that were never far from his grasp jangled continually with reports from his contacts in Timbuktu, 600 miles away. The rebels were advancing across the desert, driving government troops and refugees before them. Haidara had known when he left his apartment that driving into this chaos would be dangerous, but now it was beginning to look like a suicide mission.

Acrush: the boyband of girls winning hearts in China

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 06:10 AM PDT

Their country's gender conservatism has not stopped Acrush acquiring 750,000 followers before even releasing a single

China's latest boyband have all the usual trappings: five attractive singers, upbeat music and a loyal fanbase of young women. But in one crucial detail they are different. This boyband is made up entirely of girls.

Acrush have yet to release their first single, but their fan page has already attracted more than 750,000 followers after a series of live performances. Their admirers already call the women "husbands", a term usually used by female Chinese fans to refer to male pop stars.

End of Joseph Kony hunt raises fears Lord’s Resistance Army could return

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Conclusion of six-year search for fugitive warlord triggers concern that his splintered forces could regroup, plunging communities into renewed violence

Uganda and the US have ended a six-year hunt for the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.

But the conclusion of the mission has frustrated the commander of Ugandan forces in Central African Republic, where the search has focused, and left advocacy groups concerned that the failure to "kill or capture" Kony could allow the LRA to rise again.

Trump: Kim Jong-un is a ‘pretty smart cookie’ – video

Posted: 30 Apr 2017 11:48 AM PDT

US president Donald Trump calls North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 'a pretty smart cookie' for being able to hold on to power after taking over the reclusive Asian nation at a young age. Speaking to CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Trump addressed tensions with North Korea. Asked about the chance of a US strike on North Korea, Trump said he didn't want people to know his thinking as 'it is a chess game'