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

Donald Trump hails Vatican meeting with Pope Francis as 'an honour'
Brazil police arrest close aide of president in World Cup scheme
Fox drops Seth Rich murder story as Sean Hannity attacks 'liberal fascism'
Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye on trial for corruption
WHO elects first ever African director-general after tense vote
Uber driver charged with kidnapping female passenger in Canada
'My worst nightmares are coming true': last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse'
Mount Everest's Hillary Step is still there, say Nepalese climbers
World's best Go player flummoxed by Google’s ‘godlike’ AlphaGo AI
Michael Flynn may have lied to officials about his Russia ties, congressman says
China's credit rating downgraded amid fears over slowing economy
Penny Wong questions George Brandis over 'serious failure' regarding Monis letter – as it happened
Disarmed and dangerous: can former Farc guerrillas adjust to civilian life?
Jaguar Land Rover posts record sales thanks to demand in China and US
Nine Manchester attack victims named, as troops take to streets
Donald Trump says 'evil losers' were behind Manchester attack
World is plundering Africa's wealth for 'billions of dollars a year'
Tony Abbott says NSW Liberals reform event is 'rich people’s convention'
Five dead in motorway crash on M6 near Stoke
India is world's most populous nation with 1.32bn people, academic claims
Wednesday briefing: In Manchester, an attack on our hearts
Troops count cost of Vietnam's Hamburger Hill – archive, 24 May 1969
Church ‘champing’ for Scottish pilgrims | Letters
Sandy Buchan obituary
Brazil woman got longer jail term for Easter egg theft than corruption culprits
Chinese student's graduation speech in the US causes uproar at home – video
Guernica at 80: Nearly 4,000 child refugees arrive in the UK – archive, 1937
Vote for WHO top job takes place after weeks of mud-slinging
'Losers': Trump's favorite word may diminish the gravity of UK attack
The only good news about Trump's budget? It's unlikely to pass
As Trump lands in Rome, can all roads lead to peace with Pope Francis?
Melania Trump seems to flick away Donald's hand … again – video

Donald Trump hails Vatican meeting with Pope Francis as 'an honour'

Posted: 24 May 2017 01:22 AM PDT

Pontiff jokes with US president midway through Trump's first overseas trip since he entered White House

Donald Trump has met Pope Francis as part of his first oversees trip as US president.

TV images of the hastily arranged meeting at the Vatican showed Trump being greeted warmly by Francis before they sat down for a private 29-minute meeting at which only a translator was present.

Brazil police arrest close aide of president in World Cup scheme

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:09 AM PDT

Tadeu Filippelli, a former vice-governor of the capital and cabinet adviser, was among three senior politicians detained in Brazil's latest corruption scandal

A new thread in the web of corruption investigations around Brazil's president, Michel Temer, was revealed on Tuesday when police arrested a close aide for an alleged kickback scheme involving the World Cup stadium in Brasilia.

Fox drops Seth Rich murder story as Sean Hannity attacks 'liberal fascism'

Posted: 23 May 2017 08:27 PM PDT

Fox says report that DNC staffer had been in contact with WikiLeaks prior to his fatal shooting was not given a 'high degree of editorial scrutiny'

Fox News has retracted a story on the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, which was roundly condemned for perpetuating conspiracy theories, while host Sean Hannity said he would cease further discussion of the subject on his show in the network's evening lineup.

Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye on trial for corruption

Posted: 23 May 2017 02:51 AM PDT

Park accused of putting pressure on firms including Samsung into paying millions in bribes in return for business favours

South Korea's former president, Park Geun-hye, has denied corruption charges at the start of a criminal trial that could send the country's first female leader to prison for life.

Prosecutors accuse Park of abusing her power and colluding with her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure major South Korean companies such as Samsung into paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes in return for business favours.

WHO elects first ever African director-general after tense vote

Posted: 23 May 2017 10:22 AM PDT

Former Ethiopian health minister Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to lead World Health Organisation after a long and fraught campaign

Vote for WHO top job held after weeks of mud-slinging

The World Health Organisation has its first ever director-general from Africa, after the election of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the former Ethiopian health minister.

Dr Tedros, as he is known, beat the British candidate, Dr David Nabarro, after three tense rounds of voting on Tuesday. Third was Pakistan's Dr Sania Nishtar. The decision by member states came at the World Health Assembly in Geneva after a fraught campaign.

Uber driver charged with kidnapping female passenger in Canada

Posted: 23 May 2017 02:13 PM PDT

18-year-old woman in Toronto claims driver refused to allow her to leave the car and attempted to take her to a private location

Toronto police have charged an Uber driver with kidnapping and forcible confinement after a passenger alleged that he refused to allow her leave the car and instead attempted to take her to a private location.

Police responded to the call on Sunday afternoon. The 18-year-old passenger claimed the driver had initially attempted to engage her in inappropriate conversation and had made "unwanted advances", police said in a news release.

'My worst nightmares are coming true': last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse'

Posted: 23 May 2017 07:11 AM PDT

Polish government is accused of pushing Białowieża forest ecosystem to point of no return with state-sanctioned logging in Unesco world heritage site

Scientists and environmental campaigners have accused the Polish government of bringing the ecosystem of the Białowieża forest in north-eastern Poland to the "brink of collapse", one year after a revised forest management plan permitted the trebling of state logging activity and removed a ban on logging in old growth areas.

Large parts of the forest, which spans Poland's eastern border with Belarus and contains some of Europe's last remaining primeval woodland, are subject to natural processes not disturbed by direct human intervention.

Mount Everest's Hillary Step is still there, say Nepalese climbers

Posted: 23 May 2017 05:35 AM PDT

Rocky outcrop reported to have collapsed is covered in snow but intact, says chair of Nepal Mountaineering Association

Nepalese climbers have disputed reports that a famous rocky outcrop near the peak of Mount Everest has collapsed, saying the so-called Hillary Step is covered in snow but intact.

The British mountaineer Tim Mosedale said at the weekend that the section of rock first traversed by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in their successful ascent of Everest in 1953 had collapsed – probably due to a 2015 earthquake.

World's best Go player flummoxed by Google’s ‘godlike’ AlphaGo AI

Posted: 23 May 2017 03:29 AM PDT

Ke Jie, who once boasted he would never be beaten by a computer at the ancient Chinese game, said he had 'horrible experience'

A Google algorithm has narrowly beaten the world's best player in the ancient Chinese board game of Go, reaffirming the arrival of what its developers say is a groundbreaking new form of artificial intelligence.

Michael Flynn may have lied to officials about his Russia ties, congressman says

Posted: 22 May 2017 05:33 PM PDT

Elijah Cummings of the House oversight committee claimed the former national security adviser appeared to lie to Obama-era investigators about his foreign ties

The former national security adviser Michael Flynn appears to have lied about his foreign ties to Barack Obama-era investigators who were weighing whether to renew his security clearances, according to a letter published by Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House oversight committee.

China's credit rating downgraded amid fears over slowing economy

Posted: 24 May 2017 01:33 AM PDT

Moody's lowers country's rating for first time since 1989 to reflect concerns over rising debt

China's credit rating has been downgraded for the first time in more than 30 years over fears that slowing growth and rising debts will weaken the world's second largest economy.

Moody's lowered China's sovereign credit rating by one notch to A1 from Aa3, putting it in the same league as countries such as Japan and Israel. The outlook was raised to stable from negative.

Penny Wong questions George Brandis over 'serious failure' regarding Monis letter – as it happened

Posted: 24 May 2017 12:55 AM PDT

Attorney general says the letter was not addressed to him, nor did it come to him. As it happened

8.51am BST

That is your lot for the night.

8.39am BST

This is the direct quote from the NSW Coroner's report (in the light of the failure to pass on the Monis letter):

There does not appear to be an effective policy in place to require the commonwealth bureaucracy to forward correspondence received by it to Asio where that correspondence is relevant to security considerations.

I'm not in a position ... to give you a detailed response to this report.

Disarmed and dangerous: can former Farc guerrillas adjust to civilian life?

Posted: 24 May 2017 12:49 AM PDT

After last year's landmark peace deal with the Colombian government, thousands of demobilised Farc guerrillas are set to descend on Cali. But with drug gangs offering high salaries, is this already violent city on the brink of chaos?

This article is a project of UBC's International Reporting Program

Rubiel Idarraga expects an ambush. To avoid it, he rarely travels at night, varies his route to work, and often checks in with his neighbours to make sure nobody is watching his house. As a construction worker in Cali, Colombia, his fear might seem unfounded – except that he says people have already tried to murder him for his past crimes.

Idarraga is one of around 1,400 former Farc guerrillas who left it behind for a civilian existence in Cali. After the landmark peace accord between the government and the Farc in 2016, he is set to be joined by potentially thousands more, who have disarmed and are waiting in temporary camps.

Jaguar Land Rover posts record sales thanks to demand in China and US

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:04 PM PDT

UK's biggest car manufacturer sold 604,009 vehicles in 12 months to end of March, the most in its 95-year history

Jaguar Land Rover has delivered a record year of sales bolstered by demand for luxury cars in China and North America.

Britain's biggest car manufacturer sold 604,009 vehicles in the 12 months to the end of March, the most in its 95-year history and 16% more than a year earlier.

Nine Manchester attack victims named, as troops take to streets

Posted: 24 May 2017 01:48 AM PDT

Alison Howe and Lisa Lees were killed as they were waiting to collect their teenage daughters from the Ariana Grande concert

The names of nine of the 22 victims of the Manchester concert attack have been revealed as troops are deployed to streets after the government raised the UK terrorist threat level to critical for the first time since July 2007.

Friends Alison Howe and Lisa Lees were killed by a suicide bomber in the foyer of the Manchester Arena as they were waiting to collect their 15 year-old-daughters from the Ariana Grande concert. Their daughters survived.

Donald Trump says 'evil losers' were behind Manchester attack

Posted: 23 May 2017 06:17 AM PDT

US president says 'wicked ideology must be obliterated', as he delivers remarks alongside Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem

• Manchester attack - latest updates
• What we know so far

The US president has condemned the "evil losers" behind Monday night's attack on a pop concert in Manchester that claimed the lives of at least 22 people and injured scores more.

In remarks delivered alongside the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Donald Trump lambasted the "wicked ideology" behind the attack, going beyond what British police and politicians have thus far said in attributing responsibility for the bombing.

World is plundering Africa's wealth for 'billions of dollars a year'

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Research by campaigners claims aid and loans to the continent are outweighed by financial flows to tax havens and costs of climate change mitigation

More wealth leaves Africa every year than enters it – by more than $40bn (£31bn) – according to research that challenges "misleading" perceptions of foreign aid.

Analysis by a coalition of UK and African equality and development campaigners including Global Justice Now, published on Wednesday, claims the rest of the world is profiting more than most African citizens from the continent's wealth.

Tony Abbott says NSW Liberals reform event is 'rich people’s convention'

Posted: 24 May 2017 01:46 AM PDT

Abbott says charging an admission fee of $199 is 'very discouraging for rank and file Liberals'

Tony Abbott has attacked a looming convention in New South Wales considering reforms to the state Liberal party, declaring there appears to be a move to lock out rank-and-file party members and "smother" discussion.

Abbott told 2GB radio on Wednesday night charging an admission fee for the July event of $199 was "very discouraging for rank and file Liberals".

Five dead in motorway crash on M6 near Stoke

Posted: 24 May 2017 01:48 AM PDT

Southbound stretch of road expected to be closed for long time, police say, after 4.30am crash between lorry and car

Five people have died on the M6 in Staffordshire after a crash involving a lorry and a car.

The motorway remained closed after the collision, which happened between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford in the early hours of Wednesday.

India is world's most populous nation with 1.32bn people, academic claims

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:30 PM PDT

Yi Fuxian says 1.29bn Chinese are outstripped by 1.32bn Indians. But his findings are disputed with one demographer calling them 'sloppy'

Claims that India may already have overtaken China as the world's most populous nation have sparked consternation among demographers.

The claims were made on Monday by Yi Fuxian, a University of Wisconsin-Madison academic who has spent years campaigning against Beijing 's draconian family-planning laws, and picked up by newspapers in both China and India.

Wednesday briefing: In Manchester, an attack on our hearts

Posted: 23 May 2017 10:12 PM PDT

Troops on the streets after concert atrocity … CIA boss warned Russians to stop meddling in US election … and, are magic mushrooms safe?

Hello, it's Warren Murray bringing you the Briefing this morning.

Troops count cost of Vietnam's Hamburger Hill – archive, 24 May 1969

Posted: 23 May 2017 09:00 PM PDT

24 May 1969: Senior US officers say the strategic location of Hill 937 - 'Hamburger Hill' - justified the frontal assault but paratroopers are not convinced

From Leonard Santorelli, Hamburger Hill (South Vietnam), May 23
"Hamburger Hill, was it worth it?" read a scrawled notice stuck with a bayonet to a charred tree stump on this remote north western peak overlooking Laos. Nearby lay a huge pile of discarded helmets, bullet-proof jackets, and blood-soaked rucksacks which belonged to the 55 Americans who died or the 300 who were wounded in repeated ground assaults up the steep slopes.

Senior US officers speak of the strategic location of the 3,074-ft. mountain, and to the 619 North Vietnamese they say were killed defending it, and say "Of course, it was worth it." But the young US paratroopers who hurled themselves against fierce machine-gun and rocket grenade fire for a week before seizing the hill are not convinced.

Church ‘champing’ for Scottish pilgrims | Letters

Posted: 23 May 2017 10:46 AM PDT

Those who go on the Camino, the great pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, can often stay in converted churches for about €10 a night, writes Hugh Lockhart

Readers of your article (The modern pilgrims retracing Britain's ancient routes, 15 April) will be gratified that, on 23 May, the general assembly of the Church of Scotland formally withdrew its centuries-long hostility to pilgrimage. The next step of turning words into action finds the Kirk well-placed to help make Scotland a great pilgrimage destination. Those who go on the Camino, the great pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, can often stay in converted churches where they can eat, sleep, and drink for about €10 a night. This kind of accommodation is lacking in Scotland. However, the Kirk, with church buildings in nearly every village in Scotland, can welcome pilgrims with "camping- in-church" or "champing" as it is known. 5 July 2018 is the 700th anniversary of the consecration of St Andrews cathedral, containing the relics of St Andrew, apostle and patron saint of Scotland, which took place in the presence of Robert the Bruce. When better to have "champing" up and running than for those pilgrims arriving in St Andrews next year? And where better to pioneer "champing" than on St Margaret's Way, the spectacular pilgrim route from Edinburgh to St Andrews?
Hugh Lockhart
Secretary, The Way of Saint Andrews

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

Sandy Buchan obituary

Posted: 23 May 2017 09:54 AM PDT

My brother, Alexander "Sandy" Buchan, who has died aged 71, was for 17 years chief executive of Refugee Action. Working for most of his life with refugees, he was dedicated to achieving the best possible outcomes for them. He understood their needs, listened and gave them a voice.

Sandy and his twin sister, Jenny, were born in Guildford, Surrey, to Edward, a Scottish farmer who was working for the Ministry of Agriculture in Surrey and Sussex during the second world war, and Annie (nee Calder), a typist. After the war, our family moved back to Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, where our father managed several farms.

Brazil woman got longer jail term for Easter egg theft than corruption culprits

Posted: 23 May 2017 08:54 AM PDT

Woman in São Paulo state given three-year sentence for shoplifting chocolate
Sentence exceeds punishments given to those found guilty in Lava Jato case

Even for a country numbed by injustice and inequality, Brazil has been shocked by revelations that a poor mother who stole an Easter egg for her children was condemned to a harsher jail sentence than corporate executives and politicians who cheated the public of millions of dollars.

Chinese student's graduation speech in the US causes uproar at home – video

Posted: 23 May 2017 07:47 AM PDT

Yang Shuping, a student from Yunnan province in China, uses her graduation address at the University of Maryland in the US to praise "the fresh air of free speech" that she has never experienced in her home country. The psychology and theatre graduate has faced abuse from nationalists in China

Chinese student abused for praising 'fresh air of free speech' in US

Guernica at 80: Nearly 4,000 child refugees arrive in the UK – archive, 1937

Posted: 23 May 2017 04:11 AM PDT

On 23rd May 1937, thousands of children were sent to the UK following the bombing of Guernica

Standing on the deck waving handkerchiefs and even sliced bread that they had pocketed at breakfast, thousands of half-starved children from northern Spain finally arrived in Southampton aboard the Habana, an old cruise liner that had gone to rescue them.

Their arrival was covered by a host of newspapers, including the Manchester Guardian.

Vote for WHO top job takes place after weeks of mud-slinging

Posted: 23 May 2017 08:24 AM PDT

Campaign marred by spin comes to an end as representatives from 194 countries gather to elect the new director general of the World Health Organization

Delegates are gathered in Geneva for a behind-closed-doors election for one of the most powerful positions in the United Nations, after a campaign dogged by mud-slinging and spin from supporters of the British and Ethiopian candidates.

Representatives from 194 countries will elect a director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) from a shortlist of three, which includes Dr David Nabarro, whose candidature has been financially backed by the British government, Ethiopia's former health minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Pakistani medic Dr Sania Nishtar.

'Losers': Trump's favorite word may diminish the gravity of UK attack

Posted: 23 May 2017 02:35 PM PDT

Trump's insult of the Manchester attacker gained support beyond his usual backers in the media in this instance, but some call it offensive to the victims

Following the Manchester bombing, Donald Trump's announcement that he would henceforth be referring to terrorists as "losers" won praise in some quarters.

But foreign policy and linguistics experts warned on Tuesday that the president's new designation risked cheapening the impact of terrorist attacks, potentially adding to some relatives' grief and lessening the public's awareness of the threat.

The only good news about Trump's budget? It's unlikely to pass

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:57 AM PDT

The White House's proposal, full of cuts to major programs, aims to balance the federal budget in a decade – benefitting the rich as it clobbers the poor

Donald Trump launched a budget proposal Tuesday and, as may not be a surprise, it's a horror. The pompously titled A New Foundation for American Greatness is a rightwing wish list of tax cuts for the rich and beatings for the poor. Fortunately, as with most things Trump, it's as likely to become reality as his "great big beautiful wall".

As Trump lands in Rome, can all roads lead to peace with Pope Francis?

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:03 AM PDT

The two have clashed on issues ranging from global warming to migration, but during a symbolic first meeting they'll be on their best behavior

One man wakes up before dawn each day for hours of prayer and meditation, eschews television and vacations, and has decried the morally bankrupting temptations of wealth, vanity and pride.

The other begins each morning feasting on morning cable news shows, has played golf more than 21 times and visited his luxury Florida resort seven times since becoming the US president, and delights in publicly eviscerating his enemies.

Melania Trump seems to flick away Donald's hand … again – video

Posted: 23 May 2017 11:27 AM PDT

For the second time in two days, the first lady appears to refuse the offer of the president's hand. The pair were walking down the steps of Air Force One when they landed in Rome on Tuesday

Melania Trump appears to flick away Donald Trump's hand – video

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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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