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

Macron marches on as his party wins large majority in French parliament
US plane shoots down Syrian aircraft that attacked US-backed fighters
Iran targets 'terrorists' in missile strike on Isis-held Syrian town
At least two dead after attack at Mali tourist resort near Bamako
YouTube introduces new measures to curb extremist video online
Greece blocks EU's criticism at UN of China's human rights record
US Shakespeare theaters report abuse amid uproar over Trump-like Caesar
European commission to crack down on offshore tax avoidance
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow contradicts president on obstruction investigation
‘The war after Isis’: has Trump opened the door to conflict with Iran?
'Queer lives matter': gay teacher's message to Trump as photo goes viral
Major heatwave in south-west US puts elderly and border-crossers at risk
North Korea accuses US authorities of 'mugging' at New York City airport
Trump administration: Sheriff David Clarke withdraws from homeland security post
How do citizens' rights affect Brexit negotiations?
New South Korean president vows to end use of nuclear power
Rewilding Mozambique – funded in part by trophy hunting
Alex Jones doesn't give Megyn Kelly a direct answer on Sandy Hook massacre
Dog photographer of the year 2017 – in pictures
The great American fallout: how small towns came to resent cities
Finsbury Park terror attack: one dead near north London mosque – latest updates
Muslim girl, 17, killed on way home from Virginia mosque
Simon Birmingham stares down internal party revolt over Catholic funding
Australian escapes from Bali jail through 15m-long tunnel, police say
Four people missing after possible tsunami hits remote Greenland village
Monday briefing: terror hits north London mosque
'We're sort of her mum': behind the scenes at Taronga zoo | photo-essay
Large parliamentary majority leaves Macron holding all the cards
BIS warns rolling back globalisation would be ‘detrimental’
KPS Gill obituary
Denys Johnson-Davies obituary
Chief rabbi intervenes in Orthodox rabbis' row over homosexuality
Portugal wildfires – in pictures
One person forced to flee their home every three seconds by war and violence
Exclusive: Priti Patel insists UK's aid influence is 'massive'

Macron marches on as his party wins large majority in French parliament

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:34 AM PDT

La République en Marche and its ally MoDem on track to take around 355 seats in 577-seat national assembly

The French president Emmanuel Macron's new centrist movement has won a large majority in the French parliament, taking 351 out of 577 seats.

Macron's fledgling "neither right nor left" political movement, La République en Marche (La REM), and its smaller centrist ally Democratic Movement (MoDem) needed 289 seats to have an absolute majority.

US plane shoots down Syrian aircraft that attacked US-backed fighters

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 02:51 PM PDT

Central command says plane downed in 'collective self-defense'
Syrian army says US coalition shot down plane flying against Isis militants

A US warplane shot down a Syrian army jet on Sunday in the southern Raqqa countryside. Washington said the jet had dropped bombs near US-backed forces. Damascus said the plane was downed while flying a mission against Islamic State militants.

A Syrian army statement released on state television said the plane crashed and the pilot was missing. It said the incident took place on Sunday afternoon near a village called Rasafah.

Iran targets 'terrorists' in missile strike on Isis-held Syrian town

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 03:25 PM PDT

Revolutionary Guards fire into positions in Deir ez-Zour in retaliation for attacks on the Iranian parliament and shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini

Iran has launched missile strikes targeting "terrorists" in the Islamic State-controlled Syrian town of Deir ez-Zour in retaliation for last week's attacks on the Iranian parliament and at the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini that killed 18 people – mostly civilians.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, elite forces heavily involved in propping up Syria's Bashar al-Assad, said in a statement on Sunday that it fired missiles from a base in western Iran hitting the headquarters of "Takfiri terrorists" in Deir ez-Zour, eastern Syria, referring to the Iranian terminology for extremist Sunni jihadis.

At least two dead after attack at Mali tourist resort near Bamako

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:45 AM PDT

Malian government says 'situation is under control' at Le Campement resort east of capital after reports of gunshots and rising smoke

At least two people have been killed after a tourist resort near Bamako, the capital of Mali, was attacked. A spokesman for the country's security ministry said one of the dead was a French national but the nationality of the other person killed was not known.

Malian troops and soldiers from France's Barkhane counter-terrorism force were called to Le Campement in Dougourakoro, a resort popular with westerners east of Bamako. Residents nearby reported hearing shots fired while smoke billowed into the air.

YouTube introduces new measures to curb extremist video online

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:38 AM PDT

Google announces four measures to tackle problem, including better detection and greater counter-radicalisation efforts

Google has introduced four new measures to tackle the spread of terrorist material online, saying the threat poses a serious challenge and that more immediate action needs to be taken.

It has pledged better detection of extremist content and faster review, more experts, tougher standards and an expansion of counter-radicalisation work.

Greece blocks EU's criticism at UN of China's human rights record

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:00 AM PDT

Veto by Athens, which has benefited from huge Chinese infrastructure investment, labelled as 'dishonourable' by EU diplomat

Greece has vetoed a European Union condemnation of China's human rights record at the UN, infuriating diplomats and rights organisations, who said the move undermined the EU's position as a defender of human rights.

In a decision described as deplorable by some, it emerged on Sunday that Athens had refused to endorse an EU statement criticising the crackdown on activists and dissidents under the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. The statement was due to be submitted to the UN's human rights council in Geneva last Thursday.

US Shakespeare theaters report abuse amid uproar over Trump-like Caesar

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 02:34 PM PDT

Multiple theaters say they have received hateful messages following rightwing protests over a controversial New York City production of Julius Caesar

American theaters bearing William Shakespeare's name have reported a surge of abusive messages from members of the public, following rightwing protests over a New York production of Julius Caesar in which the doomed title character was dressed to look like Donald Trump.

The Public Theater's Trump-esque Caesar was scheduled to be assassinated for the final time in Central Park on Sunday night, having appeared on stage for a month. On Friday night, two protesters interrupted the performance, adding to a swirling social-media storm.

European commission to crack down on offshore tax avoidance

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 08:18 AM PDT

Draft law would force intermediaries to reveal cross-border financial schemes, though hard Brexit may exempt UK

Banks, accountants and law firms that facilitate offshore tax schemes face a Europe-wide crackdown, according to a leak of draft legislation.

Brussels will publish proposals this Wednesday to force financial intermediaries to automatically disclose any new cross-border tax schemes offered to clients. Those designing and promoting aggressive avoidance structures will have five working days to file details with their local tax authority, according to a leaked version of the proposals, drawn up by the European commission.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow contradicts president on obstruction investigation

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 10:08 AM PDT

Attorney says tweet about 'witch hunt', in which president wrote 'I'm being investigated for firing the FBI director', only concerned Washington Post report

A member of Donald Trump's legal team has denied the president's own assertion that he is under investigation for obstruction of justice.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, appeared across the major political talk shows on Sunday. Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, he said: "The fact of the matter is the president has not been and is not under investigation."

‘The war after Isis’: has Trump opened the door to conflict with Iran?

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 04:00 AM PDT

As US forces strike Syrian militias backed by Tehran, many fear delegation to the Pentagon and the looming defeat of the Islamic State could fuel a fiercer fire

US forces have opened fire on Iranian-backed forces in Syria three times in the past month, amid mounting tensions that observers and former officials worry could easily turn into an unplanned, spiralling conflict.

The three recent incidents took place at al-Tanf, a remote desert outpost near the point where the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders meet. There, a 150-strong force of US soldiers who are training local fighters to take on the Islamic State (Isis) was approached by convoys of militias fighting for the Assad regime. They responded with air strikes.

'Queer lives matter': gay teacher's message to Trump as photo goes viral

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:38 AM PDT

A Rhode Island teacher whose photo with Trump soared on social media says he wants to tell the president 'anti-LGBTQ policies have a body count'

A Rhode Island teacher who became a star on social media after displaying LGBTQ pride in a photograph taken with Donald Trump in the Oval Office also wrote that he wanted to tell the president: "Anti-LGBTQ policies have a body count."

Nikos Giannopoulos, a special education teacher at the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, visited the White House in April with other award-winning teachers. This week, Giannopoulos posted to his Facebook page a photo that shows him next to a smiling Trump, who is seated at the Resolute desk, and first lady Melania Trump, who is standing. Giannopoulos is wearing a rainbow pin and waving a black lace fan.

Major heatwave in south-west US puts elderly and border-crossers at risk

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 01:17 PM PDT

Temperatures of up to 120F (48.8C) in Arizona could pose a life threatening risk to the old, sick, homeless, and those trying to cross the desert, authorities say

Authorities have warned that an intensifying heatwave in south-western US states could put lives in jeopardy among the elderly, the infirm and the homeless, and among migrants seeking to enter the country.

Temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, are likely to peak at 120F (48.8C) on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), which issued an excessive heat warning that will remain in effect until Thursday.

North Korea accuses US authorities of 'mugging' at New York City airport

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 08:43 AM PDT

Claim that authorities forcibly confiscated a diplomatic package came amid tensions after release of Otto Warmbier, an American held for 17 months

North Korea accused US authorities on Sunday of "mugging" its diplomats at John F Kennedy airport in New York, forcibly confiscating a diplomatic package which it said raised questions about the city as the seat of the United Nations.

Trump administration: Sheriff David Clarke withdraws from homeland security post

Posted: 17 Jun 2017 06:51 PM PDT

Controversial Wisconsin sheriff does not now want to be considered for homeland security assistant secretary position

David Clarke, the controversial sheriff and self-described "Trumpster", has removed himself from consideration for a senior position at the department of homeland security.

Clarke, who is the Milwaukee, Wisconsin county sheriff, was expected to become assistant secretary at homeland security by the end of June.

How do citizens' rights affect Brexit negotiations?

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:59 AM PDT

Protections for 1.2m Britons on the continent and 3.5m Europeans in Britain should be easy to settle in theory, but there are obstacles

Citizens' rights are the protections offered to all EU citizens, including free movement and residence, equal treatment and a wide range of other rights under EU law regarding work, education, social security and health. They are held by 3.5 million citizens from other member states in the UK and 1.2 million British nationals on the continent, and are seen as a key part of the negotiations that are taking Britain out of Europe.

New South Korean president vows to end use of nuclear power

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:49 AM PDT

Moon Jae-in said he would lead country towards a 'nuclear-free era' following fears of a Fukushima-style meltdown

South Korea's new president, Moon Jae-in, has vowed to phase out the country's dependence on nuclear power, warning of "unimaginable consequences" from a Fukushima-style meltdown.

Moon, a left-leaning liberal who won last month's presidential election by a landslide following the impeachment and arrest of Park Geun-hye, said he would increase the role of renewable energy and lead South Korea towards a "nuclear-free era".

Rewilding Mozambique – funded in part by trophy hunting

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 12:41 AM PDT

Over the next few years, Sango Wildlife Conservancy in Zimbabwe is donating 6,000 animals to rewild a war-torn park across the border in Mozambique. Sango's owner says it couldn't have happened without revenue from big-spending trophy hunters.

Call it Noah's Ark on lorries: on Sunday, dozens of trucks rolled over the Zimbabwe savanna carrying elephants, giraffe, African buffalo, zebras, and numerous other large iconic mammals. Driving over 600 kilometers of dusty roadway, the trucks will be delivering their wild loads to a new home: Zinave National Park in Mozambique. The animals are a donation from Mozambique's Sango Wildlife Conservancy – a donation that owner, Wilfried Pabst, says wouldn't be possible without funds from controversial trophy hunting.

"In remote places and countries with a weak tourism industry and a high unemployment rate, it is very difficult – or almost impossible – to run a conservancy like Sango without income from sustainable utilization," Pabst said.

Alex Jones doesn't give Megyn Kelly a direct answer on Sandy Hook massacre

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:31 PM PDT

Conspiracy theorist hems and haws when pressed repeatedly to admit he was wrong to call Newtown shooting a hoax

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones hemmed and hawed when pressed repeatedly by Megyn Kelly to admit he was wrong to call the massacre at Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax.

Jones did not give a direct answer in a segment on NBC's Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly. Kelly has been criticized for giving a platform to Jones, who has also called the 9/11 attacks an inside job and promoted the false story that a pizza restaurant in Washington DC was the site of a child sex ring.

Dog photographer of the year 2017 – in pictures

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:30 PM PDT

The Kennel Club has announced the winners of its annual Dog Photographer of the Year competition. Now in its 12th year, the competition received almost 10,000 entries from 74 different countries, including Canada, Russia, Brazil and New Zealand

See all the winning images here

The great American fallout: how small towns came to resent cities

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:30 PM PDT

It's no secret Donald Trump benefited from rural voters. But Democrat or Republican, they usually tell Katherine Cramer – who has spent a decade visiting residents of small-town Wisconsin – the same thing: it's the cities that get all the breaks, and then have the gall to look down on them, too

Joe's voice takes on a mocking tone.

"You gotta quit driving!" he says. "Don't drive as much." He rolls his eyes and looks around at his pals, a handful of them perched on moulded plastic lawn chairs in a tiny town in central Wisconsin. He's talking about the way city people look down on rural folks like himself. In his normal voice he adds: "You gotta drive 20 miles to work? You can't cut that in half."

Finsbury Park terror attack: one dead near north London mosque – latest updates

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:54 AM PDT

Home secretary confirms police treating van attack as terror incident and Theresa May will chair emergency meeting after van strikes pedestrians, killing one, in Seven Sisters Road

9.54am BST

An imam guarded the van driver who mowed down Muslim worshippers until the police arrived, telling a crowd: "Do not touch him", PA reports.

The suspected terrorist was wrestled to the ground by passers-by after he had careered, reportedly smiling, through a crowd of pedestrians, including a man in a wheelchair.

Finsbury Park attack: 'People were hitting [the attacker] and the Imam came out to tell them not to and to call the police.' pic.twitter.com/nyoxlAh7Mc

9.45am BST

The European commissioner for home affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has added his voice to those condemning the attack and called for unity.

Strongly condemn attack near Mosque at #FinsburyPark.To those who wish to divide our communities, we have to respond with unity.

Muslim girl, 17, killed on way home from Virginia mosque

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 12:05 AM PDT

Police charge Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, with murder of Nabra Hassanen, whose body was found in a pond in Sterling

A Muslim teenager was assaulted and killed in the early hours of Sunday as she walked home after prayers at a mosque near Washington.

The death of Nabra Hassanen, 17, of Reston, northern Virginia, stunned the local community. Police have charged 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres with her murder.

Simon Birmingham stares down internal party revolt over Catholic funding

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:35 AM PDT

Conservative MPs are angry about cuts to the sector, but are at odds with some of the crossbench, which the education minister also needs to woo

The education minister, Simon Birmingham, is staring down an internal revolt from conservative MPs concerned about cuts to Catholic schools at the same time as trying to corral the Senate crossbench to support the Gonski 2.0 package.

Tensions inside the government have been stirred up by the publication of new modelling from the Department of Education which revealed that the Turnbull government schools package will cut $4.6bn from Catholic schools over a decade compared with current legislation, while public schools will gain $4bn.

Australian escapes from Bali jail through 15m-long tunnel, police say

Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:00 AM PDT

Shaun Davidson and three other foreigners have allegedly fled the island's Kerobokan prison, sparking a manhunt

Indonesian police have launched a search for an Australian man and three other foreigners believed to have escaped from Kerobokan prison in Bali through a 15-metre tunnel.

Shaun Davidson, 33, from Perth was sentenced to one year in Kerobokan last September for immigration offences after he used another man's passport.

Four people missing after possible tsunami hits remote Greenland village

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 10:59 PM PDT

Danish media reports say small village of Nuugaatsiaq hit by waves which may have been caused by an earthquake

Four people are missing after large waves flooded a remote settlement in Greenland this weekend, Greenland officials said on Sunday.

A Danish media report said the waves late on Saturday might have been caused by an earthquake creating a landslide into the sea, which in turn would have generated a swell.

Monday briefing: terror hits north London mosque

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 10:40 PM PDT

Van ploughs into worshippers in fatal attack … Brexit talks begin … prostate cancer breakthrough

Finsbury Park attack – latest updates

Good morning, Graham Russell here with the news to start your week.

'We're sort of her mum': behind the scenes at Taronga zoo | photo-essay

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 12:00 PM PDT

We join the keepers at Sydney's Taronga zoo as they nurture and train their newest arrivals, including Maiya the red panda and Kamini the pygmy hippo. A photo-essay by Jonny Weeks

Lily and Blossom are about to be toilet trained at Taronga zoo. The two young sugar gliders are curled up together inside a wooden box within a staff bathroom while trainer Suzie Lemon is trying to coax them out with the promise of a sugary, sap-like treat. Lily eventually emerges and promptly pees all over the floor but Lemon doesn't seem to mind. After all, they're not here for that kind of toilet training.

"We're training them to glide over to us on cue to demonstrate their natural gliding behaviour," Lemon explains. "We needed an enclosed space, somewhere with four solid walls, because in future they're going to be doing this for education purposes in the new learning centre.

Large parliamentary majority leaves Macron holding all the cards

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:50 AM PDT

President has seriously limited traditional left and right parties as high abstention rate casts shadow

Emmanuel Macron's outsider bid to dynamite traditional French party politics appears to have paid off in record time. His fledgling centrist movement and its allies were on course to win a clear parliament majority as results were being counted in the legislative elections on Sunday night.

Just over a year after Macron founded a political movement intended to be "neither right nor left", he has succeeded in seriously limiting the traditional left and right parties of government.

BIS warns rolling back globalisation would be ‘detrimental’

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 10:41 AM PDT

International body claims closer cross-border ties are not to blame for within-country inequality and urges cooperation with governments to manage risks

The international body that represents the world's central banks has claimed that globalisation has been made a "scapegoat" for rising inequality, as it launched a defence of closer cross-border ties.

Against the backdrop of protectionist rhetoric in many countries, including from US president Donald Trump, the Bank for International Settlements used its annual report to argue that globalisation has cut global poverty and will continue to lift living standards around the world.

KPS Gill obituary

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 08:52 AM PDT

My friend Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, who has died aged 82, was a controversial police chief in India, credited with bringing the Punjab insurgency under control in the early 1990s – his admirers called him India's Top Cop – but criticised for alleged human rights violations.

He was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, but after independence was brought up in Simla (now Shimla) in the Himalayan foothills. His father, Rachpal Singh Gill, was a high-ranking government engineer. His mother, Amrit Kaur, a homemaker, died when he was a schoolboy. His father then married a young doctor, Satwant Kaur.

Denys Johnson-Davies obituary

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 07:59 AM PDT

Pioneering translator of Naguib Mahfouz and other Arabic writers

In 1990 the Palestinian American critic Edward Said wrote that "of all the major world literatures, Arabic remains relatively unknown and unread in the west [when its] literature is at a particularly interesting juncture". At the time, western academic scholars of Arabic were dismissive of modern Arab writing, and few outside the Arab world were aware of its vitality – in poetry and the short story, and especially in the novel. Subsequently, the position of Arabic literature in English translation was transformed: this was due to the contribution made, more than anyone else, by Denys Johnson-Davies, who has died aged 94.

His seven-decade career of translating began when he went to Cairo in 1946 for the British Council. He became friends with Arab writers, read a great deal of contemporary Arabic fiction and embarked on translating it into English.

Chief rabbi intervenes in Orthodox rabbis' row over homosexuality

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 07:40 AM PDT

Ephraim Mirvis steps in as Joseph Dweck accused of heresy over reinterpretation of traditional teachings on homosexuality

The Orthodox Jewish community in the UK has been divided by a bitter row after a senior rabbi's comments about homosexuality led to accusations of heresy and corruption.

The disagreement over a lecture given by Joseph Dweck last month has led to an intervention by the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, who said he was concerned "about the public fallout from the dispute … which has been deeply divisive and damaging for our community".

Portugal wildfires – in pictures

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 06:08 AM PDT

At least 62 people have been killed as huge forest fires swept through central Portugal. Many died in their cars as they tried to flee the flames. Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on Saturday to tackle the blazes, which broke out in the municipality of Pedrógão Grande before spreading swiftly in several directions

Huge forest fires in Portugal kill at least 57 people

One person forced to flee their home every three seconds by war and violence

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 09:00 PM PDT

UN figures show a record 65.6 million people were displaced in 2016, more than the population of Britain, and that half of all refugees are children

The number of people forced to flee their homes by war and persecution has risen to record levels for the third year running, with 65.6 million people displaced around the world – more than the population of Britain.

The latest annual global trends study from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reports that one person was forced to leave their home every three seconds in 2016. The number of people displaced last year was 300,000 higher than in 2015.

Exclusive: Priti Patel insists UK's aid influence is 'massive'

Posted: 18 Jun 2017 10:22 AM PDT

Development secretary says she's fed up with the myth she sits there 'writing cheques for North Korea' and announces aid packages for Somalia and Ethiopia

Britain's foreign aid minister, Priti Patel, has told the Guardian she is fed up with the myth that all she does is sit at her desk "writing cheques to North Korea", in her most robust response yet to critics of the foreign aid budget.

On a surprise visit to drought-stricken east Africa on Saturday, Patel, the international development secretary, announced a new £60m package for Somalia, and £30m for Ethiopia, saying the sharp rise in numbers of people needing food, water and shelter meant it was critical to stop the food crisis becoming the kind of famine which killed a quarter of a million people in Somalia in 2011.

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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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