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Shooting attack at Jerusalem holy site forces cancellation of Friday prayers
Pope Francis allies accuse Trump White House of 'apocalyptic geopolitics'
Death of Liu Xiaobo: activists scorn Trump for hailing 'terrific' Xi
Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators disqualified from parliament
One year after the failed coup in Turkey, the crackdown continues
Romania hits Canadian firm with $9m 'retaliatory' tax bill over gold mine
Donald Trump offers hand of friendship to Emmanuel Macron on Paris visit
US approves oil drilling in Alaska waters, prompting fears for marine life
Southern Europe swelters as heatwave sparks wildfires and closes tourist sites
All-girl Afghan robotics team allowed to travel to US after visa ruling overturned
Scientists discover brain's neural switch for becoming an alpha male
Moon Express in race against time
Man convicted of Boris Nemtsov murder jailed for 20 years
New Zealand man died after being tied to bed in Japanese hospital, says family
China rejects foreign condemnation over Liu Xiaobo's death
The Muppets: voice of Kermit the Frog fired after 27 years – video report
Fight like a girl: the female boxers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
'Slime eels' cover Oregon road after truck overturns – video
Stranger in a Strange Land by George Prochnik review – Gershom Scholem and Zionism
Chemsex drugs and former legal highs targeted by Home Office
Liu Xiaobo obituary
Two men die after light aircraft crashes in Wiltshire
Donald Trump tells Brigitte Macron she's 'in good shape' – video
Iraq veteran facing deportation speaks out from jail: 'I would feel utterly alone'
States move towards clean energy, but Frydenberg says Coalition won't be rushed
Jet blast at St Maarten's seaside airport leads to death of New Zealand tourist – video
Friday briefing: Brexit bill dismissed as 'power grab'
Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world
New Zealand woman dies after jet blast at world's 'scariest' airport
Small-town children at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs, say MPs
World urged to take steps to protect Liu Xia after death of husband Liu Xiaobo
Trudeau argues Omar Khadr settlement was right thing to do amid backlash
Chinese dissident and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo dies – video
Trump downplays differences with France on climate change
Letter: Joffe and his team ran rings round the prosecution and saved Mandela
Video footage appears to show Iraqi troops killing unarmed Isis fighter
Ex-Brazil president Lula launches fiery defense after corruption conviction
All-girl Afghan robotics team granted US visas – video
Liu Xiaobo, Nobel laureate and political prisoner, dies at 61 in Chinese custody
Injured, hunted, lost: mapping journeys of refugee children aiming for UK
With UK sidelined, Macron forges unlikely alliance with Trump
Talk of resurgent Turkish democracy dominates failed coup anniversary | Simon Tisdall
'Cholera is everywhere': Yemen epidemic spiralling out of control
Saudi Arabia boosting extremism in Europe, says former ambassador
'Poverty favours the mosquito': experts warn Zika virus could return to Brazil
Poll reveals 85% of Americans oblivious to hunger in Africa and Middle East
Trump brushes off Russia troubles and basks in 'beautiful, incredible' Paris
Nucla, Colorado: where every household is required to have a gun
Florida state attorney pulled over by police – video

Shooting attack at Jerusalem holy site forces cancellation of Friday prayers

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:35 PM PDT

Early police reports say three armed attackers killed after two Israelis were critically injured at flashpoint Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex

Three gunmen have been shot dead during a shootout at the entrance to the flashpoint Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex in Jerusalem, during an attack in which two Israelis were critically wounded.

Pope Francis allies accuse Trump White House of 'apocalyptic geopolitics'

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 09:33 AM PDT

Article vetted by the Vatican offers scathing critique of Steve Bannon, who is Catholic, the Trump White House and 'evangelical fundamentalism' in the US

An explosive article written by two close associates of Pope Francis has accused Steve Bannon, the chief White House strategist, of espousing an "apocalyptic geopolitics" whose roots are "not too far apart" from that of Islamist extremism.

Death of Liu Xiaobo: activists scorn Trump for hailing 'terrific' Xi

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 07:20 PM PDT

The US president's praise for China's leader was 'shameful' coming after the death of the Nobel-winning political prisoner

Human rights activists have poured scorn on Donald Trump for showering China's "terrific" president Xi Jinping with praise just hours after one of the world's most famous political prisoners died in the custody of Chinese security services.

Speaking in Paris shortly after it was announced that the democracy champion and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo had died, the US president said nothing of the activist's plight.

Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators disqualified from parliament

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 12:19 AM PDT

Four lawmakers opposing Chinese rule are barred for modifying oaths during swearing-in ceremony, seen as an insult to Beijing

A Hong Kong court has disqualified four pro-democracy lawmakers for failing to sincerely take the oath of office, a huge blow to the city's opposition.

The four lawmakers – Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai, Edward Yiu and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung – all modified their oaths of allegiance to China during a swearing-in ceremony in October 2016.

One year after the failed coup in Turkey, the crackdown continues

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Mass jailings and sackings and the suspension of the rule of law by President Erdoğan have deepened Turkey's divisions

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, beamed as he looked upon the sea of red Turkish flags nearly a year ago.

Millions had gathered in Istanbul's Yenikapı Square near the shore of the Sea of Marmara for a roaring celebration of the people's sacrifice and victory against coup plotters who had nearly overthrown the democratically elected government.

Romania hits Canadian firm with $9m 'retaliatory' tax bill over gold mine

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:10 PM PDT

Move comes after Gabriel Resources sues government for $4.4bn over failed bid to establish goldmine in Apuseni mountains

Romania has served a Canadian mining company with a $8.6m back taxes bill days after the company filed a $4.4bn compensation claim over a stalled project in the country. Gabriel Resources tried for more than 18 years to get necessary permits for an opencast mine to extract Europe's largest gold deposits from beneath the village of Roșia Montană in the Apuseni mountains.

Donald Trump offers hand of friendship to Emmanuel Macron on Paris visit

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 12:58 PM PDT

US and French presidents appear to want to put aside differences on climate change and cooperate on Syria and terrorism

Donald Trump has made a gushing show of friendship to the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, saying the two countries had an "unbreakable bond" , pledging to draw up a road map for post-conflict Syria, and asserting that the two leaders could work together despite clear differences on climate change.

But when he appeared alongside Macron under the golden chandeliers of the Élysée Palace after two hours of talks about Syria, Iraq and counter-terrorism, Trump immediately faced fresh questions over allegations that his family sought to collude with Russia to win the 2016 US election.

US approves oil drilling in Alaska waters, prompting fears for marine life

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 02:07 PM PDT

Italian company plans to drill four exploration wells in the Arctic, which some say will endanger polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine mammals

An Italian multinational oil and gas company has received permission to move ahead with drilling plans in federal waters off Alaska which environmental campaigners say will endanger polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine mammals.

Late on Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced conditional approval of an exploratory drilling plan submitted by a US susbsidiary of the company, Eni.

Southern Europe swelters as heatwave sparks wildfires and closes tourist sites

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 04:40 AM PDT

Fires erupt across parts of Italy and Athens authorities shut the Acropolis as temperatures expected to hit nearly 50C in some regions

A heatwave is rolling across southern Europe, fuelling wildfires, exacerbating droughts in Italy and Spain and leading the Greek authorities to close some of the most popular tourist sites.

All-girl Afghan robotics team allowed to travel to US after visa ruling overturned

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 02:21 AM PDT

Initial decision to reject visa applications for team to travel to a global robotics competition in Washington sparked international outcry

Six Afghan teenage girls are to compete in person in a global robotics competition in Washington on Sunday after the US reversed a decision not to grant them visas.

Scientists discover brain's neural switch for becoming an alpha male

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:00 AM PDT

Timid mice turn bold after their 'alpha' circuit is stimulated as results show 'winner effect' lingers on and mechanism may be similar in humans

Brash, brawny and keen to impose their will on anyone who enters their sphere of existence: the alpha male in action is unmistakable.

Now scientists claim to have pinpointed the biological root of domineering behaviour. New research has located a brain circuit that, when activated in mice, transformed timid individuals into bold alpha mice that almost always prevailed in aggressive social encounters.

Moon Express in race against time

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 01:30 PM PDT

Commercial space company says it is still on track to land on the moon and bag Google's $20m prize before the end of 2017

Moon Express, a private company founded in California in 2010, is living up to its name. This week in Washington DC, its chief executive, Bob Richards, said it was still on course to launch its lander by the end of the year.

To do this means sticking to a tight schedule. Moon Express is currently building the lander, termed the MX-1E, and hopes to be finished by the end of the summer so it can ship it to the launch site in New Zealand, where further challenges await.

Man convicted of Boris Nemtsov murder jailed for 20 years

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:11 AM PDT

Zaur Dadayev sentenced for contract killing of Russian opposition politician, after trial dismissed by Nemtsov's allies as a cover-up

A man convicted of the murder of the Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, after a trial denounced by the family and allies of the Kremlin critic as a cover-up.

On Thursday, a Russian court gave lengthy jail terms to five Chechen men found guilty of the contract killing of Nemtsov, but his allies say the masterminds behind the crime remain unidentified.

New Zealand man died after being tied to bed in Japanese hospital, says family

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 02:43 AM PDT

Kelly Savage, 27, was admitted following a manic episode, but died after 10 days in which he was reportedly restrained at the wrists, ankles and waist

A New Zealand man has died after allegedly being forcibly tied to a bed in a Japanese psychiatric hospital for 10 days.

Kelly Savage, 27, who also had US citizenship, died in May after a massive heart attack at the Yamato municipal hospital, where he was admitted on 30 April following a manic episode with psychotic features.

China rejects foreign condemnation over Liu Xiaobo's death

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 02:12 AM PDT

Beijing dismisses 'improper remarks' over decision to not allow democracy advocate to be treated overseas for liver cancer

China has pushed back against a wave of international censure over the death of democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo, telling the world to stay out of its "domestic affairs" and labelling the 2010 decision to award the late activist a Nobel peace prize "a blasphemy".

Liu, 61, died of multiple organ failure on Thursday, the first Nobel peace prize winner to die in custody since the German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who died under surveillance in 1938 after years confined to Nazi concentration camps.

The Muppets: voice of Kermit the Frog fired after 27 years – video report

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 02:08 AM PDT

Steve Whitmire, the puppeteer known for voicing Muppets favourite Kermit the Frog has been fired after 27 years as the family amphibian favourite. Whitmire said he was "devastated to have failed" Muppets founder and his mentor Jim Henson. Whitmire said he was told in October that Kermit was being recast, and he kept silent as he has tried to address the issues that led to his firing

Kermit the Frog voice actor 'devastated' to lose job after 27 years

Fight like a girl: the female boxers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 01:07 AM PDT

Photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham met four of DRC's 22 female boxers and spoke to them about their personal journeys in a patriarchal society

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a city that lives and breathes sport. Militia violence in the countryside and the corruption of the political system seem distant problems when ducking errant footballs and dodging boxers sparring in the roads of "Kin La Belle".

It is a largely patriarchal country, with women responsible for domestic work and absent from most positions of power. DRC has also been riven by years of bloodshed, with widespread sexual assault with rape frequently used as an instrument of terrorism and war.

'Slime eels' cover Oregon road after truck overturns – video

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 12:45 AM PDT

Cars were 'slimed' in Oregon on Thursday after 3,400kg of hagfish spilled on to the road after a truck overturned. The fish, which have skulls but no jaw or spine, produce slime through glands on their sides, especially when stressed. No injuries were reported but one lane of the highway was closed while a clean-up took place

Truck carrying eels overturns, dumping slime over cars and highway

Stranger in a Strange Land by George Prochnik review – Gershom Scholem and Zionism

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 12:30 AM PDT

The author, like his subject, rejected consumer capitalism and travelled to Israel to find a more meaningful Jewish life. But problems arose …

One day before the outbreak of the first world war, a precocious boy called Gerhard Scholem burst into a room at home and began the rite of symbolically castrating his father. "Papa, I think I want to be a Jew," he exclaimed. He was planning to learn Hebrew, study the Bible and become a Zionist. His father, an assimilationist German businessman who despised his Jewish heritage, was appalled: "You want to return to the ghetto?" he asked. "You're the ones who are living in the ghetto," his son snapped back. "Only you won't admit it."

Scholem meant that his father had established the family in a gilded bourgeois Jewish prison within a hostile German society – his friend, Walter Benjamin, who grew up in a similarly privileged west Berlin milieu, described it as "something of a ghetto held on lease". These rebellious sons turned out to be unwittingly prescient.

Chemsex drugs and former legal highs targeted by Home Office

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 12:29 AM PDT

Ministers to launch scheme aimed at cutting illicit drug use and improving dependence recovery rates

So-called chemsex drugs and former legal highs will be targeted as part of a government crackdown.

Ministers will launch a strategy on Friday to try to reduce illicit drug use and improve dependence recovery rates.

Liu Xiaobo obituary

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 09:43 AM PDT

Chinese writer and political prisoner who won the Nobel peace prize in 2010

It was China's decision to jail Liu Xiaobo for 11 years over a call for peaceful democratic reform that spurred the Norwegian Nobel committee to honour him with its peace prize in 2010 and propelled him to international renown. But his first nomination had come two decades earlier, after the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989, in which the author and intellectual played a key role, first as one of the prominent "four gentlemen" who launched a hunger strike in support of the students; then by helping to broker a peaceful exit from the square for remaining demonstrators amid the bloody crackdown.

The events were the turning point in Liu's life. The writer, who has died aged 61 of cancer, was abroad when the movement erupted and he went home despite the risks. It brought jail, an end to his career as a brilliant young literary professor, and the ending of his first marriage to Tao Li; thereafter his contact with his son, Liu Tao, was limited. But the transformation was internal too. He never forgave himself for writing the confession that shortened his sentence. He believed he had not only sold out his dignity, but also the souls of the dead.

Two men die after light aircraft crashes in Wiltshire

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 01:56 AM PDT

Incident took place in field in Brimslade, Marlborough

Two men have died in a light aircraft crash in Wiltshire.

The incident happened in a field in Brimslade, Marlborough, on Thursday night.

Donald Trump tells Brigitte Macron she's 'in good shape' – video

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:38 PM PDT

Donald Trump tells Brigitte Macron she's 'in good shape' on Thursday during his first visit to France as US president. Trump has been widely criticised for sexism after the remark, which was made at Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon Bonaparte and others are buried

'You're in such good shape': Trump criticised for 'creepy' comment to Brigitte Macron

Iraq veteran facing deportation speaks out from jail: 'I would feel utterly alone'

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 02:00 AM PDT

Exclusive: In his first interview, Chong Kim describes the crushing prospect of being deported to South Korea, a country he hasn't lived in since the age of five

Chong Kim gathered paperwork demonstrating his recent accomplishments and headed to a federal building in Portland to meet an immigration officer. It was 5 April, and the 41-year-old housekeeper thought he was heading to a routine check-in.

The officer, however, wasn't interested in his achievements. The Oregon man quickly learned he was now facing possible deportation to his native South Korea, a country he left at five years old.

States move towards clean energy, but Frydenberg says Coalition won't be rushed

Posted: 14 Jul 2017 01:37 AM PDT

Three states and ACT to ask Australian Energy Markets Commission to do further work on implementing central plank of Finkel review

Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have taken the first step towards proceeding unilaterally with a new clean energy target, but the federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, insists the federal government will not be rushed.

The Labor states will ask the Australian Energy Markets Commission to do further work on how the central recommendation of the Finkel review can be implemented following deliberations between energy ministers in Brisbane on Friday.

Jet blast at St Maarten's seaside airport leads to death of New Zealand tourist – video

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:03 PM PDT

A New Zealand woman has died after she was knocked over by the blast from a jetliner taking off at a seaside airport in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St Maarten, officials said on Thursday. Local authorities say dozens of people have been injured in recent years by the jet blasts, but this is the first time someone has died. The woman was holding on to a fence near the runway to experience the strength of the blast from a plane when she was knocked over and hit her head on the concrete.

Friday briefing: Brexit bill dismissed as 'power grab'

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:01 PM PDT

Scots and Welsh say they can't support key legislation … Spate of acid attacks in east London … Trump offends with comments about Brigitte Macron

Good morning – this is Martin Farrer with the news from the UK and around the world you need this Friday morning.

Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 09:28 PM PDT

It's not just a populist backlash – many economists who once swore by free trade have changed their minds, too. How had they got it so wrong? By Nikil Saval

The annual January gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos is usually a placid affair: a place for well-heeled participants to exchange notes on global business opportunities, or powder conditions on the local ski slopes, while cradling champagne and canapes. This January, the ultra-rich and the sparkling wine returned, but by all reports the mood was one of anxiety, defensiveness and self-reproach.

The future of economic globalisation, for which the Davos men and women see themselves as caretakers, had been shaken by a series of political earthquakes. "Globalisation" can mean many things, but what lay in particular doubt was the long-advanced project of increasing free trade in goods across borders. The previous summer, Britain had voted to leave the largest trading bloc in the world. In November, the unexpected victory of Donald Trump, who vowed to withdraw from major trade deals, appeared to jeopardise the trading relationships of the world's richest country. Forthcoming elections in France and Germany suddenly seemed to bear the possibility of anti-globalisation parties garnering better results than ever before. The barbarians weren't at the gates to the ski-lifts yet – but they weren't very far.

New Zealand woman dies after jet blast at world's 'scariest' airport

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 07:10 PM PDT

Despite safety warnings, St Maarten airport and nearby beach have become world-famous attractions, with tourists clinging to fence as planes take off

A New Zealand woman has been killed by a jet engine blast while watching a plane take off on the Caribbean island of St Maarten.

Small-town children at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs, say MPs

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 04:00 PM PDT

Plight of young people groomed into drug running by dealers who have spread out from major cities highlighted by report

Vulnerable children in provincial areas and small towns – including those from middle-class families – are at risk of exploitation and grooming by criminal gangs seeking to extend their reach beyond major cities, according to a new report compiled by MPs.

The report by the all-party parliamentary group on missing children heard evidence from parents of children as young as eight who had been groomed for "criminal exploitation". One mother, who described herself as middle class, told the MPs: "My son became involved in a gang where he was exploited to sell class A drugs at the age of 14 in 2012. I didn't know what to do or who to call."

World urged to take steps to protect Liu Xia after death of husband Liu Xiaobo

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 04:00 PM PDT

Activists say 56-year-old, who has been living under constant surveillance at the couple's Beijing home, must be given safe passage out of China

The international community must honour the dying wish of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo by taking immediate steps to protect his wife, the poet Liu Xia, who has endured years of government persecution, friends and supporters have said.

Activists say Chinese security services have made the 56-year-old's life a living hell since her jailed husband was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2010, to the fury of China's one-party rulers.

Trudeau argues Omar Khadr settlement was right thing to do amid backlash

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 01:33 PM PDT

Ontario judge denies request by US soldier's widow and injured former soldier to freeze former Guantánamo detainee's assets ahead of hearing in the fall

Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has defended the C$10.5m (US$8.24m) in a settlement paid to a Canadian man held at Guantánamo Bay for a decade, calling it the best choice in difficult circumstances.

Trudeau said fighting a lawsuit by Omar Khadr – who was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan and sent to the US military base in Cuba – would have cost the government more money in the end but acknowledged it was not a popular thing to do.

Chinese dissident and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo dies – video

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 12:40 PM PDT

Political prisoner, activist and Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo died on Thursday after suffering from liver cancer. He was diagnosed in May while serving an 11-year prison sentence, but was granted medical parole last month. Artist Ai Weiwei and US House minority speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others, expressed their sadness at Liu's death

Liu Xiaobo, Nobel laureate and political prisoner, dies at 61 in Chinese custody

Trump downplays differences with France on climate change

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:47 AM PDT

Emmanuel Macron hosts visit of US president, who is non-committal on possibility of rejoining Paris agreement

The US president, Donald Trump, has begun a visit to Paris, greeted with military fanfare as the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, showed him Napoleon's tomb before they held talks on Syria and counter-terrorism.

The two leaders appeared keen to set aside their differences on climate change as they asserted their intention to work together on Syria and other matters.

Letter: Joffe and his team ran rings round the prosecution and saved Mandela

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:28 AM PDT

For a man who played a key role in changing history, Joel Joffe was remarkably modest. He was also remarkably kind, selfless and courageous.

When he took on the defence of Nelson Mandela and the other ANC leaders in July 1963, such was the atmosphere of intimidation by the government and police that their wives could find no other attorney (solicitor) brave enough to act for them. Together with his wife, Vanetta, their luggage already on a ship bound for Australia, where they had planned to emigrate to avoid bringing up their young children under apartheid, Joffe returned to their empty flat, slept on a mattress on the floor and set about masterminding the greatest defence in South African legal history.

Video footage appears to show Iraqi troops killing unarmed Isis fighter

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:23 AM PDT

Iraqi officials to investigate images of man being thrown off high ledge, as fears rise of atrocities in battle for Mosul

The Iraqi government has said it will investigate a graphic video that appears to show its soldiers killing an unarmed suspected Islamic State fighter by throwing him off a high ledge.

The video was reportedly filmed in the Mosul area where Iraqi troops have largely retaken a city once controlled by the extremist group, and comes amid mounting concern over claims of abuse committed by Iraqi soldiers and police in the battle for Mosul and in its aftermath.

Ex-Brazil president Lula launches fiery defense after corruption conviction

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:11 AM PDT

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vows to run for highest office again in 2018 and says at Workers' party headquarters: 'They haven't taken me out of the game'

Brazil's former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a defiant public defence after being convicted of corruption and money laundering, and vowed to run for president next year.

"If anyone thinks that with this sentence they will pull me out of the game, they should know that I am in the game," Lula told supporters at the headquarters of his Workers' party a day after he received a nearly 10-year sentence for accepting bribes in return for helping an engineering company win contracts with the state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras.

All-girl Afghan robotics team granted US visas – video

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 08:57 AM PDT

Members of an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan have been granted visas to travel to the US for a competition. They had previously been denied visas twice, causing uproar around the world. The girls will compete against other high school students at the event in Washington DC.

All-girl Afghan robotics team allowed to travel to US after visa ruling overturned

Liu Xiaobo, Nobel laureate and political prisoner, dies at 61 in Chinese custody

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 08:01 AM PDT

Peace prize winner and democracy activist dies of liver cancer, after spending almost a quarter of his life behind bars in China

China is facing a barrage of international criticism for its treatment of the Nobel laureate and democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo, who died at the age of 61 on Thursday.

Liu, who championed non-violent resistance as a way of overcoming "forceful tyranny", had been serving an 11-year jail sentence for demanding an end to one-party rule when he was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May.

Injured, hunted, lost: mapping journeys of refugee children aiming for UK

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 07:15 AM PDT

Eight-week project by Refugee Youth Service shows danger faced by 22 children, who travelled 11,800 miles across Europe

A new mapping exercise has revealed the extraordinary difficulties and dangers faced by refugee children trying to reach the UK. It traces the routes of 22 children who travelled 11,800 miles (19,000km) in eight weeks, sustaining injuries, sleeping rough or even going missing.

With UK sidelined, Macron forges unlikely alliance with Trump

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:44 AM PDT

French president takes advantage of Brexit to flex muscles on world stage and forge own special relationship with US

Emmanuel Macron, the dynamic French president, is emerging to be a great opportunist. After setting himself up initially as the Gaullist statesman prepared to speak truth unto American power over climate change and protectionism, he has spied an opening to forge an unlikely alliance with Donald Trump – a chance created by the Brexit and domestic political preoccupations of Theresa May, and the American president's frosty relationship with Angela Merkel.

Macron's surprise invitation to Trump to attend the Bastille Day celebrations has lured the travel-weary president back on to Air Force One only three days after he left Europe and the G20 in Hamburg.

Talk of resurgent Turkish democracy dominates failed coup anniversary | Simon Tisdall

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:01 AM PDT

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan planned to stress perils nation faced to justify crackdown but mass rally has reinvigorated opposition

Opposition to Turkey's authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been re-energised by the success of a month-long, cross-country anti-government "justice march" and last weekend's unprecedented mass rally in Istanbul attended by more than a million Turks.

The show of strength momentarily shocked the government into nonplussed silence. This week is supposed to be dominated by a series of official events marking the first anniversary of the 15 July attempted coup – the planned culmination of which is Erdoğan's address to parliament in the early hours of Sunday morning, exactly a year since the attempt was launched.

'Cholera is everywhere': Yemen epidemic spiralling out of control

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 03:58 AM PDT

Red Cross says there are more than 300,000 suspected cases in country where civil war has decimated health facilities

Ali Muhammad's entire family are sick. In the months since his home district of Abs in northern Yemen was hit by a cholera outbreak, he has lost both parents and all six of his children have fallen ill.

"Cholera is everywhere," he said, according to a testimony provided by Médecins Sans Frontières, who are caring for his eldest daughter at a cholera treatment centre in Abs. "The water is contaminated and I don't drink it. We have tanks, but we don't get water regularly. The situation cannot be worse."

Saudi Arabia boosting extremism in Europe, says former ambassador

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 03:12 AM PDT

Sir William Patey says Riyadh may not be aware of how its support for a 'certain brand of Islam' is leading to radicalisation

Saudi Arabia has been funding mosques throughout Europe that have become hotbeds of extremism, the former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir William Patey has said.

His remarks come a day after the government published a brief summary of a Home Office-commissioned report into the funding of extremism in the UK. The full report is not being published for security reasons.

'Poverty favours the mosquito': experts warn Zika virus could return to Brazil

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Two months after government say Zika emergency at an end, water shortages and weak health system trigger fears of fresh outbreak

Weaknesses in the public health system risk another Zika epidemic in Brazil, according to a report published two months after the government declared the mosquito-borne virus was no longer an emergency.

Blamed for the birth defect microcephaly, Zika exposed human rights deficiencies in areas such as sanitation, access to clean water, poverty and sexual health restrictions, the report released on Thursday by Human Rights Watch said.

Poll reveals 85% of Americans oblivious to hunger in Africa and Middle East

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:37 AM PDT

Low public awareness of food crisis in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen gives way to widespread concern among US citizens once informed

Less than a fifth of Americans are aware that extreme hunger threatens the lives of 20 million people in Africa and the Middle East, yet the overwhelming majority regard it as the most pressing global issue once they have been told, a poll of US voters has revealed.

Research by the International Rescue Committee showed that millennials, loosely defined as young adults born between 1981 and 1997, are the generation most concerned about solving the hunger crisis in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.

Trump brushes off Russia troubles and basks in 'beautiful, incredible' Paris

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 01:29 PM PDT

The president seemed to be enjoying his brief diplomatic visit to the French capital – and his press conference with Macron ended with mutual backslapping

Donald Trump Jr and Emmanuel Macron were born 10 days apart in December 1977. In Paris on Thursday, President Donald Trump called his son a "young man" more than once, but managed to avoid any reverse ageism towards his French counterpart.

However, when it came to the burning question of Trump Jr's would-be dealings with Russia, the US president acted like an American in Paris who is high on champagne, dazzled by the sights and eager to get to dinner at the Eiffel Tower.

Nucla, Colorado: where every household is required to have a gun

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 11:00 PM PDT

A town with a rich history that includes socialist roots and a large role in the uranium mining industry now finds itself facing an uncertain future

• Under siege by liberals: the town where everyone owns a gun

Florida state attorney pulled over by police – video

Posted: 13 Jul 2017 04:59 AM PDT

Florida's state attorney Aramis Ayala is pulled over by police in Orlando in June. The bodycam video shows Ayala asking why she has been stopped. The officer replies that 'we run tags all the time' and says that her tinted windows were also a reason for the stop

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