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South Korea seeks rare talks with North to ease military tensions
'France organised this': Macron denounces state role in Holocaust atrocity
Hossein Fereidoun, brother of Iran's president, arrested
‘Oh, bother’: Winnie the Pooh falls foul of Chinese internet censors
Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker announced as 13th Doctor
Venezuela protests: woman shot dead as thousands vote in unofficial referendum
George A Romero, Night of the Living Dead director, dies aged 77
UK 'sleepwalking' into food insecurity after Brexit, academics say
Stressful experiences can age brain 'by years', Alzheimer's experts hear
UK 'reaching tipping point' on abuse of politicians
Indiana woman turns cancelled wedding into a party for the homeless
Police baffled by motives of young suspects in Pennsylvania murder spree
Bus crash in northern India kills at least 16 Hindu pilgrims
Rupert Murdoch ‘could use Sky data trove for political ends’
McCain surgery delays health vote as 8-10 senators still have 'serious concerns'
Remains found in Tasmania could be those of missing Swiss tourist
Stock markets hit record highs as Chinese GDP beats forecasts - business live
Pakistan court begins hearings to decide PM Nawaz Sharif's future
The new 'people's home': how Sweden is waging war on inequality
Emmanuel Macron denounces France's role in Vel d'Hiv raid – video
'At home, we couldn’t get by': more Venezuelans flee as crisis deepens
Government offers £2m for scientific research into counter-terrorism
In hot water: Iran through the ages – in pictures
Gulf states hint at possible expulsion of Qatar from regional bloc
Stepson speaks after US police shoot Australian woman – video
Jobs 'black market' underpaying vulnerable workers, audit finds
Monday briefing: Tories in tight corner as Brexit round two looms
Rohingya crisis: UN warns 80,000 children 'wasting' from hunger in Myanmar
China's growing intolerance for dissent will come at a high price
Deadly flash flooding from rainstorm hits Arizona swimming area – video
Bunkering down: sales of nuclear shelters climb in Japan wary of North Korea tests
Iran sentences Chinese-born American to 10 years in jail on spying charges
Asylum seekers deserve a humane, not hostile, environment | Letters
Maryam Mirzakhani: Iranian newspapers break hijab taboo in tributes
Secrets of the mummies at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius
Justin Trudeau meets baby Justin Trudeau
Why Donald Trump is bad for the health of the world – in five charts
Life and death in Texas: abortion frontline of America – video
'It's all sextortion and revenge porn': the woman fighting cyber abuse in Pakistan

South Korea seeks rare talks with North to ease military tensions

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 12:08 AM PDT

Seoul's defence ministry wants to reboot moribund diplomacy as Red Cross renews attempts to reunite Korean families

South Korea has offered to hold rare military talks with the North to ease tensions after Pyongyang's first intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier this month.

Monday's offer, the first since South Korea elected the moderate Moon Jae-In as president, came as the Red Cross in Seoul proposed a separate meeting to discuss the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean war.

'France organised this': Macron denounces state role in Holocaust atrocity

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 05:15 PM PDT

Speaking during a visit by the Israeli prime minister, French president dismisses far right claims that the Vichy regime didn't represent France

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has denounced France's collaboration in the Holocaust, lashing out at those who negate or minimise the country's role in sending tens of thousands of Jews to their deaths.

After he and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, attended a Holocaust commemoration, Macron also appealed for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Worried that Netanyahu is backing away from commitment to a two-state solution, Macron assailed Jewish settlement construction as a threat to international hopes for peace.

Hossein Fereidoun, brother of Iran's president, arrested

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 10:13 AM PDT

Hassan Rouhani's supporters see his brother's arrest as part of efforts to undermine him during his second term in office

The brother of Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, has been arrested amid escalating tensions between the government and the country's hardline judiciary ahead of his swearing-in ceremony next month.

Hossein Fereidoun, a top presidential aide who played a senior role in more than two years of high-level negotiations between Iran and the west over Tehran's nuclear programme, was taken to prison after failing to secure bail on Saturday, local agencies reported.

‘Oh, bother’: Winnie the Pooh falls foul of Chinese internet censors

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 11:47 PM PDT

Search blackout may be linked to clampdown on unflattering meme comparing president Xi Jinping with AA Milne character

Has Winnie the Pooh done something to anger China's censors?

Some mentions of AA Milne's loveable but slow-witted bear with a weakness for honey have been blocked on Chinese social networks.

Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker announced as 13th Doctor

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 11:27 PM PDT

Actor who rose to fame in Broadchurch is first woman to play the Doctor in BBC drama, replacing Peter Capaldi

The next star of Doctor Who has been announced after intense speculation – and the person stepping into the role of Time Lord is Jodie Whittaker.

She is the first woman to take on the role, playing the 13th Doctor in the BBC1 drama. Whittaker, who rose to fame in ITV's crime drama Broadchurch, had been touted as one of the contenders.

Venezuela protests: woman shot dead as thousands vote in unofficial referendum

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 05:19 PM PDT

President Nicolas Maduro denounces vote as illegal as activists say gunmen fired on crowd of protesters

Gunmen in Venezuela shot into a crowd of voters on Sunday, activists said, killing one woman and wounding three others during an unofficial referendum organised by the opposition to push for an end to two decades of socialist rule.

The opposition Democratic Unity coalition said a pro-government "paramilitary" gang opened fire in Caracas' poor neighbourhood of Catia, where thousands were participating in the event. Video footage showed people scattering as gunshots rang out, many taking sanctuary inside a church.

George A Romero, Night of the Living Dead director, dies aged 77

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 03:50 PM PDT

The writer and director, pioneer of zombie horror, died after a brief battle with lung cancer, his producing partner said

George A Romero, director of horror classic Night of the Living Dead, has died. He was 77.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Romero's producing partner Peter Grunwald said the director died in his sleep after a "brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer".

UK 'sleepwalking' into food insecurity after Brexit, academics say

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 04:01 PM PDT

Study attacks complacency after years of stable food supplies and prices, saying lack of policy 'suggests chaos unless redressed'

The government is "sleepwalking" into a post-Brexit future of insecure, unsafe and increasingly expensive food supplies, and has little idea how it will replace decades of EU regulation on the issue, a report by influential academics has said.

The study says ministers and the public have become complacent after decades of consistent food supplies and stable prices for the UK, something greatly helped by the EU.

Stressful experiences can age brain 'by years', Alzheimer's experts hear

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 12:56 PM PDT

Child's death, divorce or job loss linked to poorer cognition in later life, study finds, with African Americans more susceptible

Stressful life experiences can age the brain by several years, new research suggests. Experts led by a team from Wisconsin University's school of medicine and public health in the US found that even one major stressful event early in life may have an impact on later brain health.

The team examined data for 1,320 people who reported stressful experiences over their lifetime and underwent tests in areas such as thinking and memory. The subjects' average age was 58 and included 1,232 white Americans and 82 African Americans. A series of neuropsychological tests examined several areas, including four memory scores (immediate memory, verbal learning and memory, visual learning and memory, and story recall).

UK 'reaching tipping point' on abuse of politicians

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 07:48 AM PDT

Watchdog chairman says response urgently needed to wave of intimidation that could drive people away from public life

A wave of intimidation and abuse directed at parliamentary candidates has taken British politics to a "tipping point" and risks driving politicians out of public life in the future, the chair of the standards watchdog said.

Paul Bew, who chairs the Committee on Standards in Public Life which Theresa May has charged with looking into abuse and intimidation of candidates at the general election, has said he might recommend new laws to combat the issue.

Indiana woman turns cancelled wedding into a party for the homeless

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 08:02 AM PDT

Sarah Cummins was left with a nonrefundable wedding dinner for 170 guests. Rather than throw the food away, she donated it to local area homeless shelters

An Indiana woman who didn't want her canceled $30,000 wedding to go to waste threw a party for the homeless instead.

On Saturday, at the swanky event center that Sarah Cummins had booked for the reception in Carmel, a suburb just north of Indianapolis, about a dozen veterans from a local organization were among guests who dined on bourbon-glazed meatballs, roasted garlic bruschetta and wedding cake.

Police baffled by motives of young suspects in Pennsylvania murder spree

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 06:51 AM PDT

Authorities still don't know why two 20-year-old men moved from petty offenses like break-ins to allegedly killing, burning and burying their victims in deep pits

Pennsylvania man gives grisly account of killing four young men on farm

Authorities are mystified over why two cousins who started off committing small crimes ended up charged in a gruesome crime spree that ended with police unearthing the bodies of four young men buried on a family farm.

Police found the missing men this week after a grueling, five-day search in sweltering heat and pelting rain.

Bus crash in northern India kills at least 16 Hindu pilgrims

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 04:14 AM PDT

Vehicle plunges into gorge in Jammu and Kashmir state, site of annual pilgrimage to Himalayan cave

At least 16 Hindu pilgrims have been killed and many more injured after a bus crash in India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state, police have said, just days after gunmen shot dead eight worshippers making the same holy visit.

"Sixteen people are now confirmed dead, 19 with serious injuries and eight others with minor injuries," Jammu and Kashmir police said in a statement on Sunday.

Rupert Murdoch ‘could use Sky data trove for political ends’

Posted: 15 Jul 2017 02:00 PM PDT

Peers issue warning over media mogul's bid to buy TV network

One of the "largest and most sophisticated datasets in the country" – including the TV viewing, internet and phone records of 13 million households – could be misused for political purposes if Rupert Murdoch is allowed to proceed with his plan to buy out Sky, six members of the House of Lords claim in a letter to the Observer.

The government's decision on whether to allow the takeover of the broadcaster by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox may come as early as next week, but a cross-party group of peers led by the film-maker David Puttnam – who was involved in drafting the 2003 Telecommunications Act – have joined forces to highlight what they say is a significant oversight with potentially huge ramifications. Fox currently owns 39% of Sky.

McCain surgery delays health vote as 8-10 senators still have 'serious concerns'

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 06:31 AM PDT

Arizona senator's absence deprives Republican leadership of key vote
Cruz provision in health bill 'unworkable in any form', insurers warn

John McCain's absence from the Senate as he recovers from surgery has led Republican leadership to postpone consideration of the troubled healthcare bill. Surgeons in Phoenix removed a blood clot from above 80-year-old McCain's left eye on Friday.

Remains found in Tasmania could be those of missing Swiss tourist

Posted: 15 Jul 2017 10:58 PM PDT

Police receive a call from a Swiss man who believes the bones are of his friend after photo found near bones is released

A telephone call to police by a Swiss national may by the key to solving the mystery of the identity of a skeleton stumbled upon by two hikers in remote bushland south of Hobart last week.

The human bones were found away from marked tracks in the Huon valley, 10km west of the popular Tahune Airwalk, and police believe they belong to a 44-year-old Swiss tourist who has been missing for more than six years.

Stock markets hit record highs as Chinese GDP beats forecasts - business live

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 02:13 AM PDT

All the day's economic and financial news, including reaction to China's latest growth figures

Introduction: China beats forecast with 6.9% growth
Experts: It's a good sign for global growth
MSCI World Markets index hits new peak
Carolyn McCall named as ITV CEO

10.13am BST

China's growth figures are often treated with some scepticism.

Analysts often question whether the data can really be trusted, given the temptation to massage bad date and the sheer challenge of measuring economic output over such a huge economy.

It was the monthly data which impressed, with Retail Sales at 11.0% y/y posting its strongest growth since December 2015, and all the more robust given that this is a value not a volume measure, and CPI inflation has been very subdued in recent months.

Industrial Production 'smashed' forecasts at 7.6% vs. expectations of an unchanged 6.5% y/y, with the breakdown highlighting strength in 'new economy' (Telecoms/Computing 13.1% y/y vs prior 10.3%), Pharmaceuticals (13.6% vs./ 10.75) and the volatile / seasonal Food sector 11.0% vs. 7.6%), while resource processing sectors' output remains subdued, which can only be considered to be healthy.

9.33am BST

UK construction companies are rubbing their hands with glee this morning after winning contracts for Britain's new HS2 high-speed rail line.

Pakistan court begins hearings to decide PM Nawaz Sharif's future

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 01:33 AM PDT

Judges could order Sharif to stand trial on corruption charges or disqualify him after damning report into his family wealth

Pakistan's supreme court has begun hearings that will decide the future of the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who is fighting for his job and contesting a damning corruption report by an investigative panel.

The supreme court is expected to order Sharif be tried Sharif on corruption charges, or disqualify him, but few expect the judges to dismiss the case after the panel tabled a damaging 254-page report into his family wealth.

The new 'people's home': how Sweden is waging war on inequality

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 12:54 AM PDT

Despite its reputation as one of the world's most socially equal countries, even Sweden has had to tackle a widening gap between the haves and have-nots

Which countries are the most committed to reducing inequality?

Karl Möller seems an unlikely poster child for a war on inequality. He is the lone male among a dozen women, each with a baby in her arms.

"I'm not used to it, but it's a good experience – quite opposite to the male-dominated engineering workplaces I am accustomed to," he says.

Emmanuel Macron denounces France's role in Vel d'Hiv raid – video

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 12:09 AM PDT

During a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the 1942 Vel d'Hiv raid in Paris on Sunday, the president made it clear that France was alone in organising and carrying out the mass deportation, which led to the deaths of thousands of Jews. Macron also criticised two of his predecessors, Gen Charles de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, for their unwillingness to speak out about the raid

'France organised this': Macron denounces state role in Holocaust atrocity

'At home, we couldn’t get by': more Venezuelans flee as crisis deepens

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 12:00 AM PDT

As Venezuela falls further into turmoil, more of its citizens are leaving a country that once served as a haven for economic migrants and political refugees

There are no luxuries in the four-room house in southern Bogotá, where 12 recently arrived Venezuelans huddle on thin mattresses under even thinner blankets to ward off the Andean mountain chill. They have no hot water, and what few furnishings they have were salvaged from a nearby dump.

They work 12-hour shifts at car washes or kitchens, earning between $6.50 and $13 a day. Because most do not have work permits, they are under constant threat of deportation.

Government offers £2m for scientific research into counter-terrorism

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 04:01 PM PDT

Security minister Ben Wallace set to launch competition seeking ideas on how 'to keep people safe in crowds'

The government is to make up to £2m available to fund research into technology and behavioural science projects that could identify possible terrorists in crowds.

Ministers hope the competition will generate techniques to improve the surveillance and detection of potential terrorist threats.

In hot water: Iran through the ages – in pictures

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 11:01 PM PDT

From a killer about to be hanged to a wedding couple in a burned out car, four decades of post-revolution Iran have been condensed into a riveting exhibition

Gulf states hint at possible expulsion of Qatar from regional bloc

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 10:00 PM PDT

UAE foreign minister expected to claim blockade on Qatar is working but the Gulf group remains adamant Doha has to change political course

The Gulf states trying to force Qatar to change political course have given their strongest hint yet that they plan to expel Qatar from the Gulf Cooperation Council, the regional trade and security group.

In a speech on Monday, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, will warn: "You cannot be part of a regional organisation dedicated to strengthening mutual security and furthering mutual interests, and at the same time undermine that security and harm those interests. You cannot be both our friend and the friend of al-Qaida".

Stepson speaks after US police shoot Australian woman – video

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 05:50 PM PDT

Minnesota's Public Safety Department says a woman was shot in Minneapolis after two officers responded to a callout about a possible assault on Saturday at 11.30pm local time. Zach Damond, the stepson of Justine Damond, the Australian woman who was killed, says she called police after hearing a noise near her house

Jobs 'black market' underpaying vulnerable workers, audit finds

Posted: 17 Jul 2017 01:33 AM PDT

Audit of Chinese, Korean and Spanish websites found almost 80% of proposed rates were under minimum award wage

Vulnerable foreign workers are being paid far below national standards in a jobs "black market", according to a union investigation.

A two-year audit of local job advertisements on Chinese, Korean and Spanish websites, released by Unions NSW on Monday, found almost 80% of proposed rates were under the minimum award wage.

Monday briefing: Tories in tight corner as Brexit round two looms

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 10:27 PM PDT

Cabinet splits emerge as David Davis resumes formal talks … Hollywood loses Martin Landau and George A Romero … do the right thing when you kiss

Rohingya crisis: UN warns 80,000 children 'wasting' from hunger in Myanmar

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 10:27 PM PDT

Some 75,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya people who fled a bloody army crackdown live in western Rakhine state and are reeling from a food crisis

More than 80,000 children under the age of five living in majority-Muslim areas of western Myanmar are "wasting" and will need treatment for acute malnutrition over the next year, the World Food Programme has warned.

The report from the United Nations agency was based on an assessment of villages in western Rakhine state, where some 75,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya people have fled a bloody army crackdown.

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

China's growing intolerance for dissent will come at a high price

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 09:56 PM PDT

By pushing the Hong Kong opposition out of the legislature and persecuting Liu Xiaobo, Beijing may have set in motion a new era of resistance

Jason Y Ng is the author of a book on Hong Kong's occupy movement

On Thursday evening, Chinese dissident and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo died from liver cancer in a Shenyang Hospital. Liu was, as the Western press sharply pointed out, the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since Carl von Ossietzky did in Nazi Germany in 1938. Supporters the world over mourned the death of a man who lived and died a hero. The only crime he ever committed was penning a proposal that maps out a bloodless path for his country to democratise.

Then on Friday afternoon, Beijing's long arm stretched across the border and reached into Hong Kong's courtroom. Bound by the National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision on oath-taking etiquettes, the Hong Kong High Court ruled to unseat four democratically-elected opposition lawmakers, including Nathan Law, the youngest person ever to be elected to the legislature. The only infraction the four ever committed was straying from their oaths during the swearing-in ceremony to voice their desire for their city to democratise.

Deadly flash flooding from rainstorm hits Arizona swimming area – video

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 08:19 PM PDT

At least nine people were killed and others were believed to be missing when floodwaters from a sudden rainstorm barrelled through a normally tranquil swimming area in Tonto National Forest where more than 100 people were taking refuge from summer heat, authorities said on Sunday.

Bunkering down: sales of nuclear shelters climb in Japan wary of North Korea tests

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 07:26 PM PDT

Fears of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis are giving way to concerns over atomic attack following multiple missile tests conducted by Pyongyang

A brief research trip to Japan's north-east coast to witness the aftermath of the March 2011 tsunami was all that it took to persuade Yoshihiko Kurotori to build a shelter in his back garden.

His home in suburban Wakayama is just a kilometre from the stretch of Pacific coast that scientists say is likely to be struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in the coming decades, causing an estimated 320,000 deaths.

Iran sentences Chinese-born American to 10 years in jail on spying charges

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 12:52 PM PDT

Xiyue Wang, 37, a graduate student in history at Princeton University, convicted and jailed in Iran for being 'an infiltrating American agent'

Iran has sentenced a Chinese-born American dual national to 10 years in jail, accusing him of spying for the US government.

Asylum seekers deserve a humane, not hostile, environment | Letters

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 09:36 AM PDT

Incompetence, delaying tactics, unnecessary complexity and fruitless court cases mock the 'proud history' the Home Office loves to quote, says Edward Milner

The Home Office claims are disingenuous (Asylum seekers are left destitute by Home Office, 10 July). When Theresa May was home secretary she promoted the concept of a "hostile environment" for asylum seekers. Refugee Action has revealed exactly what this means; the rules are now so complex and harsh that they cause widespread unhappiness and hardship. For a civilised country with a tradition of welcome and sanctuary, this is a disgrace. Incompetence, deliberate delaying tactics, unnecessary complexity and fruitless court cases systematically mock the "proud history" the Home Office loves to quote. A complete change in attitude is required. What about the promotion of a "humane environment" as the basis for redrawn rules?
Edward Milner
Chair, Santé Refugee Mental Health Access Project

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

Maryam Mirzakhani: Iranian newspapers break hijab taboo in tributes

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 07:50 AM PDT

Tehran front pages run photographs of mathematician without head covering, showing her prominence overrode rules

Iran's state-run newspapers on Sunday broke with the country's strict rules on female dress to show the mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani with her head uncovered, as the country mourned the death at the age of 40 of the woman known as the queen of mathematics.

Tributes were led by the president, Hassan Rouhani, who posted a recent picture of Mirzakhani on Instagram without a hijab. "The grievous passing of Maryam Mirzakhani, the eminent Iranian and world-renowned mathematician, is very much heartrending," he wrote.

Secrets of the mummies at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 05:14 AM PDT

Anthropologist Dario Piombino-Mascali discovers lessons for modern medicine among remains of 23 preserved people

The crypt under the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in the heart of Vilnius has a vivid history.

The coffins hidden in the gloomy lair under the church's altar were stripped by Napoleon's army for wood. During the second world war, the Nazis used it as a makeshift bomb shelter. And in their time as the local overlords, the Soviets converted the crypt into a museum of atheism.

Justin Trudeau meets baby Justin Trudeau

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 03:23 AM PDT

Canadian prime minister comes face to face with boy named by his Syrian refugee parents to thank their adopted country

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, came face to face with his namesake as he met the baby of Syrian refugees who was named in his honour.

The meeting took place at the Calgary Stampede on Saturday, where two-month-old Justin Trudeau Adam Bilan slept happily as the prime minister briefly held him.

Why Donald Trump is bad for the health of the world – in five charts

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 11:53 PM PDT

The president's aid budget cut and restoring the 'global gag rule' will see millions more pregnancies and abortions, and thousands more women dying in childbirth

When Donald Trump said "America first" back in January, it wasn't long before he put his money where his mouth was.

America has long been the world's most generous bilateral funder of healthcare programmes in the developing world. However, the Trump presidency has delivered a triple whammy: cutting aid budgets, defunding the UN Population Fund and reinstating a policy cherished by every Republican president since Reagan aimed at restricting abortion around the world – the so-called global gag rule.

Life and death in Texas: abortion frontline of America – video

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 11:00 PM PDT

New Texan anti-abortion laws are putting women's lives at risk, according to pro-choice campaigners. But pro-life activists claim they are protecting women from an out-of-control abortion industry. Leah Green visits the state as the battle over women's bodies intensifies

'It's all sextortion and revenge porn': the woman fighting cyber abuse in Pakistan

Posted: 16 Jul 2017 09:00 PM PDT

With women in Pakistan suffering increasingly lurid and dangerous forms of onine harassment, Nighat Dad is leading the battle to make cyberspace safer

After the killing of Qandeel Baloch last summer, Nighat Dad reached breaking point.

Visiting colleges and universities across Pakistan, Dad had been building quite a reputation for herself and her work. She was spreading the word about the Digital Rights Foundation she established in 2012 to help Pakistani women deal with the new phenomenon of online harassment.

Aneka Info

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

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