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- Fears mount of Myanmar atrocities as fleeing Rohingya families drown
- Texas flooding: 100,000 homes damaged by Harvey – as it happened
- Zimbabwe dares to dream of life after Mugabe
- Iran is adhering to nuclear deal limits, UN says, despite Trump claim
- 606 pairs of empty shoes: the growing toll of suicide in New Zealand
- 'A whirlwind of charisma!': China propaganda blitz hails Xi, the Great Statesman
- Hollywood is racist, says actor Chloe Bennet amid whitewashing row
- 'We'll just try to kill him': US vows to hunt Isis leader Baghdadi to the death
- Armageddon: scientists calculate how stars can nudge comets to strike Earth
- Donald Trump to end 'Dreamers' immigration program, report says
- Musharraf declared fugitive as Bhutto murder trial ends in Pakistan
- Macron government launches overhaul of France's labour laws
- Global warming doubles growth rates of Antarctic seabed's marine fauna – study
- ‘We can’t be blackmailed’: Liam Fox issues warning to EU over Brexit – video
- RAF opens combat roles to women amid concern from senior officers
- Harvey aid: White House to ask Congress for initial $5.9bn
- Can an advert for tea really change India's sexist attitudes?
- Gingers: portraits of redheads in Russia and Scotland
- Popsicles of pollution: ice lollies highlight Taiwan's contaminated waterways
- 8,500 people lost in Mediterranean since death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi
- A £198m transfer is not about football. It’s about soft power | Simon Chadwick
- Jesus Christ superstars: meet the modern-day messiahs
- Malaria parasite spreads from howler monkeys to humans
- Woman dies two days after suffering cardiac arrest during procedure at beauty clinic
- More than 4,000 livestock die in export trade over six months, report says
- Friday briefing: Spot of Barnier trouble as Fox rejects Brussels 'blackmail'
- Trojan horse: the real story behind the fake 'Islamic plot' to take over schools
- Sea Prayer: a 360 story inspired by refugee Alan Kurdi
- 'The whole thing is a sham': plan to help Sierra Leone mudslide victims derided
- The global focus on storm Harvey shows not all suffering is seen as equal | Simon Tisdall
- The Thai tourist hotel that is a prison: inside Bangkok's latest place to stay – video
- Georgia police officer: ‘We only kill black people’ – video
- Harvey rescues continue as Texas copes with record flooding – video report
- Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen: ‘Our church doors are always open’ – video
| Fears mount of Myanmar atrocities as fleeing Rohingya families drown Posted: 31 Aug 2017 11:03 PM PDT Up to 400 people have been killed after an army and vigilante counteroffensive against Muslim insurgents in the troubled Rakhine state Two dozen corpses believed to be the bodies of Rohingya women and children have washed up on a Bangladesh riverbank as fears grow of atrocities committed by Myanmar forces against the Muslim minority across the border. In the deadliest violence in decades, nearly 400 people have been killed in a week of fighting in Myanmar's north-west Rakhine state after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces and the military responded with a huge counter-offensive. Continue reading... |
| Texas flooding: 100,000 homes damaged by Harvey – as it happened Posted: 31 Aug 2017 07:29 PM PDT
This live coverage is now closing. Read our latest news story here: Related: Receding waters reveal Harvey's devastation as death toll reaches 35 Continue reading... |
| Zimbabwe dares to dream of life after Mugabe Posted: 31 Aug 2017 09:00 PM PDT Robert Mugabe is 93-years-old, and ailing. What might happen after he dies is a source of hope but also deep anxiety in his troubled country Daniel Mugabe was waiting for his first customers of the day amid the 1000-year-old ruins of Great Zimbabwe, the former capital of one of the greatest African kingdoms. The 55-year-old tour guide to the ruins, perched high on a hilltop above miles of parched plains in south-eastern Zimbabwe, spoke in glowing of terms of his country's elderly president, now in his 37th year in power. Continue reading... |
| Iran is adhering to nuclear deal limits, UN says, despite Trump claim Posted: 31 Aug 2017 03:27 PM PDT IAEA says Iran's stockpiles of uranium and heavy water are below agreed limits as Trump threatens to withhold certification of Tehran's compliance The UN's nuclear watchdog has reported that Iran is staying within the main limits set down in a 2015 multilateral agreement that Donald Trump has insisted Tehran is violating. Related: White House 'pressuring' intelligence officials to find Iran in violation of nuclear deal Continue reading... |
| 606 pairs of empty shoes: the growing toll of suicide in New Zealand Posted: 31 Aug 2017 09:42 PM PDT Suicide is New Zealand's silent epidemic. The country has the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world and some people want to talk about it It has been just over a year since Georgia MacBeath died, when life support was turned off at the hospital where she was taken. Georgia had been found unconscious in the garage of her home in Rotorua in New Zealand's North Island. Continue reading... |
| 'A whirlwind of charisma!': China propaganda blitz hails Xi, the Great Statesman Posted: 31 Aug 2017 08:00 PM PDT A six-part television extravaganza starring the president as he bestrides the world is designed to cement his role ahead of October's party congress The red carpet has been rolled out at Harare's international airport: the Great Statesman saunters down it, his fingers pressed tightly into Robert Mugabe's palm. Next, it leads from His Excellency's Jaguar into London's 15th century Guildhall, where the Lord Mayor has laid on a banquet of dover sole and red-legged partridge in his honour. Continue reading... |
| Hollywood is racist, says actor Chloe Bennet amid whitewashing row Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:17 AM PDT Actor who changed surname from Wang says she would not have been cast with name that made people 'uncomfortable' The row over whitewashing in Hollywood has taken a new turn after the actor Chloe Bennet said she had changed her name from Chloe Wang because Hollywood is "racist" and would not cast her in roles because of her surname. Bennet, who stars in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, said her original surname made Hollywood "uncomfortable". Continue reading... |
| 'We'll just try to kill him': US vows to hunt Isis leader Baghdadi to the death Posted: 31 Aug 2017 06:43 PM PDT Coalition admits it does not know whereabouts of militant leader, but suspects he is hiding in mid-Euphrates valley The leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is probably still alive and hiding in the border area between Syria and Iraq, a senior US general has said. As the Iraqi prime minister declared victory over Isis in the city of Tal Afar on Thursday, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told reporters that his forces were continuing the search for the elusive figurehead of the militant group. Continue reading... |
| Armageddon: scientists calculate how stars can nudge comets to strike Earth Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:16 AM PDT Plotting how often stars stray into the Oort cloud allows astronomers to assess the risk of all life being wiped out by a cosmic cataclysm The collision of a giant comet with the Earth is one of the most violent and cataclysmic events that could befall our planet. It has happened in the past, but the odds of another such catastrophe have remained uncertain. Now astronomers have performed the cosmic equivalent of a risk assessment. A new paper calculates how often stars stray into the Oort cloud, a vast, spherical shell of billions of icy objects that is thought to envelop our solar system. Such close encounters can dislodge these loosely orbiting comets, sending them hurtling into the solar system, risking a collision course with the Earth. Continue reading... |
| Donald Trump to end 'Dreamers' immigration program, report says Posted: 31 Aug 2017 01:25 PM PDT Decision expected as early as Friday on ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program protecting nearly 800,000 immigrants Donald Trump has not made a final decision on the fate of nearly 800,000 young undocumented migrants, the White House said Thursday, after reports said the president was poised to end protections for so-called "Dreamers" as early as Friday. Related: Federal judge blocks Texas ban on sanctuary cities in blow for Trump Continue reading... |
| Musharraf declared fugitive as Bhutto murder trial ends in Pakistan Posted: 31 Aug 2017 06:49 AM PDT Former military dictator has property confiscated as anti-terror court jails two police officials in relation to 2007 assassination One of the most controversial trials in Pakistani history has ended with the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf declared a fugitive and his property ordered confiscated after he failed to show in court over the assassination 10 years ago of Benazir Bhutto. Two high-ranking police officials were sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison but the verdict, while bringing some closure to a process many had thought would never conclude, stops short of sentencing anyone for the murder. The police officials were found guilty only of negligence and mistreatment of evidence, and five accused militants were acquitted. Continue reading... |
| Macron government launches overhaul of France's labour laws Posted: 31 Aug 2017 08:22 AM PDT French unions give mixed response to reforms, which will reduce their influence at company level and make it easier to hire and fire Emmanuel Macron's government has announced a "major and ambitious" transformation of France's complex labour laws aimed at tackling mass unemployment and making the country more competitive in the global market. Five decrees have been issued, containing what ministers said were "concrete and major measures" to overhaul and simplify the weighty Code du Travail, which covers every aspect of working life in France. |
| Global warming doubles growth rates of Antarctic seabed's marine fauna – study Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:53 AM PDT Experiment in the Bellingshuan Sea reveals temperature rise has more alarming implications for biodiversity in polar waters than previously thought Marine life on the Antarctic seabed is likely to be far more affected by global warming than previously thought, say scientists who have conducted the most sophisticated study to date of heating impacts in the species-rich environment. Growth rates of some fauna doubled – including colonising moss animals and undersea worms – following a 1C increase in temperature, making them more dominant, pushing out other species and reducing overall levels of biodiversity, according to the study published on Thursday in Current Biology. Continue reading... |
| ‘We can’t be blackmailed’: Liam Fox issues warning to EU over Brexit – video Posted: 01 Sep 2017 01:20 AM PDT Speaking in Tokyo, Liam Fox was asked whether Britain should agree a quick financial settlement to clear the way for trade talks. 'We can't be blackmailed into paying a price on the first part,' the international trade secretary replied. 'We think we should begin discussions on the final settlement because that's good for business.' Continue reading... |
| RAF opens combat roles to women amid concern from senior officers Posted: 01 Sep 2017 01:04 AM PDT Former Afghanistan commander says standards could drop now women are permitted to join ground force The Royal Air Force has opened up combat roles to women in a move that will be extended to all branches of the military despite the concerns of senior officers. From Friday, the RAF's ground force will be open for female applicants in the first test of the government's decision to lift a ban on women serving in close combat roles. Continue reading... |
| Harvey aid: White House to ask Congress for initial $5.9bn Posted: 01 Sep 2017 12:44 AM PDT Emergency package likely to be followed by further requests that could exceed $110bn for victims of Katrina The White House has prepared a request to Congress for an emergency $5.9bn (£4.6bn) package in Harvey recovery aid, as flood waters receded in Houston to reveal swaths of devastation wrought by the former hurricane. It is expected to be followed by further requests that could exceed the $110bn to victims of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Continue reading... |
| Can an advert for tea really change India's sexist attitudes? Posted: 01 Sep 2017 12:30 AM PDT Tata Tea's latest marketing campaign has generated a million e-signatures calling for mandatory gender sensitisation classes in Indian schools – before boys' negative ideas about women can take root The scene is an Indian middle-class living room. A young girl tells her mother she is going out to play badminton with her brother. The mother, without looking up from chopping vegetables, says a firm "no" – the boy may go, but the girl has to stay and help her in the kitchen. It's a dialogue that can be heard in infinite permutations across millions of Indian homes every day. But this exchange forms part of a TV advert by Tata Tea, a global conglomerate whose accompanying petition urging the Indian government to make gender sensitisation classes mandatory in schools has now collected almost 1 million signatures – the point at which Tata Tea will deliver it to the minister in charge of India's education policy. Continue reading... |
| Gingers: portraits of redheads in Russia and Scotland Posted: 31 Aug 2017 11:30 PM PDT In 2014 photographer Kieran Dodds took a series of portraits, Gingers, of redheads in Scotland, where it is a cliche of national identity. This new, related body of work began when he looked at a map of red-hair distribution and found another hotspot: Russia. The new collection of portraits of redheads from two regions increasingly at odds politically will be exhibited at the Flow International Photography festival at the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery from 8-31 September Continue reading... |
| Popsicles of pollution: ice lollies highlight Taiwan's contaminated waterways Posted: 31 Aug 2017 11:15 PM PDT Students from New Taipei City collected samples from urban rivers, creeks and ports which they then froze in moulds and preserved in resin. 'We hope when more people see this they can change their lifestyles,' said one of the group Continue reading... |
| 8,500 people lost in Mediterranean since death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT Author Khaled Hosseini responds to images of Syrian boy washed ashore by writing short story animated in virtual reality At least 8,500 people have died or disappeared while attempting to cross the Mediterranean since the death of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed ashore in Turkey in 2015, drawing global attention to the plight of refugees. According to the latest figures released by the UN's refugee agency, 4,337 people are believed to have drowned since September 2016 while attempting to reach European shores. Most departed from Libya bound for Italy, from Turkey bound for Greece or, more recently, from Morocco bound for Spain. A further 4,185 people died in the previous 12 months, from 1 September 2015 until the end of August 2016. Continue reading... |
| A £198m transfer is not about football. It’s about soft power | Simon Chadwick Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT The collosal Neymar deal, funded by Qatar Sports Investments, shows how far governments will go to secure global influence • Simon Chadwick is professor of sports enterprise at Salford University In 1905 my club – Middlesbrough – broke the world transfer fee record when it paid Sunderland £1,000 to sign Alf Common. It was the first time in history a football player had been sold for four figures. Now, 112 years later, the record has been smashed for the second summer running, with Paris Saint-Germain paying £198m for Brazilian superstar Neymar, the highlight of the latest period of transfer hyperactivity that ended yesterday. This phenomenon transcends sport. How can an individual in any sphere be worth £198m? Who would pay that and why? What does the now normalised outlay of mind-boggling fees and salaries say about society? How did we get here? Related: China's money men prove fluent in English football's first language | Richard Williams Continue reading... |
| Jesus Christ superstars: meet the modern-day messiahs Posted: 31 Aug 2017 11:00 PM PDT David Shayler worked for MI5, Vissarion was a traffic policeman… now both preach as the son of God. Jonas Bendiksen tells Paula Cocozza about his portraits of 21st-century messiahs Jonas Bendiksen grew up in a "godless home" in Tønsberg, Norway, which makes him an unlikely candidate to photograph the messiah, let alone six of them. But this is what he has spent the past three years doing: chronicling the lives of men – and they are all men – who claim to be Jesus returned to Earth, from Siberia to the Philippines, Japan to Devon. A member of the Magnum photo agency, 39-year-old Bendiksen describes himself as ardently scientific: "Faith has always been very hard for me to conceptualise," he says. He thinks it might be this lack of preconceptions that has allowed him "to go and touch divinity itself". He has no interest in mocking or defrocking his Jesus claimants: "My mission was to say, 'OK, if one were to accept the prophecy of Jesus's return, why wouldn't it be this guy?'" |
| Malaria parasite spreads from howler monkeys to humans Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT Researchers identify Plasmodium simium in Atlantic Forest area of Rio de Janeiro state, raising concerns for eradication of disease in Brazil and beyond A form of malaria parasite that has spread from howler monkeys to humans in Brazil has been identified by researchers, raising concerns for eradication of the disease in Brazil and beyond. Malaria was thought to have been eradicated from southern and south-eastern Brazil 50 years ago, but more than 1,000 cases reported since 2006 from the Atlantic Forest region, in Rio de Janeiro state, including two outbreaks in 2015 and 2016, led researchers to investigate. Continue reading... |
| Woman dies two days after suffering cardiac arrest during procedure at beauty clinic Posted: 01 Sep 2017 01:15 AM PDT Jean Huang, 35, was allegedly administered a local anaesthetic and breast fillers by Chinese tourist Jie Shao, 33, in Sydney A 35-year-old woman has died in hospital two days after she suffered a cardiac arrest during a breast procedure at a Sydney beauty clinic. New South Wales police say Jean Huang died on Friday after she was allegedly administered a local anaesthetic and breast fillers by Chinese tourist Jie Shao, 33, on Wednesday at a Chippendale salon. Continue reading... |
| More than 4,000 livestock die in export trade over six months, report says Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:36 PM PDT Department of Agriculture investigating one ship with a mortality rate 15 times over the reportable level Nearly 4,000 sheep and more than 500 cattle died while being shipped overseas in the first half of 2017, a report tabled to federal parliament has said. One particularly deadly voyage, where almost 100 cattle died on an eight-day trip, is under investigation by the Department of Agriculture and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Continue reading... |
| Friday briefing: Spot of Barnier trouble as Fox rejects Brussels 'blackmail' Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:35 PM PDT Dog's Brexit as everyone argues over everything … how online gambling companies lure the vulnerable … and decoding Birminghan's 'Trojan horse' affair Good morning – Warren Murray here to round out the week. Continue reading... |
| Trojan horse: the real story behind the fake 'Islamic plot' to take over schools Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT In 2014, documents alleging a conspiracy to Islamise Birmingham schools were leaked to the media, sparking a national scandal. The papers were debunked – but the story remains as divisive as ever. What really happened? By Samira Shackle In November 2013, Birmingham city council received a strange document in the post. It was a photocopy of a letter, which seemed to be part of a correspondence between Muslims conspiring to take over local schools and run them according to strict Islamic principles. The photocopy was accompanied by a note from an anonymous person claiming that they had found these pages in their boss's office. The letter – supposedly written by an Islamist offering advice to a co-conspirator – outlined a five-stage strategy called "Operation Trojan Horse". Step one: identify vulnerable schools where most of the pupils are Muslim. Next, identify a group of sympathetic parents to agitate for an Islamic agenda. Then put in place governors who adhere to the same conservative Islamic beliefs. Next, identify staff to disrupt the school from within by changing rules and undermining unsympathetic colleagues. Finally, run anonymous letter and PR campaigns with the aim of forcing the headteacher to resign. The letter stated that this strategy "is tried and tested within Birmingham", and named specific schools where it had supposedly been carried out. Continue reading... |
| Sea Prayer: a 360 story inspired by refugee Alan Kurdi Posted: 31 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT Exclusive: Award-winning novelist Khaled Hosseini commemorates the second anniversary of the death of the three-year-old Syrian refugee with an illustrated story animated in a virtual reality film. The night before a potentially fatal journey, a father reflects with his son on their life in Syria before the war – and on their unknown future Continue reading... |
| 'The whole thing is a sham': plan to help Sierra Leone mudslide victims derided Posted: 31 Aug 2017 11:00 PM PDT Amnesty International says government pledge to rehouse citizens from vulnerable areas amounts to little more than pre-election posturing Plans by the government of Sierra Leone to relocate thousands of people displaced by last month's mudslides have been branded a sham. About 7,000 people were displaced and reports suggest between 800 and 1,000 people died when torrential rains triggered floods and a landslide that engulfed homes in Regent, a mountainous town 15 miles outside the capital, Freetown, on 14 August. |
| The global focus on storm Harvey shows not all suffering is seen as equal | Simon Tisdall Posted: 31 Aug 2017 07:14 AM PDT When water engulfed Texas and Louisiana, it made headlines worldwide. But what of the extreme flooding in south Asia – is there a hierarchy of suffering? The suffering caused to tens of thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana by tropical storm Harvey is not to be underestimated. But in terms of scale and human cost, it pales in comparison with many worldwide disasters – both recent and ongoing, natural and manmade – that have received less international attention. The extreme flooding that hit India, Nepal and Bangladesh (and now Pakistan) is the latest catastrophic event in a year of unprecedented disasters. It has affected an estimated 40 million people and claimed about 1,200 lives so far, according to the most recent reports. And that is not the half of it. Continue reading... |
| The Thai tourist hotel that is a prison: inside Bangkok's latest place to stay – video Posted: 31 Aug 2017 05:17 PM PDT The Guardian's south-east Asia correspondent, Oliver Holmes, spends the night at Sook Station, a jail-themed hotel where guests can buy striped pyjamas and have their mugshots taken Continue reading... |
| Georgia police officer: ‘We only kill black people’ – video Posted: 31 Aug 2017 02:03 PM PDT Lt Greg Abbott has been put on administrative duty after the release of dashcam footage of a traffic stop during which he tells the white driver: 'We only kill black people, right?' An investigation is pending Continue reading... |
| Harvey rescues continue as Texas copes with record flooding – video report Posted: 31 Aug 2017 07:46 AM PDT Rescue operations continue to save people across Texas stranded by tropical storm Harvey. Though rainfall is slowing and wind speeds have dropped, officials say the flooding will take longer to subside. Harvey weakened as it moved inland over Louisiana on Thursday, leaving behind record flooding Continue reading... |
| Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen: ‘Our church doors are always open’ – video Posted: 31 Aug 2017 02:16 AM PDT Joel Osteen of Lakewood church rejects what he calls a false narrative after being criticised for not offering shelter to people in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Osteen opened his 16,000-capacity megachurch to those in need on Tuesday Continue reading... |
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