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

Millions flee from Hurricane Irma's path as Florida prepares for deadly hit
Myanmar: Rohingya insurgents declare month-long ceasefire
Trump's day as a Democratic president enraged Republicans – but peril for Dems too
How Germany’s Mutti Merkel has turned blandness into gold
Mexico declares three days of mourning after deadly earthquake
Land grab in Amazon jungle threatens dispossession, violence and murder
Ancient Egyptian treasures uncovered in tomb near Valley of the Kings
China’s Xi hates Kim Jong-un. But he hates instability more | Richard McGregor
Trump will urge UN to impose North Korean naval blockade and oil embargo
Son of former Fox News host Eric Bolling dies at 19
China's 'Javanka' fanatics dismayed as first daughter cancels visit
'6,000km for only 20 minutes with the PM.' Clinton Pryor relives his epic walk across Australia
Pictures reveal Carlos the Jackal's clandestine life in communist Prague
Nigel Farage backs far-right AfD for 'historic' German election success
Sea salt around the world is contaminated by plastic, studies show
Grieving families go private as the cost of council-run cremations soars
Gabrielle Deydier: what it’s like to be fat in France
British arms sales to repressive regimes soar to £5bn since election
Mueller tells White House of six aides he wishes to quiz in Russia inquiry – report
Whiff of discontent as China bans imports of soft European cheese
Coalition and Labor near breakthrough on laws to prevent marriage equality 'hatred'
Havana flooded and 5,000 tourists evacuated from coast as Irma hits Cuba
Florida facing its 'most catastrophic' storm ever, as Irma arrives
North Korea's Kim Jong-un hosts huge celebration after nuclear test
Hurricane Irma: survivors tell of 'utter devastation' on Caribbean islands
Britain ‘not doing enough’ to help its Caribbean territories
'There's nothing left': British Virgin Islands devastated by Hurricane Irma – video
National party votes against banning burqa in government buildings
Irma and Harvey lay the costs of climate change denial at Trump’s door
Why my Virginia town's 'slave block' should be removed from our sight | Mia Mullane
Florida governor: Irma is 'going to go faster than you are' – video

Millions flee from Hurricane Irma's path as Florida prepares for deadly hit

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:06 PM PDT

Centre of storm to make landfall in Florida Keys in early hours of Sunday
Governor: 'If you have been ordered to evacuate, you need to leave now'
Irma: Florida told to expect 15ft surges as storm closes – latest updates

More than 7 million people evacuated from the path of Hurricane Irma on Saturday as one the most powerful storms in history lined up a potentially catastrophic strike on Florida.

Myanmar: Rohingya insurgents declare month-long ceasefire

Posted: 10 Sep 2017 12:41 AM PDT

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army says move will allow aid deliveries amid reports government is encouraging refugees to flee

Rohingya insurgents declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire last night, saying it would allow aid to reach north-western Myanmar.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) had launched attacks on police posts and an army base last month, prompting retaliation by Myanmar's military. The violence led to more than 270,000 refugees from the persecuted Rohingya Muslim community fleeing to Bangladesh over the last two weeks, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

Trump's day as a Democratic president enraged Republicans – but peril for Dems too

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 05:18 AM PDT

An Oval Office decision to side with the opposition in order to strike Trump's first legislative deal has bewildered and alienated those in his own party

Congress agrees to raise US debt ceiling and provide $15bn in hurricane aid

It was time to deal. Donald Trump and Mike Pence sat before the fireplace in the Oval Office. On a sofa to their left were Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. On a sofa to their right, Paul Ryan, Steven Mnuchin and Kevin McCarthy, with Trump's budget hawk Mick Mulvaney in a lone chair behind. Watching the tableau were the busts of Sir Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King.

There would also be an early afternoon cameo from Trump's daughter Ivanka, dropping in to "say hello", according to a Democratic aide. "The meeting careened off topic. Republican leaders were visibly annoyed by Ivanka's presence."

How Germany’s Mutti Merkel has turned blandness into gold

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:04 PM PDT

The country desperately needs change, so why does its leaden chancellor still appear invincible after 12 years?

Gerry and the Pacemakers, contemporaries of the Beatles, once had a hit called How Do You Do It? As the German elections draw nearer and Angela Merkel seems to be coasting towards a fourth term as chancellor, politicians all over the world might well ask: how does she do it? She is uncharismatic and rhetorically leaden and has made political blunders that would have ruined most other politicians. And yet she seems unbeatable.

A year and a half ago, at the height of the refugee crisis, after the horror of the mass molestation of women at Cologne railway station, only the brave would have taken odds on Merkel surviving. Backbenchers from her own Christian Democratic party were constantly steering journalists into corners and giving them tips on an imminent coup that would install Wolfgang Schäuble, the flinty finance minister, as an interim chancellor until a conservative rising star could be presented to lead the party and the country back to the ideals of Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl.

Mexico declares three days of mourning after deadly earthquake

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:51 AM PDT

President Enrique Peña Nieto says government will help with reconstruction after most powerful quake in a century

The Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has declared three days of national mourning after the strongest earthquake to hit the country in a century left at least 65 people dead and destroyed thousands of buildings.

A major rescue operation is under way around the epicentre of the quake in the southern states of Chiapas, Tabasco and Oaxaca, where many are feared trapped under the rubble.

Land grab in Amazon jungle threatens dispossession, violence and murder

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:05 PM PDT

President Temer is courting the mining companies and their political backers by breaking into pristine rainforest

On 23 August it emerged that the president of Brazil, Michel Temer, had issued a decree abolishing the protected status of an immense area of the Amazon forest. The area is in the north of the country, beyond the Amazon river, going up to the frontiers with French Guiana and Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana). The estimated size is 4.5 million hectares, the size of Denmark or Switzerland.

The decree was shocking, but not entirely unexpected. Temer is in political difficulties, facing corruption charges and needing political allies. There are more than 30 registered political parties in Brazil, and to get anything done in Congress they form bancadas ("benches" or coalitions). One of the most powerful is the bancada ruralista, consisting of powerful, wealthy agribusiness interests (mostly cattle and soya) together with those who represent mining and other extractive industries. And, making things gloomier, the evangelicals attach themselves to this bancada.

Ancient Egyptian treasures uncovered in tomb near Valley of the Kings

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 01:14 PM PDT

Mummies, jewels and sarcophagi are among the 3,500-year-old treasures discovered in a goldsmith's tomb in necropolis

A remarkable ancient Egyptian tomb has been discovered in the necropolis of Draa el-Naga, near Egypt's famous Valley of the Kings.

The tomb consists of a small room at ground level and a burial chamber eight metres below containing four mummies. Its principal occupant was a goldsmith named Amenemhat from the 18th Dynasty (1550BC to 1292BC), the time of Tutankhamun, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. The tomb also contains skeletons, funerary artefacts, including 150 ushabti statues, intended to be servants in the afterlife, and four wooden sarcophagi, jewellery and funerary cones.

China’s Xi hates Kim Jong-un. But he hates instability more | Richard McGregor

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:04 PM PDT

North Korea has long been skilled at creating leverage from weakness – Xi and Trump are not the first to be frustrated by the strategy

In Washington, all roads to Pyongyang go through Beijing, the only capital presumed to possess the wherewithal to reach North Korea's reclusive young dictator, Kim Jong-un, and pull him back from the nuclear brink.

Certainly, Donald Trump thinks so, persistently tweeting his complaints about Beijing's failure to rein in its fraternal communist neighbour, and even threatening to cut off trade with China if it keeps doing business across the border.

Trump will urge UN to impose North Korean naval blockade and oil embargo

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 06:01 AM PDT

A US draft security council resolution calls for member states to use 'all necessary measures' to inspect country's shipping

The US will embark on an aggressive effort to tighten North Korea's isolation on Monday with a call for an oil embargo and a partial naval blockade.

A draft United Nations resolution seen by the Observer would also block textile exports and the hiring of North Korean labour by foreign countries. The American delegation has called for the UN security council to debate the draft, in an attempt to force decisive action following last Sunday's massive nuclear test of a bomb, Pyongyang's sixth.

Son of former Fox News host Eric Bolling dies at 19

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 03:33 PM PDT

Host and wife 'devastated by the loss of our beloved son Eric Chase'
News comes after Bolling leaves network over lewd photo allegations

The 19-year-old son of former Fox News host Eric Bolling died on Friday, the day the network said it had parted company with his father, who was suspended last month after allegations he sent lewd photos to female co-workers.

In a tweet on Saturday afternoon, Bolling said: "Adrienne and I are devastated by the loss of our beloved son Eric Chase last night. Details still unclear. Thoughts, prayers appreciated."

China's 'Javanka' fanatics dismayed as first daughter cancels visit

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 09:00 PM PDT

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner believed to have cancelled September trip amid cooling of relations between Washington and Beijing

'Javanka' fans across China had been counting the days until the power couple's arrival.

"They're a role model couple ... highly motivated and positive. That's what lifts me up when I feel down," raved Chen Bo, a media executive from the southern city of Guangzhou.

'6,000km for only 20 minutes with the PM.' Clinton Pryor relives his epic walk across Australia

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 01:00 PM PDT

The college administrator from Perth has spent a year (and eight pairs of shoes) walking across the country 'to find the truth of Indigenous Australia'. The reality, he tells Lucy Clark, is far worse than he had imagined

By the time Clinton Pryor reached the great red rock of Uluru, they were calling him Spirit Walker. Spirit Walker in news headlines, "Go Spirit Walker!" yelled out by supporters along the way, #SpiritWalker in twitter feeds.

It was roughly the halfway mark of his epic journey for justice, a 5,800km (3,600 miles) walk over 360 days from Perth in the far west of Australia to Canberra in the east. His walk was to highlight the plight of Indigenous Australians and it was here, more than anywhere else, that he felt his ancestral spirits by his side. For Pryor, Uluru is "the heartland, where all the songlines connect you", and his arrival was a moment of enormous personal impact.

Pictures reveal Carlos the Jackal's clandestine life in communist Prague

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 10:45 AM PDT

Covert images show how Czech security services kept close watch on international assassin and Munich terrorist Abu Daoud in 1970s and 80s

One summer day in August 1979, Carlos the Jackal, international terrorist and assassin, managed to lock himself out of his luxury hotel room in Prague, and got so angry that he started running along the corridors yelling and waving a large revolver.

The Venezuelan, born Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez, is serving a life sentence in France. But in the 1970s and early 1980s, he lived freely – and sometimes outrageously – under the watchful eye of the communist Czechoslovakian regime, making Prague's Intercontinental Hotel his second home.

Nigel Farage backs far-right AfD for 'historic' German election success

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 11:00 AM PDT

Former Ukip leader tells party it is potential 'first voice of opposition' in German parliament at campaign event in Berlin

The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the runup to the German federal elections, saying it would be a "historic achievement" if the party entered the Bundestag.

"For the first time in modern history, there will be a voice of opposition in German parliament," the South East England MEP told an audience of AfD supporters at a closed event at the Spandau Citadel, a renaissance fortress in west Berlin.

Sea salt around the world is contaminated by plastic, studies show

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 08:33 AM PDT

Exclusive: New studies find microplastics in salt from the US, Europe and China, adding to evidence that plastic pollution is pervasive in the environment

We are living on a plastic planet. What does that mean for our health?

Sea salt around the world has been contaminated by plastic pollution, adding to experts' fears that microplastics are becoming ubiquitous in the environment and finding their way into the food chain via the salt in our diets.

Following this week's revelations in the Guardian about levels of plastic contamination in tap water, new studies have shown that tiny particles have been found in sea salt in the UK, France and Spain, as well as China and now the US.

Grieving families go private as the cost of council-run cremations soars

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Rsing fees and service cuts prompt shift from local authority venues

A sharp rise in cremation fees has attracted a new wave of private companies into the British market that are keen to win business from council-run services hit by local government cuts.

A new report, Death, Dying and Devolution, by the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research, suggests that the sector is undergoing a period of expansion that has not been experienced for decades, as private-sector companies, such as Dignity, which is floated on the stock market, and the Westerleigh Group, which is owned by a Canadian pension fund, seek to fill the gaps in provision left by the public sector.

Gabrielle Deydier: what it’s like to be fat in France

Posted: 10 Sep 2017 01:00 AM PDT

Gabrielle Deydier's book about being obese has ignited her native France. She tells Stefanie Marsh how her life has been a battle against 'grossophobia', discrimination and verbal abuse – until now

In August 2015, 37-year-old Gabrielle Deydier went for a job interview which she passed with flying colours. The job was for a position as a teaching assistant at a Parisian special needs school and the interview panel, including the school's headmaster, had been so impressed with Gabrielle that they even told her they were worried in case she left for a better-paid job. There had been only one uncomfortable moment: it came at the end, as Gabrielle was walking out the door. The headmaster said: "The teacher you'll be working under can be rather difficult." Gabrielle barely heard him, she was so delighted about her new job.

It wasn't long before she realised that "difficult" was a colossal understatement. "You're Gabrielle Deydier," was the first thing the teacher in question said when they met. "I don't work with fat people." Gabrielle tried to laugh it off, but the difficult teacher wasn't smiling. "It wasn't a joke," she said.

British arms sales to repressive regimes soar to £5bn since election

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:04 PM PDT

Campaigners claim that government is putting 'exports to despots ahead of human rights'

UK arms manufacturers have exported almost £5bn worth of weapons to countries that are judged to have repressive regimes in the 22 months since the Conservative party won the last election.

The huge rise is largely down to a rise in orders from Saudi Arabia, but many other countries with controversial human rights records – including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Venezuela and China – have also been major buyers.

Mueller tells White House of six aides he wishes to quiz in Russia inquiry – report

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 09:56 AM PDT

Mueller's team keen to speak to Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer among others
Former FBI director investigating Russian interference in 2016 election

Special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly notified the White House that his team will try to seek interviews with six current and former aides to Donald Trump as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Whiff of discontent as China bans imports of soft European cheese

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 10:05 PM PDT

Delicacies such as brie and gorgonzola contain 'too much bacteria', officials say, sending expats scrambling to buy up remaining stocks

Customs officials in China have banned a host of soft, mould-ripened cheese for containing "too much bacteria", with authorities reportedly alarmed the mould contained colonies of bacteria that had not been officially approved.

The ban mainly affects French and Italian cheese, including brie, camembert, gorgonzola and roquefort, as well as the English delicacy stilton.

Coalition and Labor near breakthrough on laws to prevent marriage equality 'hatred'

Posted: 10 Sep 2017 12:49 AM PDT

Deal on legislation to guarantee truth in advertising could be unveiled as soon as Monday morning

The marriage equality campaigner Rodney Croome wants parliament to pass a law guaranteeing truth in advertising and providing protections against vilification to establish strong ground rules for the postal survey on same-sex marriage.

With a fresh advertising blitz for the survey kicking off from Sunday night, negotiations between the Turnbull government and Labor have spanned the weekend on new legislation regulating the conduct of the postal ballot campaign.

Havana flooded and 5,000 tourists evacuated from coast as Irma hits Cuba

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 11:40 PM PDT

Authorities survey the damage as cities, resorts and farmland are devastated, and residents of the capital brace for prolonged flooding

Hurricane Irma ripped roofs off houses and flooded hundreds of kilometres of coastline as it raked Cuba's northern coast after devastating islands the length of the Caribbean.

As Irma left Cuba late on Saturday and directed its 195kmh winds towards Florida, authorities on the island were assessing the damage. They warned of staggering damage to keys off the northern coast studded with all-inclusive resorts and cities, as well as farmland in central Cuba.

Florida facing its 'most catastrophic' storm ever, as Irma arrives

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 10:38 PM PDT

'Leave now,' governor warns, with hurricane bearing down on Keys after killing 25 in wave of Caribbean devastation

Florida faces the "most catastrophic" storm in its history as Hurricane Irma prepares to unleash devastating force on the state, including 120mph winds, life-threatening sea surges that could submerge buildings and an advance battery of tornadoes.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un hosts huge celebration after nuclear test

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 09:34 PM PDT

Leader lauds scientists and technicians at a lavish event, praising the country's largest test as a 'great auspicious event in national history'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a huge celebration to congratulate his nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago, its official news agency said on Sunday.

News of the celebration comes as the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said in an interview published Sunday the showdown over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme was the world's worst crisis "in years".

Hurricane Irma: survivors tell of 'utter devastation' on Caribbean islands

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 08:58 PM PDT

British Virgin Islands resident describes 'state of disbelief' as sewage spills 'absolutely everywhere', and says food, shelter and water needed urgently

Residents of the British Virgin Islands say they have witnessed scenes of "unbelievable" devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, and warned of widespread looting and a shortage of water and shelter for those left homeless by the storm.

Irma severed links with the outside world and left thousands of tourists and local people desperate to escape after it pounded islands along the north-eastern edge of the Caribbean.

Britain ‘not doing enough’ to help its Caribbean territories

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 07:42 PM PDT

MPs warn ministers that response has been found wanting as overseas subjects remain in grave need

British police officers will be deployed as part of the UK's efforts to support the Caribbean islands left devastated by Hurricane Irma, the government announced yesterday as it scrambled to deflect criticisms over its handling of the disaster.

The UK's response to Irma, which devastated the British overseas territories of the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, has been found wanting, according to two influential MPs.

'There's nothing left': British Virgin Islands devastated by Hurricane Irma – video

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 07:40 PM PDT

Residents in the British Virgin Islands have seen homes and businesses detroyed by the storm. Natalie Drury, who lives in Tortola, has sent us this video of the aftermath of the hurricane

National party votes against banning burqa in government buildings

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 05:58 PM PDT

North Queensland MP George Christensen, who brought the motion to the federal conference, argued it was needed for security reasons

The Nationals have voted down a motion to ban the burqa and other facial coverings in government buildings and other public spaces.

North Queensland federal MP George Christensen, who brought the motion to the federal conference, argued it was needed for security reasons but also noted the party was "bleeding to the right" on issues such as this.

Irma and Harvey lay the costs of climate change denial at Trump’s door

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 04:05 PM PDT

The president's dismissal of scientific research is doing nothing to protect the livelihoods of ordinary Americans

As the US comes to terms with its second major weather disaster within a month, an important question is whether the devastation caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma will convince Donald Trump and his administration of the reality of climate change.

Why my Virginia town's 'slave block' should be removed from our sight | Mia Mullane

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 05:00 AM PDT

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, there sits a pre-civil war slave auction block. It's upsetting to black and white residents – and it should be in a museum

As hurricanes ravage large parts of the US, another kind of tempest continues in my hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia, over whether to move a pre-civil war slave auction block from a prominent historic district corner to be housed at the local museum.

I signed the petition to remove the now infamous slave auction block and was surprised to see the local political controversy elevated to the world stage in last week's article, penned by fellow Fredericksburg native David Caprara. To put it frankly, I believe Caprara buried the lede.

Florida governor: Irma is 'going to go faster than you are' – video

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 08:25 AM PDT

The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, tells residents to evacuate as Hurricane Irma approaches. The storm's outer bands hit south Florida on Saturday as residents scrambled to leave. Irma now seems likely to track across the Tampa Bay area and the state's Gulf of Mexico coast