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

Trump pushing Afghan president to close Taliban office in Qatar, sources say
Three Israelis killed in gun attack by Palestinian assailant
Trump finally responds to Puerto Rico crisis, saying island has 'massive debt'
Archaeologists home in on Homeric clues as Turkey declares year of Troy
Sixth mass extinction of wildlife also threatens global food supplies
North Korea's foreign minister: Trump has declared war on our country
Vietnam's harsh summer: state launches largest crackdown on dissidents in years
Chelsea Manning says she has been barred from entering Canada
Many Puerto Ricans desperate to return home to island reeling from disaster
Japan's PM Shinzō Abe calls snap election
Marriage equality support rebounds and yes side leads in voting – Guardian Essential poll
Spain’s attorney general refuses to rule out arrest of Catalan president
Republican plan to defeat Obamacare looks doomed as Susan Collins says no to bill
Anthony Weiner given 21 months in prison for sexting teenage girl
Egyptian students told to respect the flag or risk a year in prison
Bali volcano: 50,000 flee Mount Agung as tremor magnitude intensifies
British ally of Jihadi John 'may still be alive'
This island is not for sale: how Eigg fought back
Brexit weekly briefing: May's Florence speech fails to unblock talks
‘Where are my sons?’: the phone call that could reunite families fractured by Boko Haram | Ruth Maclean
'It's absurd': White House denies US declared war on North Korea – video
Venezuela says Trump is acting like 'the world's emperor'
Politicians unaware they held dual citizenship should keep jobs, says Brandis
Bali volcano eruption could be hours away after unprecedented seismic activity
Tuesday briefing: A world without coffee and chocolate
First Manus Island-held refugees flown to US under resettlement deal
Charlottesville's white awakening: 'We were living in a bubble,' say residents
North Korea accuses US of declaring war – video
Merkel starts challenging task of trying to form coalition government
Hospitals in crisis in Uganda as Middle Eastern countries poach medical staff
Obama: 'The world has never been healthier, wealthier or less violent'
German elections left Merkel isolated, but it is too soon to write her off | Philip Oltermann
German election has redefined narrative of European party politics
AfD co-leader quits after party's election breakthrough – video

Trump pushing Afghan president to close Taliban office in Qatar, sources say

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 01:08 AM PDT

Exclusive: Mission in Doha had been channel for dialogue for more than six years but Trump is said to be hostile to keeping it open

Donald Trump is pushing the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, to close a Taliban mission in Qatar, which has been a channel for dialogue for more than six years, according to several sources familiar with discussions between the two countries.

Three Israelis killed in gun attack by Palestinian assailant

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 12:05 AM PDT

Assailant shot dead after killing three and injuring another at settlement outside Jerusalem early on Tuesday morning

Three Israelis have been killed in a gun attack by a Palestinian assailant at a settlement outside Jerusalem.

Police said the attacker arrived at a rear entrance to the Har Adar settlement at about 7am as security guards were opening a gate to admit Palestinian labourers with permits.

Trump finally responds to Puerto Rico crisis, saying island has 'massive debt'

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 09:15 PM PDT

President's belated response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in US territory seems to blame islanders for their own misfortune

It took Donald Trump five full days to respond to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria on the lives of 3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico, and when he finally did so his comments on Twitter were so devoid of empathy it threatened to spark a new controversy.

Archaeologists home in on Homeric clues as Turkey declares year of Troy

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Work is accelerating at site on Hisarlık Hill, formerly a 'ruin of a ruin', and a museum will open next year

Rüstem Aslan, Troy's chief archaeologist, grows more animated as he enters the fenced-off area just beyond the southern gate of the ancient city's ruins. To him it offers tantalising clues that may add to the evidence that this was the scene of the war detailed in Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

"Priam, Achilles, Hector: [whether] they lived and died here, we cannot prove that 100%," said the affable Aslan, who started working at the site as a student in 1988. "But if you work inside for 30 years, night and day, winter or summer, surrounded by this landscape, you can feel it. You start to believe."

Sixth mass extinction of wildlife also threatens global food supplies

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 10:01 PM PDT

Plant and animal species that are the foundation of our food supplies are as endangered as wildlife but get almost no attention, a new report reveals

Comment: Chips, chocolate and coffee – our food crops face mass extinction too

The sixth mass extinction of global wildlife already under way is seriously threatening the world's food supplies, according to experts.

"Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply are just as endangered [as wildlife] and are getting almost no attention," said Ann Tutwiler, director general of Bioversity International, a research group that published a new report on Tuesday.

North Korea's foreign minister: Trump has declared war on our country

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 12:45 AM PDT

Ri Yong-ho says in response to Donald Trump's comments North Korea has 'every right to make counter-measures', including shooting down US bombers

North Korea has threatened to shoot down US bombers in international airspace, claiming that, with a weekend tweet, Donald Trump had declared war.

Vietnam's harsh summer: state launches largest crackdown on dissidents in years

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 08:35 PM PDT

At least 11 activists have been arrested, charged or convicted over the past few months, while another was stripped of his citizenship and deported to France

Ho Thi Chau, 25, was left alone and blacklisted after her husband was returned to jail for "attempting to overthrow the [Vietnamese] government" last week.

An activist from the north central province of Nghe An, Nguyen Van Oai was arrested on 18 September on charges of violating the conditions of his 2015 release from prison.

Chelsea Manning says she has been barred from entering Canada

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 01:00 PM PDT

Former US soldier and one of the most prominent whistleblowers of modern times posts letter to Twitter saying she is 'not authorized to enter Canada'

Chelsea Manning, the former US soldier who served seven years in military prison after instigating one of the biggest breaches of classified data in US history, has said she has been barred from entering Canada.

Many Puerto Ricans desperate to return home to island reeling from disaster

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 07:36 AM PDT

The island is largely without electricity and running water, but demand for plane tickets is high as Puerto Ricans attempt to return to their relatives and homes

As Puerto Rico came into view below, passengers on the JetBlue aid flight from New York fell silent as the scale of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria became apparent: the usually verdant mountains were brown and barren, and the bright blue water offshore was dotted with large aid ships.

Japan's PM Shinzō Abe calls snap election

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 05:42 AM PDT

Abe aims to take advantage of opposition disarray and says vote would be an appraisal of his handling of North Korea crisis

Japan's prime minister, Shinzō Abe, has called a snap election to take advantage of opposition disarray and support for his hard line against North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Marriage equality support rebounds and yes side leads in voting – Guardian Essential poll

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 11:01 AM PDT

Poll finds that, among those who have already voted, 72% voted yes compared with 26% who voted no

Support for marriage equality has rebounded and the yes side holds a decisive lead among Australians who have already voted in the postal survey, according to the Guardian Essential poll.

The poll found that 58% of Australians support a change in the law to allow same-sex couples to marry, up three points from 55% last week, compared with 33% who oppose it and 9% who are undecided.

Spain’s attorney general refuses to rule out arrest of Catalan president

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 09:42 AM PDT

Carles Puigdemont could face action, says attorney general, as Catalonia prepares to defy Madrid by holding independence vote

Spain's attorney general has refused to rule out the possibility of arresting the Catalan president, as the region's pro-sovereignty government prepares to defy Madrid by holding an independence referendum on Sunday.

José Manuel Maza said that Carles Puigdemont could face action for disobedience, breaching public duties and misuse of public funds for proceeding with the poll after Spain's constitutional court suspended the hastily passed legislation underpinning the vote.

Republican plan to defeat Obamacare looks doomed as Susan Collins says no to bill

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 03:37 PM PDT

Maine senator calls bill 'deeply flawed' and says she will not vote for it
Number of Americans with cover would be 'reduced by millions', CBO finds
Trump renews attack on John McCain

The latest Republican bill to repeal Obamacare appears doomed to fail after a key senator came out strongly against it within minutes of an analysis which said the plan would strip health insurance from "millions" of Americans.

Moments after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a partial analysis of the Republicans' plan, Maine Senator Susan Collins announced she would not vote for the bill, and called it "deeply flawed".

Anthony Weiner given 21 months in prison for sexting teenage girl

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 07:53 AM PDT

Ex-congressman pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to minor
Weiner, 53, must undergo internet monitoring after sentence is served

Anthony Weiner was sentenced on Monday to 21 months in prison, in a sexting scandal that some blame for Hillary Clinton's defeat by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Egyptian students told to respect the flag or risk a year in prison

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 06:59 AM PDT

Crackdown by education minister, which includes fine threat, prompts ridicule on social media

Egypt's education minister has ordered students to respect the Egyptian flag or risk jail time.

Students who mock or desecrate the flag could be fined 30,000 LE (£1,260) and sentenced to up to a year in prison, said the education minister, Tarek Shawki.

Bali volcano: 50,000 flee Mount Agung as tremor magnitude intensifies

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 03:07 AM PDT

Number of people leaving homes in shadow of volcano soars amid fears it could erupt for first time in more than 50 years

Nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated from their homes amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Mount Agung, 47 miles (75km) from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been shaking since August and threatening to erupt for the first time in more than 50 years.

British ally of Jihadi John 'may still be alive'

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 01:01 AM PDT

Raymond Matimba filmed in Raqqa coffee shop in 2014 with Mohammed Emwazi and other UK members of Isis

A jihadist who fled Manchester for Syria has been identified as a key member of a clique of British fighters that included Jihadi John, it has been reported.

Raymond Matimba is believed to have left Britain in 2014 to link up with terrorists in the region.

This island is not for sale: how Eigg fought back

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Small islands have always been objects of desire for a certain kind of man ambitious to rule his own tiny nation. One Hebridean isle asserted its independence, but can its way of life survive? By Patrick Barkham

"It's the difference between black-and-white TV and colour," said Brian Greene. "That's what it was like after the revolution." Greene was giving me a lift in his dilapidated Peugeot along Eigg's only road, waving at every passerby. It was the kind of explosive Highland summer day when butterflies jinked out of the steaming greenery and every foxglove, fuchsia and yellow flag iris seemed to have simultaneously burst into flower.

Small islands are like celebrities: they loom far larger than their actual size, they are pored over by visitor-fans and they become public possessions, laden with reputations and attributes they may or may not embody. The Hebridean island of Eigg is second to St Kilda as the most famous of the smaller British isles. While St Kilda is renowned for its extinction as a place of human settlement, Eigg is celebrated for its rebirth. After overthrowing its eccentric, authoritarian owner two decades ago, this 31 sq km (12 sq mile) patch of moor and mountain was reborn as what is sometimes mockingly called the People's Republic of Eigg. This triumph of David versus Goliath has forged an apparently inspirational, sustainable community of 100 people. On first glance, it appears at once industriously creative and attractively lackadaisical: colourful houses, gardens filled with strawberry patches, hammocks made from old fishing nets and swings from old pink buoys.

Brexit weekly briefing: May's Florence speech fails to unblock talks

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 11:00 PM PDT

Once again the prime minister failed to say what kind of Brexit she wanted – only what kind she didn't want

Welcome to the Guardian's weekly Brexit briefing, a summary of developments as the UK heads towards the EU door marked "exit". If you would like to receive it as a weekly early morning email, please sign up here.

You can listen to our latest Brexit Means podcast here. Also: producing the Guardian's independent, in-depth journalism takes a lot of time and money. We do it because we believe our perspective matters – and it may be your perspective too.

‘Where are my sons?’: the phone call that could reunite families fractured by Boko Haram | Ruth Maclean

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 11:00 PM PDT

For Nigerians displaced from Lake Chad by the Islamist insurgents, a weekly conversation on a borrowed phone is the best chance of finding missing relatives

Hawa Adamu Bello yells excitedly into the basic mobile phone that has just been handed to her. She is through to her sister-in-law. The women haven't seen each other since Boko Haram militants attacked their town on the Nigerian shores of Lake Chad more than two years ago.

"Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah," she says, giving the Muslim answer to all the questions about how she is, how things are, how her husband is, as quickly as possible, balancing the need for speed with the risk of being unforgivably rude.

'It's absurd': White House denies US declared war on North Korea – video

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 12:38 AM PDT

The White House rejects the assertion by North Korea's foreign minister that the US president, Donald Trump, had declared war on North Korea. 'We've not declared war on North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd,' White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. She added that the US was looking to pursue a peaceful solution in the region

• North Korea's foreign minister: Trump has declared war on our country

Venezuela says Trump is acting like 'the world's emperor'

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 01:27 PM PDT

Foreign minister Jorge Arreaza retaliates after US sanctions and a new travel ban against Venezuela, as well as harsh words from Trump

Venezuela's top diplomat has accused Donald Trump of acting like "the world's emperor", after the US president denounced the government of Nicolás Maduro on the global stage of the UN General Assembly.

The foreign minister Jorge Arreaza's speech at assembly came a day after Trump signed a travel ban affecting some Venezuelan officials, and nearly a week after Trump denounced turmoil-racked Venezuela's "corrupt regime" in his own address to the assembly's annual gathering of world leaders.

Politicians unaware they held dual citizenship should keep jobs, says Brandis

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 12:43 AM PDT

Attorney general tells high court Barnaby Joyce and senators Nash, Canavan and Xenophon shouldn't lose out for not knowing they held dual nationalities

The attorney general, George Brandis, has attempted to save the political careers of three government MPs by claiming they should not be punished for not knowing they held dual citizenship.

In his submissions to the high court, Brandis argues that the section 44 phrase "is a subject of a citizen … of a foreign power" should only be applied to someone who has "voluntarily obtained or retained" that citizenship.

Bali volcano eruption could be hours away after unprecedented seismic activity

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 12:05 AM PDT

Thousands evacuated from area around Mount Agung as hundreds of volcanic earthquakes recorded in single day

Bali's Mount Agung is experiencing unprecedented levels of seismic activity and could erupt in a "matter of hours", Indonesia's volcanology centre has confirmed.

Almost 60,000 people have been evacuated in the last few days as Agung, the highest point of the island, has experienced hundreds of internal volcanic earthquakes.

Tuesday briefing: A world without coffee and chocolate

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 09:20 PM PDT

Many food crops at risk of extinction … man in 'vegetative state' partially awoken by electrical stimulation … and how renewables powered Britain's summer

Good morning – it's Warren Murray back on briefing duties today.

First Manus Island-held refugees flown to US under resettlement deal

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 08:18 PM PDT

Group of 25 men who had been detained by Australia depart Port Moresby on Tuesday morning, with group from Nauru expected to follow

The first group of refugees to be resettled under the Australia-United States resettlement deal flew out of Port Moresby on Tuesday morning.

The group of 25 men from the Manus Island detention centre will be joined within days by a second group of refugees currently housed on Nauru.

Charlottesville's white awakening: 'We were living in a bubble,' say residents

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 12:25 PM PDT

On Sunday, Ariana Grande and Pharrell Williams helped the Virginia town recover from last month's violence – which some white residents admitted had been a serious wake-up call

Inside the University of Virginia's Scott Stadium, a succession of pop stars were telling local residents that "Love trumps hate" and "You will not dethrone love." Dave Matthews, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande and Justin Timberlake were holding a free concert to help Charlottesville recover from the violent white supremacist and neo-Nazi protests that rocked the town last month.

North Korea accuses US of declaring war – video

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 10:56 AM PDT

Foreign minister Ri Yong-ho says the world should remember that the US 'first declared war on our country' as Pyongyang declares that all options are on the table in response. Ri referred specifically to a tweet from Donald Trump saying the North Korean leadership 'won't be around much longer'

North Korea's foreign minister: Trump has declared war on our country

Merkel starts challenging task of trying to form coalition government

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 10:13 AM PDT

Chancellor acknowledges losses but says she has firm mandate from voters and will stay for full term

Angela Merkel started trying to form a coalition government on Monday after harnessing a fourth term as chancellor but at the cost of momentous gains for the far right.

A subdued Merkel, speaking at the headquarters of her CDU party in Berlin, acknowledged the losses, calling them disappointing and admitting: "We have considerable work ahead of us."

Hospitals in crisis in Uganda as Middle Eastern countries poach medical staff

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 06:26 AM PDT

Recruitment of almost 2,000 health workers to Libya has led to urgent calls for government to stop exodus amid dire staffing shortages

The failure to stop a brain drain of almost 2,000 of its best doctors and nurses is exacerbating Uganda's healthcare crisis, reflecting a growing problem across east Africa, say healthcare workers.

At least 1,963 medics are being recruited to work at one hospital alone in Libya, as Middle Eastern countries turn to the region for highly qualified workers to fill their own vacancies, which have increased amid political instability and migration.

Obama: 'The world has never been healthier, wealthier or less violent'

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 05:21 AM PDT

Former president urges optimism and focus on progress at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation conference, despite shadow cast by Trump's UN speech

There's never been a better time to be alive, the former US president Barack Obama told an audience of musicians, activists, comedians, innovators and royalty, gathered at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan on 20 September.

Despite the "extraordinary challenges" the world is facing – from growing economic inequality and climate change to mass migration and terrorism – "if you had to choose any moment in history in which to be born, you would choose right now. The world has never been healthier, or wealthier, or better educated or in many ways more tolerant or less violent," he said in his speech, at an event for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

German elections left Merkel isolated, but it is too soon to write her off | Philip Oltermann

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 09:10 AM PDT

The CDU may have had its worst election result since 1949, but the chancellor has been here before and pulled through

Since Angela Merkel was first voted chancellor 12 years ago, political power in the hands of Germany's first physicist-turned-politician has always looked more like a solid than a liquid.

"Power is the ability to shape things," the chancellor said at the Christian Democrats' headquarters on Monday afternoon, having just reminded assembled journalists that in spite of its worst election result since 1949, her party would still be the most powerful group in the next Bundestag. "And I like shaping things," she added.

German election has redefined narrative of European party politics

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 06:47 AM PDT

The AfD's third-place finish shows that populism in Europe is here to stay – but it can be beaten

After the Brexit vote in Britain and Donald Trump's rise to power in the US, pundits predicted that a wind of populist, anxious, resentful, anti-politics-as-usual change would sweep across Europe.

Like a series of dominoes, the governments of the Netherlands and France – and possibly, if rather more implausibly, even Germany – would fall to the Eurosceptic forces of Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and Frauke Petry.

AfD co-leader quits after party's election breakthrough – video

Posted: 25 Sep 2017 05:57 AM PDT

The Alternative für Deutschland co-leader Frauke Petry announces her departure on Monday morning after telling a press conference she would not sit with the party in the Bundestag. Petry will serve her constituency in Saxony as an independent

• AfD leader quits party hours after German election breakthrough