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

Saudi Arabia to allow women to obtain driving licences
Alabama Republican Senate primary: Roy Moore defeats Trump-backed Luther Strange
Mount Agung volcano threat forces Bali to make plans for stranded travellers
Macron lays out vision for 'profound' changes in post-Brexit EU
Anger at response to Mexico earthquake could bring political aftershocks
Thousands of Qatar World Cup workers ‘subjected to life-threatening heat’
Banned West Papua independence petition handed to UN
Zealandia drilling reveals secrets of sunken lost continent
Ireland to hold abortion referendum weeks before pope's visit
Trump pledges to 'fix the mess' of North Korea's nuclear program
Spain to deploy police to prevent Catalan independence vote
Global economy at risk a decade on from financial crisis, says WEF
Experts called in to examine remains of Briton 'mauled by wolves' in Greece
Senate Republicans admit defeat in latest effort to repeal Affordable Care Act
'Height of hypocrisy': Clinton calls out Trump team over private email reports
Book of Mormon sets new record for most expensive manuscript ever sold
Yingluck Shinawatra: ex-Thai PM sentenced to five years in jail
Women in Saudi Arabia: what do you think of the driving ban being lifted?
Bombardier: May 'bitterly disappointed' as US tariff puts jobs at risk
'We stand to wipe out a whole era': how the 1970s could vanish from Vancouver
Enugu in the spotlight: 50 years on, the flame of Biafra still burns
Why are North Korea's leaders specifically threatening US bombers?
Lady Lucan found dead at London home after being reported missing
UK treatment of foreign nationals 'could colour' MEPs’ view on Brexit
'I didn't understand until much later that women were a lower rank in society' | Karen McVeigh
A glimpse of when Canada's badlands were a lush dinosaur forest by the sea | Elsa Panciroli
Coalition risks paying 'far too much' for submarines, experts say
British banker Rurik Jutting to appeal against murder conviction
Giant Solomon Islands rat believed to eat coconuts discovered
Bali volcano: will Mount Agung erupt and what happens if it does?
Wednesday briefing: 'We are government in waiting' – Corbyn
Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage
New Zealand election: kingmaker Winston Peters won't make a decision before October
Climate change made Lucifer heatwave far more likely, scientists find
Almost 75% of all children are subjected to violence each year, research finds
Naomi Klein: Donald Trump is like London's fatberg – video
Steve Bannon: we came to praise and honour Trump – video

Saudi Arabia to allow women to obtain driving licences

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 01:30 PM PDT

King Salman ordered the reform in a royal decree delivered on Tuesday night, requesting that drivers' licences be issued to women who wanted them

Women in Saudi Arabia have been granted the right to drive, overturning a cornerstone of Saudi conservatism that had been a cause célèbre for activists demanding reforms in the fundamentalist kingdom.

Alabama Republican Senate primary: Roy Moore defeats Trump-backed Luther Strange

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 06:30 PM PDT

Socially conservative former Alabama chief justice, one of the most controversial US politicians, was removed from state supreme court post twice

The former Alabama judge Roy Moore, one of the most controversial figures in Republican politics, is on course to become a US senator – in spite of opposition from Donald Trump.

With 95% of the vote in on Tuesday night, Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama supreme court was ahead of appointed incumbent Luther Strange by 55% to 45% in the Republican Senate runoff.

Mount Agung volcano threat forces Bali to make plans for stranded travellers

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:55 PM PDT

Flight restrictions and visa extensions proposed by Indonesian officials as volcano continues to show signs of 'heightened unrest'

Tell us if you're affected by the evacuation

Indonesian officials have drawn up plans to divert flights to 10 airports across the country and extend tourist visas for stranded travellers should Bali's Mount Agung – which has been rumbling perilously for days – erupt.

According to Indonesia's volcanology centre, Mount Agung, which has not erupted since 1963, is "exhibiting heightened unrest with increased likelihood of eruption".

Macron lays out vision for 'profound' changes in post-Brexit EU

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 09:05 AM PDT

French president proposes deeper political integration but suggests UK 'may one day find place' in EU moving at different speeds

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has set out his plans for a "profound transformation" of the EU with deeper political integration to win back the support of disgruntled citizens, but suggested a bloc moving forward at differing speeds could become somewhere the UK may "one day find its place again".

Macron, a staunchly pro-European centrist who came to power in May after beating the Front National's Marine Le Pen, pleaded for the EU to return to its founders' "visionary" ideas, which were born out of the disaster of two world wars.

Anger at response to Mexico earthquake could bring political aftershocks

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:30 PM PDT

Patchy provision of aid and perceived lack of engagement by senior politicians have seen elected officials booed or even chased out of stricken neighborhoods

Two days after Rosario Islas's cinderblock shack collapsed in Mexico's massive earthquake last week, a group of political operatives turned up at her ruined home, in the borough of Xochimilco in the south of the capital.

They had food, water, and building materials – but before they would hand anything over, they demanded Islas show her government-issued voter ID.

Thousands of Qatar World Cup workers ‘subjected to life-threatening heat’

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 07:59 PM PDT

• Human Rights Watch says hundreds of workers dying every year
• Statutory work breaks in summer midday hours not sufficient

Many thousands of migrant workers on construction sites in Qatar, including those building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, are being subjected to potentially life-threatening heat and humidity, according to new research on the extreme summer conditions in the Gulf. Hundreds of workers are dying every year, the campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a strong statement, but they claim that the Qatar authorities have refused to make necessary information public or adequately investigate the deaths, which could be caused by labouring in the region's fierce climate.

HRW argues that millions of workers are in jeopardy, including those in the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – because statutory work breaks imposed during summer midday hours do not protect them sufficiently. An analysis of the weather in Doha last summer has also shown that workers on World Cup construction projects were in danger, despite the more advanced system used by the tournament organiser, Humidex, which measures safety levels of heat and humidity.

Banned West Papua independence petition handed to UN

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Exclusive: Document outlawed by Indonesia was 'smuggled from one end of Papua to the other' and signed by 70% of the population

A petition banned by the Indonesian government, but bearing the signatures of 1.8 million West Papuans – more than 70% of the contested province's population – has been presented to the United Nations, with a demand for a free vote on independence.

Exiled West Papuan independence campaigner Benny Wenda presented the bound petition to the UN's decolonisation committee, the body that monitors the progress of former colonies – known as non-self-governing territories – towards independence.

Zealandia drilling reveals secrets of sunken lost continent

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 06:01 PM PDT

South Pacific landmass may have been closer to land level than once thought, providing pathways for animals and plants

The mostly submerged continent of Zealandia may have been much closer to land level than previously thought, providing pathways for animals and plants to cross continents from 80m years ago, an expedition has revealed.

Zealandia, a for the most part underwater landmass in the South Pacific, was declared the Earth's newest continent this year in a paper in the journal of the Geological Society of America. It includes Lord Howe Island off the east coast of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand.

Ireland to hold abortion referendum weeks before pope's visit

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:19 AM PDT

Voters will go to the polls in May or June 2018 to decide whether to repeal near-total constitutional ban on abortion

Ireland will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its ban on abortion in almost all circumstances, a few weeks before Pope Francis is expected to visit.

Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, told the Irish parliament on Tuesday that a national vote on whether to abolish the eighth amendment to the constitution, which gives a foetus the status of a citizen even in early pregnancy, would take place in summer 2018.

Trump pledges to 'fix the mess' of North Korea's nuclear program

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 04:50 PM PDT

President says military strike would not be 'preferred option' but he is prepared to pursue it if needed: 'If we take that option, it will be devastating'

Donald Trump vowed to "fix the mess" over North Korea's nuclear program one day after the country's foreign minister claimed that the US president had declared war in a tweet and threatened to shoot down American bombers in international airspace.

Trump also said on Tuesday that any US military attack would be "devastating" as his administration sought to turn up the economic pressure with new sanctions punishing North Korean banks and their workers.

Spain to deploy police to prevent Catalan independence vote

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:50 AM PDT

Government says local force will assume control of polling booths as additional officers are drafted in from Andalucía

Police will be deployed at polling stations to prevent people from voting in the Catalan independence referendum, the Spanish government has confirmed.

Although the Catalonia regional government has insisted the unilateral poll will go ahead on Sunday, the Spanish government has vowed to stop the vote, which it says is a clear violation of the constitution. Spain's constitutional court has suspended the legislation underpinning the referendum while it rules on its legality.

Global economy at risk a decade on from financial crisis, says WEF

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 03:01 PM PDT

UK slips one place to eighth in competitiveness rankings as Switzerland tops World Economic Forum league table

The 10th anniversary of the worst downturn since the Great Depression finds the global economy at risk of a fresh crisis and ill-prepared for the disruption likely from the robot age, the World Economic Forum has warned.

The body that organises the annual gathering of the global elite in Davos each January used its annual league table of competitiveness to stress that the failure to push through growth and productivity-friendly policies since the crash of 2007-08 had jeopardised chances of a sustained recovery.

Experts called in to examine remains of Briton 'mauled by wolves' in Greece

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 09:20 AM PDT

Specialists from University of Thrace will help local pathologist conduct postmortem on Celia Hollingworth

The remains of a British woman who is believed to have been mauled to death by a pack of wolves or wild dogs in northern Greece are to be examined by a team of forensic experts in an attempt to understand more about what happened.

Celia Hollingworth died after visiting an archaeological site in Mesimvria last Thursday. A local pathologist aided by specialists from the University of Thrace will conduct a postmortem on Wednesday in the north-eastern town of Komotini.

Senate Republicans admit defeat in latest effort to repeal Affordable Care Act

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 11:31 AM PDT

Senate leaders admitted they did not have the votes to pass a bill, hours after Trump railed against 'certain so-called Republicans' for refusing to vote for it

The latest Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act died on Tuesday as it became obvious they did not have the votes to pass a bill that would leave millions without health insurance.

The admission of defeat came from Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the sponsors of the bill after party discussions over lunch on Capitol Hill left them in no doubt their slim majority could not survive a revolt.

'Height of hypocrisy': Clinton calls out Trump team over private email reports

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 06:15 AM PDT

Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law among six administration figures who reportedly used private email accounts for White House business

At least six senior Trump administration figures are reported to have used private email accounts for official White House business, prompting Hillary Clinton to describe criticism of her own private server use as "the height of hypocrisy".

Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, admitted through his lawyer on Sunday that he had used private emails in the administration's early days.

Book of Mormon sets new record for most expensive manuscript ever sold

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 08:00 AM PDT

Founding text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints returned to followers of Joseph Smith for $35m

The printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon has been sold to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) for $35m (£26m), setting what is believed to be a new record for the most expensive manuscript ever sold.

Yingluck Shinawatra: ex-Thai PM sentenced to five years in jail

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 01:48 AM PDT

Guilty verdict delivered in absentia a month after she fled country in case related to money-losing rice subsidy scheme

Thailand's top court has found the former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of negligence and sentenced her to five years in jail, a verdict delivered in absentia a month after she fled the country.

Yingluck, whose elected government was overthrown in 2014 by the army generals who still control the kingdom, had denied allegations related to a mishandled and costly rice subsidy scheme.

Women in Saudi Arabia: what do you think of the driving ban being lifted?

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 01:43 AM PDT

We want to hear from those living in the country about licences being issued to women who want them

In Saudi Arabia King Salman has ordered the reform of a royal decree, granting women the right to drive. The decision marks a significant change to the conservative social order in the country.

It comes amid other changes as part of a reform programme, which includes women being allowed into a sports stadium for the first time.

Bombardier: May 'bitterly disappointed' as US tariff puts jobs at risk

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 12:35 AM PDT

PM says she will work to protect jobs at Canadian aircraft maker in Northern Ireland after US imposes 219% trade levy

Theresa May is "bitterly disappointed" by a US decision to impose a punitive tariff on exports of passenger jets built by one of Northern Ireland's biggest employers, Downing Street said.

The US Department of Commerce ruled in favour of Boeing in its legal battle with Bombardier, prompting fears in Northern Ireland that aerospace jobs in the region could be in peril.

'We stand to wipe out a whole era': how the 1970s could vanish from Vancouver

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 11:26 PM PDT

The Empire Landmark Hotel is the latest brutalist icon set to be demolished in a frenzy of property speculation. Is it wrong to destroy an entire decade?

For nearly 40 years from his vantage point at the top of the Empire Landmark Hotel, Yunus Khan has watched Vancouver grow up. "You would barely recognise it," he says of the city as it looked when he took his first job at the hotel, doing maintenance. Beyond the 42nd-storey window, the jagged silhouette of the North Shore mountains, the lush surprise of Stanley Park, and the cobalt passage of Burrard Inlet are just about the only landmarks that remain unchanged.

"These are all new," Khan says, indicating a cluster of condo towers and the ultra-modern Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre further south. Construction cranes rise around them. "Any older building you see now, it's going. They break it down, make a high rise."

Enugu in the spotlight: 50 years on, the flame of Biafra still burns

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 04:00 AM PDT

The one-time, would-be capital of Biafra remains torn between its tragic bid for independence from Nigeria in 1967 and a series of very modern problems

When this coal mining outpost was given town status in 1917 – one of the few Nigerian cities founded in the colonial era – there was little reason to think history would come calling. Seven years after independence, however, in the summer of 1967, it did so in tumultuous style when Lt Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared Enugu the capital of the breakaway Republic of Biafra.

The move didn't end well. The city was recaptured in the first week of October, and the civil war ended in mass starvation for the region's Igbo people in January 1970. The internationally lamented tragedy was documented in the novel Half of a Yellow Sun, by the bestselling, Enugu-born writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A half-century on, the city's now roughly three-quarters of a million people are back in the Nigerian fold.

Why are North Korea's leaders specifically threatening US bombers?

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 07:32 AM PDT

In response to Trump, Ri Yong-ho threatened to 'shoot down strategic bombers', showing fear of US bombardment and a potential for wider conflict

After weeks of tension over North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear capability, the latest verbal exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang evoke a time, more than six decades ago, when the regime was at the mercy of conventional weapons.

Every North Korean schoolchild is taught, erroneously, that the US started the Korean war; but they also learn, correctly, that their nemesis was responsible for laying waste to dozens of towns and cities from the air during the 1950-53 conflict, a fact rarely reported in the US media at the time.

Lady Lucan found dead at London home after being reported missing

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 05:30 PM PDT

Aristocrat whose husband famously vanished more than four decades ago has been found dead in Westminster

Lady Lucan, whose husband famously vanished more than four decades ago, has been found dead at her home.

Police forced entry to the 80-year-old's property in Westminster on Tuesday afternoon after she was reported missing, and found her unresponsive.

UK treatment of foreign nationals 'could colour' MEPs’ view on Brexit

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 12:02 AM PDT

Exclusive: Guy Verhofstadt writes to Amber Rudd about recent incidents including threat to deport Japanese woman

The European parliament's Brexit coordinator has warned the home secretary that Britain's recent treatment of foreign nationals could "colour" MEPs' attitudes to whether they approve a future Brexit deal.

Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, has written to Amber Rudd to express leading MEPs' concerns about a series of incidents highlighted by the Guardian, including the threat to deport a Japanese woman who lives with her Polish husband in London.

'I didn't understand until much later that women were a lower rank in society' | Karen McVeigh

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 11:21 PM PDT

Yetnebersh Nigussie, disability activist and human rights lawyer, on growing up blind in Ethiopia – and scooping the 'alternative Nobel'

Yetnebersh Nigussie didn't realise she was different until she was 12. Only when she started at a mainstream school and found that no one wanted to be her friend did she start to understand that being a blind girl in rural Ethiopia might bring with it a few challenges.

Being disabled and female in the developing world are no small barriers. But Nigussie, now a human rights lawyer with two daughters of her own, has been named as one of the winners of an award described as "the alternative Nobel prize" for what the Sweden-based Right Livelihood award foundation described as "her inspiring work, promoting the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities".

A glimpse of when Canada's badlands were a lush dinosaur forest by the sea | Elsa Panciroli

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 12:30 AM PDT

The fossils of Alberta capture a remarkable snapshot of a warmer, wetter North America

Cradling the shattered limb bone of a dinosaur in her hand, the technician was lit from underneath by a desk lamp. Around her, members of the public crowded close to watch as she carefully glued the fragments of bone together. The glow of the lamp picked out her features, like a kid telling a ghost story over a camp fire.

She was telling tales of the long-dead creatures of Canada. Massive herbivorous reptiles ten metres long once fed on the lush foliage of the north American continent, using batteries of grinding teeth in their long, duck-like snouts. Over 66m years later, their fossilised bones pepper the arid landscapes of the Canadian province of Alberta. Most of these bones make their way here: into the hands of technicians and researchers at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller.

Coalition risks paying 'far too much' for submarines, experts say

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 01:51 AM PDT

Government told to buy modified off-the-shelf submarines as soon as possible or risk a major capability gap

The federal government is facing calls to buy modified off-the-shelf submarines as soon as possible or risk a major capability gap in years to come.

The warning comes in a new Insight Economics report, commissioned by Gary Johnston, an electronics retailer who has a blog about submarines.

British banker Rurik Jutting to appeal against murder conviction

Posted: 27 Sep 2017 12:16 AM PDT

Rurik Jutting was convicted of murders of two Indonesian women after subjecting them to three days of torture and rape

A British banker serving a life sentence for killing two Indonesian women in Hong Kong after subjecting them to three days of alcohol- and cocaine-fuelled torture and rape will appeal against his conviction, his lawyer has said.

In November 2016, Rurik Jutting, 31, a Cambridge-educated employee at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was unanimously convicted of the murders in 2014 of Indonesian immigrants Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 29.

Giant Solomon Islands rat believed to eat coconuts discovered

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 11:57 PM PDT

Study of skull, as well as DNA analysis, confirms new species in genus of mosaic tailed rats or Uromys

A mysterious and elusive species of giant rat that lives in the dense rainforest canopy of the Solomon Islands, and is reputed to open coconuts with its teeth, has been discovered by scientists and is likely to be quickly listed as critically endangered.

For decades, the rat's existence had been suspected, with traditional knowledge of the rat's ecology noted in a publications. For example, in 1995, one account recorded traditional knowledge of "a very big rat that eats coconuts" and lived in the trees.

Bali volcano: will Mount Agung erupt and what happens if it does?

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:43 PM PDT

Potentially deadly pyroclastic flows, a briefly cooler climate and flight disruptions are on the cards

An eruption at Bali's Mount Agung volcano is imminent, according to experts.

Hundreds of tremors are being recorded at the site each day, and more than 75,000 people evacuated in the past few days after local authorities declared a state of emergency.

Wednesday briefing: 'We are government in waiting' – Corbyn

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:17 PM PDT

Labour leader to tell May to 'shape up or ship out' … Northern Ireland job fears as Trump slaps 219% tariff on Bombardier jets … Lady Lucan dies

Good morning. I'm Martin Farrer and welcome to the Guardian's morning briefing, with all the day's top stories.

Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 10:00 PM PDT

Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia's far east is now barely 1% Jewish but officials hope to woo back people who left after Soviet collapse

In front of Birobidzhan's railway station, loudspeakers blast out Yiddish-language ballads while hundreds of schoolchildren in ersatz folk costumes dance circles around the menorah monument that dominates the square.

Across town, labourers are building a kosher restaurant, the city's first. A two-storey building under construction next door will house a mikvah, the ritual pool in which religious Jews must bathe.

New Zealand election: kingmaker Winston Peters won't make a decision before October

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 09:23 PM PDT

Veteran wants to wait until all 'special votes' have been counted before deciding whether to support National or Labour

The leader of the New Zealand First party, who emerged as the kingmaker after an inconclusive weekend election, has said no decisions would be made on coalition partners until after the final tally of votes is released on 7 October.

"Special votes", which includes ballots from overseas voters and those who vote outside their home constituencies, account for 15% of total votes.

Climate change made Lucifer heatwave far more likely, scientists find

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 09:01 PM PDT

Without action to tackle global warming, deadly summer temperatures of 40C in Europe could be normal by 2050

The scorching temperatures across Europe's Mediterranean nations this summer were made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, according to scientists.

Furthermore, without action to tackle global warming, such summer heatwaves with temperatures soaring over 40C will become normal by 2050.

Almost 75% of all children are subjected to violence each year, research finds

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 11:00 AM PDT

Leaders urged to break the silence around the issue as report reveals every year 1.7 billion children across rich and poor countries experience abuse

Nearly three out of four children experience violence each year, according to a global study that warns practices such as corporal punishment are widespread in both rich and poor countries.

Around 1.7 billion children experience some form of abuse over the course of a year, according to the report by the global initiative Know Violence in Childhood, which measured the prevalence of inter-personal violence such as fighting at school, bullying or sexual abuse.

Naomi Klein: Donald Trump is like London's fatberg – video

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 07:41 AM PDT

During her speech at the annual Labour party conference in Brighton, the Canadian writer Naomi Klein calls the US president 'the political equivalent' of the so-called fatberg of waste clogging parts of London's sewage system. Klein adds that he is the 'merger of all that is noxious' in politics, culture and the economy

Labour conference: Corbyn says Brexit has some 'positives' and he's not planning second referendum – live

Steve Bannon: we came to praise and honour Trump – video

Posted: 26 Sep 2017 04:04 AM PDT

The former Trump strategist Steve Bannon paraphrases Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar during a campaign appearance in Alabama on Monday in which he sought to praise Donald Trump. Bannon is supporting the former judge Roy Moore in Tuesday's Republican Senate primary. Trump is supporting Moore's opponent, Senator Luther Strange. The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage also spoke at the event, criticising career politicians

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

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