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

Several people killed after gunmen attack luxury hotel in Kabul
One year later, thousands return for Women's March with spirits undaunted
US government shutdown: anniversary of Trump inauguration marred by chaos
Turkey bombs Kurdish-controlled city of Afrin in northern Syria
Young SPD activists in last-ditch bid to rule out Merkel deal
Women's marches protest Donald Trump on anniversary of inauguration – as it happened
US Congress asks if Russian money funded Trump golf courses
How migrants won the friendship of wary Florentines
Ugandan women kneeling in deference is cultural – it’s also humiliating
Raw deal: sushi-loving California man discovers 5ft 6in tapeworm
Whistleblower suing Ernst & Young over gold dealings with Dubai firm
Subversive Greeks stub out cigarette habit in record numbers
Top French chef Paul Bocuse dies aged 91
On the Amazon’s lawless frontier, murder mystery divides the locals and loggers
Future-proofed against austerity: new Scottish social security system
France gave us the Bayeux tapestry. What can we give the world? | Tristram Hunt
Anger that drove the Arab spring is flaring again
This is how democracies die | Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
'We loot or we die of hunger': food shortages fuel unrest in Venezuela
US shutdown exposes 'chaotic political system', China's news agency says
Bushfire closes Sydney's Royal national park as heatwave grips NSW
Failed deal over Dreamers at the heart of US government shutdown
Our standard for women has to be about more than what’s legal – it's about what’s right
Women's marches mark Trump's first anniversary – in pictures

Several people killed after gunmen attack luxury hotel in Kabul

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 09:01 PM PST

Afghan special forces storm the building to flush out attackers and rescue staff and guests reportedly taken hostage

Afghan special forces have stormed the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul to try to flush out gunmen who attacked the building, killing five people and reportedly taking hostages.

One year later, thousands return for Women's March with spirits undaunted

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 02:19 PM PST

At major rallies in Washington, New York, LA and beyond, some said Trump's 'disastrous' first year has left women angrier than ever

A year after millions of women and men demonstrated in cities around the globe in an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump, crowds returned to the streets on Saturday.

Tens of thousands turned out in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and hundreds of other cities across the US and the world. Many women wore pink knit "pussy hats", an enduring symbol of the Women's March and the so-called "resistance" to Trump.

US government shutdown: anniversary of Trump inauguration marred by chaos

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 03:34 PM PST

A year to the day after Trump took office, government goes into shutdown as nationwide protests take aim at his divisive presidency

Thousands return for Women's March with spirits undaunted

Donald Trump's first anniversary in office was marked by the turbulence and division that have defined his presidency, with a government shutdown and protests in cities across the country.

Turkey bombs Kurdish-controlled city of Afrin in northern Syria

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 11:39 PM PST

A spokesman for the YPG, which Turkey wants to clear from the area, says 10 people were killed

Turkish jets have bombed the Kurdish-controlled city of Afrin in northern Syria, as the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, promised to expand Turkey's military border operations against a Kurdish group that has been the US's key Syria ally in the war on Islamic State.

The raids came on the heels of a week of threats by Turkey, promising to clear the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin and its surrounding countryside, also called Afrin. Turkey's military is calling the campaign Operation Olive Branch.

Young SPD activists in last-ditch bid to rule out Merkel deal

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 01:11 PM PST

German party's younger members think coalition would be disastrous move

Germany's young social democrats are demanding a clean break with Angela Merkel's conservatives before a crucial vote on Sunday that will decide the country's political future.

The SPD leadership, which unanimously backs entering a "grand coalition" with centre-right parties (the so-called GroKo), and the youth wing of the party (the Jusos) were making last-ditch scrambles for support on Saturday among the 600 delegates eligible to vote at a special party conference in Bonn. The deal they are voting on has the potential to topple both Merkel and SPD leader Martin Schulz.

Women's marches protest Donald Trump on anniversary of inauguration – as it happened

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 02:02 PM PST

Rolling coverage as protests against the president get under way – and Washington remains in grip of a government shutdown

10.02pm GMT

We're going to close our rolling coverage of the second Women's March protests and the government shutdown with a summary of the day's events.

9.52pm GMT

US Congress asks if Russian money funded Trump golf courses

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 11:04 AM PST

'Enormous amounts of capital' flowed into UK and Ireland projects, analyst tells inquiry

The US Congress has been questioning whether Russian money could have been used to fund Donald Trump's golf courses in the UK and Ireland.

It emerged after the permanent select committee on intelligence at the US House of Representatives released a transcript of the sworn testimony of the former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson. Simpson, who works for the consulting firm Fusion GPS, was asked to research then-presidential candidate Trump in 2015/16.

How migrants won the friendship of wary Florentines

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 04:01 PM PST

After protests against asylum seekers, a mayor has successfully led a campaign to treat arrivals with respect

When people in Sesto Fiorentino, a suburb of Florence, heard 50 asylum seekers were moving into a former hotel in the historic centre, they responded in much the same way as those in other parts of Italy.

Influenced by scenes on TV of migrants disembarking from boats in the south and a fearmongering campaign launched by local politicians from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, they united in protest.

Ugandan women kneeling in deference is cultural – it’s also humiliating

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 04:05 PM PST

A Ugandan executive faces an outcry for condemning the practice

If a woman from Uganda meets a man she knows on Oxford Street, she would be expected to get on her knees to greet him. Kneeling in deference to men and older people is a common practice for many African ethnic groups; anything less and the woman risks being considered poorly brought up, elitist and disrespectful.

So when Winnie Byanyima, the Ugandan-born executive director of Oxfam International, took to Twitter to question the practice, she sparked a fierce debate about the relationship between women's rights and traditional culture.

Raw deal: sushi-loving California man discovers 5ft 6in tapeworm

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 11:09 AM PST

Fresno doctor says of 'giant' parasite patient wrapped round toilet roll: 'Apparently it was still wriggling when he put it in the bag'

A California man's daily sushi habit ended in a trip to hospital with a stomach-churning item to show doctors: a 5ft tapeworm that "wiggled" out of his body.

Fresno emergency department doctor Kenny Banh told the Guardian he was skeptical when the man walked in to his hospital, asking for treatment for a worm.

Whistleblower suing Ernst & Young over gold dealings with Dubai firm

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 04:04 PM PST

Sacked auditor says he was branded a troublemaker after telling bosses of his concerns about the Kaloti group

UK consultancy giant Ernst & Young has been accused of "unlawful, unprofessional and unethical" conduct over its relationship with a Dubai firm that was allegedly involved in money laundering and buying gold from conflict zones.

The claims are made in documents filed in the high court by lawyers acting for Amjad Rihan, a former partner at E&Y who exposed the alleged scandal three years ago. Rihan led a team given the job of auditing the Kaloti group, which at the time commanded half of Dubai's gold refining market. His lawyers say that after blowing the whistle, Rihan was ordered by his employer to return to Dubai. He was dismissed when he refused.

Subversive Greeks stub out cigarette habit in record numbers

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 04:44 AM PST

As tobacco use plummets, figures reveal dramatic attitude shift from EU's worst offender

No campaign could do it. No health warning could do it. And, for a very long time, no change in the price of a pack could do it.

But as they learn to survive on less, Greeks have earned themselves the unusual distinction of abandoning cigarettes in record numbers. In a rare feelgood story from the crisis-plagued country, experts who had previously blamed the nation's tobacco epidemic for the critical state of its health system are in ebullient mood. "I am 100% sure we have solved the problem," said Panagiotis Behrakis, who heads the Joint Action force on tobacco control in Europe. "It is now just a matter of time."

Top French chef Paul Bocuse dies aged 91

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 08:02 AM PST

French president leads tributes, saying 'chefs are crying in their kitchens at the Elysée and everywhere in France'

Paul Bocuse, the Michelin-starred chef and celebrated master of haute cuisine, died in France on Saturday.

Bocuse, 91, was one of the leading exponents of the 1970s culinary trend of nouvelle cuisine. His restaurant has held three Michelin stars continuously for more than 50 years.

On the Amazon’s lawless frontier, murder mystery divides the locals and loggers

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 04:05 PM PST

The Ka'apor tribe fight a daily battle in Brazil's Maranhão state to protect their forests

Sairá Ka'apor patrolled one of the most murderous frontiers in the world, a remote and largely lawless region of the Brazilian Amazon where his indigenous community has fought for generations to protect their forest land.

Armed with clubs, bows and arrows, GPS trackers and crude guns, he and fellow members of Ka'apor Forest Guard drove off – and sometimes attacked – loggers who intruded into their territory, the 530,000-hectare Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land, which is roughly three times the area of Greater London and contains about half of the Amazon forest left in Brazil's northern Maranhão state. That vigilante role came to an end last April when Sairá was stabbed to death in Betel, a logging town close to Ka'apor territory.

Future-proofed against austerity: new Scottish social security system

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 10:01 PM PST

Independent body will check that changes preserve human rights before Holyrood gets vote

Scotland's new social security system will include an unprecedented degree of independent scrutiny – with the express intention of future-proofing the powers against the kinds of austerity measures that have devastated vulnerable groups in the rest of the UK.

Scotland's social security minister, Jeane Freeman, announced on Sunday that there will be a Scottish Commission on Social Security, an independent body that will scrutinise any proposed changes to the new system – and give its view of their compliance with human rights protocols – before Holyrood can vote on them.

France gave us the Bayeux tapestry. What can we give the world? | Tristram Hunt

Posted: 21 Jan 2018 12:34 AM PST

Rhinos, DVDs, pandas and the Bayeux tapestry – political presents and loans have a long history, says the V&A's director

God, he's good. After giving the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, an eight-year-old gelding from the French cavalry corps, President Emmanuel Macron has now wowed London with his loan of the Bayeux tapestry. These are masterstrokes of cultural diplomacy: generous presents that beautifully connect the life of nations, rather than assert either state dominance or highlight historic rifts.

Of course, there is a long history of loans and gifts between princes and governments. Famously, in 1515, the King of Portugal, Manuel I, was given a rhinoceros by Sultan Muzaffar Shah II, the ruler of Gujarat, and thought it so remarkable that he swiftly passed it on to Pope Leo X.

Anger that drove the Arab spring is flaring again

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 11:00 PM PST

Riots in Tunisia echo the events of 2011, when unrest swept the Middle East

When the people of Balta wanted to protest, they had to leave town. "This place is so small that blocking the road is like sitting in your own hall – no one notices," said Wathik Balti, a 19-year-old student.

So in December, they headed to the nearest motorway, where dozens of them blocked an important junction for hours and called on the government to do something about the lack of jobs, the chronic corruption and the faltering public services that blight the picturesque village.

This is how democracies die | Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 11:00 PM PST

Defending our constitution requires more than outrage

Blatant dictatorship – in the form of fascism, communism, or military rule – has disappeared across much of the world. Military coups and other violent seizures of power are rare. Most countries hold regular elections. Democracies still die, but by different means.

Since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals and soldiers but by elected governments themselves. Like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, elected leaders have subverted democratic institutions in Georgia, Hungary, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Ukraine.

'We loot or we die of hunger': food shortages fuel unrest in Venezuela

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 10:16 PM PST

As the country's economic problems mount, towns and cities have been hit by an outbreak of looting and violence

Amid desperate food shortages Venezuelans are picking up new survival skills.

On the night of 9 January, for example, a hungry mob took just 30 minutes to pick clean a grocery store in the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz. By the time owner Luis Felipe Anatael arrived at the bodega he'd opened five months earlier, the looters had hauled away everything from cold cuts to ketchup to the cash registers.

US shutdown exposes 'chaotic political system', China's news agency says

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 09:46 PM PST

Xinhua commentary questions 'viability and legitimacy' of western democracy in broadside aimed at Trump administration

The shutdown of the US government exposes "chronic flaws" in the country's political system, China's official news agency said on Sunday.

Funding for federal agencies ran out at midnight on Friday in Washington after members of Congress failed to agree on a stopgap funding bill.

Bushfire closes Sydney's Royal national park as heatwave grips NSW

Posted: 21 Jan 2018 12:12 AM PST

Blaze contained as most of state swelters through temperatures above 40C, with the heat set to continue

Firefighters continued to battle two out-of-control blazes across New South Wales while investigations were under way into a suspicious fire which tore through bushland in the Royal national park south of Sydney.

The Royal national park was set to remain closed on Monday after a raging bushfire, which appeared to have been deliberately lit on Saturday, forced hundreds of hikers and tourists to be rescued by boat.

Failed deal over Dreamers at the heart of US government shutdown

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 10:05 AM PST

Program to protect young undocumented migrants prompts political showdown and government closure

Shutdown: anniversary of Trump inauguration marred

As the clock wound toward a shutdown of the federal government on Friday night, a group of young immigrants who have found themselves at the heart of the debate gathered on the front of lawn of the US Capitol, its dome illuminated in the background.

Our standard for women has to be about more than what’s legal – it's about what’s right

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 07:00 AM PST

This is where the hard work gets harder – we need to lose the instinct to dismiss anything that's beyond black and white

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If this week was proof of anything, it was that the #MeToo backlash hates nuance. Allegations against actor Aziz Ansari dominated the news cycle, with movement detractors claiming that the woman who came forward shouldn't have done so.

But this movement cannot be simply about what is legal or illegal. Our standard for women – and for what we want for the culture more broadly – has to be bigger than that. This is about what's right. True change isn't going to just be about stopping clearcut rape and harassment – but interrogating the way that men are taught to wear women down to acquiescence rather than looking for an enthusiastic yes.

Women's marches mark Trump's first anniversary – in pictures

Posted: 20 Jan 2018 03:55 PM PST

On the anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration, women across America marched against his presidency