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

Bangladeshi plane with 71 on board crashes in Nepal
US proposes new Ghouta ceasefire at UN and signals readiness to act on its own
Japan: Shinzo Abe's political future in doubt as wife linked to cronyism scandal
Matteo Renzi resigns as leader of Democratic party after poll defeat
Dutch prosecutors to investigate euthanasia cases after sharp rise
Nerve agent attack 'clearly came from Russia', says Tillerson
2017 was the deadliest year of Syrian war for children, says Unicef
Trump's decision to deport 200,000 to his 'shithole countries' challenged in lawsuit
House committee led by Trump ally says campaign did not collude with Russia
War games: the patriotic clubs training young Americans – in pictures
Muslim Cyber Army: a 'fake news' operation designed to derail Indonesia's leader
Banking royal commission: credit card horror stories reveal lifelines that help you sink
Queensland's north counts cost of flooding as south prepares for storms
'Glib': UK criticised for failing to give to fund for survivors of UN sexual abuse
Hope couture: refugees collaborate on Paris catwalk show – in pictures
Why Trump's latest position on guns is a small step in the right direction
Trump's California border wall visit puts state's Republicans in a bind
US education secretary struggles with basic questions on schools – video
Rescuers at scene of Nepal plane crash – video

Bangladeshi plane with 71 on board crashes in Nepal

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 10:26 AM PDT

At least 49 killed after US-Bangla Airlines plane slides off runway during landing at Kathmandu airport

A Bangladeshi aircraft has crashed while trying to land at Kathmandu airport in Nepal, killing at least 49 people, officials have said.

The US-Bangla Airlines plane made an unexpected turn while landing just after 2.15pm local time on Monday, clipping a fence and bursting into flames, according to the airport's general manager, Raj Kumar Chettri.

US proposes new Ghouta ceasefire at UN and signals readiness to act on its own

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 12:03 PM PDT

Nikki Haley tells UN security council if it rejects Syria proposal, US is willing to act unilaterally, as when it attacked airbase last year

The United States has proposed a new binding resolution imposing an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, adding that if the UN security council fails to agree, Washington is prepared to act unilaterally – as it did when it fired missiles at a Syrian government air base last year.

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the security council in New York: "It is not the path we prefer, but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take again."

Japan: Shinzo Abe's political future in doubt as wife linked to cronyism scandal

Posted: 11 Mar 2018 11:32 PM PDT

Controversy deepens after finance ministry admitted to tampering with records relating to land sale to remove references to the first lady

A spiralling cronyism scandal linked to the Japanese prime minister and his wife has reached fever pitch after the finance ministry admitted to tampering with records to remove references to the pair.

Matteo Renzi resigns as leader of Democratic party after poll defeat

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 10:32 AM PDT

Interim leader says party will go into opposition and not join any coalition government

The former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has formally resigned as leader of the centre-left Democratic party (PD) following its crushing defeat in this month's parliamentary election. The newly appointed interim leader, Maurizio Martina, was quoted by the Italian news agency Ansa as saying that the party intended to stick to Renzi's plan to go into opposition and would not join any government.

No party or coalition won enough votes in the 4 March election to govern alone, and talks will determine whether the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), the party with the most votes, or the rightwing coalition led by the anti-immigration League, which would control more parliamentary seats, can form a stable government.

Dutch prosecutors to investigate euthanasia cases after sharp rise

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 05:58 AM PDT

Doctor-assisted deaths of four women in the Netherlands found to warrant criminal inquiries

Criminal investigations have been launched into four cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands after a sharp rise in the number of doctor-assisted deaths.

The cases follow the opening of a criminal inquiry last year into the euthanasia of a 74-year-old woman who was described by prosecutors as "seriously demented" and legally incapable of choosing whether to die or not.

Nerve agent attack 'clearly came from Russia', says Tillerson

Posted: 13 Mar 2018 01:38 AM PDT

US secretary of state says it is 'almost beyond comprehension' that state actor could use such a dangerous substance

A nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter "clearly came from Russia" and will have consequences, the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has said, as Theresa May gave Russia till midnight on Tuesday to explain the poisoning in Salisbury.

Tillerson's remarks went even further than the prime minister's comments to the House of Commons on Monday, where she said it was "highly likely" Russia was behind the attack, which used the military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced by Russia.

2017 was the deadliest year of Syrian war for children, says Unicef

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 06:56 AM PDT

Report warns generation faces psychological ruin, with most vulnerable the hardest hit

A generation of Syrian children face psychological ruin and ever increasing danger, with child deaths soaring by 50% last year and the number of young soldiers tripling since 2015.

A report by Unicef found 2017 was the worst year of the war for young Syrians, with 910 killed in a conflict that has spared them no mercy and has taken a vastly disproportionate toll on the country's most vulnerable people.

Trump's decision to deport 200,000 to his 'shithole countries' challenged in lawsuit

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 09:26 AM PDT

Administration recently terminated temporary protected status for all individuals from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan

A lawsuit is being filed on Monday to overturn Donald Trump's decision to end immigration protections for more than 200,000 people from four Central American and African nations the president reportedly called "shithole countries".

The legal action is the first to challenge the terminations on behalf of the American children of temporary protected status (TPS) holders, and the first to challenge all four TPS terminations imposed by the White House.

House committee led by Trump ally says campaign did not collude with Russia

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 04:38 PM PDT

Intelligence committee's top Democrat says Republicans have 'placed the interests of protecting the president over protecting the country'

A congressional committee led by a member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team has announced that Trump's 2016 campaign did not collude with Russian operatives and that the committee was nearing the completion of its investigation of the matter.

The announcement drew a sharp rebuke from the top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, who declared it a "tragic milestone for this Congress" and accused his Republican colleagues of "yet another capitulation to the executive branch".

War games: the patriotic clubs training young Americans – in pictures

Posted: 13 Mar 2018 12:00 AM PDT

For her latest series, The Making of a Patriot, documentary photographer Sarah Blesener visited some of the camps and clubs where roughly 400,000 children throughout the US are annually trained in the Christian and military values, and the embrace of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny, that make up the 'new Americanism'

•Sarah Blesener's previous Guardian gallery, Toy Soldiers

Muslim Cyber Army: a 'fake news' operation designed to derail Indonesia's leader

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 09:40 PM PDT

Police in Indonesia make arrests as Guardian investigation reveals fake Twitter accounts and violent propaganda

Police in Indonesia believe they have uncovered a clandestine fake news operation designed to corrupt the political process and destabilise the government.

In a string of arrests across the archipelago in recent weeks, authorities have revealed the inner workings of a self-proclaimed cyber-jihadist network known as the Muslim Cyber Army (MCA).

Banking royal commission: credit card horror stories reveal lifelines that help you sink

Posted: 13 Mar 2018 01:22 AM PDT

First day of hearings in Melbourne told an everyday story of unmanageable debt made worse and worse

The first witness at the royal commission into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and finance industry is building a tower of debt.

Imagine you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit, says Karen Cox from the Financial Rights Legal Centre. You have not paid it off in a while but you are meeting the monthly minimum repayments, so the bank offers to raise the limit.

Queensland's north counts cost of flooding as south prepares for storms

Posted: 13 Mar 2018 01:03 AM PDT

Damage bill expected to run well into millions but farmers welcome end to six-year drought

The damage bill from flooding in northern Queensland is expected to run well into the millions – and more wild weather is expected to hit the state's southeast this week.

Recovery efforts are under way in the far north as heavy flooding starts to recede, but damage is only just beginning to be assessed and expected to be costly.

'Glib': UK criticised for failing to give to fund for survivors of UN sexual abuse

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 11:30 PM PDT

Victims' groups chastise government unwillingness to join 19 states in contributing to fund for victims of UN exploitation

The UK government has come under fire from victims' groups for failing to contribute to a UN fund for survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations staff.

A lawyer representing the mothers of the 11 "peacekeeper babies" in Haiti said survivors of UN abuse see the UK as "very glib about supporting victims".

Hope couture: refugees collaborate on Paris catwalk show – in pictures

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 07:19 AM PDT

Donated clothes unsuitable for distribution found a new lease of life in last Saturday's 'Hope Walk'. Refugees partnered with students from the French capital's International Fashion Academy to create clothing and costumes for a fashion show at the French capital's Good Chance Theatre

Photographs by Justin Sutcliffe/Eyevine

Why Trump's latest position on guns is a small step in the right direction

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 11:31 AM PDT

In a small sign of progress in the deadlocked gun control debate, Trump is endorsing some evidence-based policies

Donald Trump's strategy for preventing school shootings includes the lurid policies of arming school teachers with guns and "hardening" schools against attack. But while the president backed away from raising age limits for buying some guns on Sunday, the president is also endorsing some policies with scientific evidence behind them – a small sign of progress in America's deadlocked gun control debate.

As part of his new school safety plan, Trump called on states to pass laws creating "extreme risk protection orders", a new kind of gun control measure that has been gathering increasing support from Republicans since the Florida shooting.

Trump's California border wall visit puts state's Republicans in a bind

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 04:00 AM PDT

Visit could embolden Democrats and marginalise members of Trump's own party as this year's midterm elections hang in the balance

Donald Trump's visit to California will generate a memorable image: the president inspecting prototypes of his planned border wall.

Four years after he first proposed a wall, an idea that helped vault him to the White House, he will on Tuesday finally be able to touch solid concrete on some of the eight barriers, 30ft tall and 30ft wide, arrayed in the desert outside San Diego.

US education secretary struggles with basic questions on schools – video

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 09:52 AM PDT

Betsy DeVos stumbles through an interview on CBS's 60 Minutes, in which she is asked about the performance of schools in her home state of Michigan. When asked whether public schools have improved, DeVos responds: 'I can't say overall'

Rescuers at scene of Nepal plane crash – video

Posted: 12 Mar 2018 04:00 AM PDT

A Bangladeshi passenger plane crashed as it attempted to land on Monday at Kathmandu airport in Nepal. It was not clear if there were fatalities, but clouds of thick, dark smoke could be seen rising above the hilltop airport, which was immediately shut down