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

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


'This election is personal': Mahathir Mohamad, 92, vows to stop 'corrupt' protege

Posted: 01 May 2018 05:59 PM PDT

Former Malaysian PM insists he is returning to the political fray 'with great reluctance' because he was betrayed by Najib Razak

Mahathir Mohamad is 92 and by his own account should be enjoying a "nice time" during his retirement. But instead, Malaysia's arch political puppetmaster and former prime minister is returning to the political fray, bent on toppling his former protege and reclaiming power.

This time around, the man whose ambitions and political grudges came to influence every major power shift in the country for decades has his sights on bringing down the current prime minister, Najib Razak, a man he dismisses as "corrupt".

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'Are you with the tyrants?' Pakistani Che risks all to take on the army

Posted: 01 May 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Manzoor Pashteen's Pashtun Protection Movement gathers support in country where criticism of army is rare

Every morning Ahmed Shah puts on his circular, red-and-black cap, decorated with spades, and feels ready to take on the world. "For me this cap is a symbol of resistance," he says. "That's why I like it."

Shah (not his real name) is one of thousands of Pakistanis who have taken to wearing the distinctive tribal hat to show their support for Manzoor Pashteen.

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Donald Trump dictated note saying he was 'astonishingly' healthy, doctor says

Posted: 02 May 2018 02:27 AM PDT

Harold Bornstein tells CNN Trump wrote letter saying he would be 'healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency'

A 2015 doctor's note describing Donald Trump's health as "astonishingly excellent" was dictated by Trump himself, according to the doctor who signed the note.

Trump made public the letter from Dr Harold Bornstein on the eve of the presidential primary contests to allay concerns about his fitness. Two days before the letter was released, Trump tweeted: "As a presidential candidate, I have instructed my long-time doctor to issue, within two weeks, a full medical report – it will show perfection."

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Kanye West on slavery: 'For 400 years? That sounds like a choice'

Posted: 02 May 2018 12:04 AM PDT

In a confrontation in the TMZ newsroom, the rapper talks about his view on slavery as well as reaffirming his support for Donald Trump

Kanye West has said that 400 years of slavery is "a choice" in a TMZ interview that resulted in a confrontation.

Related: Surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother before her death asks to be to removed from album artwork

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Excavations at Chile torture site offer new hope for relatives of disappeared

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:30 PM PDT

Colonia Dignidad was a secretive enclave run by an ex-Nazi paedophile where victims of the Pinochet regime were tortured, killed and buried

The road to Villa Baviera winds 380km south from Chile's capital, Santiago, through forests and fields of newly harvested hay, to the foothills of the Andes.

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Mueller raised possibility of Trump subpoena, president's ex-lawyer says

Posted: 01 May 2018 07:51 PM PDT

John Dowd says Russia inquiry counsel threatened to issue summons if president failed to face questioning

Robert Mueller warned he might issue a subpoena for the president if he declined to talk to investigators in the Russia probe, a former lawyer for the president has said.

John Dowd said Mueller mentioned the possibility of a subpoena in a meeting with Trump's lawyers in March. The warning was first reported by the Washington Post, which cited four people familiar with the encounter.

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MH370: US team extends mission after failing to find plane in initial search zone

Posted: 01 May 2018 07:50 PM PDT

US company Ocean Infinity has exhausted a 25,000km 'priority area' identified by Australian experts as MH370's most likely resting place

The search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has expanded into a new area, after exhausting the main search zone without finding the plane.

The search for MH370 will enter its final phase this week, more than four years after it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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Air pollution inequality widens between rich and poor nations

Posted: 01 May 2018 02:01 PM PDT

Rich cities have improved, but pollution in poorer countries is still rising and kills 7 million people a year globally, WHO data reveals

Pollution inequality between the world's rich and poor is widening, according to the latest global data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which shows that 7 million people – mostly in developing nations – die every year from airborne contaminants.

Overall, nine in 10 people on the planet live with poor, even dangerous, air, says the WHO report, which is considered the most comprehensive collection of global air quality data. But levels of contamination vary widely depending on government actions and financial resources.

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Clarke Gayford: New Zealand police deny PM's partner is under investigation

Posted: 01 May 2018 07:21 PM PDT

Highly unusual move follows months of increasingly vicious innuendo and untrue allegations on rightwing blogs about Jacinda Ardern's partner

New Zealand police have taken the highly unusual step of issuing a public statement clearing the prime minister Jacinda Ardern's partner of any wrongdoing after months of malicious rumours about his personal life.

Since Ardern took office in October, her partner, Clarke Gayford, a television fishing presenter, has been subjected to increasingly vicious innuendo and gossip on rightwing blogs, social media and through word of mouth.

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Police arrest dozens at Paris May Day protests

Posted: 01 May 2018 12:59 PM PDT

Masked protesters smash shop windows and hurl petrol bombs after planned peaceful rally

French police said 109 people were in custody on Wednesday after violent May Day protests in Paris, correcting an earlier figure of 209.

Police used water cannon and teargas against masked protesters who smashed shop windows and hurled petrol bombs on Tuesday evening after a planned peaceful May Day rally by labour unions.

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The Syrian airbase at the heart of a potential Israel-Iran war

Posted: 01 May 2018 03:50 AM PDT

Photos from T-4 base indicate full-scale conflict between two of region's most formidable enemies could be edging closer

Isolated in the barren sands of central Syria and measuring five miles across in some areas is the country's largest airbase. A fortress surrounded by hundreds of miles of desert, T-4 consists of dozens of hardened aircraft shelters, hiding Russian fighter jets and supersonic Sukhoi bombers.

Over seven years of conflict its runway has been blackened by the rubber tyres of jets returning from sorties in the devastating war between the forces of Bashar al-Assad and the rebels who have failed to overthrow him.

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Calgary: man's body found trapped behind women's toilet in shopping mall

Posted: 01 May 2018 09:25 AM PDT

  • Corpse found after complaint of non-flushing toilet at Core mall
  • Canadian police say cause of death unknown pending autopsy

Police in Canada are investigating after a maintenance worker found the body of a man trapped behind the wall of a women's toilet in a Calgary shopping mall.

The grim discovery was made on Monday, when the worker removed a wall panel to repair a toilet that wouldn't flush.

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Ecstasy ingredient could help ease PTSD symptoms, study finds

Posted: 01 May 2018 03:30 PM PDT

Research suggests MDMA could reduce symptoms when combined with talking therapies

MDMA, the main ingredient of the party drug ecstasy, could help reduce symptoms among those living with post-traumatic stress disorder, research suggests.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is commonly treated with drugs, psychotherapies or both. However, some find little benefit, with certain talking therapies linked to high dropout rates.

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MPs threaten Mark Zuckerberg with summons over Facebook data

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:42 AM PDT

Parliament may formally call CEO to face Cambridge Analytica questions next time he is in UK

MPs have threatened to issue Mark Zuckerberg with a formal summons to appear in front of parliament when he next enters the UK, unless he voluntarily agrees to answer questions about the activities of his social network and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Damian Collins, the chair of the parliamentary committee that is investigating online disinformation, said he was unhappy with the information the company had provided and wanted to hear evidence from the Facebook chief executive before parliament went into recess on 24 May.

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Cities from the sea: the true cost of reclaimed land

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:30 PM PDT

Asia is growing. Literally. From Malaysia to Dubai, luxury developments are rising on artificial islands and coastlines. Everybody wins – except the local sea life and the fishermen who depend on it

"Before, there were many fish," says fisherman Mohd-Ishak Bin Abdul Rahman as he pulls a dried up crab from his net. A few years ago he could just walk out into the surf and pick up crustaceans with his bare hands, he tells me. "Now, nothing."

He blames the palisade of new luxury condominiums that rise on the coastline behind him. Built on 240-acres of land artificially reclaimed from the sea, they are part of the Seri Tanjung Pinang 1 (STP1) project. Started in 2006, it brought a taste of new Asian modernity to what was then a rural area beyond the fringes of George Town, Penang's only city. It also took away the fish, says Mohd-Ishak.

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The unexpected beauty of China's bicycle graveyards – in pictures

Posted: 01 May 2018 03:10 AM PDT

For the past 18 months many cities in China have been flooded by millions of dockless share bikes. Those that block pavements or apartment entrances have been removed by authorities to vast storage areas. Viewed from afar they create compelling and mysterious patterns – but also represent waste on an enormous scale

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Queensbury shooting: man dies in north-west London incident

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:50 PM PDT

Second man in hospital with gunshot wound as police launch murder investigation

A man has been shot dead outside a tube station in north-west London, Scotland Yard has said.

The Metropolitan police were called to Cumberland Road outside Queensbury tube station at 9pm on Tuesday following reports of a shooting. A man in his 30s was found with critical injuries and he died at the scene almost an hour later.

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Armenian protesters paralyse capital after opposition leader's bid for power thwarted

Posted: 02 May 2018 01:19 AM PDT

Anger spills on to streets after Nikol Pashinyan fails to win backing to become PM

Tens of thousands of people have converged on the Armenian capital, blocking roads and government buildings, after the ruling party rejected the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan's bid to become prime minister.

Protesters paralysed Yerevan, with nearly all streets closed to traffic and many stores shut, AFP correspondents reported. Officials said suburban train services were disrupted and the road linking Yerevan with its airport was blocked.

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US and Israel accuse Palestinian president of antisemitism

Posted: 02 May 2018 01:57 AM PDT

Mahmoud Abbas accused of stirring religious hatred in speech blaming Jews' role in banking for hostility against them

US and Israeli officials have condemned as antisemitic remarks by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, about the "social function" of Jews in the banking sector leading to past massacres.

Israel's foreign ministry accused him of fuelling "religious and nationalist hatred against the Jewish people and Israel".

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Lucy Gichuhi says sorry for posting fake news about African students

Posted: 02 May 2018 01:43 AM PDT

Facebook post gave incorrect number of scholarships offered by Australia – and enraged Pauline Hanson

A Liberal senator has apologised after posting on Facebook that "up to" 10,000 African students would receive federal scholarships, which prompted a furious reaction from Pauline Hanson.

Lucy Gichuhi – a Liberal senator of Kenyan descent – was forced to apologise when she realised she had got the figures about the $320m scholarship program wrong.

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Canada: First Nations group's 'marry out, get out' rule deemed unconstitutional

Posted: 02 May 2018 01:30 AM PDT

Judge in Quebec strikes down controversial rule after plaintiffs said they had been harassed for marrying outside Mohawk community

Waneek Horn-Miller had just begun construction on a house for her young family on the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory near Montreal when she received a troubling letter.

Signed by the band council, it requested that she "respect the law and the will of the people in the community by leaving the territory".

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France and Australia can be heart of new Indo-Pacific axis, Macron says

Posted: 02 May 2018 01:04 AM PDT

French president and Australia's PM talk up rules-based order in region – and praise China's rise

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France and Australia can be the heart of a new Indo-Pacific axis, promoting peace, stability and a rules-based order, Emmanuel Macron said in Sydney on Wednesday.

But the French president was at pains to stress that France's continued emphasis on its Pacific presence was not one antagonistic to China, saying he welcomed Beijing's economic and geopolitical rise.

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Dutton's facial recognition scheme could target jaywalkers, lawyer warns

Posted: 02 May 2018 02:34 AM PDT

Law Council president calls for safeguards to prevent disproportionate uses of the technology and warns against 'creep towards broad social surveillance'

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People who litter or jaywalk could be caught using facial recognition technology if the broad powers proposed by Peter Dutton's home affairs department are not limited, the Law Council has warned.

At a parliamentary inquiry hearing on Thursday the Law Council president, Morry Bailes, will warn that facial recognition could lead to a full "social credit" system of government surveillance and called for safeguards to prevent "illegitimate and disproportionate uses" of the technology.

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Speaking at the Hay festival? Good luck getting a visa if you're from Malawi | John Vidal

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:00 PM PDT

The nightmare of suspicion and bureaucracy unleashed when Patrick Kamzitu applied for an eight-day visa reveals a UK becoming as hostile to visitors as Trump's America

The British immigration system is nothing if not cruel. But it is not just elderly UK citizens from the Caribbean who have been treated badly, as anyone from sub-Saharan Africa invited to visit Britain will know.

Three months ago, the Gumbi Education Fund, a tiny charity set up in 2002 by Guardian readers to help educate children in Malawi, invited Patrick Kamzitu, its administrator and sole employee, to come to Britain to give two talks and meet donors.

Because he had set up four community libraries in villages that had never seen books, Patrick was to speak at the Hay international book festival with the author and historian Bettany Hughes about how books can change lives and bring development.

Inviting Patrick was easy. Getting him a visa from UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to come for eight days to tell his simple, inspiring story about friendship and books has been a nightmare of hostility, suspicion, bureacracy and the exercise of remote power.

A long visa application form must be filled in online – a costly and hard task in itself for most Malawians who live without computers or electricity and who only go to the capital occasionally. But Patrick also had to provide his birth certificate, passport, marriage certificate, his children's birth certificates, his employment contracts and several months of bank statements.

At the UK end, the Gumbi fund had to issue a letter of invitation, an hour-by-hour itinerary of everywhere he hoped to visit as well as personal and business bank account details.

It was not enough. After three weeks and paying £147 online to a French-owned call centre giant based in Johannesburg, which Britain uses to process all southern African visa applications and which charges anyone who wishes to contact them £5.48 per email, his request was refused.

A rude letter stated that the combined income he was earning from administering the fund and working for the Malawi government as a health assistant was not enough to cover his stay in the UK. Nor could he show he earned enough money in Malawi. Moreover, he was told that because he was a rural health assistant it was unclear why he should be chosen to speak at Hay about rural development and books.

But he was invited to apply again, for another £147. All the points were addressed and this time, his second application was accompanied by a letter of support signed by a member of the House of Lords, the head of a large international charity and an organiser of the Hay festival programme.

His application was refused again on Monday. This time he was told that he could not show he had strong enough family and financial ties in Malawi to return; that he appeared to have no savings or assets, and that he could not show that he would not abscond.

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'It's everywhere – in factories, in the bedroom': fighting India's gender violence – podcast

Posted: 01 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Against the backdrop of #MeToo and the country's infamous rape cases, Lucy Lamble talks to activist Seema Nair about her work empowering Indian women

As a woman growing up in India, Seema Nair experienced first-hand the country's deeply entrenched gender inequalities and violence. From a young age she knew she wanted to change this: she now works for the Fund for Global Human Rights, organising programmes for women to help them gain the knowledge and the power to take control of their lives. She describes how survivors of sexual violence in India are beginning to speak out about their experiences, and leading other women in the fight to change society

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Myanmar army killing civilians in escalating conflict in Kachin, warns UN

Posted: 01 May 2018 05:27 AM PDT

Rights envoy sounds alarm on rising hostilities in state, amid reports of military blocking aid supplies, 'which may amount to war crime'

The UN's human rights expert for Myanmar has raised alarm over a lethal escalation in hostilities in the country's Kachin state, warning that civilians had been killed and displaced in recent government bombing.

Amid reports that the military in Myanmar had blocked relief supplies to people displaced by the fighting, Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the country, cited accounts of the army using aerial bombings, heavy weapons and artillery fire in civilian areas near the border with China.

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Netanyahu's theatrics help push Trump towards Iran deal withdrawal

Posted: 01 May 2018 12:19 PM PDT

The White House seized on the Israeli PM's dubious show-and-tell despite opposition from European allies desperate to keep the JCPOA afloat

If the reports are true, it was the heist of the century. Israeli spies are said to have broken into a secret Tehran warehouse in January, stolen a half-tonne of documents and somehow spirited them back to Israel the same night.

That version of events, recounted in the New York Times, raises important questions about the documents presented by Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as proof of Iranian dishonesty about its nuclear weapons programme.

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How Labour and Tory duo teamed up to win tax haven U-turn

Posted: 01 May 2018 10:59 AM PDT

Pragmatism and parliamentary know-how came up trumps for Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell

Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell were quick to recognise they could succeed in forcing the government to act on financial secrecy in the overseas territories if they joined forces. The veteran backbenchers have known each other since the 1980s and their more recent political interests overlap.

Mitchell is a former international development secretary and the Conservative MP has frequently worked on cross-party lines after quitting the cabinet in 2012, advocating with the late Jo Cox humanitarian intervention in Syria. Hodge's interest in financial transparency stems from her five-year chairmanship of the watchdog public accounts committee in the first part of the decade.

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Off the map: New Zealand tourism ad takes on 'conspiracy' – video

Posted: 01 May 2018 10:25 PM PDT

In a new ad from New Zealand Tourism, comic Rhys Darby calls on New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern for help solving the 'next great conspiracy' – why the country keeps getting left off world maps 

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Lion mauls British wildlife park owner in South Africa – video

Posted: 01 May 2018 11:54 AM PDT

*This video contains graphic images that some viewers may find distressing*

British wildlife park owner, Mike Hodge, is recovering in hospital after being mauled by a lion in South Africa. Hodge reportedly entered the enclosure on Monday to investigate a smell that appeared to be upsetting the animal when the male lion pounced on him and dragged him away in front of onlookers visiting the park

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May Day in a minute: from protests to morris dancing – video

Posted: 01 May 2018 08:46 AM PDT

From morris dancing in Sussex, England, to the annual Labour Day march in Hong Kong, people around the world have traditionally used May Day to protest and celebrate. In parts of Europe, the holiday marks the beginning of summer; elsewhere protests and marches call for improved labour rights on what is also known as International Workers' Day


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May Day rallies around the world – in pictures

Posted: 01 May 2018 05:06 AM PDT

Demonstrators take to the streets on 1 May 2018 to celebrate workers and push for improved labour rights

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