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

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


UN rejects plan to demand immediate ceasefire in Yemen port

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 01:54 AM PDT

UN impasse means Saudi-UAE coalition can continue direct attack on Hodeidah port

The UN security council has rejected a move to demand an immediate end to the fighting around the strategic Yemeni port of Hodeidah despite warnings from aid agencies that an attack could jeopardise vital aid to a country on the brink of famine.

The 15-strong body failed to agree to a statement calling on forces led by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to implement a ceasefire, with the US and UK both voicing opposition to the text introduced by Sweden.

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Merkel coalition at risk as talks on refugee policy falter

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 08:14 AM PDT

Issue brings political deadlock in Germany and worsening row between Italy and France

Angela Merkel has come under under intense pressure to tighten Germany's refugee policies or risk the collapse of her coalition government as an increasingly urgent argument over how to handle irregular migration rattles Europe.

While the standoff between the chancellor and her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, continued on Thursday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and Italy's new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said they would discuss "new initiatives" on immigration this week in Paris.

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Russians enjoy dream World Cup opening in spite of Robbie Williams’ middle finger

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 01:40 AM PDT

• British pop star gestures to camera as he sings Rock DJ
• But home team stun everyone with 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia

The first day of the 2018 World Cup went off almost without a hitch for the hosts, Russia, with a barnstorming victory after a brief but polished opening ceremony which even a rude gesture by Robbie Williams could not derail.

Related: Robbie Williams show at World Cup opening ceremony is too short to ever be dull

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French police cut soles off migrant children's shoes, claims Oxfam

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 03:01 PM PDT

Charity accuses authorities of detaining minors without food before illegally returning them to Italy

French border police have been accused of detaining migrant children as young as 12 in cells without food or water, cutting the soles off their shoes and stealing sim cards from their mobile phones, before illegally sending them back to Italy.

A report released on Friday by the charity Oxfam also cites the case of a "very young" Eritrean girl, who was forced to walk back to the Italian border town of Ventimiglia along a road with no pavement while carrying her 40-day-old baby.

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DoJ report faults Comey on Clinton email inquiry but finds no political bias

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 12:16 AM PDT

  • Ex-FBI director failed to follow protocol, inspector general finds
  • No evidence of 'improper considerations … [or] political bias'

The former FBI director James Comey did not follow protocol in his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, the justice department's independent watchdog has said in a new report.

A highly anticipated review by the DoJ's inspector general, which was released on Thursday, condemned Comey and a handful of individual FBI personnel.

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'Tourism pollution': Japanese crackdown costs Airbnb $10m

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 04:52 PM PDT

Kyoto is on frontline of clash that has spread to holiday lets, with restrictive law now in effect

It has become a familiar scene: tourists in rented kimonos posing for photographs in front of a Shinto shrine in Kyoto. They and other visitors have brought valuable tourist dollars to the city and other locations across Japan.

But now the country's former capital is on the frontline of a battle against "tourism pollution" that has already turned locals against visitors in cities across the world such as Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

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Kashmir editor shot dead in Srinagar alongside bodyguards

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 01:46 AM PDT

Shujaat Bukhari, 50, first journalist to be killed in 12 years in disputed region

A leading journalist and editor who worked for peace in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has been shot dead along with his bodyguards.

Shujaat Bukhari had just left the Srinagar city office of his newspaper, Rising Kashmir, on Thursday when three men on a motorcycle fired at him and his two guards, police said.

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US calls on Vietnam to release American citizen arrested in protests

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 10:54 PM PDT

Will Nguyen was arrested at rally against new economic zones promoting Chinese interests

The United States is calling on the Vietnamese authorities to release one of its citizens who was caught up in a violent police crackdown on protestors who took to the streets across Vietnam this week.

Will Nguyen, 32, an American from Houston, Texas, who is currently studying in Singapore, was among those taken into custody on Sunday after he participated in a rare protest in Ho Chi Minh city. Video footage and witness accounts show Nguyen dragged through the streets by plain-clothed police, bleeding from a head injury.

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Brazil: high prices and low wages spur surge in Panini World Cup sticker swaps

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 12:00 AM PDT

Organized meetings known as pontos de troca have helped cash-strapped collectors band together and get round price increase

On a sunny afternoon outside Sao Paulo's modern art museum, more than 100 people have gathered to trade football stickers, using paper charts or mobile phone apps to keep record of their collections.

Brazil is still reeling from an institutional and political crisis and only just crawling out of a brutal recession, but for one month the World Cup offers some escape from the country's record unemployment and spiraling violence.

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ECB calls halt to quantitative easing, despite 'soft' euro

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 07:04 AM PDT

Wind-down in three-year bond buying programme balanced with a hold on interest rates

The European Central Bank has shrugged off evidence of a slowdown in the eurozone and announced that it will phase out the stimulus provided by its massive three-year bond-buying programme to the eurozone economy by the end of the year.

Despite warning that the single currency area was going through a soft patch at a time when protectionist risks were rising, the ECB said it would wind down its bond purchases over the next six months.

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Sex-change mice research could help humans, say scientists

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 11:01 AM PDT

Removal of enhancer 13 DNA strands caused males to grow ovaries and female genitalia, helping research on human sexual development disorders

Scientists have turned male mice into females by snipping out strands of their DNA in work that could shed light on sexual development disorders which arise in humans.

The male mice grew ovaries and female genitalia instead of the more conventional male anatomy after researchers removed small chunks of DNA from the animals' genetic code.

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny freed from jail

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 01:12 PM PDT

After release he claimed then retracted that jail was refurbished ready for foreign World Cup fans

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny walked free on Thursday after spending 30 days in custody for staging an unsanctioned protest.

Soon after his release Navalny said in an Instagram post that the jail where he was held had received a massive face-lift ahead of the World Cup, apparently in anticipation of arresting rowdy foreign fans.

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Sanders uses Bible to defend Trump's separation of children from families at border

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 11:13 PM PDT

Press secretary rejects criticism of Jeff Sessions citing Romans 13 to justify policy and says 'it is very biblical to enforce the law'

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, invoked the Bible to defend the Trump administration's immigration policy of separating mothers from their children.

Related: Child abuse is now part of America's official immigration policy | Michael Paarlberg

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China crisis: Macrons under fire in France over cost of new plates

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 09:45 AM PDT

President's choice of dinner service criticised as he pushes through economic overhaul

With some of their crockery dating back to the time of President René Coty in the 1950s, France's first couple badly needed a dinner service that "corresponded better to the present day", the Élysée let it be known.

So Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron ordered a set of 900 dinner plates and 300 side plates, designed by the artist Evariste Richer, from the Manufacture de Sèvres, suppliers of fine porcelain to the presidential palace since 1848.

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Anti-pollution skincare: can a cream really help you 'face the city'?

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

The booming market for products for 'urban skin' reflects anxieties about the health impacts of living in cities – but is it all just a marketing gimmick?

Fiona Westerhout talks about her skin as though she is giving directions in a familiar neighbourhood: oily around the T-zone, dry cheeks, sensitive with the occasional breakout.

Westerhout, 29, had just started blogging about skincare when she and her partner moved from Perth in Western Australia to Shanghai in May 2016. There she found a new cause for skincare concern: pollution.

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'We have a new chance': Zimbabwe gears up for elections after Mugabe

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Opposition says country still lives under dictatorship but relatively peaceful election campaign gives some hope of change

The president and his wife drive slowly across the dusty sports ground, preceded by a pickup full of local reporters, flanked by a crowd of excited teenagers, and followed by a large cloud of dust. Banners are held aloft, flags waved.

Zimbabwe's election campaign has reached Chegutu, a small agricultural town on the high, flat uplands 70 miles west of Harare.

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Upskirting happened to me and now I'm changing the law - video

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 02:27 AM PDT

Gina Martin was at a festival when a man took a photograph up her skirt and shared it with his friends. When the police told her they couldn't do anything because upskirting wasn't a crime, she started a campaign. This is how a 26-year-old woman with no legal or political experience is about to change the law

• Upskirting to become a crime punishable by two years in jail

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Tory rebel claims May was forced to backtrack on Brexit promise

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 02:09 AM PDT

'Meaningful vote' amendment inconsistent with PM's pledge, says Stephen Hammond

One of the core group of Conservative rebels seeking a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal, has accused Theresa May of being forced to backtrack on a pledge she gave to the rebels to avert defeat on Tuesday.

Stephen Hammond said he trusted the prime minister but she had been badly advised, in an intervention that indicated the depth of bad feeling between the two camps.

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Australian film-maker 'learned of Cambodia espionage charges on grapevine'

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 01:09 AM PDT

James Ricketson granted trial delay he asked for after telling judge it was not clear he had been indicted

The trial of Australian film-maker and accused spy James Ricketson has been postponed in a Cambodian court after a bench of three judges granted him more time to prepare his defence.

Ricketson has told the Phnom Penh court he was told he would be charged with espionage only last week and he has not been served with a formal indictment.

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'We can't help them all': Liberal motion on white South African farmers defeated

Posted: 15 Jun 2018 02:12 AM PDT

Philip Ruddock tells federal council singling out whites for special visas goes against what Australia stands for

Liberal party members who attempted to have white South African farmers singled out for special treatment when applying for asylum in Australia have been defeated after an emotional interjection from a former immigration minister.

In a policy motion put forward to the federal council, where members attempt to influence Coalition policy, they attempted to amend a motion changing "South African minorities targeted by hate crimes" to "European farmers", to ensure white farmers were given particular attention.

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Pakistan's shame: the open secret of child sex abuse in the workplace | Kiran Nazish

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Like millions of Pakistani children, Ahmed had to work to support his family. The sexual abuse he suffered is as commonplace as the government's failure to act

Awad was 12 when his employer started sexually abusing him. He had a new job in a factory in Kasur and, he says, he knew such abuse was common.

It continued for more than a year. "He used to take my name, and say, 'Awad you are my gift' … He said that and kept hurting me." In Awad's mind, this was part of his job. "I could not refuse, because he paid me." All Awad remembers from this time is feeling shame.

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Argentina congress takes historic step towards legalising abortion

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 09:25 AM PDT

  • Lower house votes 129-123 to allow abortion in first 14 weeks
  • If senate approves bill President Macri has said he will sign it

The lower house of Argentina's congress has narrowly approved a bill that would legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, in a historic victory for the country's growing women's movement.

Tens of thousands of women – many wearing the green headscarfs which have become a symbol of the movement – braved a freezing winter night to stand vigil outside the congress building in Buenos Aires during the marathon 20-hour debate.

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'A month to help those in need': Ramadan relief around the world

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 07:27 AM PDT

While Ramadan calls for fasting during daylight hours, eating is also vital. In some countries, though, food is more expensive during the holy month – and in conflict-hit areas it can be scarce at the best of times. Islamic Relief has a special Ramadan distribution scheme that reaches hundreds of thousands of people

  • All photographs by Islamic Relief

For Muslims around the world, Ramadan is an important month for fasting and prayer. But it is also a time for family and friends to break their fasts together and, of course, celebrate Eid al-Fitr.

Islamic Relief has a special Ramadan distribution, and this year the NGO is distributing more than 200,000 food parcels to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in 35 countries around the world.

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Breaking bread, piercing prejudice: how a Ramadan meal united faiths | Amrit Dhillon

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 03:56 AM PDT

Concerned about the portrayal of Muslims in India, author Nazia Erum hosted a multi-faith dinner in New Delhi to lay a few misconceptions to rest

At a dinner in a Delhi home on Sunday, guests around the table were asked to write down one stereotype that they – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus – had about one another. The purpose? Breaking prejudices while breaking bread together.

The interfaith meal was prompted by the hosts' desire to address preconceptions about Muslims, whom they feel have been targeted under Narendra Modi's government.

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Trump-Russia investigation explained: what we know and what happens next

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 06:19 AM PDT

Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 22 defendants and secured five guilty pleas but Trump's 'witch-hunt' rhetoric is affecting public opinion

Americans familiar with and admiring of the biography of Robert Mueller – son of a navy officer, Vietnam Bronze Star, terrorism prosecutor, FBI director for 12 years post-9/11 – might be discouraged by the turn public opinion has taken against his current work.

While Americans who do not have a favorable view of Mueller's special counsel investigation are still in the minority, their numbers are growing.

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Australian film-maker arrives in Cambodian court on espionage charge – video

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 11:53 PM PDT

Australian film-maker James Ricketson appeared at a Phnom Penh court suspected of spying.

Ricketson has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest in Phnom Penh more than a year ago.

He was arrested in June last year after flying a drone over a campaign rally for the Cambodian National Rescue party. After six days of detention, he was charged with the offence of "endangering national defence". 

The hearing was postponed to a later date.

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Sarah Sanders uses Bible to defend border policy – video

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 06:24 PM PDT

Speaking at Thursday's White House briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders invoked the Bible to defend the Trump administration's immigration policy of separating mothers from their children

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North Korean TV airs awkward moment between Trump and military official – video

Posted: 14 Jun 2018 08:29 AM PDT

State television in North Korea has broadcast footage from the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore. In one clip, Kim Jong-un can be seen introducing Donald Trump to a North Korean military official. What ensues is an awkward combination of a handshake and a salute   

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