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

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


George Soros says EU should compensate Italy over migration

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 08:49 AM PDT

Strong showing of far-right parties partly due to Europe's 'flawed' migration policies

The billionaire philanthropist and financier George Soros has called for the EU to compensate Italy for migrants landing there, as the country's hardline new interior minister made his first official trip a provocative one, to one of their main arrival points.

Matteo Salvini, the far-right leader of the League, travelled to the port of Pozzallo in Sicily on Sunday, with a blunt warning that migrants "should get ready to pack their bags".

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Dozens drown after migrant boat sinks off Tunisia coast

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 01:50 PM PDT

Rescuers save at least 60 lives after vessel with about 180 people onboard sank

At least 47 people died and 68 others were rescued after their migrant boat sank off Tunisia's southern coast, according to the country's defence ministry.

Authorities said about 180 people, of both Tunisian and other nationalities, were hemmed in onboard the vessel. A survivor said the captain had abandoned the boat after it hit trouble in order to escape arrest.

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Slovenian nationalist party wins parliamentary election

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 12:30 PM PDT

Slovenia Democratic party on course to win 25% of the vote with nearly all of the votes counted

An anti-immigration opposition party has won Slovenia's parliamentary election, taking 25% of the vote, with 98% of the vote counted.

However, the centre-right Slovenia Democratic party (SDS) of former prime minister Janez Janša may struggle to pull together a government as its hardline stance on immigration has left it short of potential coalition partners.

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Off-duty FBI agent doing backflip in a bar shoots man in the leg

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 06:40 AM PDT

Denver agent was dancing when the weapon fell from his holster and was accidentally fired, wounding a man

An FBI agent is under investigation after he accidentally discharged his firearm as he performed a backflip at a Denver nightclub.

The off-duty agent was dancing when the handgun fell from his waistband holster. It fired as he went to pick it up, wounding another customer in the leg.

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North Korea sacks top three military officials, as nuclear summit nears

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 11:22 PM PDT

US officials believe there was dissent over Kim Jong-un's approach to foreign diplomacy

North Korea's top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior US official said on Sunday, a shakeup that could signal the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, is working to silence dissent ahead of a summit with Donald Trump in Singapore next week.

Related: Bashar al-Assad to visit North Korea, state media claims

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Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupts, killing 25 and injuring hundreds

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 02:20 AM PDT

President considers declaring state of emergency in region as smoke and ash forces closure of capital's La Aurora airport

At least 25 people, including three children, have been killed and nearly 300 injured on Sunday in the most violent eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano in more than four decades, officials said.

Fuego volcano, whose name means "fire" in English, spewed an 8km (five-mile) stream of lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions.

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Greece relaxes capital controls to prove worst of turmoil is over

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 07:54 AM PDT

Confidence-boosting decision is taken as country prepares to exit third bailout programme

Greece is to take a substantial step towards easing capital controls – restrictions associated with the worst days of economic crisis – as it prepares to exit its current bailout programme.

Signalling that confidence is gradually returning to the country's banking system, the leftist-led government has doubled the amount depositors will be able to withdraw from their accounts as of Monday.

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Crayfish becomes online hero by detaching claw to escape boiling soup

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 07:32 AM PDT

Footage shows crustacean making bid for freedom at restaurant in China

A crayfish who sacrificed its own limb to survive a boiling pot of spicy soup at a restaurant in China has become an online hero.

Footage shows the crustacean gripping one of its own claws before detaching it and making a break for freedom, with others inside the pot destined for diners' plates.

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Greece tourism at record high amid alarm over environmental cost

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 07:56 AM PDT

With 32 million visitors expected this year, fears grow that the country cannot cope

Greece is braced for another bumper year. The tourists will not stop coming. For every one of its citizens, three foreign visitors – 32 million in total – will arrive this year, more than at any other time since records began.

It's an extraordinary feat for a country that has battled with bankruptcy, at times has been better known for its protests and riots and, only three years ago, narrowly escaped euro ejection. Tourism is the heavy industry that has helped keep catastrophe at bay.

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Bashar al-Assad to visit North Korea, state media claims

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 03:06 AM PDT

'I am going to meet HE Kim Jong-un', Syrian president has been quoted as saying

Bashar al-Assad is to visit North Korea, Pyongyang state media has claimed, in what would be a first state visit to the isolated nation under the leadership of Kim Jong-un.

The report by the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the visit would be, but the two sanctions-hit nations have been allies for decades and Washington has accused the North of assisting Syria with its weapons programmes.

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Giuliani: Trump 'probably' has power to pardon himself but has 'no need to do it'

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 10:42 AM PDT

Donald Trump's attorney: the president pardoning himself would be 'unthinkable and probably lead to immediate impeachment'

Rudy Giuliani backed claims on Sunday made in a newly-leaked memo by Donald Trump's legal team that the president can't be compelled to testify by a grand jury subpoena as part of the Russia investigation.

That question was posed on Saturday when the New York Times published a January-dated letter from Trump's lawyers to special counsel Robert Mueller arguing that he could "if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon".

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Trudeau calls Trump's tariffs 'insulting' to longstanding US-Canada alliance

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 08:41 AM PDT

Trudeau reiterated his appeal to Trump to remember 'there are no two countries that are as interconnected and interdependent'

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, on Sunday described US tariffs as "insulting" to the shared history of the US and Canada as the fallout over Donald Trump's tariff moves continued.

Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Trudeau reiterated his appeal to President Trump to remember "there are no two countries that are as interconnected, interdependent ... You sell more things to us every year than to UK, Japan, and China combined."

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Catalan leader calls for end to 'indisputable unity' of Spain

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 02:23 AM PDT

Imprisoned Jordi Sànchez urges complete overhaul of Madrid's approach to crisis

The Catalan independence leader Jordi Sànchez who has been in prison for eight months, has called on the Spanish government to reconsider its adherence to the principle of "the indisputable unity of the homeland", saying it is the only way out of the political crisis.

Sànchez, a regional MP and former leader of the Catalan National Assembly, is facing sedition and rebellion charges over the part he played in demonstrations in the run-up to the unofficial independence referendum last October.

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Irish feminists target 'women in the home' clause in constitution

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 02:00 AM PDT

Politicians and activists say the sexist and archaic language undermines women

Irish feminists buoyed by victory in the abortion referendum have their sights set on removing a section of the constitution which refers to women's place in the home.

The clause has no direct legal implications in contemporary Ireland, but politicians and activists have long argued that its archaic and sexist language undermines women.

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Is Chongqing's 'horizontal skyscraper' the answer to overcrowded cities?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 11:15 PM PDT

A 42nd-floor 'skybridge' in the dazzling Raffles City project could help solve overcrowding – or will it simply let the super-rich escape to the skies?

An army of 6,000 construction workers is hard at work at a large site overlooking the conflux of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers in the south-western Chinese megacity of Chongqing. Eight skyscrapers are rising from the river banks: two above 350m and six above 250m.

Raffles City Chongqing, a project headed by the architect Moshe Safdie, will boast 134,000 sq m of homes, shops, offices, entertainment, transportation links and a public park. It also features a more unusual claim to fame: a "horizontal skyscraper" 300m in length, stretching across four of the main towers at the 42nd floor. With the building situated in an earthquake zone, it "floats" on top of the towers to create the necessary sway.

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How a gun-carrying, far-right activist plots a run at the US Senate

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 04:00 AM PDT

Joey Gibson, a far-right activist whose political rallies have prompted counter-protests and violence, is running for Congress in Washington state

It is unusual for a Republican Senate candidate to find themselves handcuffed and face down in a parking garage. But that was what happened recently when Joey Gibson was detained by University of Washington police.

Gibson, 34, is a far-right activist who has come to prominence under the Trump presidency, staging political rallies across the Pacific north-west under the banner of his Patriot Prayer group. He is now running for Congress in a crowded Republican field.

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Grenfell inquiry turns to cause of fire that killed 72 people - live updates

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 02:25 AM PDT

Follow live coverage of the opening statement and the release of 2,000 pages of reports on the causes and spread of the London blaze

Millett says that core participants have had confidential access to the expert reports ahead of them being made public (they were published on the inquiry website this morning). As such, he says, little will be of surprise to them but "much will be new to the public".

He runs through the scope of phase 1 of the inquiry.

How did so many people sign this building off as safe? Was saving money put before saving lives?

Introducing the inquiry team, Millet says:

We have a duty to be independent, objective, fair-minded and rigorous.

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Corpus Christi devotees in Spain – in pictures

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 01:15 AM PDT

Residents of the Spanish village of Lagartera wear elaborate costumes for the event, a Catholic festival, which dates back to 1590

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UN envoy seeks deal to avert Saudi-led assault on Yemeni port

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Yemeni forces backed by Riyadh claim to have taken control of resorts near Hodeida

Last-ditch efforts are under way by the UN to persuade the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen not to launch a deadly assault on the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida and to allow time for a deal to be agreed to preserve the port's role in distributing humanitarian aid.

Yemeni forces backed by Riyadh claimed on Sunday to have already taken control of the tourist resorts in Nukhaila, in Duraihimi province, just west of Hodeida, setting up the possibility of a prolonged siege that could slow or block humanitarian supplies heading out of the port to millions in need across the country.

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Ghana's unlikely marriage of mining and malaria control draws envious glances

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

When a mining firm in Obuasi found malaria was hampering its operations, it joined forces with locals and the government to find a solution. Now others want to emulate their success

Nestled in the Ashanti region of southern Ghana, the small town of Obuasi is encircled by hills, largely forested but bearing scars from open-cast and illegal mining. Eighty kilometres south of the country's second city, Kumasi, it is a community of subsistence farmers and miners.

One of the world's largest gold mines, it has been quarried since the 1890s. But right now the underground drills are silent and a quieter operation is underway, digging out one of the world's smallest but most deadly predators: the malaria mosquito.

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Melania Trump to miss G7 meeting in Quebec and Singapore summit

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 06:41 PM PDT

US first lady has not been seen in public since she went into hospital for a procedure to treat a benign kidney condition

President Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, will skip this week's G7 summit in Quebec and does not plan to attend the planned 12 June summit in Singapore with North Korea, the White House said on Sunday.

Melania Trump attended the G7 meeting in Italy last year. The US first lady, 48, has not been seen in public since 10 May. She underwent a surgical procedure on 14 May to treat a benign kidney condition and was released from the hospital on 19 May.

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Fears Nauru's sweeping new contempt laws target opposition

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 01:33 AM PDT

Criminalising criticism of cases is an 'attack on rule of law', says one of 19 protesters facing jail for supporting opposition

Nauru has enacted sweeping contempt-of-court laws that make almost any criticism of a case – including in media reporting – a crime, but create exemptions for members of the government.

The legislation came into force last month. Anyone accused of the crime would be refused a presumption of bail, alongside those accused of murder or treason, under separate laws that came into force on the same day.

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John Lloyd, public service commissioner, quits amid questions over conduct

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 01:12 AM PDT

Public servant has faced scrutiny about links to rightwing thinktank but statement says resignation not influenced by 'recent events'

John Lloyd, the public service commissioner, has announced his resignation just days after a Senate estimates grilling that questioned his independence.

Lloyd told the governor general of his intention to stand down on Monday. His final day in the job will be 8 August.

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People flee as black cloud of volcanic ash towers above them in Guatemala - video

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 11:50 PM PDT

Footage shows residents fleeing a cloud of volcanic ash. Dozens of people have been killed and many more injured in the eruption that also sent a stream of lava bearing down on villages

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São Paulo's gay pride parade – in pictures

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 06:57 PM PDT

Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in Brazil's largest city for its 22nd annual celebration. Waving rainbow flags in a Carnival-like atmosphere, marchers paraded down the skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista on Sunday to music blasting from 18 sound trucks, with revellers of all ages filling more than 10 city blocks

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Dancing FBI agent drops and fires gun in nightclub – video

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 06:36 PM PDT

An off-duty FBI agent has unintentionally shot a man in the leg after his gun fell from his holster while doing a backflip at a bar in Denver, Colorado. It discharged as he went to pick it up, wounding the customer who police said was not badly injured.

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