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

Nicaragua: how a Sandinista stronghold turned against the president
'Sonic attack' fears as more US diplomats fall ill in China
'Nothing is ours anymore': Kurds forced out of Afrin after Turkish assault
UN accuses Saudi Arabia of using anti-terror laws to justify torture
Yves Saint Laurent co-founder’s rare art and artefacts to go on sale
Melania Trump appears in public as president attacks 'vicious, fake' rumours
Rise of far-right in Italy and Austria gives Putin some friends in the west
Beatings, killings, gulags: North Korea rights abuses likely to be ignored at summit
Japan sends officials on sexual harassment courses after high-profile scandals
Preaching against plastic: Indonesia's religious leaders join fight to cut waste
Spanish PM appoints 11 women and six men to new cabinet
North Korea demolished missile testing facility last month, report says
Rapid rise in anti-HIV PrEP pills linked to drop in condom use
Guatemala: volcano search and rescue resumes with nearly 200 people missing
Smoked on the water: the eel trader reviving an old Amsterdam tradition
Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Fire Brigade to give evidence - live updates
Purity of cocaine in Europe at highest level in decade, report finds
The government’s treatment of gay refugees shames Britain | Owen Jones
Rob Ford's fraught legacy looms over neck-and-neck Ontario election
China's interference will not stop with Qantas. How will open societies respond? | Kevin Carrico
Raising Blue Mountains dam risks flooding world heritage area, Unesco warned
'I couldn't even scream': survival and abuse inseparable for Kabul children | Pariwash Gouhari
Sicilian police charge five men over trafficking of women in Ragusa
It takes more than pro-choice laws to end deaths from unsafe abortions | Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng
Growing up black in America: here's my story of everyday racism | Brian Jones
The policing of black Americans is racial harassment funded by the state
Las Vegas shooting: newly released CCTV captures chaos – video
Melania Trump appears in front of the cameras for the first time in weeks – video
Police chase stolen armoured vehicle in Virginia – video
Lava from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii destroys hundreds of homes – video

Nicaragua: how a Sandinista stronghold turned against the president

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Daniel Ortega makes yearly pilgrimages to the symbolic town of Masaya. But in a 'city at war', residents demand his exit

Graffiti coating signs and billboards on the road to the cradle of Sandinismo offer once unimaginable snubs to the movement's most celebrated comandante: 'Despot!' 'Murderer!' 'Get out Daniel!' 'Ortega you are dead!'

'Sonic attack' fears as more US diplomats fall ill in China

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Consular employees sent home from Guangzhou for medical checks as Mike Pompeo sets up new investigation

More US citizens have been evacuated from China, reviving concerns that American government personnel and their families may be the target of "sonic attacks" by a rival country.

US state department officials said on Wednesday it had sent "a number of individuals" from its consulate in Guangzhou back to the US for "further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms". Last month, a consulate worker in Guangzhou was found to have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury after reporting "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure" from late 2017 through to April 2018.

'Nothing is ours anymore': Kurds forced out of Afrin after Turkish assault

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Many who fled the violence January say their homes have been given to Arabs

When Areen and her clan fled the Turkish assault on Afrin in January, they feared they may never return.

Six months later, the Kurdish family remain in nearby villages with other Afrin locals who left as the conquering Turks and their Arab proxies swept in, exiling nearly all its residents.

UN accuses Saudi Arabia of using anti-terror laws to justify torture

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 06:32 AM PDT

Report says idea country is becoming more liberal is 'wide of the mark'

Saudi Arabia is systematically using anti-terror laws to justify torture, suppress all dissent and imprison human rights defenders, the UN has concluded following a five-day official inspection of the country at the invitation of the government.

The report presents a damning assessment of Saudi's human rights record, and is made more powerful by the fact that it is the product of an official Saudi invitation.

Yves Saint Laurent co-founder’s rare art and artefacts to go on sale

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Pierre Bergé's eclectic items, which includes 1961 Picasso sculpture, up for auction

Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé shared a passion for refined and beautiful objects throughout their on-off romance and business relationship that lasted half a century.

Melania Trump appears in public as president attacks 'vicious, fake' rumours

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 01:54 AM PDT

First lady appears in Washington at hurricane briefing as Trump says 'she went through a little rough patch but she's doing great'

Donald Trump fired back at what he called "unfair and vicious" rumours about his wife Melania as the first lady made her first public appearance after nearly a month away – an absence that had become something of a national puzzle.

Trump posted on Twitter on Wednesday morning: "They reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the WH (and me) for NY or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!"

Rise of far-right in Italy and Austria gives Putin some friends in the west

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Russian president in contact with two capitals that share belief in nation-first politics and mistrust of alliances

Suddenly, Vladimir Putin has some useful friends in the west.

As he looks to improve relations with Europe, at a new low since the March nerve-agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, the Russian president knows he can count on the backing of at least two capitals.

Beatings, killings, gulags: North Korea rights abuses likely to be ignored at summit

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:30 PM PDT

Former soldier recounts cruelty as US president prepares for summit with leader Kim Jong-un, where dire human rights record is unlikely to be broached

Lee Cheol cannot remember how many times he was forced to gather with his fellow soldiers at an airfield outside Pyongyang in North Korea and watch as firing squads executed enemies of the state. But one thing he does remember is that these public displays of violence increased under Kim Jong-un.

Japan sends officials on sexual harassment courses after high-profile scandals

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 10:37 PM PDT

Mandatory programme comes in response to several cases, including one involving a senior bureaucrat

Senior officials in Japan will be required to attend sexual harassment awareness sessions or risk damaging their career prospects under a proposal being considered by the government.

Japanese media said on Thursday the cabinet was preparing to approve the training programme as early as next week, in response to several high-profile sexual harassment cases, including one involving a senior bureaucrat at the finance ministry.

Preaching against plastic: Indonesia's religious leaders join fight to cut waste

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 05:26 PM PDT

Nation's two largest Islamic organisations will call on network of 100 million followers to reduce plastic waste and reuse bags

Indonesia, one of the world's biggest marine polluters, has decided to get religious – literally – about reducing plastic waste.

Spanish PM appoints 11 women and six men to new cabinet

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 01:44 PM PDT

Pedro Sánchez says Spanish government is 'unmistakably committed to equality'

Spain's new socialist prime minister has appointed 11 women and six men to his cabinet, saying his new government is "unmistakably committed to equality" and intends to reflect recent changes in Spanish society.

Announcing his choices at a press conference on Wednesday evening, Pedro Sánchez said his would be the first majority-female cabinet since Spain returned to democracy following the death of Gen Francisco Franco in 1975.

North Korea demolished missile testing facility last month, report says

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 11:05 AM PDT

Satellite imagery shows that North Korea razed some facilities used for testing ballistic missiles, according to US website 38 North

Satellite imagery shows that North Korea razed some facilities used for testing ballistic missiles last month after declaring it was suspending nuclear explosions and missile launches, according to the US website 38 North.

A stand used for missile ejection tests was demolished near Kusong in the country's north-west, according the North Korea expert Joseph Bermudez. Ejection tests are used to test the initial launch of a missile from a canister and firing up its first-stage engine rather than a full-blown launch.

Rapid rise in anti-HIV PrEP pills linked to drop in condom use

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 12:00 PM PDT

PrEP availability may play a part in men's complacency about the chances of becoming infected, study suggests

A rapid rise in the takeup of pills to prevent HIV infection in some parts of Australia has been accompanied by a steep drop in the numbers of men using condoms during sex with other men whether or not they are on the protective drugs, a major study has shown.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, has been hailed as a game-changer in the Aids epidemic, but the Australian experience suggests the availability of once-a-day pills that reliably prevent transmission of the virus may play a part in complacency about the chances of becoming infected.

Guatemala: volcano search and rescue resumes with nearly 200 people missing

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:09 PM PDT

Over 75 people dead, with another 3,319 in shelters after the country's most active volcano erupted

Emergency crews have cautiously resumed search and rescue operations in towns and villages devastated by the eruption of Guatemala's Volcano of Fire, but time was quickly running out to find survivors of a disaster that killed more than 75 people with another nearly 200 still missing.

Thousands of people displaced by the eruption have sought refuge in shelters, many of them of with dead or missing loved ones and facing an uncertain future, unable to return to homes destroyed by the volcano.

Smoked on the water: the eel trader reviving an old Amsterdam tradition

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:00 AM PDT

In the Dutch capital, one man is rolling back the years – and his slippery business is booming. Words: Kees van Unen. Pictures: Julie Hrudova

"Eeeeelll, freshly smoked eeeeelll!" These words are once again echoing along the canals of Amsterdam. Half a century after the city's last parlevinker – or boat-based travelling salesman – dropped anchor, Bas Oosterbaan is reviving the practice.

Early every morning, the 57-year-old skewers a dozen slippery specimens and raises them above the fire to let the smoke do its work. Later he casts off and sets course along central Amsterdam's canals in search of customers.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Fire Brigade to give evidence - live updates

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 02:30 AM PDT

London Fire Brigade to give evidence on Day 11 of Inquiry after criticism of its response and handling of the fire

10.28am BST

The magnitude of the fire cannot be overstated and has life changing consequences for fire fighters who were deeply affected that they were not able to save more lives, according to a statement by the Fire Fighters Association (FOA)

We're hearing an opening statement from that association now, read out by Louis Browne QC.

10.24am BST

The FBU prefers to call the policy of advising residents to stat put in in their homes while the fire was taking effect as a "Stay put Unless" policy, Seaward says.

The policy, which has been the focus of considerable criticism over the past week and before, was certainly not a "rigid" one.

Purity of cocaine in Europe at highest level in decade, report finds

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 01:00 AM PDT

Number of people seeking treatment for use of drug is on the rise, says EU study

The purity of street cocaine across Europe is at its highest level in a decade and the number of people seeking treatment for use of the drug is on the rise, a EU report has found.

In an annual overview of drug trends across the continent, the EU drugs agency, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), found that although the price of cocaine had remained stable, an increase in purity, first seen in 2010, continued in 2016.

The government’s treatment of gay refugees shames Britain | Owen Jones

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT

The Home Office is deporting desperate people to places where they face persecution – often because of colonial-era laws

"My neighbours will put a tyre around my neck and set it on fire." That is what Rosemary fears will happen if she, a lesbian, is deported by Britain back to Nigeria. She fled her homeland nearly a decade ago after her husband discovered her sexuality and threatened to kill her. She knew she was gay from the age of 12 but, she says: "I come from a culture where you have to get married: my mother threatened to kill herself if I didn't."

None of this satisfied the Home Office. It asked her why, if she was gay, she got married, had children and didn't come out until she'd left the country. Even though she's an active member of Leicester's LGBT community, the authorities refused to believe her, and locked her up in Yarl's Wood detention centre for four months. "It's a place you wouldn't wish on your enemy – a place of torture," she tells me. She is now fighting deportation to Nigeria, a nation that forbids homosexuality, and where surveys suggest that nine out of 10 people oppose same-sex relations.

Rob Ford's fraught legacy looms over neck-and-neck Ontario election

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 02:00 AM PDT

Canada's most populous province heads to polls as late Toronto mayor's brother faces off with left-of-centre New Democrats

Millions of residents in Canada's most populous province will head to the polls on Thursday in a fraught vote whose final stretch has been overshadowed by the legacy of Rob Ford, the late former Toronto mayor who made headlines around the world after he admitted to smoking crack cocaine while in office.

Polls suggest Ontario's Conservatives are neck-and-neck with the left-of-centre New Democratic party (NDP) to helm Ontario, pitting the rightwing populist politics that have rattled countries around the world against promises to increase government spending and raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

China's interference will not stop with Qantas. How will open societies respond? | Kevin Carrico

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 11:22 PM PDT

China's rapid economic growth is changing the way businesses, academics, and politicians around the world talk

In April of 2018, China's aviation regulator set a deadline for more than 40 airlines around the world to make changes to the contents of their websites. These companies' supposed mistake: failing to describe the self-ruled democratic island of Taiwan as "part of China." Never mind that Beijing has never exercised sovereignty over Taiwan: many companies yielded immediately to China's whims.

Others, such as Qantas, did not respond immediately. But on Monday, the 29th anniversary of China's violent suppression of protests in its capital, news broke that Qantas would also be editing its website to re-label "Taiwan" as "Taiwan, China."

Raising Blue Mountains dam risks flooding world heritage area, Unesco warned

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 02:05 AM PDT

Government says scheme for Warragamba dam lessens flood risk for residents, but activists say it jeopardises wildlife and Aboriginal sites

Conservationists have written to the Unesco requesting a moratorium on New South Wales government plans to raise the height of Warragamba dam, which could flood parts of the Blue Mountains world heritage area.

The group of 14 signatories, led by the former NSW environment minister Bob Debus and including Bob Brown, Christine Milne, the Australia Conservation Foundation chair Paul Sinclair, and Gundungurra traditional owner Kazan Brown, wrote to the chair of Unesco's world heritage committee last month warning that natural heritage values of the area would be "significantly degraded" if the proposal were to go ahead.

'I couldn't even scream': survival and abuse inseparable for Kabul children | Pariwash Gouhari

Posted: 07 Jun 2018 01:00 AM PDT

Street children are forced to brave violent sexual predators in the Afghan capital as they struggle to earn money

For 14-year-old Ahmed*, life as a kid on the streets of the Afghan capital has become synonymous with abuse.

His voice calm and unwavering, Ahmed reels off stories of the assaults he has suffered over the years. "One day, a man asked me to buy him a pack of chewing gum. I went out and bought it, and took it back to his house," Ahmed tells me in a dimly-lit apartment he shares with his family. "He then forced me inside his home and raped me." It happened two years ago, but his stories go back to when he was five years old.

Sicilian police charge five men over trafficking of women in Ragusa

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

Romanian men taken into custody after raids targeting criminal exploitation and forced prostitution on farms

Sicilian police have charged five Romanian men with human trafficking after a series of police raids targeted the criminal exploitation and forced prostitution of workers in farms across the Ragusa region.

Police said the arrests have exposed an organised inter-EU human trafficking operation between Romania and Sicily that is forcing men and women to live in conditions of modern slavery in one of Italy's largest vegetable producing regions.

It takes more than pro-choice laws to end deaths from unsafe abortions | Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 02:30 AM PDT

South Africa legalised abortion in 1997. Yet so few clinics offer them that women still risk their lives by turning to illegal means

I have been an abortion provider for as long as I have been a qualified doctor. In the past five years, I have been inundated with emails, social media requests and calls from women from all walks of life desperate for my help.

I will never forget one young woman who came to the public clinic in the West Rand township near Johannesburg, panicking about massive blood loss from her vagina. It was only after some prompting that she and a family member admitted to using abortion pills purchased outside a shopping centre. She bought the pills after being denied an abortion by the local clinic, where health workers told her "We don't do those things here," and shamed her for being young and sexually active.

Growing up black in America: here's my story of everyday racism | Brian Jones

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:00 AM PDT

As a middle-class, light-skinned black man I am 'better' by American standards but there is no amount of assimilation that can shield you from racism in the US

I am a black man who has grown up in the United States. I know what it is like to feel the sting of discrimination. As a middle-class, light-skinned black man I also know that many others suffered (and continue to suffer) a lot worse than me. I grew up around a lot of white people. In elementary school, I remember being told that I was one of the "good ones" – not like the "bad ones" I was meant to understand; I was different.

The policing of black Americans is racial harassment funded by the state

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:00 AM PDT

When the police's job is to uphold a racialized law and order, black people can be arrested just for living their lives

The rap group Public Enemy famously stated that "911 is a joke". But that was in 1990. These days 911 is dead serious. Anyone in the United States can dial those three numbers and summon people with guns and handcuffs to participate in their anti-black paranoia. It's racial harassment, sponsored by the government and supported by tax dollars.

Las Vegas shooting: newly released CCTV captures chaos – video

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 09:53 PM PDT

Warning: some viewers may find the following footage distressing. People flee a music festival as gunman Stephen Paddock opens fire, in newly released CCTV footage released by Las Vegas authorities of the atrocity in October last year. Recordings of dozens of 911 calls were also released. Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Melania Trump appears in front of the cameras for the first time in weeks – video

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 05:34 PM PDT

The first lady attended a FEMA briefing, with US president Donald Trump, her first appearance in front of camera in almost a month. Melania Trump did not speak at the meeting. 'She's doing great. She went through a little rough patch but she's doing great. We're very proud of her. She's done a fantastic job as first lady.' Trump said. 'The people of our country love you, so thank you, honey.'

Melania Trump appears in public as president attacks 'vicious, fake' rumours

Police chase stolen armoured vehicle in Virginia – video

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 07:45 AM PDT

Amateur footage captures Virginia police chasing an armoured personnel carrier reportedly stolen by a soldier from a National Guard base. The suspect, now in custody, drove the vehicle for two hours on Tuesday night before being stopped by officers

Man arrested after taking joyride in tank-like military vehicle

Lava from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii destroys hundreds of homes – video

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:11 AM PDT

The Kilauea eruption has caused further damage to properties in Hawaii, with reports that hundreds of homes have been destroyed. Thousands of people in and around Puna have had to leave the area after the first fissure opened more than a month ago

Lava from Hawaii volcano destroys hundreds more homes

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

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

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