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Chuka Umunna hopes new party will be created by end of year
Ditch Maduro or lose everything, Trump tells Venezuelan army
16 US states sue over Trump border wall emergency declaration
Syrian Kurdish leader: border force needed to protect us from Turkey
Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output
'A free pass for mobs': India urged to stem vigilante violence against minorities
Brexit causing ‘palpable decline’ in UK influence at the UN
Police search for missing UK and French tourists at New South Wales beach
Chinese province bans app-based homework to save pupils' eyesight
‘Mexico’s Alcatraz’ prison to be turned into a cultural centre
City of stairs: the interconnecting walkways of Hong Kong
How the world got hooked on palm oil
Salford politicians condemn racist graffiti and far right rally
Lightsaber duelling registered as official sport in France
A public holiday and gold-plated gun: Saudi crown prince feted on Asia tour
'Young people hold the power': the movement against FGM – in pictures
Limos, mansions and millennials: how wealth transformed a quiet mountain
Maduro government and Richard Branson to hold rival Venezuela concerts
Honda confirms Swindon plant will close in 2021
'I feel alive again': prosthetics and hope in Central African Republic | Saskia Houttuin
Massive deforestation by refugees in Uganda sparks clashes with local people
Hunt and Fox's Japanese fumble is a sign of UK's weakness
Donald Trump's direct appeal to Venezuelan military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó – video

Chuka Umunna hopes new party will be created by end of year

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 01:22 AM PST

Umunna, who was among seven MPs to quit Labour, hints that more MPs, including Tories, could follow suit

Follow all the day's political developments - live updates

Chuka Umunna has said he hopes a new party will be created by the end of the year, after he and six other MPs quit Labour citing anger at the party's Brexit policy and the issue of antisemitism.

Ditch Maduro or lose everything, Trump tells Venezuelan army

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 01:10 AM PST

President speaks to US-based Venezuelans in Miami
Maduro accuses Trump of 'almost Nazi style' language

Donald Trump has directly appealed to the Venezuelan military to support opposition leader Juan Guaidó, and issued his starkest warning yet if it continues to stand with President Nicolás Maduro's government.

"You will find no safe harbour, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything," the US president said in a speech in at Florida International University in Miami before large American and Venezuelan flags. "We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open."

16 US states sue over Trump border wall emergency declaration

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 06:01 PM PST

Coalition led by California accuses the president of 'unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds'

A coalition of 16 US states led by California has launched legal action against Donald Trump's administration over his decision to declare a national emergency in order to fund a wall along the Mexico border.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the US district court for the northern district of California after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday when Congress declined his request for $5.7bn to help create his signature policy promise.

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Syrian Kurdish leader: border force needed to protect us from Turkey

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 09:00 PM PST

Ilham Ahmed says Kurds want allies from anti-Isis coalition on border to ensure Turkey does not attack

The leader of the Syrian Kurds has called for a small international observer force to be stationed on the Turkey-Syria border to protect Kurds from what she says is the threat of crimes against humanity committed by Turkish forces.

Ilham Ahmed is co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council – the political arm of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have been responsible for liberating much of north-eastern Syria from Islamic State.

Four-day week trial: study finds lower stress but no cut in output

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:47 AM PST

Study of trial at New Zealand firm finds staff were both happier and more productive

Analysis of one of the biggest trials yet of the four-day working week has revealed no fall in output, decreases in stress and increased staff engagement, fuelling hopes that a better work-life-balance for millions could finally be in sight.

Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand financial services company, switched its 240 staff from a five-day week to a four-day week last November and maintained their pay. Productivity increased in the four days they worked so there was no drop in the total amount of work done, a study of the trial released on Tuesday has revealed.

'A free pass for mobs': India urged to stem vigilante violence against minorities

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 09:42 PM PST

Human Rights Watch blames police inertia and government failures for lack of justice for those affected

Complicity by local officials and police inertia mean dozens of vigilante murders of religious minorities in India have gone unpunished over the last four years, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

The report urges the government to prosecute mob violence by so-called "cow protection groups" that have targeted Muslims, Dalits and other minorities in the five years since the Hindu nationalist BJP came to power.

Brexit causing ‘palpable decline’ in UK influence at the UN

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:37 AM PST

Diplomats suggest Britain's leverage on world stage will be weaker after EU departure

Brexit is already leading to a "palpable decline" in British influence at the UN, and that influence would be in freefall but for the UK's commitment to spend 0.7 % of gross national income on overseas aid, a study has found.

The report by the UK branch of the United Nations Association suggests Britain will lose political capital on the 15-member UN security council and the larger general assembly in New York because its campaigns will no longer be automatically aligned with those of the EU.

Police search for missing UK and French tourists at New South Wales beach

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 01:17 AM PST

Items belonging to Hugo Palmer and Erwan Ferrieux found at Shelley beach near Port Macquarie

A British tourist and a French tourist are missing at a beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Personal items belonging to Hugo Palmer and Erwan Ferrieux were found by walkers on Shelley Beach, near Port Macquarie, 390km north of Sydney, at sunrise on Monday.

Chinese province bans app-based homework to save pupils' eyesight

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 11:44 PM PST

Zhejiang issues draft regulation to combat soaring rates of nearsightedness

A Chinese province plans to ban teachers from assigning homework to be completed on mobile phone apps as part of efforts to preserve students' eyesight.

Zhejiang, in the east of the country, issued a draft regulation last week and sought public comment. It is one of several provinces considering such measures.

‘Mexico’s Alcatraz’ prison to be turned into a cultural centre

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 10:21 AM PST

Hundreds of inmates will be transferred to make way for Walls of Water arts venue

Mexico is to close one of the world's last remaining prison islands and turn it into a cultural centre named for a communist writer once held there.

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, signed a declaration at his Monday morning press conference closing the federal prison on the Islas Marías, 60 miles off Mexico's Pacific coast, saying he wanted to promote "more schools and fewer prisons".

City of stairs: the interconnecting walkways of Hong Kong

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 04:13 AM PST

Hans Leo Maes captures the bridges and stairways that link up the hilly, population-dense city

Hong Kong is known for its flashing lights, neon signs and high-rise skylines. But the architect and photographer Hans Leo Maes documents an alternative side – the city's interconnecting staircases and bridges.

"The extreme population density in Hong Kong means [structures] are stacked and linked by stairs, often external and very visible," Maes says.

How the world got hooked on palm oil

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 10:00 PM PST

It's the miracle ingredient in everything from biscuits to shampoo. But our dependence on palm oil has devastating environmental consequences. Is it too late to break the habit? By Paul Tullis

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there grew a magical fruit. This fruit could be squeezed to produce a very special kind of oil that made cookies more healthy, soap more bubbly and crisps more crispy. The oil could even make lipstick smoother and keep ice-cream from melting. Because of these wondrous qualities, people came from around the world to buy the fruit and its oil.

In the places where the fruit came from, people burned down the forest so they could plant more trees that grew the fruit – making lots of nasty smoke and sending all of the creatures of the forest scurrying away. When the trees were burned, they emitted a gas that heated up the air. Then everybody was upset, because they loved the forest's creatures and thought the temperature was warm enough already. A few people decided they shouldn't use the oil any more, but mostly things went on as before, and the forest kept burning.

Salford politicians condemn racist graffiti and far right rally

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:07 AM PST

Salford mayor and local MP condemn 'sickening' racist message sprayed on door

Politicians in Salford have said more needs to be done to drive racism from communities after a graffiti attack on the home of a 10-year-old boy and his father – and before a rally by the anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson is due to take place in the city.

In a joint statement, the Salford and Eccles Labour MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Salford's mayor, Paul Dennett, condemned the "sickening" racist message "no blacks" sprayed on the front door of Jackson Yamba and his son, David, just days after they moved in this month.

Lightsaber duelling registered as official sport in France

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:42 AM PST

Emulating Star Wars combatants will encourage young people to engage in regular exercise, says French Fencing Federation

It's now easier than ever in France to act out Star Wars fantasies. The country's fencing federation has officially recognised lightsaber duelling as a competitive sport, granting the weapon from George Lucas's space saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics.

Of course, the LED-lit, rigid polycarbonate replicas can't slice an opponent in half. But they look and sound remarkably like the blades that Yoda and other characters wield in the blockbuster movies.

A public holiday and gold-plated gun: Saudi crown prince feted on Asia tour

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 09:49 PM PST

Mohammed bin Salman courted by Imran Khan in Pakistan as part of what analysts call a Gulf pivot towards Asia

Mohammad bin Salman has been welcomed with a fighter jet escort, a gold-plated submachine gun and Pakistan's highest civilian honour on the lavish first leg of an Asian tour aimed at rehabilitating the image of the Saudi Arabian crown prince five months after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

After being personally chauffeured from the airport by the country's prime minister, Imran Khan, Prince Mohammed signed agreements worth $20bn on Monday, a crucial injection of funds for an ailing economy suffering a foreign-currency crunch and which is currently negotiating its 13th IMF bailout in 40 years.

'Young people hold the power': the movement against FGM – in pictures

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:00 AM PST

More than 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation and about 3 million more are at risk every year. Africa has the highest numbers, but its young people are fighting back

Photographs by the Girl Generation

Limos, mansions and millennials: how wealth transformed a quiet mountain

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 03:00 AM PST

Utah's Powder Mountain has seen an influx of monied entrepreneurs, but longtime residents fear something special is being lost

What bothers Dan Harris the most, he said, on a rickety chair on the porch of his 90-year-old, 800ft "cracker box farm house", is how the owners of the mountain across the street don't seem to feel the same devotion to it that he does.

As he described it, they have turned "a near-pristine" Utah mountain top where he hiked, hunted and skied as a youth into a landscape studded with holiday homes for high-profile business and media tycoons. "If you want a second vacation home, why use all those resources and space, all this potential wildlife habitat for a place you're going to visit a couple of times a year?" he said. "It just seems kind of arrogant."

Maduro government and Richard Branson to hold rival Venezuela concerts

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 02:19 AM PST

Country to hold event just over border from Colombian fundraiser organised by billionaire

The government of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro has announced that it will hold its own huge concert to rival one being organised by billionaire British businessman Richard Branson, a backer of the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó.

The information minister, Jorge Rodriguez, said the government will throw a concert on Saturday and Sunday on Venezuela's side of the border opposite one in Colombia organised by Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group.

Honda confirms Swindon plant will close in 2021

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 12:25 AM PST

Japanese carmaker will liaise with Unite union over loss of 3,500 jobs

Honda has confirmed the closure of its Swindon factory with the loss of 3,500 jobs, dealing another huge blow to Britain's car industry in the run-up to Brexit.

The Japanese carmaker announced it would shut the factory, its only European production site, in 2021, when the current model's production cycle ends.

'I feel alive again': prosthetics and hope in Central African Republic | Saskia Houttuin

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 11:00 PM PST

A clinic making artificial limbs in CAR – the country's only centre of its kind – is changing lives devastated by conflict

Exaucé Bagaza can't keep his eyes off his feet. A moment ago the five-year-old boy had one foot and now he has two: they are tucked into a pair of white tennis shoes adorned with flecks of green glitter.

Wobbling a little, the child presses his right hip on to his new leg, a prosthesis made of polypropylene. His physiotherapist leans forward, reaching for his hands: "Come here," he says.

Massive deforestation by refugees in Uganda sparks clashes with local people

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 03:46 AM PST

Communities clash over natural resources as arrivals from South Sudan and DRC plunder environment for fuel and construction

The cutting down of millions of trees has sparked angry clashes in parts of Uganda between local people and refugees who have been fleeing conflict in neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The timber is being used for house construction, fuel and to make charcoal. In the north and west of the country, where an estimated 1.1 million refugees are living, massive deforestation is drawing protests by local communities.

Hunt and Fox's Japanese fumble is a sign of UK's weakness

Posted: 18 Feb 2019 08:20 AM PST

Attempt to hustle Japan into a trade deal highlights the problems facing 'global Britain'

It takes a lot to anger the unfailingly polite, anglophile Japanese. But Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, appear to have managed it with their ill-judged attempt to hustle Tokyo into a quick-fire Brexit trade deal.

The diplomatic fumble has highlighted rapidly escalating difficulties facing "global Britain" – the government's nebulous vision for life after the EU – in forging new business and trade relationships around the world without an agreed post-Brexit strategy.

Donald Trump's direct appeal to Venezuelan military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó – video

Posted: 19 Feb 2019 01:49 AM PST

Donald Trump has used a speech in Miami, Florida, to issue a direct appeal to members of the Venezuelan military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The influential Venezuelan military has so far remained largely loyal to current president, Nicolás Maduro. The US president told the crowd, 'we seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open'