Younes Abouyaaqoub, understood to be chief suspect in Las Ramblas attack, is thought to be key member of 12-strong jihadist cell
Spanish police have intensified their hunt for a 22-year-old Moroccan man believed to be the driver of the van used in the Barcelona attack that killed at least 13 and injured more than 130 last Thursday. Younes Abouyaaqoub, understood to be the chief suspect in the attack on Las Ramblas, is thought to be a key member of a 12-strong jihadist cell responsible for the attacks in Barcelona and later in nearby Cambrils.
Police say a man previously reported as a suspect - 17-year-old Moussa Oukabir - was killed in the Cambrils attack. Oukabir was among five men shot dead as they launched their assault on tourists and locals in the coastal town west of Barcelona.
The tragic crash is the fourth major derailment incident on India?€?s struggling rail network this year
At least 23 people have been killed and more than 120 injured after a train came off the tracks in India on Saturday.
Rescuers and local people in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh worked into the night searching for survivors in the overturned and mangled carriages. Officials have said they expect the death toll to rise.
Spain?€?s second city mourns the victims as the shock sinks in that the Catalan capital has joined the list of terrorism targets in Europe
From the death, confusion and fear of Thursday?€?s terrorist attack, the Barcelona boulevard of Las Ramblas has returned to its historic role as a centre of life, reflection and defiance.
The paving stones on which the victims died have been cleaned of blood and transformed into a shrine that widens by the hour as mourners bring more tokens of sympathy - flickering candles, bunches of flowers, soft toys and messages of solidarity, love and defiance from around the world.
A row over the dual citizenship of Barnaby Joyce, Australia?€?s deputy prime minister, has brought simmering tensions to the surface
When Australia and New Zealand fight, rarely does it go beyond the gravity of two siblings scrapping. Conflict between the neighbours, separated by 1,300 miles across the Tasman Sea, typically takes the form of cheap jibes based on cultural stereotypes, or competing claims to the provenance of a racehorse, pop band or meringue-based dessert. Its only violent theatre is sporting clashes, such as yesterday?€?s first Bledisloe Cup Test. But that, for the most part, is as far is it goes.
Over the last week, however, relations took an uncommon turn. The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, denounced a ?€?conspiracy?€? between his domestic opponents and their New Zealand allies. A tirade from Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop against the New Zealand Labour party prompted one newspaper headline to wonder, ?€?Has Australia?€?s foreign minister accidentally declared war on New Zealand??€?
José Eduardo dos Santos steps down after elections this week. But an oil price crash and high inflation have loosened his MPLA party?€?s grip on power
It is a contest that will be familiar to many - not just in Angola but in every country across Africa where anyone remembers the cold war.
It pits the People?€?s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the political party that has ruled the southern African country for more than four decades, against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), which has been battling to gain control for more than 50 years.
Legislative powers taken from opposition-led parliament, as country?€?s fugitive attorney general alleges Maduro corruption links
Venezuela?€?s political crisis has deepened after a new pro-government ?€?superbody?€? stripped the opposition-held parliament of its legislative powers and the fugitive attorney general accused President Nicolás Maduro of links to a corruption scandal.
Hundreds of Islamic State fighters have sneaked back into north Africa - and could use it as a base for further attacks
As the hunt intensifies for members of a Moroccan-led cell thought to be responsible for the terror attacks in Spain, attention has turned to the hundreds of returned jihadists across the Strait of Gibraltar who intelligence officials fear pose a large, residual threat on Europe?€?s doorstep.
Up to 1,000 jihadists are thought to have been smuggled back to Morocco and Tunisia from the battlefields of Islamic State?€?s now crumbling caliphate. About 300 are thought to have returned to Morocco, from where six of the 12 terrorists who carried out the attacks in Catalonia are believed to have hailed.
One Briton injured in incident that killed two Finns and injured several others
An 18-year-old Moroccan man suspected of carrying out Friday?€?s deadly knife attack in Finland appeared to have targeted women as his victims, police have said.
Officers are treating the attack in Turku, in which two people were killed and eight injured, as a terrorist act.
White House says decision was mutual: ?€?We are grateful for his service?€?
Bannon says: ?€?I?€?m leaving and going to war for Trump against his opponents?€?
Steve Bannon has been removed from his post as White House chief strategist, ending his highly contentious career at the center of the Trump administration.
A statement from the White House press secretary was sent to journalists on Friday afternoon after multiple outlets reported Bannon was on his way out.
Academics and activists decry publisher?€?s decision to comply with a Chinese request to block more than 300 articles from leading China studies journal
The world?€?s oldest publishing house, Cambridge University Press, has been accused of being an accomplice to the Communist party?€?s bid to whitewash Chinese history after it agreed to purge hundreds of politically-sensitive articles from its Chinese website at the behest of Beijing?€?s censors.
The publisher confirmed on Friday that it had complied with a Chinese request to block more than 300 articles from the China Quarterly, a leading China studies journal, in order ?€?to ensure that other academic and educational materials we publish remain available to researchers and educators?€? in China.
Attacker who injured passersby, two seriously, was shot dead by police
Eight people have been injured in a knife attack in the Siberian city of Surgut, according to Russian news agency reports.
?€?A man was running along the main streets stabbing people,?€? Tass reported, citing the spokesman for the local office of the Russian law enforcement committee. The suspect was shot dead by police.
Widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner says in video that she needs time to grieve but it is not known if she made comments of her own free will
The widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has appeared for the first time since her husband?€?s funeral in an online video in which she said she was recuperating and asked for time to mourn.
Liu Xia had been under effective house arrest since her husband, a prominent dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, won the Nobel prize in 2010. He died on 13 July after being denied permission to leave the country for treatment of late-stage liver cancer.
Actor, who was raised a Scientologist, denies that the movement is similar to the fictional regime in The Handmaid?€?s Tale
Elisabeth Moss has defended Scientology after a fan on her Instagram account drew parallels between the movement and Gilead, the dystopian homeland depicted in The Handmaid?€?s Tale.
Wife of Zimbabwean president will be allowed to leave South Africa despite case involving Gabriella Engels, who says Mugabe whipped her with a cable
South Africa has granted diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe?€?s first lady, Grace Mugabe, allowing her to avoid prosecution for the alleged assault of a 20-year-old model, a security source has said.
South African police had put border posts on ?€?red alert?€? to prevent Mugabe fleeing and indicated she would receive no special treatment in the case involving Gabriella Engels, who says Mugabe whipped her with an electric extension cable.
Despite good intentions, Australians and others from western countries are often propping up Asian orphanages that separate children from families. Now there?€?s new efforts to tackle some of the consequences of ?€?voluntourism?€?
Much was hidden from the tourists visiting Sinet Chan in her rundown Cambodian orphanage.
When they returned to their hotels, cameras full and best intentions sated, they remained oblivious to the reality of what they had just supported.
Police say it is unclear if incident was related to terrorism as people warned to stay away from city
Finnish police say two people have died and six people have been injured after a stabbing attack in a market square in the south-western city of Turku.
It was unclear if the incident was related to terrorism, said police, who shot at and arrested one man after the attack. Contrary to earlier reports, police said they were not looking for other suspects.
Michael Signer will announce a plan to convince state lawmakers in Virginia to reform laws that restricts the removal of war memorials by city governments
Signer, who met with the Guardian during the aftermath of the violence that took place in the liberal campus city in Virginia, described the memorial service as ?€?one of the most powerful and profound experiences I?€?ve ever had in public or private life?€?.
The country?€?s economic crisis gives an edge to this hybrid documentary
This Venezuelan debut is the kind of production you often hear disparagingly described as a ?€?small film?€?, but a restricted canvas can make for maximum intimacy. It is a quietly compelling item that appears to be part documentary, part realist fiction, with a faint edge of dream-like ghostliness. La Soledad, meaning ?€?solitude?€?, is the name of a rambling house in Caracas - once magnificent, now dilapidated - formerly lived in by the family of director Jorge Thielen Armand. It is now inhabited by a working-class family - tenacious José, his wife, young daughter and infirm grandmother - but they may soon have to leave because the owners intend to sell the place.
Everyone, poor and relatively wealthy, is affected by Venezuela?€?s economic crisis, which shows its effects in food queues, empty supermarket shelves and an atmosphere of danger; one of José?€?s friends advises him to turn his hand to kidnapping as the only occupation that pays.
Malls and office complexes continue to spring up in Kuwait City, built by migrants often working illegally in soaring temperatures. But as oil and water reserves dwindle, the energy-guzzling citystate heads for an existential crisis
It is 9am and the temperature in Kuwait City is 45C and rising, but already people working outside. A row of litter-pickers are already hard at work along a coastal highway, their entire bodies covered to protect them from the sun. Outside one of the city?€?s many malls, valets hover beside the air-conditioned entrance, while two men in white hats huddle wearily next to their ice cream stands.
Other city residents are luckier. They can avoid the outdoors altogether, escaping the inferno by sheltering in malls, cars and office buildings, where temperatures are kept polar-cold.
Some urban experts say stripping roads of lights and barriers, and encouraging ?€?shared space?€?, could make them safer for all users
Imagine an alternative world without traffic rules, where you approach a junction and there?€?s no encouraging green light to get you on your way. Instead, all traffic is free, your movements aren?€?t controlled and all vehicles - regardless of the number of wheels or legs - have to interact with each other by instinct. Utopian madness? Chaos, confusion and traffic-clogged streets? Maybe not.
In a timelapse video of an intersection without any traffic signals in Ethiopia?€?s capital, Addis Ababa, this apparent chaos has been captured in action.
Statues installed on five buses with the support of the Seoul mayor - although use of public space to highlight this wartime atrocity has angered Japan
Buses serving several routes in central Seoul have acquired a new and highly controversial passenger: a barefoot ?€?comfort woman?€?, wearing a traditional hanbok dress with her hands resting on her knees.
Appearing on the front seat of buses in the South Korean capital earlier this week, the statues were installed by the Dong-A Transit company as a potent reminder of an unresolved wartime atrocity whose roots lie in Japan?€?s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula.
The Great Fire destroyed much of a city home to thousands of refugees, but once again Thessaloniki has become a place of multicultural amnesty
It was a spark from a homemade stove falling on a pile of straw at a refugees?€? hovel that?€?s said to have instigated a new phase in the history of Thessaloniki, Greece?€?s second city. A century ago, on 18 August 1917, the fire grew into an inferno that destroyed 9,500 houses, left 1 sq km of the city in cinders and 70,000 homeless.
As the centre of operations for allied forces in the Balkans during the first world war, Thessaloniki had no fire service and its water supply was requisitioned by foreign soldiers - which, along with the Vadaris wind, is why the Great Fire attained historic proportions.
Streets across the world are littered with gum, and although many cities have tried and failed to eradicate these sticky circles, Mexico City continues to wage this seemingly unwinnable war
Each night dozens of trucks carrying 15 people depart from Mexico City?€?s downtown to Francisco I Madero Avenue, the most famous pedestrian street in the capital. Armed with 90C vapour guns called Terminators, the group begins the laborious task of combing the street looking for small, black circles fastened to the ground.
It takes them three days, working in eight-hour shifts, to go through the 9,000 sq metre avenue. By the end, they have removed a total of 11,000 pieces of chewing gum.
In three years, 10,000 people were killed in Juárez - and a quarter of its houses abandoned to gangs. Can the city?€?s young people reclaim those spaces for themselves?
At the age of 14, Alan has already been given the nickname El Botellas(Bottles) by his friends. The teenager dropped out of school and now drinks heavily, spending much of his time at a dilapidated home on the outskirts of the Mexico border city of Ciudad Juárez.
On a particularly hot Saturday afternoon, a former gang member turned community activist, Israel Ríos, appears at the house. ?€?You are too young for this!?€? he scolds. Ríos promises to give the assembled kids English classes, despite El Botellas?€? insistence that he is not interested in learning.
Parks exclusively for women are popping up in Iranian cities, but critics are divided over whether this is just another ploy to keep them hidden in public
?€?I love to take off my headscarf,?€? says Laleh, 47, a hairdresser from Tehran. She?€?s sitting with a group of friends around one of the many picnic tables in the Mother?€?s Paradise, a park in the Iranian capital. She?€?s wearing a fringed mint-green T-shirt through which you can see her bare stomach. ?€?We can wear airy clothes here, and that?€?s a freedom I really enjoy.?€?
Behind her, a group of women wearing T-shirts and skinny jeans are dancing to loud pop music. One of them climbs on top of a table and sways her hips to the rhythm of the music. A group of schoolgirls wearing white headscarves stop to watch.
Years before he found fame as a Magnum photographer, Elliott Erwitt was commissioned to document the city of Pittsburgh. Many of the images he took as a 22-year-old lay forgotten for decades, but have now been compiled in a book
The cultural capital of Kandy - controversial location for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - survived Sri Lanka?€?s civil war relatively intact. Now it?€?s thriving, thanks in no small part to an infamous relic: one of the Buddha?€?s teeth
On a hill directly above Kandy there is a statue of Buddha in a seated posture, palms on his lap, signifying meditation. This is far from the most important shrine in this Buddhist-majority city, or indeed an unusual sight in Sri Lanka - the country is peppered with polished white or golden statues that are visible from afar, distinctive amid vegetation. Nonetheless, its proximity to Kandy makes it a good point from which to contemplate the city - and a highly Instagrammable one.
On a scorching spring afternoon, western tourists snapped photos under the indifferent eye of Buddhist monks, while one could hear distant religious chants mixed with the sounds of 90s European dance hits at a party - a scene that pretty much represents the vertiginous change happening in Sri Lanka which, less than a decade after the traumatic civil war ended, is experiencing a tourism boom.
Historic cities are buckling under the pressure. Could targeting repeat visitors be one way to make tourism less of a burden on people who live there year-round
Not all tourists count getting drunk before noon and desecrating a local monument or two as top priority for a break away, but those that do have come to represent the masses in the cities where they let loose.
Across Europe, where increasing numbers of visitors can overwhelm residents in the summer months, the backlash has started. ?€?War?€? - and a new awareness campaign - has been declared in Venice. Fines for eating, drinking or sitting on historic fountains have been increased in Rome. Basilica steps where tourists congregate are being hosed down daily in Florence.
Editor of censored journal says China?€?s president is far less pragmatic about dissenting views than his predecessors, as some academics vow to boycott CUP
The censorship row involving the world?€?s oldest publishing house and its most powerful one-party state has exposed the increasingly authoritarian turn China has taken under Xi Jinping, the editor of the journal at the centre of the controversy has said.
Criticism of Cambridge University Press intensified on Sunday over its controversial decision to comply with a Chinese request to block access to more than 300 articles from the China Quarterly, a leading China studies journal, so as to avoid having other publications targeted by Beijing?€?s censors.
Next May, an EU regulation will enshrine the protection of personal data into law and not even Brexit is going to stop it
Next year, 25 May looks like being a significant date. That?€?s because it?€?s the day that the European Union?€?s general data protection regulation (GDPR) comes into force. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it?€?s a date that is already keeping many corporate executives awake at night. And for those who are still sleeping soundly, perhaps it would be worth checking that their organisations are ready for what?€?s coming down the line.
Everyone in Judge Craig Hannah?€?s opiate-specific court is offered a deal: complete addiction treatment and the charges against them may be reduced
?€?You have to want to get help, and you have to want to help yourself,?€? counsels Judge Craig Hannah from his bench in Buffalo city court 11. ?€?You can?€?t just keep running away from the treatment bus.?€?
Hannah, a pioneering jurist who oversees the nation?€?s first Opiate Crisis Intervention Court in northern New York, is speaking to a man who has flunked out of rehab a second time. A bed in a third facility may not be so easy to find. The addict - a ?€?participant?€? in the parlance of the court - looks doubtful, and Hannah continues his pitch: ?€?If you get on the bus, I?€?m going to take off my robe and come down there and shake you by the hand.
Daniel Andrews and Bill Shorten address rally in Melbourne telling people there should not be a postal survey on same-sex marriage, but to vote yes
The Victorian premier has accused Malcolm Turnbull of giving in to ?€?extreme elements within his government?€? by holding a postal survey on marriage equality.
?€?There?€?s no need for us to be having this postal plebiscite, this postal survey, but the prime minister in his weakness has given into some extreme elements within his government,?€? Daniel Andrews said on Sunday.
Terrorists chose to attack one of the great glocal cities this week. But Barcelona?€?s past has made it resilient
Last June, Barcelona commemorated the 30th anniversary of the last major terrorist attack the city had suffered. A bomb placed in the basement of a popular superstore, Hipercor, by Eta, the Basque terrorist group, killed 21 and left scores of other shoppers wounded. Eta terrorism was seen as a Spanish affair and the victims were all Spaniards.
Last Thursday, 30 years later, the city centre was hit by terror again. A similar number of casualties have been caused by the criminal act, only this time the victims were from 35 nationalities. These days Eta is mercifully inactive, terrorism is a global affair and Barcelona is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe. No one was surprised at the number of foreign victims.
Meads, who has died of pancreatic cancer, played 133 games for the All Blacks, including 55 tests, from 1957 to 1971.
Colin Meads, the famously tough All Blacks captain hailed as New Zealand?€?s greatest rugby player of the 20th century, has died after suffering from cancer. He was 81.
Meads played 55 tests among 133 games for New Zealand between 1957 and 1971 - a prodigious number in an era in which the All Blacks seldom played more than four tests a year.
Scientists perplexed by wildfire that has been burning since July in grassland just 40 miles from the ice sheet
A large wildfire has been burning in Greenland for at least two weeks.
The wildfire was first spotted by satellites on 31 July and last photographed on 16 August when it was still growing. It was burning about 40 miles from the Greenland ice sheet and about 90 miles northeast of the city of Sisimiut.
Discussion of the issue is rare in Hong Kong but a small group of women is using workshops and Facebook to break the silence
In a sex-toy shop nestled in the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong?€?s Causeway Bay, a quiet revolution is taking place.
Amid the usual paraphernalia you might expect on the shelves of Sally?€?s Toys is a stack of menstrual cups, a clue to the outlet?€?s second life. Once a week, the shop hosts education sessions for women on a taboo subject: periods.
More than 500 far right extremists attempted to march to the site of the prison where Nazi officer Rudolf Hess died
Leftwing groups and Berlin residents have prevented more than 500 far right extremists from marching to the place where high-ranking Nazi official Rudolf Hess died 30 years ago.
Police in riot gear kept the neo-Nazis and an estimated 1,000 counter-protesters apart on Saturday as the two sides staged competing rallies in the German capital?€?s western district of Spandau.
By charging visitors to enter its crumbling walls, the medieval town of Civita di Bagnoregio has turned the threat of destruction to its advantage
As leaders of some of Europe?€?s most popular holiday destinations ponder recent anti-tourism protests, they should perhaps take inspiration from the mayor of Civita di Bagnoregio, a hamlet perched on a plateau of volcanic rock surrounded by steep ravines in Italy?€?s Lazio region.
Francesco Bigiotti, who also manages the main town of Bagnoregio, has rushed in where other mayors fear to tread - anyone wanting to cross the footbridge to visit his medieval village must pay.
Alleged ban on 1748 erotic novel seen as pandering to the sensibilities of a generation of ?€?snowflake?€? students
On Monday, Vogue?€?s website, unusually straying into academia, reported: ?€?Eyebrows were raised when the first erotic novel in the English language, Fanny Hill, was dropped from an 18th-century literature course ?€?for fear of offending students?€?.?€? This followed a headline in the Mail on Sunday: ?€?Erotic novel first banned 270 years ago for describing a young girl?€?s sexual exploits is censored AGAIN - in case it upsets students.?€? Both assertions were incorrect, neatly illustrating how freedom of speech so easily slides into the murky realms of Trumpian ?€?post-truth?€?.
John Cleland?€?s Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, popularly known as Fanny Hill (a play on mons veneris - the mount of Venus) was published in 1748. He began it as a young man working in the East India Company in Bombay in response to a challenge to write what became the first English pornographic novel without using coarse language. He completed it in his 30s, in debtor?€?s prison, writing to pay for his freedom. He returned to jail soon after, convicted on obscenity charges.
Local people shocked to discover Barcelona killers lived among them
Residents of the small Catalan town of Ripoll are still in a state of shock, after it emerged that it was home to most of the suspected terrorists involved in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils that left 14 dead and over 100 injured.
?€?There are only about 11,000 of us and only 9% are immigrants,?€? said Jordi Munell, the town?€?s mayor, who has appealed for calm. ?€?We practically all know each other.?€?
In this piece by the international development secretary, she says in giving £5m to the flood response, Britain is at the forefront of helping a nation in need
Sierra Leone is a country once more in need of urgent humanitarian assistance following the devastating floods that have taken hundreds of lives, and destroyed many more. It is unfair to say that the UK government has had little to say on the devastating loss of life, as claimed in the Guardian on Thursday.
No nosso diario da vida um ano após os Jogos Olímpicos, Daiene Mendes pergunta como os moradores das favelas conseguem manter-se otimistas quando o Brasil não melhorou as suas condições apesar de todas as oportunidades de investimento
O Rio de Janeiro sediou, em agosto de 2016, os Jogos Olímpicos. Mas o que isso representa para os moradores das favelas, principalmente para o Complexo do Alemão?
Passaram 365 dias desde à realização dos Jogos Olímpicos, destes, apenas 147 dias terminaram sem que os moradores do Complexo do Alemão não ouvissem algum disparo por arma de fogo. Dos 365 dias que passaram desde aquele lindo espetáculo com promessas de legado, esperança e paz, 218 foram acompanhados pela trilha sonora dos tiros, que nos paralisa, altera a nossa rotina e nos provoca medo.
In her diary entry one year on from the Olympics, Thaís Cavalcante says people are still struggling, caught between the economic crisis and everyday violence
One year after all eyes were on the ?€?marvellous city?€?, we are reinventing ourselves amid the crisis in the economy, violence and popular power.
The Olympic Games determined what the quality of life in favelas would be. We are already feeling the impact of the huge amounts of money spent on the games.
Um ano após as Olímpiadas, Thaís Cavalcante explica que entre a crise economica e violencia vivida diariamente as pessoas ainda lutam para sobreviver no dia-a-dia
Um ano depois de grandes olhares para a ?€?cidade maravilhosa?€?, estamos nos reinventando em meio a crise econômica, a violência e o poder popular.
Os Jogos Olímpicos determinaram como seria a qualidade de vida dos moradores de favelas da cidade. E com todo o gasto durante osJogos, já sentimos o impacto, pelas dificuldades financeiras e pela pouca valorização da cultura da nossa cidade.
No nosso diario da vida um ano depois das Olímpiadas, Michel Silva diz que são necessárias políticas de longo prazo para melhorar a saúde, a educação e a segurança no Rio e não uma solução a curto prazo
Precisamos falar do Rio de Janeiro. No meu primeiro artigo, em agosto de 2015, profetizei: ?€?Não estamos preparados para outro mega evento.?€?Recebi críticas de amigos dizendo que fui arrogante com as palavras. Mas acho que às vezes dói enxergar a triste realidade em que vivemos no Rio de Janeiro. Chegamos ao fundo do poço, tanto financeiramente quanto socialmente.
Os cariocas sofrem com a falta de planejamento do governo e as denúncias de corrupção que assola o cenário político nacional. O ex-governador do Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral, foi preso três meses após a Olimpíada por comandar uma organização criminosa que movimentou mais de R$ 220 milhões. O ex-governador já foi condenado a mais de 14 anos de prisão. Ele é réu em 12 processos relacionados às investigações conduzidas pela força-tarefa da Operação Lava Jato.
In her diary entry on life in Alemão one year on from the Games in Rio, Daiene Mendes says the sports mega events did not bring security but more repression
A year has gone by since the Olympic Games. Only 147 of those 365 days ended without the residents of Complexo do Alemão hearing gunshots. After the promises of hope and the Games?€? legacy of peace, 218 days were accompanied by a soundtrack of gunfire.
On 218 days we were afraid we wouldn?€?t make it home alive; we were scared to leave the house in case we were hit by a stray bullet; on 218 days we were afraid that the walls of our homes might be hit. To pretend that we were not in a war zone, the military police painted their armoured military tanks - popularly called caveirão, or ?€?big skull?€? - white.
In his diary entry one year on from the Olympics, Michel Silva says that only long-term public policies will improve health, education and security in Rio
We need to talk about Rio de Janeiro. In my first article for the Guardian in August 2015 , I said we were not ready for another mega event. I had some criticism from friends, who said such words were arrogant. But I think sometimes it hurts to see the sad reality of life in Rio. We hit rock bottom, both financially and socially.
Cariocas - natives of Rio - are suffering because of the lack of government planning and the allegations of corruption that plague national politics. The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state, Sérgio Cabral, was arrested three months after the Olympics for commanding a criminal organisation that took 224m reais (£54m) in bribes. He has been sentenced to more than 14 years in prison as a result of investigations conducted by the Lava Jato taskforce.
Women of the Baiga tribe have traditionally been marked as a sign of identity. But as more girls go to school, they are starting to reject the practice, which they say is ?€?painful and embarrassing?€?
Transparency campaigners highlight alleged human rights abuses in Egypt as controversial conflict, stability and security fund comes under scrutiny again
The government is facing questions over transparency after almost £2 million in aid and defence funding was given to security projects in Egypt, including support for policing, the criminal justice system and the treatment of juvenile detainees.
The news comes with Egypt?€?s security forces under fire from human rights groups for routine disappearances, the torture of detainees, and the jailing of political opponents and journalists.
Land rights activists applaud rejection of case brought by Brazilian state that claimed it was due compensation for award of territory to native inhabitants
The Brazilian supreme court has ruled in favour of two tribes in a case that is being hailed as a significant victory for indigenous land rights.
The unanimous decision - which went against the state of Mato Grosso do Sul - settled a dispute over land traditionally occupied by indigenous people and ordered the authorities to respect the demarcation of land.
The UK has punched above its weight in court decisions. Such influence will be surrendered as Brexit becomes a reality
Why exactly is the European court of justice (ECJ) the subject of such unrelenting vilification by the Brexiters? To lawyers familiar with the court?€?s judgments, this has always been something of a mystery.
This is, after all, the court that ruled that the European Central Bank was wrong to insist that euro clearing houses should be based in the eurozone. A triumph for the City of London.
The loss of Trump?€?s chief strategist is a triumph for Jared Kushner and the White House?€?s ?€?New York?€? faction. But that doesn?€?t mean the end of Bannonism
From the moment Steve Bannon compared himself to Thomas Cromwell in the court of the Tudors and Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga, his demise was perhaps historically preordained. Cromwell fell out of favour with Henry VIII and was beheaded for treason, while Vader was fatally wounded while saving Luke Skywalker from the Emperor?€?s lightning bolts.
News that the White House?€?s chief strategist and chief ideologue is the latest to get the chop in what has become a West Wing bloodbath will be cheered by those in America and around the world who saw him as the personification of Donald Trump?€?s dark and dangerous populism. That came boiling to the surface during last Saturday?€?s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia and when Trump failed to condemn the neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members who had come to that city to protest the removal of a Confederate monument.
The former chief strategist?€?s career arc took him from media activist to shadow adviser to campaign executive and then an office in the West Wing
With his departure Friday from the White House, former chief strategist Steve Bannon?€?s career arc completed its steep climb and descent which took him from media activist to shadow adviser to campaign executive and then an office in the West Wing.
The president has let us all down in his response to Charlottesville. But let?€?s stop imagining that Trump?€?s reaction to this horror is an anomaly - it?€?s not
I don?€?t have anything uplifting or insightful to say on Charlottesville that hasn?€?t already been said. I do want to point out, though, that as we hear again and again that white supremacist terrorism and Trump?€?s reaction to it is not how most Americans or Republicans think, these polls prove that wrong.
A full 67% of Republicans approve of Trump?€?s message after Charlottesville, in which he blamed ?€?many sides?€? for violence and later equated counter-protesters to neo-Nazi and white supremacist terrorists. Another poll showed that six in ten people who approve of the president say there is nothing he could do that would change their level of support.
The van narrowly missed us. Although I was left with little more than a bruise, the events in Barcelona reminded me how precious life is
I woke up this morning early. I normally don?€?t wake early. We set our alarm for 6:30 to get to the airport, as we?€?re flying home from Spain today. Today I don?€?t need an alarm because I have my own internal alarm: it went off sometime before 5pm yesterday and it?€?s still ringing. I check my husband and son are beside me: they are safe.
I get up to go the bathroom and the bruise on my thigh makes it slightly sore to walk. This is my war wound. A physical reminder of what happened yesterday in Barcelona. It?€?s about 4in long and 2in wide, bright purple and hard to touch. It?€?s quite unremarkable and a small price to pay. In some ways it?€?s a comfort. It reminds me that I am not crazy, that what happened yesterday was real. It is a temporary tattoo and will be gone very soon. I would imagine the emotional bruise will last a little longer.
Country has been on its second highest alert since 2015, and Catalonia has a reputation as a meeting place for radicals
Images of the aftermath of the attack on Barcelona?€?s most famous street on Thursday will stir different images in the minds of different people. For those in France and the UK, they will be reminders of the attacks on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and on Westminster Bridge in London.
For many Spaniards, they will bring back memories of 11 March 2004, when 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 others injured in a series of train bombings in Madrid carried out by al-Qaida.
Can you make a city safe against terrorists using vehicles as weapons? No, is the short answer, no more than you can against terrorists using other everyday items to execute attacks.
But authorities can do much to mitigate the threat, at least to some obvious targets. With hindsight, officials will be regretting not moving faster to boost security measures on Las Ramblas boulevard, packed with tourists on a sunny August afternoon, after vehicle attacks elsewhere in Europe since last year.
Police searched two addresses in the town of Ripoll, 60 miles (100km) north of Barcelona, in their hunt for terror suspects involved in Thursday?€?s attack
A video has emerged appearing to show Russian police pinning down a man they suspect of wounding eight people in a knife attack in the Siberian city of Surgut.
Russian authorities are ?€?investigating attempted murder?€?, according to a spokesperson, but it is not clear whether the incident was terrorism-related
Jared Tucker, from California, was in Barcelona with his wife to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. The couple were on a tour of Europe and had been enjoying drinks on a pavement cafe when the attackers struck
Steve Bannon has been a naval officer, an investment banker, a film producer and an executive at Breitbart News. He was made Donald Trump?€?s chief strategist and was arguably the most influential man in the White House, but has now been removed, ending his highly contentious career at the center of the Trump administration
Witnesses to the van attack in central Barcelona describe the events that led to the deaths of 13 people in the popular Las Ramblas area of the city. Scores of people were injured in the incident, 17 critically
At the end of a minute?€?s silence a day after the attacks in Catalonia, the crowd in Barcelona?€?s main square broke into applause and chanted: ?€?No tinc por?€? (?€?I am not afraid?€?). Among those in attendance were King Felipe, the prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Catalan regional leader Carles Puigdemont, and Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona
Amateur footage appears to capture the moment officers shoot at a terror suspect in the coastal town of Cambrils on Thursday night. The man is knocked to the ground but stands up again. He is wearing what looks like an explosive vest, which later turned out to be fake. A total of five suspects were shot dead by police during the incident
When she was 30, Suzy Hansen left the US for Istanbul - and began to realise that Americans will never understand their own country until they see it as the rest of the world does
Memorials are laid and security forces on high alert across Spain the day after terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils killed at least 13 people and injured more than 100
I wrote this tool some months ago while developing on the xPresso publishing system (NO), and has done some rewriting this week to implement further functionality.
The Codificator now provides: - automatic code wrapping in DC board format - conversion of regular HTML-formatted text to DC board formatted text - link extraction from HTML to DC board format - auto fetch of webpages, with on-select conversion of content to DC board format.
It won't boil your coffee or knit you a warm sweater for the winter, but it may help you to be more efficient when you're online discussing politics.
**** Bug fix, new release **** Bug in bbsFunctions.php, xAuth.php and some language fixed. For fix of existing installation, download the package, then extract progs/bbsFunctions.php and progs/xAuth.php to replace your current versions. **** Bug fix, new release ****
AnoBBS is a opensource 3DES-encrypted Bulletin Board where users encrypt their messages before submit with a common known phrase, using javascript. The server does not know the key, so this is end-to-end encryption where the key is never submitted. The technology used is Ajax and PHP, the forum files are stored as XML. Below is a list of the basic functionality: - user authentication - topic list and topic view - three userlevels; admin, moderator and user - post threads - post and edit replies - print or save threads - edit, delete and lock threads (mod) - edit forumdata and users (admin) - save BBS (admin) - delete BBS (admin)
The BBS is very simple to install and even simpler to use. It requires only a standard php distro on the server and a javascript enable browser to function.
**** Bug fix, new release **** Bug in cFunctions.php fixed. For fix of existing installation, download the package, then extract progs/cFunctions.php to replace your current versions. **** Bug fix, new release ****
AnoChat is an opensource 3DES-encrypted chat where users encrypt their messages before submit with a common known phrase, using javascript. The server does not know the key, so this is end-to-end encryption where the key is never submitted. The technology used is JX, similar to Ajax. The chat is very simple to install and even simpler to use. It requires only a standard php distro on the server and a javascript enabled browser to function.
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
