World news | The Guardian

The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6% in the three months ending in SeptemberChina’s economic growth sank to a 26-year low in the latest quarter amid pressure from a trade war with Washington, adding to a deepening slump that is weighing on global growth.The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6% in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarter’s 6.2%, data showed on Friday. It was the weakest growth since China started reporting data by quarters in 1993. Continue reading...

With a dire shortage of land for graves, the holy city is reviving an ancient custom of underground burial – with lift access, LED lighting and golf buggiesCool air from deep inside the mountain lightly wafts through cavernous arched tunnels. Along the walls of the subterranean passages, rows of human-sized chambers have been dug into the rock. It is unmistakably a catacomb.Yet this mass tomb is not a relic of the Roman empire. It was made with huge electric diggers, and the walls are lined with concrete. People will enter by lift, and those with limited mobility will be able to use a golf buggy to traverse the necropolis. Continue reading...

World Bank targets ‘learning poverty’ as research shows major shortfall in basic reading skills among least privileged childrenNine out of 10 children in the world’s poorest countries are unable to read a basic book by the age of 10 – a situation mirrored in reverse in rich countries, where only 9% cannot do so by the same age.Data compiled by the World Bank and the UN also shows that when low- and middle-income countries are taken together – a total of 135 states – more than half of all children cannot read a simple text at 10 years old. Continue reading...

Many unionists are angry but widespread public disorder over deal seems unlikelyThe last time Downing Street foisted a deal on Northern Ireland’s unionists, the backlash was swift and bitter. Hundreds of thousands poured on to the streets to protest. A mob punched and kicked the secretary of state outside Belfast city hall. They hit him with a union jack-draped flagpole, grappled him into a headlock and chanted, “Traitor, traitor, traitor.”It was 1985 and Margaret Thatcher had signed the Anglo-Irish agreement giving Dublin a say in Northern Ireland’s affairs. It took burly bodyguards to save her secretary of state, Tom King, from the mob’s wrath. Demonstrations, strikes and civil disobedience raged for months. “We say, ‘Never, never, never, never!’” Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist party leader, bellowed to a crowd. Continue reading...

Makers of products ranging from Scotch whisky to biscuits and Savile Row suits to sufferBritish manufacturers of products ranging from Scotch whisky to biscuits and Savile Row suits are braced for a significant financial hit after US tariffs came into effect in retaliation for subsidies given to aerospace manufacturer Airbus.Tariffs of 25% came into effect at midnight on the US east coast (5am BST), damaging small businesses with few links to a 15-year aerospace industry battle between Airbus, the European champion, and American rival Boeing. Continue reading...

Three countries object to animated movie scene showing Chinese territorial claims in South China SeaMalaysia’s film censors have ordered a scene to be removed from the animated movie Abominable which shows China’s nine-dash line in the South China Sea, an official has said, amid growing anger among countries with overlapping claims to the region.The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its territorial claims over vast expanses of the resource-rich South China Sea, including areas claimed by other countries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Independent senator says 99.9% are more concerned with ‘the dysfunction of Veterans Affairs’The independent senator Jacqui Lambie has rebuffed Peter Dutton’s claim that “the vast majority of veterans” would want her to abolish the medevac laws, as pressure mounts from all sides to secure her crucial swing vote.As expected, a government-heavy Senate inquiry into the legislation recommended repealing the laws, which make it easier for doctors to recommend refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru be transported to Australia for medical treatment. Continue reading...

Security minister says decision not to detain Ovidio Guzmán López was made to protect citizens, after heavy gunfireIntense fighting has erupted in the Mexican city of Culiacán, where masked gunmen threw up burning barricades and traded gunfire with security forces after the arrest of one of the sons of the jailed former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.Images shared on social media showed trucks with mounted heavy machine guns patrolling the city streets. Another clip showed a gunman with an assault rifle shooting at an unknown target against a soundtrack of continuous gunfire. Continue reading...

Move comes seven months after 51 people were killed at two mosques in the country’s worst peacetime shootingNew Zealand officials have said armed police will patrol parts of the country in a trial project following heightened security concerns after the mass shooting in Christchurch in March that killed 51 people.New Zealand, like the United Kingdom and Norway, is one of the few countries where police do not carry guns while on general duty. However handguns, rifles and Tasers are kept in their vehicles and can be used with a supervisor’s permission. Continue reading...

Trump hails ceasefire and ‘safe zone’ on Turkey-Syria border as ‘great day for civilisation’ but few believe itThe deal agreed between the US and Turkey immediately achieved the priority objective of vice-president Mike Pence’s peace mission to Ankara: Donald Trump was able to claim victory on Twitter.The president had unwittingly alienated most of his own party over his acceptance of the Turkish invasion of north-eastern Syria, and was already in the midst of an impeachment battle. Continue reading...

Quim Torra says people trying to damage reputation of independence movement as fourth night of violence rocks cityBarcelona suffered its fourth and worst night of violence on Thursday as pro-independence supporters clashed with police and right-wing groups in running battles well into the small hours of Friday morning.The disturbances followed a now familiar pattern as a large demonstration called earlier in the evening dispersed and groups of protesters clashed with police in the city centre who say that a clothing shop was set on fire and a bank was vandalised. Continue reading...

Other seat for Latin America went to Brazil, whose far-right leader has expressed contempt for the concept of human rightsActivists have responded with outrage after Venezuela won a fiercely contested vote for a seat on the UN’s human rights council on Thursday, despite its well-documented record of human rights abuses.The 193-member world body elected 14 members to the 47-member council on Thursday for three-year terms starting in January, with Venezuela claiming one of the two seats allocated to Latin America with 105 votes. Continue reading...

US vice president Mike Pence on Thursday announced that the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, had agreed to a ceasefire in Syria, where Turkey had launched an offensive on Kurdish forces once allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State group. Ankara will suspend its operation on Kurdish-led forces in north-east Syria for the next five days in order to allow Kurdish troops to withdraw

Friday: Mike Pence and Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan agree on five-day pause in hostilities. Plus, farmers claim minister gave tacit permission for clearingGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 18 October. Continue reading...

Roger Jenkins would have risked losing £50m if he had sought any criminal deal, lawyer saysA former Barclays executive who is on trial in London on fraud charges would have risked losing a £50m “good leaver” package if he had sought a criminal deal with Qatar during the credit crisis, a court has heard.It would have been “lunacy” for Roger Jenkins to put at risk such accrued benefits and a job that had paid him £38m in 2007 alone, his lawyer said at the Old Bailey. Continue reading...

Follow the day’s Brexit events as they happen

The row over Fañch or Fanch was settled after the parents’ two-year tussle with officialsA two-year French legal battle over an orthographic squiggle has ended in victory for a couple granted the right to write their infant son’s Breton first name as Fañch instead of Fanch.The country’s highest court for criminal and civil cases threw out an appeal bid by the authorities of Rennes, the capital of the north-western Brittany region, against an earlier ruling in favour of the family of Fañch Bernard. Continue reading...

Donald Tusk has failed to back Jean-Claude Juncker by refusing to rule out granting a further extension to the date of the UK’s departure from the EU. Speaking at a press conference after a new Brexit deal was endorsed by the EU, the European council president said he had ‘no idea’ what would happen in the House of Commons

Tommy Wright was allegedly handed cash in undercover newspaper investigationA former assistant head coach at Barnsley accepted a £5,000 bribe to leak commercial information about the football club’s players, a court has heard.Tommy Wright was allegedly handed an envelope of cash during an undercover investigation by the Daily Telegraph. Continue reading...

The Irish PM said on Thursday he had 'mixed feelings' over the Brexit deal reached between the UK and the EU. Speaking at a press conference after the deal was ratified and sent to the UK parliament for approval, the taoiseach said he regretted Brexit but added that 'there will always be a place at the table for the United Kingdom, if they ever choose to come back'

Duke of Sussex reveals emotional toll of following in footsteps of Diana, Princess of WalesThe Duke of Sussex has described the emotional impact of walking in his mother’s footsteps, and how dealing with her death is a “wound that festers”, in a new ITV documentary.In an interview with ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby, Prince Harry was asked how he felt retracing the steps of Diana, Princess of Wales, during the recent southern Africa tour with the Duchess of Sussex, 22 years after his mother’s death. Continue reading...

Aid agencies struggle to respond as 300,000 people are displaced from their homesShifting frontlines and allegiances in Syria are making it difficult to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis triggered by Turkey’s offensive on Kurdish-controlled parts of the country, aid groups have said.After eight days of the Turkish operation about 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes and at least 71 people killed in north-east Syria, according to the UN and a human rights monitor. Local officials on Thursday put the number of dead at 231. Over the border in Turkey, 20 civilians have been killed in counterattacks. Continue reading...

Students say remarks by Indian freedom fighter mean proposed sculpture would be an ‘insult’Manchester city council should reject a statue of the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi on account of his “well-documented anti-black racism”, according to student activists.The planned 2.7-metre (9ft) bronze statue is due to be erected outside Manchester Cathedral in November to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth. An open letter is calling for the council to acknowledge Gandhi’s “vile comments” and reverse the decision, which it says is an “insult” to Manchester’s black and Kashmiri communities. Continue reading...

In response to the changing meaning of the red poppy, Anthony Matthew argues that military pomp can hide the disaster of war, while Barbara Crowther describes a local memorial to all victimsThe Royal British Legion has modified the meaning of the red remembrance poppies to include “innocent civilians who have lost their lives in conflict and acts of terrorism” (Report, 16 October).This broadening of the scope of remembrance still falls short of that represented by the white poppies distributed by the Peace Pledge Union, which covers all those who have died in armed conflict, whether military or civilian, whatever side they belonged to. Only that way can war be remembered as a disaster, not something to be celebrated with military pomp. Continue reading...

Ed Husic says federal government spends ‘more money on government advertising than on countering violent extremism’Labor MPs have welcomed spy agency Asio’s recognition that the threat from extreme rightwing terrorism in Australia is on the rise but will now push the government to do more to counter the threat.On Thursday, Labor MP Anne Aly – a former academic specialising in countering violent extremism – said the recognition of the threat was “a long time coming” and suggested Australia had been slow to recognise the alleged Christchurch massacre shooter was “one of us”. Continue reading...

European commission president puts pressure on British MPs to pass new Brexit deal by pouring doubt on the possibility of any further extension. Arriving in Brussels for the EU summit, Juncker said there was no argument for further delay

Duchess of Sussex is suing Mail on Sunday for copyright infringement and invasion of privacyMeghan, the Duchess of Sussex, kept a copy of a highly personal handwritten letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle, suggesting she may have correctly feared it would later be leaked to the media.Court filings seen by the Guardian show that the duchess has a full record of the correspondence, including unpublished sections, which is now being used to assist her legal case against the Mail on Sunday for copyright infringement and invasion of privacy. Continue reading...

Subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines seek information about flight crew training and 737 Max software MCASLawyers representing families of passengers killed in a Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March are set to issue subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, the two biggest US operators of the jet, according to documents seen by Reuters.The subpoenas will be issued over the next couple of days, the lawyers separately told Reuters. Continue reading...

From the groundbreaking dramas of the 60s, through the early-90s resurgence to the unexpected box office successes of recent years, we assess the director’s outputKen Loach’s contribution to this short-film package of film-makers’ responses to 9/11 is a perfectly serviceable account of a different September 11: an activist’s letter to America about the coup against President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. At the time it seemed jarring, and in retrospect very much not what was needed; but it’s not the worst of the bunch – González Iñárritu gets nul points for incorporating footage of people jumping from the collapsing World Trade Center in a sound/image collage. Continue reading...

Ex-footballer acquitted of sexual assault and an alternative charge of assault by batteryThe former England footballer Paul Gascoigne has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman he kissed on a train.Gascoigne, 52, was accused of drunkenly grabbing the woman’s face and “forcibly and sloppily” kissing her on the lips on 20 August last year. Continue reading...

Officers took three hours to respond to 999 call about man who stabbed partner 173 timesThe police watchdog has found no misconduct from Essex police in a case where a woman died after being stabbed more than a hundred times by her mentally ill partner and officers took almost three hours to respond to a 999 call.The attacker’s parents, who made the call but were unable to go to the scene because they were overseas, expressed dismay at the ruling. Continue reading...

Some observers say Delhi’s promises falling flat and unrest likely to increaseFive people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, thought to be the deadliest day in the region since it was stripped of its autonomy this summer.Two non-Kashmiris – an apple trader from Punjab and a migrant labourer – were killed in separate attacks by suspected militants in Shopian and Pulwama, south Kashmir. A second apple trader was in a critical condition. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson unaware of plan for meeting with Harry Dunn’s family, says spokeswomanDowning Street has denied that Boris Johnson asked Donald Trump to organise a meeting between the family of Harry Dunn and the wife of an American diplomat who has admitted she was driving on the wrong side of the road before the teenager died in a collision.At a briefing on Wednesday, the US president said he had arranged the widely criticised meeting at the suggestion of the British prime minister. Continue reading...

Jury told to find Ivor Bell not guilty in case based on alleged admissions to Boston projectThe case against a former IRA commander accused of involvement in the murder of a Belfast widow who was kidnapped, killed and buried in secret has collapsed.Ivor Bell, a veteran republican, was cleared of soliciting the murder of Jean McConville in 1972. McConville became known as one of the “disappeared” of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Continue reading...

Gergely Karácsony was elected on Sunday, beating Viktor Orbán’s far-right candidateThe newly elected mayor of Budapest has vowed to prove to the rest of Europe that there is more to Hungary than the politics of its far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán.Gergely Karácsony, 44, who stood on a platform of a greener and fairer Budapest, won Sunday’s election with more than 50% of the vote, beating Orbán’s candidate despite a concerted campaign against him in government-friendly media and a threat that some federal funding would be withdrawn if Karácsony won. Continue reading...

South considering complaint over match, played in empty stadium amid media blackoutNorth Korea’s football team played like it was “waging a war” during a World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang against South Korea, the South’s manager has said.The two national teams played out a scoreless draw on Tuesday at the huge Kim Il-sung Stadium, which was empty of spectators. The match took place under a media blackout, and the South Koreans first spoke to journalists about the conditions on their return to Seoul on Thursday. Continue reading...

The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said Brexit talks have at times been difficult but a deal has been agreed between the UK and the EU, and the agreement is divided into four parts.EU regulations will apply to all goods in Northern Ireland, which will remain in the UK’s customs territory and benefit from UK trade policy. But it will remain an entry point into the single market. There will be a consent mechanism. Four years after the arrangements starts, the Northern Ireland assembly will decide by a simple majority if these arrangements stay

Police figures show a 7% rise in offences involving a sharp instrument over the past yearKnife crime in England and Wales reached an unprecedented high in the year to June, increasing by 7% on the previous 12 months, according to figures.Police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument rose to 44,076, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, the highest figure recorded since 2010-11 when comparable data began. Continue reading...

Minister for Indigenous Australians says ‘we have to be pragmatic’ about recognitionKen Wyatt says he’s on the brink of producing a concrete proposal to legislate a voice to parliament, and insists a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution needs to happen before the next federal election.The minister for Indigenous Australians told the ABC on Thursday he was about to take “a series of propositions to do with constitutional recognition, the voice and truth telling” to Scott Morrison, and he planned to meet with other Indigenous parliamentarians next week to try and achieve consensus. Continue reading...

Rodrigo Duterte, the 74-year-old president of the Philippines, was filmed riding his motorbike in the compound of the presidential palace in a video shared on social media by a senator. The leader later crashed, hurting his elbow and knee, but suffered no major injury, senior aides have said

I wanted to teach the inmates about female empowerment. Instead, they overturned my views on everything from sex work to marriageI thought I knew about feminism. I had the word “FEMINIST” written in black marker pen across the front of my homework diary aged 15, along with an anti-war sticker that incongruously involved a cupcake. I had graduated from the “girl power” of my primary school years to reading Germaine Greer on a beanbag in the college library. I felt sorry for the girls in sixth form getting Brazilians, who, unlike my enlightened self, clearly hadn’t clocked that waxing was a tool of patriarchal oppression. I studied feminist theory, went to feminist gatherings and listened to feminist podcasts. I had spent several evenings sitting cross-legged at a “collective” organised by other middle-class, university-educated women talking about intersectionality and Frida Kahlo. By the time I graduated from university, I had firmly absorbed a list of the correct ideas and words that I needed to be a “proper feminist” (but was probably not someone you wanted to invite to a dinner party).In 2015, two years after graduating, I began a job working in a high-security women’s prison. I had read enough statistics and policy reports before I started to know that women in prisons were in desperate need of a little female empowerment. But what I quickly learned was that my feminist education had a thick wedge of information missing: namely, the part where it connected to actual women being very fundamentally oppressed because of their gender. Confronted by someone whose cervix had been plugged with four egg-sized capsules of crack cocaine on the behest of a controlling boyfriend who would reap the profits, I found it difficult to work out quite how my Frida Kahlo T-shirt and mansplaining radar were going to help things. Continue reading...

PM’s proposed deal suffers another blow as party objects to customs and VAT terms

President injures hip after falling off his vehicle as he reached for his shoe, aides sayRodrigo Duterte, the 74-year-old president of the Philippines, has hurt his hip and suffered scratches in a motorcycle accident, senior aides have said.Duterte, whose health has been the subject of intense public speculation, suffered the mishap at the Malacañang presidential palace compound late on Wednesday, according to his spokesman, Salvador Panelo. Continue reading...

Mahamadou Issoufou calls for ‘responsible parenthood’ as he warns population boom will undermine climate adaptationA misreading of Islam led to Niger’s explosive birth rate, hampering the country’s fight to adapt to the climate crisis and preserve its shrinking resources, the country’s president told the Guardian.Feted by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel as one of Africa’s most articulate leaders, Mahamadou Issoufou stressed that this nexus of issues is set to have an increasingly direct impact on European politics, warning migration may exceed the levels seen during the second world war. Continue reading...

Carrie Lam abandons chamber again after lawmakers decry assault on protest leader

Opposition will support trade agreements with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru but push for a range of concessionsThe unions have blasted Labor for siding with the government on new free trade deals, accusing the party of abandoning workers and the ALP’s national platform.Labor agreed to support the trade agreements with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru after a special caucus meeting on Thursday, but has resolved to demand a range of concessions from the government on labour market conditions and “outdated” clauses relating to investor legal rights. Continue reading...

Government has invested in infrastructure and social programs, but critics fear ‘the end of democracy’ if Morales winsEarly every morning Juanita Flores walks ten minutes down a newly paved road to climb onto a sparkling new cable car that whisks her to her job selling vegetables in a renovated market in the centre of Bolivia’s capital.“I get here in half the time it used to take me,” she says, “and in the rainy season I don’t have to slosh through mud anymore.” Continue reading...