EU leaders delivered a devastating knockback to Theresa May after she appealed to them to hold ?€?nothing in reserve?€? and work with her to salvage her Brexit deal by putting a 12-month limit on the unpopular Irish backstop.
The embattled prime minister had pinned her hopes on a last-ditch effort to persuade the European Union to work with her in devising a legal guarantee, known as a ?€?joint interpretative instrument?€?, that she believes could get her Brexit deal through parliament.
Rising production from Latin America has led groups from North Africa and the Balkans to change the drug trade, EU agency says
A surge in the supply of pure cocaine to Europe has led to a rise in drug-related murders as new criminal gangs muscle into a market previously dominated by the mafia, the EU drugs agency has said.
The extra output from Latin America, especially by the biggest producer, Colombia has led to growing numbers of gangs including from Morocco and the Balkans setting up their own smuggling lines straight from producers.
French interior minister says officers ?€?neutralised?€? Chérif Chekatt in street encounter
French police have killed the suspected gunman who shot and stabbed people at Strasbourg?€?s Christmas market, killing three and leaving a dozen wounded.
Chérif Chekatt was shot dead on Thursday evening, 48 hours after he disappeared sparking a massive manhunt. He was killed after police officers spotted him in the Neudorf area of south-east Strasbourg near where he was last seen getting out of a taxi on Tuesday evening.
Sondra Locke, the American actor who was nominated for an Oscar for her first film before co-starring in six films with her one-time partner, Clint Eastwood, has died.
The actor, who was 74, died at her home in Los Angeles after a cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to a death certificate obtained by Associated Press. She died on 3 November and authorities were promptly notified at the time. It is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to be reported.
Syrian Democratic Forces capture Hajin in Deir ez-Zor province after heavy fighting
Kurdish-led fighters have captured the last Syrian town held by Islamic State, activists said.
The fall of Hajin follows days of intense battles in Isis?€?s last remaining stronghold near the Iraqi border in eastern Syria. The group still holds some villages nearby.
Author of LSE research says findings show scope for ?€?changing attitude later in life?€?
Being the father of a school-aged daughter makes men less sexist, according to a new study.
The team behind the work say the findings support the idea that men become more aware of the challenges facing women when they see the female experience of life up close through their offspring - something dubbed the ?€?mighty girl?€? effect.
Pop star?€?s reported use of software to root out stalkers may be well meant, but it fuels a disturbing trend, experts say
Taylor Swift secretly secretly surveilling her fans using facial recognition technology might sound like science fiction - but Rolling Stone reported on Thursday that the pop star has been doing exactly that in an effort to root out stalkers.
Swift has stayed silent on the report, declining to comment to the Guardian and other news organizations. But the episode has raised ethical questions for civil rights groups concerned about privacy.
Two fire-safety technicians died on Wednesday at the US-managed station, but investigators are still piecing together what happened
No criminal activity is suspected in the deaths of two subcontractors killed at a US research station in Antarctica, the National Science Foundation has said.
Investigators are still piecing together what happened when two fire-safety technicians died during maintenance inside a generator outbuilding at McMurdo Station, the agency said.
Hard-living Rolling Stones guitarist says he hasn?€?t been on the hard booze for about a year
Keith Richards, the legendarily hard-living guitarist of the Rolling Stones, has quit drinking - almost - saying he ?€?just got fed up with it?€?.
Despite inspiring an industry of memes celebrating his unreconstructed lifestyle, Richards has told Rolling Stone magazine that he has more or less quit the booze.
Most cities have not been designed with women?€?s safety in mind but, from Egypt to Rwanda, new technology, design and education are reducing the threat of violence on the street
Sexual violence has rarely been so high on the news agenda. Since allegations against the movie producer Harvey Weinstein started to emerge in October last year, the global problem has finally become a mainstream issue. The United Nations has estimated that one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence, with 120 million girls around the world having been forced into sex acts.
The repercussions go beyond the physical and psychological toll on individuals who have been attacked. Harassment and fear of violence can impede free movement of girls and women and stop them reaching their full potential, both socially and economically. ?€?If women feel afraid,?€? says Laura Somoggi, who manages the annual Womanity award for the prevention of violence against women, ?€?it could undermine their ability to work or go to school or university which affects their empowerment, their rights.?€? Fear of attack is a bar to women escaping poverty.
All 16,000 buses in the fast-growing Chinese megacity are now electric, and soon all 22,000 taxis will be too
You have to keep your eyes peeled for the bus at the station in Shenzhen?€?s Futian central business district these days. The diesel behemoths that once signalled their arrival with a piercing hiss, a rattle of engine and a plume of fumes are no more, replaced with the world?€?s first and largest 100% electric bus fleet.
Shenzhen now has 16,000 electric buses in total and is noticeably quieter for it. ?€?We find that the buses are so quiet that people might not hear them coming,?€? says Joseph Ma, deputy general manager at Shenzhen Bus Group, the largest of the three main bus companies in the city. ?€?In fact, we?€?ve received requests to add some artificial noise to the buses so that people can hear them. We?€?re considering it.?€?
The bicycles are given to children in the Turkish border city of Kilis if they also maintain strong grades and promise to ride for an hour a day
Standing on the street in the centre of Kilis, a small Turkish city on the border with Syria, a constant stream of noisy motorcycles, scooters and cars zoom past. It?€?s certainly not the most bicycle-friendly city, but local leaders are determined to change that with a new network of cycle lanes, and by giving away thousands of bikes to local children.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war seven years ago, millions of Syrians have sought shelter in Turkey. While there are refugee camps lining the border, most refugees opt to live in cities such as Kilis.
?€?Passing for white?€? was a complicated feeling at home in Ohio. In Chad, it was a whole different experience again. By Alexander Hurst
Every time I crossed the courtyard, walked past the well in the corner and slipped out of the baby blue gate nestled into the high brick wall that surrounded my Chadian host family?€?s house, I instantly became nasara. It?€?s a Ngambay word that means both ?€?foreigner?€? and ?€?white person?€? at the same time. A little pack of children would follow me down the red-dirt street, chanting ?€?nah-sa-rah, nah-sa-rah?€? and laughing.
During my first weeks in Moundou I had protested once - in jest - to Sem, a balding evangelical pastor with a belly and a deep laugh, who was my NGO?€?s main contact in the town. ?€?You know my mom is black, right??€? I said to him, from the passenger seat of his SUV.
Featherstone, Northumberland: We pass a plaque commemorating ?€?Captain Herbert Sulzbach OBE who dedicated himself to making this camp a seed bed of British-German reconciliation?€?
We haven?€?t been here since December 2015 when the floods of Storm Desmond ripped through the parkland of Featherstone Castle. The South Tyne is broad at this point, wooded on one side, grazed by cattle beneath specimen trees on the other. The waters charge down from Alston during prolonged rain. We?€?re shocked at how radically the course has altered. Even the repairs, as recent as this April, stepped tiers of massive stone blocks, were damaged three weeks ago in a new spate. Whole trees litter a long mound of shingle. A huge crescent has been sculpted out of the bank, eating half into the tarmac road that once led to the prisoner of war camp.
Between 1945 and 1948, thousands of German officers were held here in a series of huts, compounds and sports field. Outlines of the layout are visible under the turf. Some scattered brick buildings still exist where cattle now take shelter in muddied rooms. It was a rehabilitation camp - the men could work on local farms during the day. It had a newspaper, three orchestras and a puppet theatre. We pass a memorial plaque fixed to a gate column that now has no fence or gate; it commemorates ?€?Captain Herbert Sulzbach OBE who dedicated himself to making this camp a seed bed of British-German reconciliation?€?.
The president of the European commission says Theresa May failed to bring a clear plan for future relations with the EU after Brexit. The British 'need to say what they want, instead of asking us what we want,' he told reporters early on Friday after a day of talks in Brussels
Monument installed two years ago taken away in middle of night amid controversy over Gandhi?€?s views about Africans
A Mahatma Gandhi statue has been removed from the campus of the University of Ghana after protests from students and faculty who argue the Indian independence leader considered Africans ?€?inferior?€?.
The statue was unveiled at the university in the Ghanian capital Accra two years ago but has been the subject of controversy and was removed in the middle of the night on Tuesday, leaving just an empty plinth.
His despairing eyes and deep frown lines caught the attention of Stephen Colbert, who called it the ?€?saddest?€? of all the images we?€?ve seen of Cohen?€?s ?€?slow descent into finding out what the law is?€?.
Some believe the rise of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil?€?s next president, makes a US-led military intervention in Venezuela more likely
Venezuelan dissident Roderick Navarro remembers shedding tears of joy when the far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro was confirmed as Brazil?€?s next president.
?€?It was the first time in so long that I felt the real possibility of going back to my home,?€? says the rightwing activist exiled to Brazil since fleeing his country last year.
The theme of this year?€?s festival is ?€?the wind of time?€? and it features visionary work from some of the world?€?s most renowned photographers. The striking images, from fashion shoots to food factories, can be seen at the Lianzhou Museum of Photography in southern China until 3 January 2019
Tucked away in a remote corner of southern China lies the small city of Lianzhou, the unlikely but charming host of a critically acclaimed annual celebration of photography. Now in its 14th year, the Lianzhou Foto festival, founded by the Chinese photography expert Duan Yuting in collaboration with the French curator François Cheval, was created to showcase the work of contemporary Chinese artists as well as renowned international photographers.
This year?€?s theme, ?€?the winds of time?€?, is open to broad interpretation, attracting projects on social, political and environmental themes. The work of Erwin Blumenfeld, one of the most influential and experimental fashion photographers of the 20th century, provides a historical anchor for the event, which is being held at the Lianzhou Museum of Photography, China?€?s first publicly funded museum of its type.
Storms hit near peak hour in both capital cities, prompting traffic chaos and calls for assistance
A thunderstorm sweeping across Melbourne is causing widespread flash flooding prompting numerous calls for assistance.
Sydneysiders are also dealing with traffic chaos as residents along the length of the New South Wales coast are being told to prepare for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones.
TGV trains will halve journey times from Casablanca to Tangier, but critics say flashy projects are no substitute for real reform
?€?Many well-known guests have stayed here,?€? says Jimmy, the proprietor of the gift shop in the Hotel Continental, a stately pre-colonial landmark overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. He runs down the list: Edgar Degas, Winston Churchill, Paul Bowles. But that was a long time ago.
Today, once-glitzy Tangier isn?€?t the destination it was half a century ago, when renowned artists and foreign spies haunted its bars and hotels. But the city?€?s fortunes may soon shift. A new high-speed railway, the first in Africa, was inaugurated last month, linking the cities along Morocco?€?s western edge. ?€?In two hours, it will take you from Casablanca to here,?€? says Jimmy - more than twice as fast as the current trains.
Beating Aids is India?€?s greatest public health achievement. A new book says it wouldn?€?t have happened without women
In 2002, a major report predicted an Aids catastrophe in India. The country would have 20-25m Aids cases by 2010. People were being infected at the rate of about 1,000 a day. Aids orphans numbered 2 million. This scourge would ravage families, society, and the economy. India was going to be the Aids capital of the world.
But 2010 came and went. India averted an Aids epidemic. That victory - India?€?s biggest public health achievement - has remained uncelebrated. But a new book by one of the major HIV campaigners of that time finally honours the people he says were crucial in guiding India away from its seemingly inescapable destiny: the country?€?s sex workers.
Swedish minister calls for Michel Sidibé to step down after report alleging harassment and favouritism at agency
The Swedish government has announced it is to withhold funding to a UN agency until its director resigns in a row over his ?€?dysfunctional leadership?€?.
UNAids, which spearheads the global fight against Aids and HIV, will receive no further funding until its executive director, Michel Sidibé, stands down, said Isabella Lövin, Sweden?€?s minister for international development cooperation and climate.
Kosovan-born Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman explains how a survivors?€? network has empowered her and others to speak out against rape as a weapon of conflict
Warning: This episode of Small Changes covers topics that some listeners might find upsetting, including sexual violence and war
That one of the world?€?s biggest companies rides roughshod over a court order tells you all you need to know about the giants of Silicon Valley
Imagine if a media company told you the name of the man accused of killing Grace Millane. Imagine if, in defiance of a very clear court ruling of interim name suppression, that company told you his name in an email - spelling it out, even, in the subject header.
Unthinkable? That?€?s exactly what happened in the early hours of Tuesday.
French police say the gunman is one of 12,000 ?€?gangster-jihadists?€? who exist under the radar
French investigators call them the ?€?gangster-jihadists?€? - young men, often from poor immigrant backgrounds, who start with petty crime, drug dealing and robbery and graduate to terrorism.
Republicans in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina suffered stinging losses in November, but the parties aren?€?t transferring power quietly, or at all in some cases. On the way out the door, ?€?lame-duck?€? state legislatures are bringing in last-minute laws that will strip power from incoming Democrats, gut voter-approved ballot initiatives, or otherwise undermine the election results.
The party?€?s brazen efforts to rewire state legislature poses a greater threat than Trump - and will be all the harder to tackle
America?€?s federal system of government is, in theory, key to the strength of its democracy. As opposed to citizens in the more centralized states of Europe, Americans get to vote for a huge array of local offices, policies and ballot initiatives that can influence their lives for the better. Innovation in the states can be healthy for the whole country, such as when healthcare reform in Massachusetts provided inspiration for the Affordable Care Act. The supreme court justice Louis Brandeis famously praised US states as laboratories which could ?€?try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country?€?.
The alleged shooter in Strasbourg, Chérif Chekatt, has been killed by police, it has been confirmed. In a brief statement released on Thursday night, French police said the man had been 'neutralised'. Earlier reports from various news agencies, citing police sources, had said Chekatt had been shot at about 9pm near where he launched the attack on Tuesday, which left three people dead and 13 wounded. According to l?€?Obs news magazine, he was traced to the Neudorf area of Strasbourg and shot at about 9pm local time (8pm GMT)
A high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital on Thursday, killing several people and injuring scores more, officials said
?€?It?€?s almost like during the Soviet Union, when bands used to have their gigs in secret?€? - these are the words of one half of experimental electronic duo Ic3peak. The group has been caught up in a crackdown on popular music acts across provincial Russia. So much so that Ic3peak have had six of their shows shut down in the last month. The provocative imagery in their videos may be what has spooked local officials
The prank involves people trying on expensive jewellery in a shop, then running for the door, as if they are going to steal it, before stopping to look in a mirror and is believed to copy the 'shoe-stealing' prank that was made popular by Indonesian influencer Harvinth Skin - video
The key moments from Donald Trump's extraordinary heated row with Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The president threatened to shut down the government. He added that he would be 'proud' to shut it down over his plans to build a wall on the southern border
US president tells Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer during a White House photocall that he will shut down the federal government if he doesn?€?t get funding for his planned border wall
A video of New York police officers appears to show them ripping a baby from his mother?€?s arms. The incident is taking place in a Brooklyn benefits office. The footage shows a woman lying on the floor while officers repeatedly try to arrest her and remove the one-year-old child from her arms. She can be heard saying various times: ?€?You?€?re hurting my son?€?
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!
