Macron and Le Pen clash in presidential debate
Frontrunners Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen dominate heated debate which centres on immigration and economy.
The top candidates in France's presidential election have clashed in a televised debate, with centrist Emmanuel Macron accusing far-right leader Marine Le Pen of lying and seeking to divide the French.
The election is shaping up as the most unpredictable in decades, with Macron and National Front leader Le Pen tied in polls for the April 23 first round, while the mainstream left and right languish in third and fourth place.
One of the most heated exchanges in Monday's debate came between the two frontrunners, after Le Pen accused Macron of being in favour of the burkini, a full-body swimsuit worn by Muslim women that created weeks of controversy in France last summer.
Record-breaking climate change pushes world into ‘uncharted territory’
Earth is a planet in upheaval, say scientists, as the World Meteorological Organisation publishes analysis of recent heat highs and ice lows
The record-breaking heat that made 2016 the hottest year ever recorded has continued into 2017, pushing the world into “truly uncharted territory”, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
The WMO’s assessment of the climate in 2016, published on Tuesday, reports unprecedented heat across the globe, exceptionally low ice at both poles and surging sea-level rise.
Global warming is largely being driven by emissions from human activities, but a strong El Niño – a natural climate cycle – added to the heat in 2016. The El Niño is now waning, but the extremes continue to be seen, with temperature records tumbling in the US in February and polar heatwaves pushing ice cover to new lows.
How Mosul's last librarian is preparing for when his city is free from Isis
Exclusive: When Isis first took Mosul, it committed what Unesco called ‘one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history’. Now, in anticipation of the city being liberated, one historian is working to rebuild what was lost
Once a treasure trove of Unesco-registered rare books, the central library of the University of Mosul is now a blackened husk, full of ash.
Less than a year after it captured the city in the summer of 2014, Isis all-but destroyed the building and burned its books. University professors and officials were forced to flee – but one man, Mosul’s librarian-in-exile, is still fighting for its survival.
A historian who taught at the university before it fell to Isis, he is the author of the “Mosul Eye” blog documenting life in the occupied city and, as a result, cannot be named for security reasons.
South Korea's Park questioned in graft probe
Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye has reported for questioning over the graft scandal that had her impeached. She said "sorry to the people" for the scandal but continues to deny wrongdoing.
Park arrived at a prosecutors' office for questioning on Tuesday over allegations she colluded with a longtime confidante to extort money from businesses.
"I will undergo the investigation sincerely," she said, apologizing to the public for the scandal which ruined her presidency.
The Yonghap news agency said Park could be questioned until past midnight local time.
Having lost presidential immunity, she could soon face criminal charges connected to bribery, extortion and abuse of power in connection with allegations of conspiring with her friend, Choi Soon-sil. Choi, as well as the head of Samsung are already facing criminal charges in connection with the allegations facing Park.
The Burkina Faso teacher who continues to teach despite jihadist threats
Teachers at hundreds of schools in northern Burkina Faso recently closed their doors after a school director was murdered and others were threatened by suspected armed jihadists. However, the Observers team spoke with one teacher who refuses to be intimidated and is continuing to teach, albeit outside the classroom.
In late January, armed men visited several schools in Soum province (located in the Sahel region). They told the teachers to abandon the current curriculum, start teaching courses in Arabic, and instruct students on the Koran. The armed men also told female teachers to start wearing the veil or face consequences, and then headed to the Malian border. Terrified by the threats, some teachers fled immediately and many schools closed.
A month later, on the night of February 27, armed men attacked police stations in Baraoulé and Tongomaël, two cities in the same province. Once again, the assailants fled towards the Malian border. Ansarul Islam, a jihadist group that operates on the border between Burkina Faso and Mali, claimed responsibility for the attack. Previously, they had carried out a deadly attack in Nassoumbou (once again, in Soum province) on December 16, 2016.
US weighing broad expansion of sanctions on North Korea
Chinese banks that do business with Pyongyang could be targeted.
MARCH 21, 2017 9:07 AM
The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat, a senior US official said on Monday.
The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with North Korea – plus beefed-up defences by the United States and its South Korean and Japanese allies, according to the administration official familiar with the deliberations.
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