Syrian regime forces have launched a fresh ground and air offensive against rebel positions in the besieged and battered enclave of eastern Ghouta in defiance of a nationwide ceasefire ordered by the UN security council. Witnesses said fighting erupted on several fronts on Sunday in what was seen as a possible last-ditch bid by Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, to eliminate opposition resistance in Ghouta, near Damascus, before the 30-day ceasefire can be enforced. Renewed airstrikes and artillery shelling killed nine people and injured 31 in the eastern suburbs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group. It said the bombing was less intense than attacks over the past week.(theguardian)…[+]

The former US first lady Michelle Obama has announced the name of her anticipated memoir. Becoming will be published globally in 24 languages on 13 November by Penguin Random House, which acquired world publishing rights to both Michelle and Barack Obama’s memoirs in a deal rumoured to be worth $65m.Obama described writing her memoir as a “deeply personal experience”, and saidshe hoped her story would encourage others to become who they want to be. The memoir will chronicle her life from a childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, as well as her time in the White House.

In a statement, she said: “Writing Becoming has been a deeply personal experience. It has allowed me, for the very first time, the space to honestly reflect on the unexpected trajectory of my life. “In this book, I talk about my roots and how a little girl from the South Side of Chicago found her voice and developed the strength to use it to empower others. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can’t wait to share my story.”(theguardian)…[+]

The White House indicated on Thursday that the federal government could come up with the money to fund as many as a million teachers being trained and armed with guns across America in a controversial attempt to keep schools safe from more mass shootings. This followed repeated assertions from Donald Trump during earlier meetings at the White House, as well as in presidential tweets, that his response to the school massacre in Florida last week is to arm teachers and sports coaches.It would be a “great deterrent” to killers, he said.

“When you have a horrific situation, what you think and do not think is practical can change,” Shah said. Teachers’ unions have expressed shock and skepticism that any such plan could be feasible or effective. But at a meeting at the White House with state and local officials early Thursday afternoon, Trump talked of paying bonuses to some teachers, providing “highly adept people, people who understand weaponry, guns … [with] a concealed permit”. He suggested paying bonuses to armed, trained teachers, suggesting that “10, 20, 40%” of teachers could be qualified to do so, especially retired military personnel. “I want my schools protected just like I want my banks protected,” he said.(theguardian)…[+]

UN investigators say they have identified more than 40 South Sudanese military officers who may be responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Their findings are a sharp departure from previous UN reports that documented crimes but not perpetrators. Oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, but slid into civil war in December 2013. More than 4 million people, a third of the population, have been displaced by violence.

The investigators, from the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, say their findings are based on interviews with hundreds of witnesses, satellite imagery and nearly 60,000 documents dating back to the outbreak of the war. Their report, released on Friday, makes the case for “individual command responsibility for widespread or systematic attacks on civilians” by senior military officers, including eight lieutenant generals, and by three state governors.(theguardian)…[+]

The medical system in eastern Ghouta is near collapse, medics and doctors say, after nearly a week of airstrikes that have hit 22 hospitals and clinics and led to widespread claims that civilian healthcare in the besieged area is being systematically annihilated.

Medics inside Ghouta claimed only three medical facilities remained fully operational and all were overwhelmed with mass casualties that continued to arrive throughout Thursday – the fifth day of a blitz by Russian and Syrian jets across the opposition enclave. Médecins Sans Frontières said 13 hospitals it supported had been destroyed or damaged in the past three days alone.As the damage and death toll from the strikes continued to mount, international organisations that monitor the Syria crisis alleged there was clear evidence that hospitals were deliberately targeted.(theguardian)…[+]

Pro-regime forces continued to bombard the opposition-controlled enclave of eastern Ghouta in Syria on Tuesday, leaving dozens dead, after more than 100 people were killed and hundreds wounded on a day of “hysterical” violence on Monday. The surge in the killing came amid reports of an impending regime incursion into the area outside Damascus, which is home to 400,000 civilians. More than 700 people have been killed in three months, according to local counts, not including the deaths in the last week.

Five hospitals were also bombed on Monday in eastern Ghouta, which was once the breadbasket of Damascus but has been under siege for years by the government of Bashar al-Assad and subjected to devastating chemical attacks. Two hospitals suspended operations and one has been put out of service. “We are standing before the massacre of the 21st century,” said a doctor in eastern Ghouta. “If the massacre of the 1990s was Srebrenica, and the massacres of the 1980s were Halabja and Sabra and Shatila, then eastern Ghouta is the massacre of this century right now.”(theguardian)…[+]

Mark Goldring, the head of Oxfam, has apologised to MPs for the actions of staff who sexually exploited female victims of the Haiti earthquake in 2010. He acknowledged that the charity’s actions had damaged the whole aid community, as well as the people of Haiti. Goldring told the Commons international development committee that 7,000 people had cancelled their donations since the scandal broke. He also apologised for his own comments that appeared to downplay the seriousness of the scandal. In an interview last week in the Guardian, Goldring said the charity was being attacked as if “babies had been murdered in their cots”. Asked about his comments, which led to calls for his resignation, the Oxfam executive said: “I do apologise. I was under stress. I’d given many interviews, I’d made many decisions to try to lead Oxfam’s response to this. I was thinking about amazing work I’ve seen Oxfam do around the world, most recently with refugees coming from Myanmar.”(theguardian)…[+]

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the former young star of France’s far-right Front National, is to speak at a high-profile US gathering of conservatives and Republicans outside Washington this week, addressing the event shortly after the US vice-president, Mike Pence. Maréchal-Le Pen – who is more religious and socially conservative than her aunt, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen – has been invited to speak an hour after Pence at the event, the day before Donald Trump appears on the same stage.

The 27-year-old, who a year ago announced she was temporarily withdrawing from politics, will be the second headliner to appear on the first full day of speeches at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, along with Republican lawmakers, conservative media figures and veterans. The Brexit champion and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage will also attend after receiving a warm welcome last year, when he praised Trump’s “quite remarkable” election victory.(theguardian)…[+]

Measles cases have soared across Europe over the last year, with large outbreaks affecting one in four countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) which is concerned by low rates of immunisation against the disease. WHO Europe says there has been a 400% increase during 2017, with more than 21,000 cases and 35 deaths. That will be a major disappointment following the record low in 2016, when there were just 5,273 cases in Europe.

“Every new person affected by measles in Europe reminds us that unvaccinated children and adults, regardless of where they live, remain at risk of catching the disease and spreading it to others who may not be able to get vaccinated,” said Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe. “Over 20,000 cases of measles, and 35 lives lost in 2017 alone, are a tragedy we simply cannot accept.” Measles can kill or cause long-term damage. One in every thousand children affected develops encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain and can lead to deafness or learning difficulties.

Measles is targeted for elimination around the world, because of the efficacy of the vaccine, but it has been bedevilled by regular outbreaks. WHO said there were large outbreaks last year in 15 of the 53 countries in the European region. Romania was worst affected with 5,562 cases, followed by Italy with 5,006 and Ukraine with 4,767.(theguardian)…[+]

Italy’s far-right Northern League has promised to introduce mass deportations of asylum seekers to Africa as part of a radical reshaping of migration policies if it wins next month’s elections. The party, led by Matteo Salvini, would also seek to force asylum courts to disregard the circumstances of a migrant’s journey in any deliberation about whether they should be granted asylum.

With Italians going to the polls on 4 March, and in the aftermath of an attack on six African immigrants, rhetoric on the right has increasingly focused on migration and Italy’s role as the point of arrival for hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.

The government, currently led by the centre-left Democratic party, has recently taken controversial steps to sharply reduce the number of migrant arrivals, including allegedly making secret agreements with militias and tribes in Libya that have been condemned by human rights groups. But the Northern League, or Lega, has promised to go further, saying that, if elected, it would begin a programme to force an estimated 400,000 migrants back to their countries of origin, including Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco.(theguardian)…[+]