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Russia claims the Assad regime has agreed in principle to attend next month's peace conference in Geneva while the opposition consider whether it will turn up Matthew Weaver Guardian readers

Rescuers check water beneath a four-lane highway bridge that collapsed halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Colombia, on Thursday

Three arrested after Ecuadorean victim snatched on street, bound and burned with acid while held for $3m ransom A businessman was snatched from a New York City street in broad daylight, then held captive for more than a month in a warehouse where he was bound and burned with acid as he was held for a $3m ransom that his family in Ecuador did not have, police said. Pedro Portugal, 52, was found this week by detectives who had been monitoring phone calls, noticed pizza deliveries to a deserted area in Queens and zeroed in on the warehouse. Three men were arrested and charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. One other suspect is believed to be at large in the US, and three fled to Ecuador. Portugal, a father of six who owned a small accounting and tax firm in Queens, was burned with acid and spent the better part of a month with his head cloaked, officials said. He remained in hospital on Thursday. Police said he was approached by three captors on 18 April. One flashed what...

Breakfast by Morecambe and Wise, clothes by Abercrombie & Fitch and a sob story from the mayor of Toronto This week's Viral Video Chart is guaranteed to give you a good cry – but we can offer you tears of laughter, as well as tears of sadness. We defy you to watch the last days of Zach Sobiech without grabbing a box of tissues. Zach's inspirational story - and his song, Clouds – have taken the internet by storm. The comedy world mourned a great writer last week with the death of Eddie Braben, who wrote sketches for Morecambe and Wise. We celebrate his work with one of the funniest Morecambe and Wise sketches ever - Breakfast. Or do you have another favourite? There is more laughter in store as two hapless gaming fans join Burnie Burns and his crew of scientists in Immersion! Gavin and Michael are thrown behind the wheel to figure out if a video game car can beat its real life equivalent with a professional race car driver. Pass the sick bag … If that's not exciting enough for you, we...

Theguardian.com will provide one destination for UK, mobile, US and Australian sites as monthly digital browsers hits 80m The Guardian is to launch a new global web presence, theguardian.com, in recognition of the newspaper's increasingly international digital appeal. The move will streamline access to Guardian content – amalgamating the main entry point Guardian.co.uk, mobile site m.guardian.co.uk, US homepage guardiannews.com and the soon-to-launch Australian digital edition – into one core web destination. In the last five years, the number of monthly Guardian digital browsers has grown from , with much of that growth coming from international markets. "Every month, our online content is accessed from almost every country around the world," said Tanya Cordrey, chief digital officer at Guardian News & Media, in a blog post called Going global on our digitaljourney. "In fact, UK users now represent just a third of our total audience." The home of the newspaper's content has been...

Usain Bolt and Mo Farah, brand ambassadors for Virgin, expected to front advertising campaign for Glasgow event Virgin Media has signed up as a top-tier sponsorship partner of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, with the expectation that brand ambassadors and Olympic champions Mo Farah and Usain Bolt will front a major advertising campaign next year to support the deal. The deal, which will see the cable company join top-paying sponsors such as Emirates airline, marks Virgin Media's first foray into sports sponsorship. Virgin Media said its Commonwealth Games sponsorship deal will include being the presenting partner of athletics, which would make the use of Bolt and Farah an obvious choice in ad campaigns next year, although the company refused to be drawn on its specific marketing plans. "With our home nation heroes and international superstars, we're getting behind Glasgow and can't wait to build on an amazing track record of success.," said Jeff Dodds, chief marketing officer at...

• Suspect in killing of Lee Rigby shown running at police • Both suspects are then shot • Police raid property where Michael Adebowale is registered • Share your photos, videos or stories • Live coverage of all developments throughout the day Paul Owen

The Japanese market suffered another turbulent session after Thursday's dive – dropping as much as 3.5% in the afternoon – but stabilised to close 0.9% higher Josephine Moulds

The defence industry is just one example of a valuable market that is national in scale, but local in its reach and impact There's a lot of talk at the moment about social investment, and providing the right and appropriate finance for social enterprise is clearly a major issue. But I am always struck by how little talk there is about building the markets for social enterprise. After all, if you're going to pay your investor back, someone needs to be buying your goods or services. And this isn't always the public sector: the main source of income for the majority of social enterprises is actually the general public, and an increasing number sell directly to the private sector too. We need to think much more broadly and creatively about who might buy from social enterprises. For example, when you think of markets for social enterprise and social value, the defence industry isn't the first place you tend to think of. Beyond the odd article about "green" bullets and the occasional April...

Government outrage does not provide a sound basis for such a material policy change as vetoing the EU arms embargo The most seductive fallacy in foreign affairs is "something must be done". It now appears that the UK government is ready to veto any extension of the EU arms embargo on Syria when it comes up for review in Brussels next Monday. That would be "something". As set out by William Hague this week in the House of Commons, this policy is as follows. The government has not decided to send arms to the "good guys" among the rebels, but it wants the flexibility to do so and in the meantime it believes that not to renew the EU embargo would send a powerful signal to President Bashar al-Assad. Like many fallacies it is superficially attractive, especially when accompanied by a harrowing account of the brutality of the Assad regime, its indiscriminate use of violence against its own citizens, and the impact on Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan of the never-ending flood of refugees. But...

Plus broadband for Staffordshire, price elasticity in the smartphone business, how Chrome will dominate, and more A burst of 8 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team Glass Questions >> ongoing Tim Bray on Google Glass: Do They Meet a Need? · Seems pretty ob­vi­ous to me; I'm damn sick of haul­ing out my mo­bile to find out what time it is, or to check on my next meet­ing, or to glance at a map, or to snap a quick photo of an in­ter­est­ing street­light or what­ever. Will They Suc­ceed? · I haven't got the vaguest. They need work on power con­sump­tion and soft­ware fit/fin­ish and sync­ing and lots of other things, and the man­u­fac­tur­ing cost needs to come way, way down. A lot of the things Glass does could maybe work just fine on a smart watch or some such. So in a cou­ple years it might be ubiq­ui­tous, maybe it'll just catch on for cer­tain pro­fes­sional uses, or maybe it just falls flat. But peo­ple, and there are a lot of them, who are say­ing "Glass is...

'Abby Clancy poses in nothing but heels' story provides joint highest website traffic day for the Sun The Boston marathon bombing on 16 April provided Mail Online with its biggest ever digital day, attracting more than 9.5 million unique users. However, the bombing proved the 12th and 16th most popular web days in April for the Independent and Mirror websites respectively – while the Sun website network's joint highest traffic day last month coincided with a story headlined "Abby Clancy poses in nothing but heels". Coverage of the terrorist attack on 16 April underlined Mail Online's seemingly inexorable global growth, particularly in North America, with just 39.8% of the 9,558,256 global unique browsers that day coming from the UK. This was the lowest proportion of UK visitors in any day in April, according to the Mail Online's officially audited Audit Bureau of Circulations certificate published on Thursday. A week later, Dzokhar Tsarnaev being charged with using a weapon of mass...

Grameen Bank founder is a microfinance pioneer, but are his plans for alleviating poverty a little too good to be true? At first, it is difficult to know what to make of Muhammad Yunus. In London this week to promote his work building social businesses, the Nobel prizewinner and founder of Grameen bank is compelling when he talks about his ideas to address poverty. But, after the recent microfinance fallout, there's a nagging feeling that what he's saying is a little too good to be true. Yunus's latest idea is an international minimum wage for the garment industry, following the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Savar, Bangladesh, last month, which killed more than 1,100 people. Yunus suggests increasing the hourly wage of Bangladeshi workers – the majority of whom are women – by around $0.50. Foreign clothing firms could use this as a marketing tool to promote their product – garments made by these workers could be tagged as ethically sourced. This "tax" on the garment industry...

White supremacists target Baptist minister for demanding end to racial segregation It seems a stroke of luck for the United States that the Negroes' leader in Montgomery, Alabama, during the present crisis is a scholarly Baptist minister whose hero is Mahatma Gandhi. He might well have been a black Huey Long or some such political boss of the kind who tries to hold hate-the-white demonstrations in Harlem (and - luckily again - finds little support there). That he is the Rev. Martin Luther King is an assurance that the worst the segregationists can do will be grimly put into perspective and that the extremes of the one side will not lead to extremes on the other - if he can help it. When Mr King preached to a frightened Negro crowd in a besieged Montgomery church the other day, it was no new situation for him. Only a few years ago a bomb was tossed outside his living-room and threats to his life have become as common in his mail as messages of support from individuals in all the...

Pyongyang's special envoy makes concession on nuclear disarmament to ease tensions between communist allies North Korea has offered to renew nuclear disarmament talks, Chinese state media have reported. At a meeting on Thursday between vice-marshal Choe Ryong Hae and Liu Yunshan, a senior figure in the Chinese Communist party, North Korea heeded China's wishes after months of rising friction between the allies, according to reports Pynongyang's special envoy praised China's work on behalf of peace and stability and its "great efforts to return [Korean] peninsular issues to the channel of dialogue and negotiation," China Central Television reported. It quoted Choe as saying North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties". The North's official Korean Central News Agency made no mention of the concession and instead quoted Choe as saying Pyongyang was committed to maintaining friendly ties with Beijing. Choe's...

The place to talk about games and other things that matter It's Friday. Games Keith Stuart guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

City chairman lodges protest with author over his description of Philippines capital as 'the gates of hell' in latest novel Kate Hodal

Part of bridge over the Skagit river gives way, with rescuers searching for survivors and victims in the water A road bridge in the US state of Washington has collapsed, plunging vehicles and people into the river below. Part of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit river at Mount Vernon gave way on Thursday evening, the Washington state patrol said. The four-lane bridge collapsed about 7pm, Trooper Mark Francis said. Francis said he had no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths. He did not know what caused the collapse. A Skagit Valley Herald reporter at the scene said a sheriff's office rescue boat had arrived and rescue crews were looking for people in the water. The reporter saw two vehicles in the water, with a person sitting on one of them. Crowds of people lined the river to watch, the newspaper reported. Washington stateUnited States guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated...

Francis Maude to show commitment to equality agenda by allowing flag to be flown from cabinet office next month Francis Maude is to show the government's commitment to the equality agenda by allowing the rainbow flag to be flown from the cabinet office in Whitehall during Pride week next month. David Cameron has faced criticism for attempting to distance the Tory leadership from gay rights after declining to speak in detail about the equal marriage bill in the run up to its bumpy ride through the commons earlier this week. But Maude intends to make clear that the government remains deeply committed to the equality agenda after authorising the flying of the Rainbow flag from the cabinet office between 25 June and 1 July. "This shows the government's commitment to the equalities message," one source said. Maude made a personal intervention on the eve of the two day debate on the marriage (same sex couples) bill in the commons on Monday and Tuesday this week. In an article for the Daily...

A video showing one of the Woolwich suspects running directly towards a police car has been obtained by the Mirror Dramatic footage has emerged showing the moment police officers shot the two men suspected in the killing of a soldier in Woolwich. The video, obtained by the Mirror, shows one of the suspects running directly towards a police car, which contained a female officer before colleagues open fire. Former Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham, told the newspaper: "The female officer only has her Taser out and must have been terrified. They [the other officers] had no option but to open fire to stop them. "I have never seen anything like this before, or even heard of it happening before. For two suspects to carry out a brutal attack like this then stand around in plain sight waiting for the police is crazy. "The instant they spot the police car come round the corner they are on it straight away. The first one is sprinting full speed towards the cops before they have even got...

Today's questions are red-hot favourites

• Benteke says he may ask for a transfer this summer • Striker mentions Arsenal as a club he would like to join Christian Benteke has cast doubt on his future at Aston Villa by indicating that he would like to leave if a leading club such as Arsenal try to buy him. Villa want the striker to sign a new, improved contract but Benteke has given a press conference on international duty with Belgium before their friendly against the USA in which he is quoted as saying that he may demand a transfer: "If Aston Villa say I must stay, I won't necessarily accept that. I do not in any way want to feel I didn't get the most out of my career." Benteke is further quoted as saying: "Of course playing the World Cup in Rio is in my head. But I have no fear of falling out of the team. There is no point in me getting into a tug-of-war with Villa. "If the chance comes up for me to join a club like Arsenal, I'm convinced we can reach a compromise where everyone comes out a winner." Benteke's agent Kismet...

The 'extremely efficient' Lord Black is one of those attempting to frustrate parliament's plans for press regulation Those who might think that the era of the press baron is over haven't heard of Lord Black. He may not be a household name but the Conservative peer, director of the company behind the Daily Telegraph and consummate insider is the éminence grise for large sections of the industry, orchestrating an audacious attempt to frustrate parliament's plans for press regulation with a rival scheme endorsed by the country's five largest newspaper groups. Not to be confused with the former owner of the Daily Telegraph, Guy Black has been at the heart of a Conservative-press nexus for the best part of two decades. For the most part, it has given him intimate access into the top tier of society, not least at the first official engagement of Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles and Prince William. The occasion was a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the now discredited Press...

• Chief executive says City failed to evolve under Mancini • Pellegrini expected to be confirmed as City manager on 3 June The incoming Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, has been told by the club's chief executive that they are expecting him to preside over an extensive period of success at the Etihad Stadium, which includes wining five trophies in the next five years. Ferran Soriano added that he felt City had underachieved last season and that their football had not "evolved" under Roberto Mancini. Pellegrini is expected to be confirmed as Mancini's successor on 3 June after finishing the season in Spain with Málaga, and the Chilean has been given no illusions about what is expected of him once he arrives in Manchester. "I think that next season is going to be much better. I am convinced about that," Soriano said. "It doesn't mean we are going to win one or two titles but in the grand scheme of things, if we look at the next five years and I could plan now, I would say I...

Report finds evidence of a high correlation between exposure to violent and sadistic images and behaviour Children are exposed to violent and sadistic imagery which risks distorting their attitudes towards relationships and sex, according to the children's commissioner for England. A report released on Thursdayby the commissioner's office found that children who watch pornography are more likely to develop sexually risky behaviour and become sexually active at a younger age. It called for urgent action to "develop children's resilience to pornography" after discovering that a significant number have access to sexually explicit images. It also called on the Department for Education to ensure all schools delivered effective relationship and sex education, including how to use the internet safely. "We are living at a time when violent and sadistic imagery is readily available to very young children … even if they do not go searching for it, their friends may show it to them or they may...

Citizens Advice says there has been a big rise in the number of people using its services following introduction of new scheme Increasing numbers of low incomes households could be at the mercy of aggressive bailiffs because of recent cuts in council tax benefits, according to Citizens Advice. Council tax benefit was axed in April 2013 and replaced by a localised scheme, council tax support. The new scheme has 10% less government funding than the old, national scheme, and has meant some councils have started to make savings by reducing the number of people entitled to the benefit, or have cut the amount of benefit people receive. Council tax collection is already a lucrative business for bailiffs. In the year to March 2013, Citizens Advice bureaux in England and Wales helped with 60,652 problems to do with bailiffs; a third of these were for council tax debts, and 161,564 problems with council tax arrears. But the latest changes to the benefit have already led to a substantial leap in...

Culture secretary Maria Miller has been urged not to permit the press industry to 'write its own rulebook' Some of the most prominent victims of phone-hacking have written to the culture secretary, Maria Miller, urging her to reject the royal charter proposed by the press industry, saying that it is unacceptable for "those responsible for the damage to our lives and the lives of others [to] seek to shrug off responsibility and once again write their own rulebook". Miller is holding a consultation on whether the press industry's royal charter should be considered formally first by the Privy Council as opposed to one initially drawn up by the government with the support of Labour. The consultation ends this week, and government departments, as well as the Privy Council secretariat, will now take a further two weeks to decide its next step. Miller now has to decide if the industry's royal charter meets the criteria. The Press Standards Board of Finance (PressBof) petitioned the Privy...

Fumes from a generator spread into the cabin where Kelly Webster, 36, and daughter Laura Thornton, 10, were asleep A mother and her 10-year-old daughter died after inhaling carbon monoxide fumes as they slept on a moored motor cruiser on Lake Windermere, marine accident investigators have confirmed. Fumes from a generator, whose improvised exhaust and silencer system had become detached, had spread into the cabin where Kelly Webster, 36, and daughter Laura Thornton, who were on an Easter boating holiday, were asleep. The boat belonged to Matthew Eteson, who was Webster's partner, 39, who was on board but survived the incident. "The boat's carbon monoxide sensor system did not alarm because it was not connected to a power supply," said an interim report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). The MAIB's report said: "A bank holiday weekend on board an 11-year-old Bayliner 285 motor cruiser ended tragically when a mother and her 10-year-old daughter died. Initial findings...

Report says culture of complacency within the local authority allowed paedophile gangs to prey on girls Rochdale borough council has apologised for letting down victims of child sexual exploitation after a damning report laid bare a catalogue of failures and a culture of complacency within the authority that allowed paedophile gangs to prey on the area's most vulnerable girls. The independent report found that the council's former chief executive Roger Ellis "did not appear to be interested in children's social care issues" and said there was no evidence that he had any intention of investigating the events that led to the jailing of nine men in May last year for offences including trafficking, rape and sexual assault. Ellis, who stepped down while the court case was ongoing, presided over a council with "a lack of consistent senior leadership, or a lack of vision and direction in relation to child sexual exploitation (CSE)", according to the report's author, independent consultant...