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- Italy: populist government to be sworn in as political deadlock ends
- US on brink of trade war with EU, Canada and Mexico as tit-for-tat tariffs begin
- Rajoy likely to be forced out as Spanish PM as Basque party turns against him
- Row over Vogue Arabia cover featuring Saudi princess in driving seat
- Trump expecting personal letter from Kim Jong-un as summit date nears
- Angry Facebook shareholders challenge Zuckerberg over 'corporate dictatorship'
- Chinese interference in New Zealand at 'critical' stage, says Canada spy report
- US spends $250m on upgrade to de facto embassy in Taiwan
- Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth
- Nicaragua: peace talks with Ortega abandoned after 11 killed at protest
- Malaysian hitman should be sent home for new trial, Anwar Ibrahim says
- 'Holy grail of cancer research': doctors positive about early detection blood test
- Ecuador's president says Julian Assange can stay in embassy 'with conditions'
- Arkady Babchenko tells media he was taken to morgue for staged 'murder'
- Inside Vietnam's micro-houses – in pictures
- Kaliningrad: the Russian enclave with a taste for Europe
- How the resurgence of white supremacy in the US sparked a war over free speech
- Former Ipswich mayor wins appeal against UK citizenship denial
- Markets shrug off trade war fears and Spanish vote ahead of US jobs data - business live
- Social media use taxed in Uganda to tackle 'gossip'
- New Jersey police release bodycam footage of violent beach arrest – video
- Save the kiwi: New Zealand rallies to protect its iconic bird
- Top sheep exporter under criminal investigation over conditions on ships
- Theresa May urged to demand top UN official quits over harassment crisis
- Gender pay gap costs global economy $160tn, says World Bank study
- 'Something has to give': Italians back euro but rail against EU’s rules
- 'Drain the swamp': rightwing leader pulls ahead in Slovenia's polls
- Arkady Babchenko: pig's blood and makeup artist helped fake death - video
- Peru's Snow and Star festival - in pictures
| Italy: populist government to be sworn in as political deadlock ends Posted: 01 Jun 2018 12:49 AM PDT New PM Giuseppe Conte's revised list of ministers agreed by president Sergio Mattarella A populist government will be sworn into power in Italy on Friday after president Sergio Mattarella agreed to a revised slate of ministers – just days after a bitter row over the incoming leaders' stance on the euro ended their initial bid to assume power. A joint statement by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the far-right League announced that political newcomer Giuseppe Conte, who had been seen as a controversial choice, would serve as prime minister. The relatively unknown law professor met Mattarella late on Thursday night to put forward a list of ministers, which the president has accepted. Continue reading... |
| US on brink of trade war with EU, Canada and Mexico as tit-for-tat tariffs begin Posted: 31 May 2018 11:56 AM PDT Trump administration goes ahead with threatened tariffs on steel and aluminium as allies pledge to hit back The United States and its traditional allies are on the brink of a full-scale trade war after European and Canadian leaders reacted swiftly and angrily to Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium producers. Related: Stock markets down as Trump imposes tariffs on allies – business live Continue reading... |
| Rajoy likely to be forced out as Spanish PM as Basque party turns against him Posted: 01 Jun 2018 12:14 AM PDT Leader may choose to resign rather than facing no-confidence vote in the wake of kickbacks-for-contracts scandal Mariano Rajoy's controversial and scandal-mired tenure as Spanish prime minister seemed all but certain to end on Friday after a small Basque party threw its weight behind a no-confidence motion tabled after Rajoy's party was found to have profited from a huge corruption racket. The Basque Nationalist party (PNV) revealed on Thursday it had decided to back the motion, with a vote due on Friday, and deliver the key support required to oust Rajoy of the People's party (PP) and replace him with Pedro Sánchez of opposition socialist, PSOE. Continue reading... |
| Row over Vogue Arabia cover featuring Saudi princess in driving seat Posted: 31 May 2018 02:37 PM PDT As lifting of ban on female drivers nears, cover is focus of anger over activists' arrests A Vogue cover photo of a Saudi princess behind the wheel of a red convertible has a ignited a heated debate following a string of arrests of women's rights activists. Continue reading... |
| Trump expecting personal letter from Kim Jong-un as summit date nears Posted: 31 May 2018 11:08 AM PDT Trump said the letter, which will be delivered by a delegation visiting Washington, is 'very important' to the North Koreans A top aide to Kim Jong-un is to due to travel to Washington on Friday to hand a letter from the North Korean leader to Donald Trump after senior officials claimed substantial progress had been made in preparing a summit between the two leaders. Related: Kim Yong-chol: the ultimate North Korean regime insider Continue reading... |
| Angry Facebook shareholders challenge Zuckerberg over 'corporate dictatorship' Posted: 31 May 2018 03:27 PM PDT At annual meeting, investors condemn CEO's level of sway at the company, telling him: 'Emulate Washington, not Putin' In the months since Facebook faced one of the greatest crises in its 14-year history over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has faced tough questioning and increased scrutiny from his users, the media and governments around the world. On Thursday, the billionaire executive faced another challenge: from angry shareholders at the company's annual meeting, where activist investors had forced votes on six proposals to change the company's governance or institute other reforms. Continue reading... |
| Chinese interference in New Zealand at 'critical' stage, says Canada spy report Posted: 31 May 2018 08:38 PM PDT Jacinda Ardern says country is 'vigilant' and that Five Eyes membership is not being questioned A report released by Canada's spy agency has warned that New Zealand, one of its closest allies, has been influenced at every level of society by the Chinese government, and that the situation has reached a "critical" stage. The report states that New Zealand is viewed as "the soft underbelly" of its western big brothers such as the UK and US. |
| US spends $250m on upgrade to de facto embassy in Taiwan Posted: 31 May 2018 09:03 PM PDT Opening of American Institute in Taipei this month likely to provoke ire of China The US is preparing to open a new de facto embassy in Taiwan, with speculation over who will represent Washington at the ceremony almost certain to enrage China. The renovated American Institute in Taiwan will open on 12 June, and is likely to be overshadowed by a possible summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. But the potential for senior US officials, possibly at the cabinet level, attending the ceremony for the $250m facility has raised eyebrows in Beijing. Continue reading... |
| Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth Posted: 31 May 2018 11:00 AM PDT Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of livestock - it provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of farmland Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet. The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife. Continue reading... |
| Nicaragua: peace talks with Ortega abandoned after 11 killed at protest Posted: 31 May 2018 01:06 PM PDT Bishops said they are ending talks with the president after pro-Ortega forces opened fire at a Mother's Day protest Nicaraguan bishops have announced they are abandoning peace talks with the embattled administration of Daniel Ortega after at least 11 people were killed and 79 wounded during the latest mass protest against his rule. Tens of thousands of dissenters poured on to the streets of the capital, Managua, on Wednesday afternoon to mark Nicaragua's Mother's Day with a massive demonstration against the president's 11-year reign. Continue reading... |
| Malaysian hitman should be sent home for new trial, Anwar Ibrahim says Posted: 31 May 2018 05:41 PM PDT PM-in-waiting wants Sirul Azhar Umar to be returned from detention in Australia • Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon A former Malaysian police commando sentenced to hanging but being held in detention in Australia should be sent home for a new trial, the country's prime minister-in-waiting has urged. Anwar Ibrahim, who made a political comeback from prison to win the country's elections last month, wants to see Sirul Azhar Umar returned to Malaysia for a new trial over the 2006 murder of a Mongolian socialite, Altantuya Shaariibuu. Continue reading... |
| 'Holy grail of cancer research': doctors positive about early detection blood test Posted: 31 May 2018 11:33 PM PDT Blood tests called liquid biopsies show signs of finding 10 different types of cancer at an early stage A blood test for 10 different types of cancers could one day help doctors screen for the disease before patients show symptoms, researchers at the world's largest gathering of oncologists have said. The test, called a liquid biopsy, screens for cancer by detecting tiny bits of DNA released by cancer cells into blood. The test had particularly good results for ovarian and pancreatic cancers, though the number of cancers detected was small. Continue reading... |
| Ecuador's president says Julian Assange can stay in embassy 'with conditions' Posted: 31 May 2018 02:13 PM PDT Assange must follow rules and avoid talking politics on Twitter – otherwise Lenín Moreno says he will 'take a decision' Lenín Moreno, the president of Ecuador, has said Julian Assange's asylum status in the country's London embassy is not under threat – provided he complies with the conditions of his stay and avoids voicing his political opinions on Twitter. However, in an interview with Deutsche Welle on Wednesday, Moreno said his government would "take a decision" if Assange didn't comply with the restrictions. Continue reading... |
| Arkady Babchenko tells media he was taken to morgue for staged 'murder' Posted: 31 May 2018 08:03 AM PDT Russian journalist smeared with pig's blood as part of ruse with Ukrainian authorities The Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko has described how his own death was dramatically faked, in an extraordinary operation involving a make-up artist, pig's blood and a trip by ambulance to the morgue where he cleaned himself up and watched news of his "murder" on live TV. Speaking at a press conference, Babchenko defended the tactics used by Ukraine's security services, and said the plot to kill him was terrifyingly real. After being told a contract had been taken out on his life Babchenko said he wanted "to collect my belongings and disappear somewhere in the North Pole. But then I realised, where do you hide? [Sergei] Skripal also tried to hide." Continue reading... |
| Inside Vietnam's micro-houses – in pictures Posted: 01 Jun 2018 12:00 AM PDT In Ho Chi Minh City, tiny dwellings are tucked down alleys and between shops Continue reading... |
| Kaliningrad: the Russian enclave with a taste for Europe Posted: 31 May 2018 04:01 AM PDT It's a European-leaning city cut off from Russia – but are recent moves to focus on Kaliningrad's Prussian past a step too far for the Kremlin? When relations between Moscow and the west plummeted in 2014 over Vladimir Putin's seizure of Crimea, pro-Kremlin media went into overdrive. They portrayed European countries as morally depraved, harbouring a visceral hatred of Russians. The foreign ministry warned travellers abroad against the risk of being "seized" by vengeful western intelligence agencies. For residents of Russia's vast heartland – the overwhelming majority of whom have never travelled to Europe – it was a potent and powerful propaganda campaign. Anti-European sentiment rocketed to its highest level since the cold war (the first one, that is). Continue reading... |
| How the resurgence of white supremacy in the US sparked a war over free speech Posted: 30 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT With neo-Nazis marching in American cities, the national faith in absolute free expression is breaking down – even inside the organisation sworn to defend it, the ACLU. By Alex Blasdel Late last summer, the American Civil Liberties Union faced a mounting crisis over its most celebrated cause, which many consider the lifeblood of democracy: freedom of speech. For nearly a century, the ACLU has been the standard-bearer of civil liberties in the US, second only to the government in shaping Americans' basic rights. Although the organisation has been at the vanguard of many of the country's most hard-fought legal battles – desegregation, reproductive rights, gay marriage – the argument among its staff last summer, over whether to continue representing white supremacists in free-speech cases, was more intense than anything the organisation had seen before. After Donald Trump was elected, the ACLU had positioned itself as a leader of what it calls "the resistance", suing the administration over voting restrictions, illegal detentions, and the Muslim travel ban. It recruited celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Mahershala Ali and Tina Fey to raise money and reassure worried Americans. "The ACLU has had your back for almost a hundred years," one ad declared. "We got this." In the nine months after the election, the organisation's paying membership quadrupled to more than 1.5 million people, and it received more than $80m in donations. Continue reading... |
| Former Ipswich mayor wins appeal against UK citizenship denial Posted: 01 Jun 2018 01:31 AM PDT Inga Lockington has lived in UK since 1979 but was denied citizenship by Home Office A former mayor of Ipswich has won an appeal against a Home Office decision to deny her British citizenship. Inga Lockington, a Danish national who has lived in the UK since she married her husband, Tim, in 1979, said she was pleased the issue was being resolved, but that she would hold off celebrating until she had an official certificate. Continue reading... |
| Markets shrug off trade war fears and Spanish vote ahead of US jobs data - business live Posted: 01 Jun 2018 02:42 AM PDT Investors await developments after US imposes steel and aluminium tariffs, with US non-farm payrolls in spotlight; Spain ousts prime minister Rajoy
The Spanish vote has had less impact than the turmoil in Italy, says Seema Shah, global investment strategist at Principal Global Investors: Much of the market panic around Italy was about the threat to its membership of the Euro area but, by contrast, all of the main Spanish political parties are supportive of the single currency. Presuming Sanchez does not try to hang on to power, Spain is likely to see new elections later this year and a market-friendly, pro-European government should materialise from there. In the meantime, given that the support of Basque nationalist MPs required a promise to not change the budget, Sanchez is unlikely to make sweeping changes to the budget. Material economic progress has been made in recent years - Spain's fiscal position has improved; unemployment has fallen; and the banking system has been strengthened - the latest political disruption does not upset the generally positive outlook for the Spanish economy. Of course, political uncertainty is never welcome, but it has been telling that Spanish bond yields have fallen again today. It seems that Italian politics are more important for Spanish markets than Spanish politics.
Here is Sanchez receiving the applause after becoming prime minister elect: Continue reading... |
| Social media use taxed in Uganda to tackle 'gossip' Posted: 31 May 2018 06:02 PM PDT New law criticised as attempt to block free speech rather than simply raise revenue Users of Whatsapp, Facebook, Skype and other social media in Uganda will have to pay a daily tax from July, according to a new law that rights activists have criticised as a bid to stifle free speech. Uganda's parliament passed a law late on Wednesday imposing a tax of 200 shillings (five cents) a day on users of so-called "over-the-top" services which publish content bypassing traditional distributors. The new law did not spell out how the tax would be applied and collected. Continue reading... |
| New Jersey police release bodycam footage of violent beach arrest – video Posted: 01 Jun 2018 02:44 AM PDT Amateur footage has emerged this week showing the violent arrest of a woman on a New Jersey beach. It captures the moment a Wildwood police officer repeatedly struck 20-year-old Emily Weinman on the head while she was being restrained. Now, bodycam footage has been released showing the events that preceded the confrontation Continue reading... |
| Save the kiwi: New Zealand rallies to protect its iconic bird Posted: 01 Jun 2018 01:17 AM PDT Experts are battling to save the remaining 68,000 kiwis in a country once home to millions Below a mottled sky, a lone sea craft cuts across the water towards Kapiti Island. It's been forsaken by people and gifted to the rare and vulnerable birds of New Zealand to forage undisturbed. Kiwi stepping carefully up the beach at midnight. Kokako waking no one with their shrill calls. And hihi flitting freely through the dense native bush. With no predators allowed, the birds are confident and thriving. "New Zealanders are a shy and reclusive bunch, the kiwi is a bird we identify with," says Paul O'Shea, an administrator for Kiwis for Kiwi, a conservation group set up to save the bird from extinction. Continue reading... |
| Top sheep exporter under criminal investigation over conditions on ships Posted: 01 Jun 2018 12:38 AM PDT Perth-based Emanuel Exports' licence under review over animals' conditions onboard vessels bound for Middle East Australia's biggest sheep exporter is under criminal investigation over conditions onboard its Middle East-bound vessels. Perth-based Emanuel Exports has been ordered by the department of agriculture to "show cause" why it should hold an export licence. Continue reading... |
| Theresa May urged to demand top UN official quits over harassment crisis Posted: 31 May 2018 11:00 PM PDT Whistleblowers call for British intervention over Michel Sidibé's handling of sexual misconduct claims at UNAids Female whistleblowers and global HIV activists have urged the British government to demand the resignation of a senior UN official over his alleged mishandling of serious sexual harassment claims. The high-profile group of campaigners, which includes Martina Brostrom, who maintains she was sexually assaulted by a former UN assistant secretary general while she worked for UNAids, wants Theresa May and the Department for International Development to intervene over the conduct of the agency's executive director, Michel Sidibé. Continue reading... |
| Gender pay gap costs global economy $160tn, says World Bank study Posted: 31 May 2018 07:01 AM PDT Analysis of lifetime earnings across 141 countries suggests failure to reward women and men equally generates huge global loss Gender equality would enrich the global economy by an estimated $160tn (£120tn) if women were earning as much as men in the workplace, a study by the World Bank has found. Equal pay, equal hours and equal participation in the workforce could lead to a global wealth jump of $23,620 a person, as well as creating knock-on benefits such as lower malnutrition and child mortality rates, said the report. Continue reading... |
| 'Something has to give': Italians back euro but rail against EU’s rules Posted: 31 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT Voters' desire for a tougher approach towards Brussels could benefit Eurosceptics Ever since the inception of the EU, Italians have been among the staunchest defenders of the European project. But the political crisis that engulfed the bloc's third largest economy this week, centring on a debate over Italy's commitment to the eurozone, has spooked investors and worried Brussels. It has raised a question that just a few years ago would have seemed unfathomable: are Italians ready to ditch the euro? Continue reading... |
| 'Drain the swamp': rightwing leader pulls ahead in Slovenia's polls Posted: 31 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT Janez Janša and Slovenian Democratic party lead polls as international observers fear for country's direction He has peppered his campaign with calls to "drain the swamp", ranted against political foes on Twitter, and driven home his anti-immigration message with populist bombast. But this is not Donald Trump, or even Viktor Orbán of Hungary. It is Janez Janša, the former Slovenian prime minister, whose rightwing Slovenian Democratic party (SDS) is leading in the polls ahead of Sunday's general election. Continue reading... |
| Arkady Babchenko: pig's blood and makeup artist helped fake death - video Posted: 31 May 2018 09:37 AM PDT Arkady Babchenko, the Russian journalist who faked his own death in order to evade an alleged plot to assassinate him, said pig's blood and a makeup artist were used to help stage the ruse. In an interview in Kiev, Babchenko said he was taken in an ambulance from the scene of his fake killing to a morgue, where he changed clothes and began watching the news of his 'murder' on television
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| Peru's Snow and Star festival - in pictures Posted: 31 May 2018 09:34 AM PDT Every year since 1783, in the Sinakara valley at the foot of Mount Ausangate in Peru, the Qoyllur Rit'i, or Snow and Star, festival draws tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the Peruvian Andes and beyond to the biggest religious gathering of its kind Continue reading... |
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