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Pedro Sánchez sworn in as Spain’s prime minister after no-confidence vote
Juncker: EU won’t ‘meddle’ in Italy’s affairs
Niall Ferguson quits Stanford free speech role over leaked emails
Ragbag of tax and spending policies risks meltdown for Italy’s economy
Trump lawyers to Mueller: Trump cannot be forced to testify – report
Egypt's Sisi is sworn in for a second term, amid crackdown on dissent
Five Star and the League: can Italy’s ‘odd couple’ last?
Five dead in E coli outbreak linked to Arizona romaine lettuce
Nigeria World Cup football shirts capture public imagination
'Robots can't beat us': Las Vegas casino workers prep for strike over automation
Tchaikovsky and the secret gay loves censors tried to hide
What was the fallout from Fukushima?
Francis and Mary, the migrant love story that ended in tragedy
The week in podcasts: Any Stupid Questions?; How Syria Changed the World; The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
Ipswich stabbing: arrest in Suffolk over killing of boy, 17
Government plays down Brexit 'armageddon' fears
The wind in my hair: one woman’s struggle against the hijab
Trump goes it alone: running the White House not like a president, but a CEO
Whale dies from eating more than 80 plastic bags
Lucy Gichuhi: Coalition says it will take senator 'at her word' over citizenship
New Italian government: little regard is paid to what voters really think
Missing Melania Trump barely makes news – things are getting weirder
Trump says the US and North Korea are going to 'have a relationship' - video

Pedro Sánchez sworn in as Spain’s prime minister after no-confidence vote

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 03:49 AM PDT

Leader of socialist PSOE faces uphill battle with just 84 seats in 350-seat parliament

Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as Spain's new prime minister on Saturday, a day after the socialist leader overthrew his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, in a historic vote of no confidence provoked by anger over corruption in Rajoy's party.

Sánchez, whose PSOE party relied on support from the anti-austerity Podemos party as well as Basque and Catalan nationalists to depose Rajoy, will have to govern with just 84 MPs in Spain's 350-seat parliament.

Juncker: EU won’t ‘meddle’ in Italy’s affairs

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 12:25 PM PDT

Commission president says he wants to avoid mistakes of Greek crisis

Jean-Claude Juncker has thrown the new government in Rome an olive branch, warning that Brussels and "German-speaking countries" must not repeat the error made during the Greek crisis by reading stern lectures to the Italian people.

The president of the European commission said that, while he had been tempted to intervene during the recent political impasse in Italy, he was determined not to feed the populist narrative: that the EU is meddling in domestic affairs.

Niall Ferguson quits Stanford free speech role over leaked emails

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 10:27 AM PDT

British historian resigns after urging 'opposition research' be done on a leftwing student

Niall Ferguson, the conservative British historian and political commentator, has resigned from a key position on a US university free speech programme after leaked emails revealed that he urged a group of Republican students to conduct "opposition research" on a leftwing student.

Ferguson had been serving in a senior leadership role on the Cardinal Conversations, a Stanford University programme that has given a platform to contentious speakers including Charles Murray, the controversial social scientist who has claimed that black and Latino genetics are linked to intellectual inferiority.

Ragbag of tax and spending policies risks meltdown for Italy’s economy

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 08:00 AM PDT

As the Five Star Movement and the League step in, economists fear that a false step could send the deficit spiralling

Italy's new government has a loose collection of contradictory policies that, if implemented, will quickly unravel.

That is the view of the senior economist who, until Friday, was on track to become Italy's finance minister in the government of experts commissioned by the country's president.

Trump lawyers to Mueller: Trump cannot be forced to testify – report

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 02:31 PM PDT

Private letter published by the New York Times also asserts the president's absolute authority over all federal investigations

Donald Trump's lawyers sent a private 20-page letter to the special counsel Robert Mueller to assert that he cannot be forced to testify in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, according to a report.

They also argue that Trump could not have committed obstruction because he has absolute authority over all federal investigations.

Egypt's Sisi is sworn in for a second term, amid crackdown on dissent

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:20 AM PDT

MPs gather for pompous ceremony that follows arrests targeting opponents and critics

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has been sworn in for a second term, following a fresh round of arrests targeting opponents and critics.

"Egypt can fit us all with all our differences. Accepting others and creating common ground will be important for us in order to create political development," he told MPs who had gathered to witness his oath of office, following a ceremony heavy on military pomp.

Five Star and the League: can Italy’s ‘odd couple’ last?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:05 PM PDT

In the country's prosperous north, there's firm backing for League leader Matteo Salvini

To his many critics, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League, is a racist opportunist who is about to take Italy down a dangerously confrontational and xenophobic path. To his supporters, in the League's northern heartlands, he is a "warrior" whose high-profile instalment as interior minister in western Europe's first populist government is a symbol of the country's much-needed pivot to the right.

That is certainly the view in Pontida, a relatively prosperous village in the northern Lombardy region's Alpine foothills, where thousands of League supporters converge once a year for a rowdy celebration in the party's honour.

Five dead in E coli outbreak linked to Arizona romaine lettuce

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 09:03 AM PDT

Nearly 200 people have been sickened across 35 states in largest US outbreak for more than a decade

A total of five people have died and 197 have been stricken with illness following a deadly E coli outbreak that has reached 35 states in the US, health officials have reported.

The nation's largest multi-state E coli outbreak in more than a decade has been blamed upon contaminated Romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region of Arizona. The harvesting season for the lettuce ended in April so it's unlikely that the tainted product is still being used in homes and restaurants.

Nigeria World Cup football shirts capture public imagination

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 03:11 AM PDT

Fans queue in London before England match for shirts that sold out in minutes online

Nigeria may be about to play England in a friendly football match at Wembley, but it is their eye-catching kit that has captured the public's imagination – orders have already been placed for 3m of the replica shirts.

Throngs of shoppers queued outside Nike's flagship store on Oxford Street on Friday morning to get their hands on the top.

'Robots can't beat us': Las Vegas casino workers prep for strike over automation

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 10:05 AM PDT

Increasing automation has become a sticking point alongside other issues that could see workers bring city to a standstill

At the Tipsy Robot in Las Vegas, a mechanical arm mixes cocktails that patrons order on tablet computers. "Galactic ambassadors" – human waitresses in shiny silver skirts – are sometimes available to deliver drinks. But the underlying message at the future-themed bar is that humans are irrelevant.

It's a novelty experience, but the future Tipsy Robot represents is one of several issues that may lead tens of thousands of Las Vegas hotel employees to strike in the coming days.

Tchaikovsky and the secret gay loves censors tried to hide

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:03 PM PDT

New volume includes once-hidden passages about the composer's homosexuality

The words are tender and passionate, describing in raw detail the powerful emotions felt by one of the world's best-loved composers. But until now some of the letters of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in which he tells of his sexual desires, have been hidden from the world because the objects of those desires were other men.

Now the letters have been published in English for the first time, restoring sensitive passages about the composer's homosexuality that had been deleted by Russian censors.

What was the fallout from Fukushima?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

When a tsunami hit the nuclear plant, thousands fled. Many never returned – but has the radiation risk been exaggerated?

Shunichi Yamashita knows a lot of about the health effects of radiation. But he is a pariah in his home country of Japan, because he insists on telling those evacuated after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident that the hazards are much less than they suppose. Could he be right?

Yamashita was born in Nagasaki in 1952, seven years after the world's second atomic weapon obliterated much of the city. "My mother was 16 years old when the bomb dropped and she was two miles away," he told me at his office in the city, where he still lives with his mother, who is now 88.

Francis and Mary, the migrant love story that ended in tragedy

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

On a desperate voyage to Sicily, Francis Ipisbhe lost his wife. Now, a year on, he has finally been able to mark her grave

Just over a week ago, Francis Ipisbhe knelt on the dusty earth, looked up to the clouds, his weary arms high above his head, and thanked God. For a year, he had been searching for his missing wife, Mary. Now he had found her. Mary's body was known to be among hundreds of unmarked migrants' graves in a cemetery in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. All had lost their lives in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.

As sea crossings increase and fears of another summer of drownings are renewed, thousands of Marys lie in unmarked graves across Italy, Greece and Turkey, while thousands of relatives, like Francis, search for them in desperation.

The week in podcasts: Any Stupid Questions?; How Syria Changed the World; The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 11:00 PM PDT

Whether it be Syria, nuclear research or the whims of German tourists, three shows try to make sense of a scary world

Any Stupid Questions?

How Syria Changed The World

Ipswich stabbing: arrest in Suffolk over killing of boy, 17

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 12:24 AM PDT

Police say 41-year-old in custody on suspicion of murder after broad-daylight attack that appeared to be targeted

A 17-year-old boy has died after being stabbed in a "targeted" attack in Ipswich, Suffolk.

Detectives arrested a 41-year-old man on suspicion of murder following the incident, which took place in broad daylight around 4.50pm on Saturday.

Government plays down Brexit 'armageddon' fears

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 01:27 AM PDT

Leaked Whitehall advice had warned of food, fuel and medication shortages

The government has sought to play down the risks of a "no deal" Brexit after leaked advice from Whitehall warned of shortages of food, fuel and medication if Britain leaves without a deal.

Three scenarios drawn up in Whitehall and obtained by the Sunday Times – the worst referred to as "armageddon" – lay out the consequences should Britain walk away from the negotiating table.

The wind in my hair: one woman’s struggle against the hijab

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:05 PM PDT

Masih Alinejad has paid a high price for letting her hair down. She's been sentenced to prison, fled her native Iran and is unable to see her family. Here, she reveals why all she wants is to give women the choice to wear the hijab or not

Masih Alinejad unties her hair, and a sea of corkscrew curls cascades down her shoulders. It looks amazing, but the significance of Masih's hair isn't looks – it's politics. Masih is an Iranian activist who has spent her life fighting for women's rights in her country through one simple battle: a campaign against the law that says they have to wear a veil, or hijab, over their hair when they're in public.

Since adolescence, Masih has been a thorn in the side of the ayatollahs who rule Iran. She's complained and protested, spoken out and challenged, vociferously, all those who support the compulsory wearing of the hijab. When she was 19 she was arrested by the morality police, held in prison without charge and, eventually, told by a judge that he had enough evidence to have her executed. That judge let her go, but you can't help feeling that if he'd had a crystal ball, he might have taken a different course of action. Because Masih is a living nightmare for the Iranian authorities.

Trump goes it alone: running the White House not like a president, but a CEO

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 12:00 AM PDT

From North Korea to Kim Kardashian, the US president has dispensed with the 'adults in the room' and is going it alone

Such a photograph would, it is fair to assume, have been beyond the most delirious, hallucinatory imaginings of a tropical fever patient five years ago. Donald Trump sits at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office with hands folded and a broad grin. To his right, dressed in black, stands an unsmiling Kim Kardashian West, a reality TV superstar catapulted to fame a decade ago by a sex tape.

"'I broke the Internet.' 'I broke the country!'" parodied Comedy Central's the Daily Show in response. The journalist Tom Gara of BuzzFeed News tweeted: "It's amazing that the most powerful person in the world is just taking casual meetings with Trump like this." And as preparations continue for talks with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the NBC correspondent Peter Alexander posted: "The other Kim summit."

Whale dies from eating more than 80 plastic bags

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 06:44 PM PDT

Pilot whale was found barely alive in Thai canal and vomited up five bags during fruitless rescue attempts

A whale has died in southern Thailand after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags, with rescuers failing to nurse the mammal back to health.

The small male pilot whale was found barely alive in a canal near the border with Malaysia, the country's department of marine and coastal resources said.

Lucy Gichuhi: Coalition says it will take senator 'at her word' over citizenship

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 12:15 AM PDT

Simon Birmingham says legal advice clear and high court has already considered complaint from ALP

The Turnbull government says the Kenyan-born senator Lucy Gichuhi has no case to answer about whether or not she is eligible to sit in federal parliament.

The government frontbencher Simon Birmingham said on Sunday the legal advice about her citizenship status was clear and the high court had already considered a complaint from the ALP.

New Italian government: little regard is paid to what voters really think

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:05 PM PDT

Populist triumph is consequence of disdain shown by elite towards the people and their fears

Italy is like a house in which for years there have been leaks that nobody noticed, a house that could suddenly collapse. That suddenly, but inevitably, collapses.

To understand what has happened, we must first take on board that establishment politics has taken its own stability, as well as its ability to contain discontent, for granted. As the Italian house collapsed, these politicians have continued to demonstrate arrogance and contempt in the face of people's fears and the progressive impoverishment of the nation, and especially of the south. The government "experts" have given up seeking genuine communication with people – to such an extent that we currently find ourselves wondering what happened to the now threadbare relationship of trust between the elite and the people, politicians and voters.

Missing Melania Trump barely makes news – things are getting weirder

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 07:00 AM PDT

We're so used to bizarre behavior from the Trump administration that a missing first lady barely registers as strange

The Week in Patriarchy is a weekly roundup of what's happening in the world of feminism and sexism. If you're not already receiving it by email, make sure to subscribe.

Trump says the US and North Korea are going to 'have a relationship' - video

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:40 AM PDT

Donald Trump says the summit with Kim Jong-un will go ahead in Singapore on 12 June as planned, marking the start of negotiations between the US and North Korea. The US president seems to have accepted the North Korean position that denuclearisation will be a drawn-out process, describing the summit as a 'getting-to-know-you' meeting

Donald Trump says North Korea summit on 12 June is back on