Italian President Sergio Mattarella has asked an ex-IMF economist to form a government as the country faces fresh political turmoil. Carlo Cottarelli became known as “Mr Scissors” for his cuts to public spending in Italy. His appointment came after efforts by Italy’s two populist parties to form a coalition government collapsed. But the move is […]

Meghan Markle’s decision to omit the words “to obey” from her wedding vows to Prince Harry was widely chalked up to a feminist victory. It was an example of a modern woman insisting on an egalitarian marriage and of a modern man agreeing to it. It was also seen as a nod to the newly […]

US President Donald Trump has said his summit with North Korea’s leader could still happen on 12 June, despite earlier cancelling the meeting. “We’ll see what happens. It could even be the 12th. We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it, we’d like to do it,” he told reporters. On Thursday, […]

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 (£300,000) to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved. The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Ukraine’s leader, Petro Poroshenko, the sources said, though Mr Cohen was not registered […]

US President Donald Trump has said there is a “very substantial chance” a historic summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un next month may not happen. He said the North must meet conditions for the summit to go ahead though if it did not, it might happen “later”. He was speaking as he received South Korea’s […]

So this then is the US “Plan B” for Iran – to step up the sanctions pressure in order to force the Tehran government into a new diplomatic deal. It would need to accept broader constraints, not just on its nuclear activities, but also on its missile programme and wider behaviour in the region. But […]

Love is just a four letter word – and it was a much ruder one when Robert Indiana, who has died aged 89, first thought up the work of art that was to define him and an entire decade. Indiana’s 1966 pop masterpiece Love originally said Fuck. Even after he changed it to the more heartwarming […]

In its annual report on scams, Australia’s national consumer watchdog has revealed that cryptocurrency-related fraud has cost Australians over AUD $2.1 million in losses last year. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published its annual ‘targeting scams’ report on Monday, revealing accumulated total losses of some AUD $340 million to scammers from 200,000 scam reports […]

The Syrian military has declared that it has taken full control of all areas around the capital, Damascus, for the first time in six years. “Damascus and its surroundings… are completely secure,” spokesman Gen Ali Mayhoub said on state television. The announcement came after troops cleared Islamic State (IS) militants from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee […]

First it was catastrophic lava. Then it was sulfur dioxide. Now Big Island residents have yet another danger to worry about. Laze — a mashup of “lava” and “haze” — is a nasty product formed when hot lava hits the ocean, sending hydrochloric acid and volcanic glass particles into the air. And now it’s a real threat […]