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A small number of people become severely unwell with Covid even if they are fully vaccinated, but the data suggests they mostly suffer from other conditions as wellOn Tuesday, there were 356 Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care wards throughout Australia. Of those, 25 were fully vaccinated.While the data points to the extraordinary efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines in preventing people from becoming severely unwell, being hospitalised and dying, it does raise the question: why do a small number of people become seriously ill and, in rare cases, die, despite being fully vaccinated? Continue reading...

Hunt for person who asked to check on pet at home comes as Covid minister says daily case numbers could reach the ‘high hundreds’New Zealand officials are searching for a Covid-positive escapee, who allegedly absconded from quarantine after being allowed home to check in on a pet.The person had requested to return home to retrieve personal items, care for a pet and lock their house in south-east Auckland, said Rose King, joint head of managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). “A security escort was set up to allow this to occur. They were given 10 minutes to do what they needed to. At the 10 minutes mark the security detail went to retrieve them and found the individual had disappeared from the address.” Continue reading...

UK reports further 223 deaths but UK government says no to plan B for now; US study shows success in preventing hospitalisation of 12- to 18-year-olds

Exclusive: Ali Harbi Ali received extensive support under government programme before case was closedThe suspect in the killing of the MP David Amess received extensive support under the government’s Channel counter-terrorism programme before his case was closed, the Guardian has learned.Ali Harbi Ali was first referred to Prevent, the early intervention scheme designed to turn people away from the risk of supporting violence, as a teenager in 2014. Continue reading...

Low Covid vaccination rates among Māori reflect practical barriers – but they also have good reason to distrust the governmentOne of my earliest memories is racing up a flight of hollow stairs in Kawerau’s town hall as Tiwi, my first friend, counts down from 20. “Ready or not, here I come” he roars from the stage. I slide through the doorway to the makeup room, carving a two-lane highway into the dusty floors. The lighted mirrors paint the room in yellow and gold. I wriggle my tiny body into one of the cubby holes for bags and belongings. The doorknob turns. The door creeps open. “Found me”, I yell at Tiwi. After a three-second delay he yells back “but where”, still searching behind the velvet curtains on stage.Dad’s boxing gym is hidden below that stage. The heavy bags, the leather pads, the medicine balls, and the sparring gloves wash the stage in the smell of rubber and sweat. Tiwi and I tutu (fidget) with the flood lighting most weeks, waiting for the boxers to finish their cardio session on stage and head for sparring and pad work downstairs. Dad screams at that perfect decibel level where the soundwaves crash against your ear but the background violence scrambles the electrical signal to your brain. Is he saying “right, left, right” or “left, right, left”? For most of Kawerau in the 1990s the town hall was a boxing gym with cosmetic facilities. For Tiwi and I, it was our playground. Continue reading...

Ismail Abedi had been ordered to attend hearing, as childhood friend arrested trying to leave countryThe older brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has left the UK and there is no indication of whether he will return in time to give evidence this week to the public inquiry into the atrocity, it has emerged.The bomber’s childhood friend Ahmed Taghdi tried to leave the country on Monday as well but was arrested, the public inquiry was told on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Court hears David Henderson responded to news of crash by saying it ‘opens up a can of worms’A plane operator who organised the flight in which the footballer Emiliano Sala was killed knew the pilot was not qualified to fly at night and was not competent in bad weather, a jury has been told.The court heard that when David Henderson was told the plane piloted by David Ibbotson had crashed into the sea he messaged a friend: “Ibbo has crashed the Malibu and killed himself and VIP pax [passenger]! Bloody disaster. There will be an enquiry.” Continue reading...

‘If something doesn’t change, we are going to see single mums sleeping under bridges’, one lawyer says

Monarch ‘politely but firmly’ turns down title because she ‘does not believe she meets relevant criteria’The Queen has received many accolades over her 95 years, but one she is refusing to accept is the Oldie of the Year award, believing she does not meet the criteria and explaining that “you are as old as you feel”.She “politely but firmly” declined the award, which is given annually to celebrate the achievements of members of the older generations who have made a special contribution to public life, although she sent organisers her “warmest best wishes”. Continue reading...

Video appears to show piled-up furniture, dirty toilets and animal excrement as Covid pass becomes law

Canadian singer ‘heartbroken’ after being unable to rehearse for new concert residency in Las VegasCéline Dion has postponed the start of her latest Las Vegas concert residency after suffering what a statement describes as “severe and persistent muscle spasms”.The Canadian singer was due to begin the new concert series, an update of her ongoing residency entitled Céline, at the Resorts World Las Vegas venue next month, but she has been unable to rehearse due to the illness. The dates, from 5-20 November and 19 January to 5 February, are intended to be rescheduled. Continue reading...

Police investigating possible ‘crimes against republic’ as senate prepares to vote on transferring Miloš Zeman powersThe Czech Republic is facing a full-blown political crisis after the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, demanded the resignation of the chief aide to the country’s gravely ill president and police said they were investigating possible “criminal offences against the republic”.On Tuesday the senate’s constitutional committee voted unanimously in favour of suspending the powers of the president, Miloš Zeman. Continue reading...

Group threaten to kill themselves unless Spanish PM helps victims, but end protest after a few hoursSurvivors of a mass canola oil poisoning four decades ago occupied the Prado museum in Madrid for a few hours and threatened to kill themselves if the government did not respond to their demands.The Cadena SER news outlet published a photo showing five protesters, including one in a wheelchair, in front of the Diego Velázquez painting Las Meninas. Continue reading...

Dennis Hutchings was three days into hearing in Belfast for 1974 killing when he died from Covid on MondayThe lawyer of a terminally ill 80-year-old army veteran who died of Covid-19 three days into a trial over a fatal shooting during the Troubles in Northern Ireland has said the proceedings contributed to his death.Philip Barden, who acted for Dennis Hutchings, said he would be “alive today” had he not been compelled to go to Northern Ireland to stand trial over the killing of a 27-year-old man with learning difficulties in 1974. Continue reading...

Father says Alta ‘was our whole world’ after two-year-old girl taken off life supportA two-year-old girl whose parents fought a legal battle over her medical treatment has died after being taken off life support.Alta Fixsler, who suffered a serious brain injury at birth, died at a Manchester hospice with her parents at her bedside. Continue reading...

The New Yorker writer’s book Major Labels examines why we tag music with a genre, be it for commerce or community. He explains why people still argue over great songs – and why they can thrive on cultural appropriationWhen Nik Cohn wrote Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock in 1969, he only had 15 years of the rock’n’roll era to process. Five decades later, telling the story so far is such a daunting prospect that, while writing Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres, New Yorker staff writer Kelefa Sanneh’s trick was denial.“I figured if I thought too much about the span of it, I would go insane,” he says cheerfully. “The idea of sitting down to write the history of music is horrifying. It feels more fun if I’m telling seven overlapping stories.” Continue reading...

Los Angeles judge approves request of the rapper, producer and fashion designer to legally change his nameThe singer Kanye West will from now on formally be known simply by the name Ye.A Los Angeles judge late on Monday approved the request of the rapper, producer and fashion designer to legally change his name from Kanye Omari West to just Ye, with no middle or last name. Continue reading...

President Guillermo Lasso’s declaration gives authorities the power to restrict the freedom of movement and associationEcuador’s president has decreed a state of emergency to confront drug trafficking and other crimes in Ecuador, saying the military and police will take to the streets to provide security.In a national broadcast on Monday, President Guillermo Lasso said that “there is only one enemy: drug trafficking.” Continue reading...

Mateusz Morawiecki says European court’s ‘creeping revolution’ undermines Polish sovereigntyPoland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has clashed with the European Commission president and MEPs after accusing EU institutions of seeking to turn the country into a province, in an escalation of the battle between Warsaw and Brussels over the rule of law.During a heated debate in the European parliament in Strasbourg, where parallels between the Polish situation and Brexit were raised repeatedly by MEPs, Morawiecki claimed the European court of justice (ECJ) was responsible for a “creeping revolution” undermining Poland’s sovereignty. Continue reading...

The K-drama is the hottest show in the world – so why do its English speakers sound like they’re reading off Google Translate? We meet the men accused of dire, stilted acting to see how they’ve found being catapulted to fameSquid Game is a sensation. A violent Korean drama that mixes childhood nostalgia with vast amounts of death, the series has surpassed all expectations to become the most successful show in Netflix history. It has made global stars of its main cast overnight. That is, with a few notable exceptions.‘Why is Squid Game’s English-Language Acting So Bad?’ demanded one recent headline, echoing the sentiment of hundreds of tweets and memes. The culprits are the “VIPs” – four English-speaking, mask-wearing billionaires who watch the action from afar, placing bets on the outcome of the carnage. To the naysayers, the VIP acting in Squid Game is stilted and mannered, and pulls them out of the show. But who are the people behind the masks? Continue reading...

Independent inquiry into child sexual abuse criticised ‘culture of disbelief’ at Leicestershire policeLeicestershire police was guilty of a “serious and inexcusable failure” to properly investigate allegations of child sexual abuse against the late Labour peer, Lord Greville Janner, according to a damning report.The investigation, by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), into the handling of allegations against Janner found that a failure by police to submit statements by two anonymised witnesses in 2002 to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may have been the result of “complacency, incompetence or undue deference to a prominent public figure”. It criticises a “culture of disbelief” at Leicestershire police at the time. Continue reading...

Senators want to know which big companies received wage subsidy but commissioner Chris Jordan insists tax information should be confidential

A gigantic sunfish found tangled in tuna fishing nets in the Mediterranean could weigh up to 200kg, according to experts. The fish was measured at 3.2 metres long and 2.9 metres wide, a record find for Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. When the sunfish was weighed it almost broke a 100kg scale. Enrique Ostalé, a marine biologist, said he had heard of sunfish this size only in books Continue reading...

Residents injured as house destroyed and neighbours warned they may not be able to return home for 10 daysTwo adults and two children remain in hospital after an explosion ripped through homes on a South Ayrshire council estate, destroying one terraced house and severely damaging others.A local councillor confirmed that gas caused the blast in the Kincaidston area shortly after 7pm on Monday evening. The explosion was heard for miles around. Chris Cullen, a South Ayrshire councillor, said that if gas from the affected properties could be capped, other residents may not be able to return to their homes for up to 10 days. Continue reading...

Airport allowed to increase cost added to tickets but CAA halts plan to nearly double itHeathrow will be allowed to raise significantly its landing charges from next summer, the aviation regulator has announced, although it has ruled out the near-doubling of charges proposed by the airport.Airlines reacted with dismay at the Civil Aviation Authority’s proposals, which could allow the UK’s biggest airport to increase charges by up to 56% by 2023 as it seeks to recoup losses from the pandemic. Continue reading...

The Guardian's environment editor, Damian Carrington, examines exactly how the climate crisis is fuelling devastating floods – and what we can do to help protect ourselves and our planet

Letter from 137 lawmakers urges fund to drop stakes in firms accused of human rights violations or linked to Chinese stateA cross-party group of more than 137 parliamentarians, including 117 MPs, have called on parliament’s pension fund to disinvest from Chinese companies accused of complicity in gross human rights violations or institutions linked to the Chinese state.The signatories include Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, and the former Conservative cabinet ministers Liam Fox, Iain Duncan Smith and Norman Tebbit. Others include the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, and the shadow foreign affairs minister, Stephen Kinnock. The Conservative MP David Amess was also a signatory, one of his last political acts before his death on Friday. Continue reading...

Liberal senator threatens to withhold vote unless border closure contested in court ‘as a matter or urgency’

In a complex, eye-opening new documentary, El Paso high schoolers hold complicated reasons for wanting to become part of a divisive institutionThe US border with Mexico is a region unto itself, with its own culture, rules and politics. If that wasn’t clear before the 2020 presidential election, then it became so when Donald Trump, riding on a wave of Latino support, became the first Republican to win Texas’s border-hugging Zapata county in 100 years, despite getting trounced 58% to 41% among all of Texas’s Latinos. All of a sudden, Democrats were scrambling to understand how a man known for his virulent anti-immigrant, anti-Latino rhetoric and actions could appeal so strongly to this group.This is a dynamic that film-maker Maisie Crow dives into in her fascinating and delicate documentary At the Ready, which follows the lives of high school students in El Paso as they train to become border patrol agents. We get to know Cesar, Cristina and Mason (identified by a different name throughout the movie, but who comes out as a trans man in a coda following the credits). They are all Latinos, holding complicated, often contradictory reasons for wanting to train for a career in law enforcement. Continue reading...

Fog, storm clouds and snow are among the natural phenomena to feature in 8,900 photographs submitted for the Royal Meteorological Society’s annual awards by more than 3,300 photographers from 114 countries. Here is a selection of some of the best Continue reading...

The WHO and Unicef campaign will restart after three years, and the hardliners say they will assist and allow frontline female staffAfghanistan will restart nationwide polio vaccinations after more than three years, as the new Taliban government agreed to assist the campaign and to allow women to participate as frontline workers, the UN said on Monday.The World Health Organization and Unicef said the vaccination drive would begin on 8 November with Taliban support. Continue reading...

Housing campaigners welcome changes, saying they will boost businesses, lower emissions and enable better transport linksNew Zealand’s cities could be reshaped for decades to come, after the government joined forces with the opposition to announce sweeping bipartisan housing legislation that aims to counter urban sprawl and boost supply by up to 105,000 new homes in the next eight years.In a rare display of cross-party collaboration, the housing minister Megan Woods and environment minister David Parker took the podium with the National Party’s leader Judith Collins and its housing spokesperson Nicola Willis on Tuesday, to introduce a bill that will cut urban-planning red-tape and enable up to three houses, three storeys tall, to be built on most sites without requiring consent in the country’s major cities. Continue reading...

Billionaire PayPal co-founder is planning a luxury home on 190-hectare property on shores of Lake WanakaBillionaire Peter Thiel is facing opposition from New Zealand environmental groups over his plans to build a luxury lodge in Wānaka, an alpine town on the South Island.A company owned by Thiel had lodged a consent application for a sprawling lodge on his property, which would include a “pod” for the owner himself, water features and meditation space. The consent describes “a series of stand-alone buildings, including a lodge for visitor accommodation for up to 24 guests, accommodation pod for the owner, together with associated lodge management buildings, infrastructure, landscape treatment, water features and meditation space”. The earthworks required to build it would cover over 73,700m² of land. Continue reading...

Footage shows newlyweds squeezed inside the pot while two men and a photographer paddle them down a flooded street in KeralaAn Indian couple have arrived for their wedding in unusual style after sailing through the flooded streets of their town in a cooking pot after heavy rains wrecked havoc in the southern state of Kerala.Footage shared across social media showed the newlyweds squeezed inside the aluminium vessel while two men and a photographer paddled the pair down a submerged street. Continue reading...

Presidential vote is likely to be referendum on the kind of governance the public wants after almost six years of Rodrigo Duterte in powerA dictator’s son, an actor-turned-mayor, and a champion boxer: an eclectic mix of personalities declared this month that they would compete to become the Philippine’s next president.More than 60 million Filipinos will go to the polls to decide who should replace the populist leader Rodrigo Duterte, who is nearing the end of his six-year term limit. Continue reading...

Tuesday: The former US secretary of state Colin Powell has died from complications of Covid. Plus: jeans myths bustedGood morning. Tributes have been paid to the former US secretary of state Colin Powell, who has died aged 84. An inquiry has said the destruction of Juukan Gorge was shocking, but not unique. And as millions see the light at the end of the lockdown tunnel in Australia, we’ve got some myth-busting fashion advice.The former US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has died from complications from Covid, aged 84. Powell was America’s first Black secretary of state and played a pivotal role in attempting to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving under George W Bush. He was fully vaccinated against Covid but had a compromised immune system having been treated for blood cancer. Tributes have poured in, including former president Bush, who called Powell “a great public servant ... He was highly respected at home and abroad”, and current president Joe Biden, who hailed him “a dear friend and patriot of unmatched honour and dignity”. Continue reading...

MPs rise to the tragic occasion in tribute to much loved backbencher that brought out many jokes and storiesThere was an empty space on the packed Conservative benches where Sir David Amess used to sit. Which was as it should have been, because he was there in spirit if not in person. Parliamentary sessions where MPs remember colleagues who have died can sometimes feel somewhat formulaic – dutiful, even, with the sense that MPs are rather going through the motions, with their speeches saying as much about themselves as the departed. The farewell to Amess was very different. It was as close to a wake as the House of Commons is likely to see, with every MP doing their best to rise to the occasion. To find the right words that summed up a life and career well lived. And much loved.Amess was one of those politicians who these days often slip beneath the media radar. Someone who throughout his 38 years in Westminster never once looked on becoming an MP as a stepping stone to higher office. If he dreamed of a ministerial career, he kept it extremely well hidden, preferring instead to become the model backbench MP, devoted both to the interests of his constituents and cross-party causes in which he believed. And it was these often undervalued qualities to which his friends and colleagues tried to give voice. Continue reading...

Calls for crackdown on threats to public figures and an end to online anonymityBoris Johnson is facing calls to enact “David’s law” to crack down on social media abuse of public figures and end online anonymity in the wake of the killing of Sir David Amess.Dozens of MPs paid tribute in the House of Commons on Monday to the veteran Conservative backbencher who was stabbed to death on Friday, shedding tears, sharing uproarious anecdotes and venting anger over his death. Continue reading...

Supporters of Morris dismiss forensic findings that police say supports his conviction for the 1999 killingsForensic evidence has been discovered that supports the conviction of a man found guilty of murdering three generations of the same family in south Wales more than 20 years ago, police have claimed.A review of the case of David “Dai” Morris, who was jailed for four murders in the Swansea valley village of Clydach, was launched after his legal team, family members and a television documentary raised doubts about the safety of the conviction. Continue reading...

Julian Reichelt departs after reports that he promoted an employee he had an affair withThe editor of Germany’s biggest tabloid has been relieved of his duties as its publisher faced allegations that it tried to cover up the full findings of an investigation into sexual misconduct and bullying within its own offices.Media giant Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe, recently expanded its global portfolio by acquiring the US political news website Politico for more than $1bn, inviting closer scrutiny of its workplace culture on the other side of the Atlantic. Continue reading...

Julie Morgan draws attention to the purple plaques being erected around Wales to celebrate women who have made contributions locally, nationally and internationallyI read with interest your editorial (The Guardian view on blue plaques: time to redress the balance, 6 October). Here in Wales we have been making an effort to redress the balance, with a campaign for purple plaques to mark the achievements of remarkable women in Wales.The campaign was launched by a cross-party group of members of the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, in 2017 to commemorate our former colleague and friend, assembly member Val Feld, and is now run by a small group of volunteers. The first purple plaque was erected in 2018 and, after a hiatus during the pandemic, there are now eight purple plaques around Wales celebrating the achievements of women from all walks of life who have made contributions locally, nationally and internationally. Continue reading...

Think hotel quarantine in NSW is over? Not for those of us in the air when Dominic Perrottet made the surprise announcement to reopen to the worldIf ignorance is bliss; in-flight wifi is its antithesis, a curse.I wish I had not turned it on. But on Singapore Airlines free connectivity is a business-class perk and for those not used to the pointy end of the plane, it’s hard to resist.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Boris Johnson led tributes in the Commons on Monday to the late Conservative MP for Southend West, announcing that the Queen had agreed to grant Southend city status. The prime minister said all MPs were in mourning with the family of Sir David Amess, adding: 'We will not allow the manner of Sir David’s death in any way to detract from his accomplishments as a politician or as a human being.' MPs cheered after Johnson announced that Southend would 'be accorded the city status it so clearly deserved'

Fans of the YA After series should find something amid the tangled mess of plot, daytime-soap acting and inanimate passion – everyone else should look awayIf you don’t identify as an Afternator or recognise the hashtag #Hessa, a short explanation is necessary. After is a clutch of bestselling YA romance novels once described as “Fifty Shades of Grey for teens”. US author Anna Todd started writing stories as fan fiction for the boyband One Direction and Harry Styles is the inspiration for broody-eyed bad-boy Hardin Scott; he’s the on-off boyfriend of bookish virginal college student Tessa Young. This film is the stupendously wooden and humourless third in the series. It’s heading straight to Amazon and should come with a warning to viewers: contains extremely boring sex.If you’re new to the franchise, don’t even bother trying. The script works on the basis that everyone watching has read the books, seen the previous movies and bought the T-shirt (sloganned versions available on Etsy: “Mentally dating Hardin Scott”). No attempt whatsoever is made to introduce us to the tedious tangle of relationships. That said, all you need to know about Tessa and Hardin is that they can’t live without each other. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson confirms move three days after death of MP who had long campaigned for Essex town to get city statusSouthend will become a city in honour of Sir David Amess, Boris Johnson has confirmed, paying tribute to the Tory MP who had been a long-time committed campaigner for his area to gain the status.Amess had raised the issue almost weekly in the 38 years he served as a backbench MP before he was killed on Friday. on Monday the prime minister said the Queen had agreed Southend in Essex would be granted city status. Continue reading...

Single-market status has been a boon to firms – but stirring up a trade dispute with the EU may be worth more to Boris JohnsonHere comes the destroyer, as David Frost, the Brexit minister, stomps into talks on the Northern Ireland protocol this week with European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič. His mission from Boris Johnson is to stir up Brexit trouble, and keep stirring: yes, even at the risk of stirring the darkest shadows of Northern Ireland’s history. Let Brexit never be done if it can keep alive the antagonisms that shot Johnson into No 10.Johnson may miscalculate the public’s appetite for new Eurostrife: “Get Brexit done” worked with many voters who never wanted to hear the word again. But he may be hoping that EU trade wars against the despots of Brussels can distract voters from his pile-up of crises: shortages of HGV drivers and butchers, port blockages, NHS and social care at tipping point, music and arts crippled for lack of EU visas, soaring energy bills. EU noise might help drown out some of the bad news from next week’s austerity budget.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Attacker was armed with bow and arrows but five people who died had in fact been stabbed, police confirmFive people killed in Norway last week were all stabbed to death and not shot with arrows as initially suspected, police have announced.Four women and one man, aged between 52 and 78, were killed on Wednesday in the attack in Kongsberg, a town about 45 miles (70km) west of the capital, Oslo. Continue reading...

With Steven Spielberg’s remake almost out, the 1961 original still feels thrillingly contemporary, a tough act to followIt’s the opening credits that do it right away. Following three eerie whistles over a black screen, West Side Story explodes into a full screen of poster-paint colour – shifting from orange to red to magenta to royal blue – as Leonard Bernstein’s four-minute overture brassily clatters into action. Over the colour, a stark design flourish: seemingly random brigades of parallel vertical black lines, only coalescing at the overture’s end into the tip of Manhattan, viewed from the air, cuing a vertiginous bird’s-eye montage of New York City in motion. That chipper yet chillingly disembodied whistle returns; by the time we finally see a human face, six coolly riveting minutes has passed.This whole title sequence – from the graphics to the aerial photography – was visualised by Saul Bass, the distinctive graphic designer then favoured by such aggressive stylists as Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger. It still seems, perhaps even more than anything that follows in West Side Story, sleekly and breath-catchingly modern: a coup of expensive minimalism at the outset of a splashy Hollywood production. That was no accident: in 1961, United Artists set out for the film to be something bracing and new in the movie musical, an industry staple that was looking increasingly out of step with a youth culture turning toward rock’n’roll. Continue reading...

Harbi Ali Kullane, ex-comms director for former PM of Somalia, is said to be in shock after arrest of his son, Ali Harbi AliThe father of the suspect in the inquiry into David Amess’s killing, was a committed anti-extremist who risked his own life trying to thwart hate groups, his friends and colleagues have said.Amess, 69, was stabbed to death on Friday just after midday while holding his constituency surgery in his role as MP for Southend West in an Essex church. A man aged 25 was arrested at the scene and continues to be held in custody. Continue reading...

Roberto Gualtieri has a clear lead over his rival Enrico Michetti of the far-right Brothers of ItalyExit polls in Rome’s mayoral election runoff indicate a clear advantage for the centre-left candidate over a contender from the far-right Brothers of Italy.Roberto Gualtieri, a former economy minister, was leading with between 59% and 63% of the vote shortly after polling stations closed on Monday, ahead of his rival, Enrico Michetti, who had between 37% and 41%. Continue reading...