News Headlines - 28 May 2018

▽More than a dozen killed by outbreak of rare nipah virus in India

At least 13 people have died in India after an outbreak of a rare disease that health officials warn could cause a global epidemic.
Emergency measures have been imposed across the southwestern state of Kerala following the emergence of the nipah virus, which causes flu-like symptoms leading to an agonising brain-swelling condition known as encephalitis.

▽Ex-IMF official Carlo Cottarelli asked to be Italy's new prime minister

Carlo Cottarelli was summoned by President Sergio Mattarella to his official Rome residence on Monday morning, in the latest attempt to solve Italy's political crisis.
He has accepted a mandate to form a technocratic and politically "neutral" government before new elections can be held by the beginning of next year.
However, Italians could be asked to return to the polls as soon as August if Mr Cottarelli does not win parliamentary support for his interim administration, the prime minister-designate admitted.

▽Spanish prime minister to face confidence vote on Friday | Reuters

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence in his leadership on Friday as corruption convictions handed down to dozens of people linked to his center-right People’s Party (PP) threatened his six-year rule.
Spain’s parliament agreed on Monday that the debate and vote would take place on Thursday and Friday, although the opposition Socialists who proposed the vote may struggle to garner enough support in the fragmented legislature to unseat Rajoy.

▽EU challenges UK to 'race to the top' on plastics reduction | The Guardian

Brussels has challenged the UK’s environment secretary, Michael Gove, to try to outdo it in an environmental “race to the top” as it proposed a ban on plastic straws, cutlery, plates, cotton buds and balloon sticks.
Frans Timmermans, the European commission’s first vice-president, directly addressed Gove, a fervent Brexiter, as he unveiled details of the planned prohibition, along with measures designed to reduce the use of plastic takeaway containers and drinking cups.

▽Paris 'spiderman' scales building to rescue dangling toddler - The Local

A young Malian man was hailed a hero on Sunday after he sprang into action to save a four-year-old child hanging from a fourth-floor balcony by single-handedly scaling the facade of the building and hauling the youngster to safety.