Salah Abdeslam was handed the sentence for his involvement in a police shootout following a string of terror attacks in Paris in November 2015
Hi, this is Anna with our top news and reads of the day.
Today's headlines
Justice served
Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium after being found guilty of the attempted murder of police officers in a shootout in Brussels in March 2016. Abdeslam’s accomplice, Sofien Ayari, was also given a 20-year sentence for his role in the shooting, which left four officers injured.
A woman gives birth to a baby
The world appears to have gone mad after a woman gave birth to a baby in London. The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton has given birth to a boy. Kate and Williams’s third child was born at 11.01am at St Mary’s hospital, Paddington, central London, weighing 8lb 7oz.
Manhunt for Waffle House shooter
An intense manhunt for a half-naked man suspected of shooting dead four people at a Waffle House restaurant continued today, with authorities sharing information on the apparent gun-loving man with paranoid delusions. Travis Reinking was almost naked, wearing nothing but a green jacket, and carrying an assault-style rifle when he opened fire in the parking lot at 3.25am on Sunday and then stormed the Nashville restaurant. Four people were killed and four were injured before a customer wrestled the gun away.
Armenian PM out
Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan has resigned after days of mass street protests against him. Opposition supporters accused Sargsyan of clinging to power when he was appointed prime minister last Tuesday, soon after finishing two five-year terms as president. ‘The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand,’ he said in a statement.
What we like
Must-read
Jon Cruddas’s fascinating exploration of ‘cyborg socialism’ - a new political movement on the left incorporating ‘accelerationism’, ‘postcapitalism’ and even ‘fully automated luxury communism’ - and why the humanist left must challenge it is well worth a read. Can we really automate everything to work for us and sit back, relax, and enjoy a fully-automated, work-free life?
Spotlight
Japan’s rent-a-family business may sound like a dystopian antidote to loneliness, but it can have real and lasting effects for the good. This feature in the New Yorker dives into the strange world of renting wives, siblings, parents to combat isolation and social stigma.
Culture
A newspaper run by and for Colombian sex workers is making waves in the country’s capital, Bogota. The Guardian interviewed the group of sex workers spearheading the publication, La Esquina, in Bogota’s notorious red light district and it makes for fascinating reading. Click here to read it.
Entertainment
Police in Oman have ruled out suspicious circumstances in the death of Swedish DJ Avicii. The 28-year-old was found dead on Friday in Oman's capital city, Muscat. The cause of death has not been released. Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, had been in Oman on holiday. His family have arrived in the country to return his body to Sweden.
Environment
The founder of a citizens' movement that helped expose the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is one of the recipients of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Nearly 100,000 residents of Flint were left without safe tap water after lead began trickling into the supply in the impoverished US city.