Abolish

I keep a red file folder, its edges faded from nearly three decades of exposure to dust and light. Inside, the title words I typed in 1991: “The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.” It is the first research paper I ever wrote. Tucked inside of the folder’s front flap are three stapled index cards, each with reference titles written in smudged pencil. The first book listed is the one that mattered to me most: the journalist John Hersey’s 1946 nonfiction classic Hiroshima. The book’s scenes, vivid and wrenching, are lodged inside my memory. Particularly this one, about the Rev Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pulling bomb victims from a sand pit: “He reached down and took a woman by the hands, but her skin slipped off in huge, glove-like pieces.” … [Read more...] about Daughters of the bomb: my reckoning with Hiroshima, 75 years later

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But in a study by pollster Sigma Dos published in January, support for the king, who has been troubled by ill health, gaffes and family scandals, had fallen to 41%. Sixty-two percent wanted him to abdicate in favour of Felipe. Only 49% approved of the monarchy itself. … [Read more...] about King-in-waiting Felipe urges Spaniards to unite

El País, which broke the story last week, reports this morning that Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor is holding a wide-ranging investigation into claims that senior members of the ruling People's party, including prime minister Mariano Rajoy, received secret, illegal payments over many years. … [Read more...] about Spanish corruption scandal rumbles on as euro economy ‘turns corner’ – as it happened