US exits Iran nuclear deal

Editor's note

After years of calling it “the worst deal ever”, Donald Trump finally made good on his promises and pulled the US out of the 2015 deal to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The move could upend the Middle East’s already precarious security balance, and turn proxy conflicts into full-blown wars. Simon Mabon explains why Trump’s decision is so dangerous.

Parents are pulling children from religious education lessons so they don’t learn about Islam, according to a new survey. Paul Smalley argues that without them, children risk growing up ill-prepared for life in modern, multicultural Britain. Meanwhile, Rihanna and a constellation of other celebrities put a very different spin on religion at the Met Gala in New York. Katie Edwards and Meredith Warren explain.

There’s a lot of advice about sex out there if you go looking for it, from manuals to videos, blogs and TV programmes. Meg-John Barker waded through an unenviable amount of this content (for research purposes) – and gives five reasons why they get it very wrong.

And after Belarus was heavily contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, many Belarusian children were sent to stay with families abroad so they could recuperate. Hundreds of thousands of children went to Italy, including Ekaterina Zhukova. She explains how this process forged links between the two very different nations.

Andrew Naughtie

International Editor

Health + Medicine

The best foods for arthritis symptoms – new research

Ali Mobasheri, University of Surrey; Margaret Rayman, University of Surrey

The right diet, combined with moderate low-impact exercise, can benefit people with osteoarthritis.
Fancy gyms aren't always best – here's why

Ewa M Roos, University of Southern Denmark

Working out in a dilapidated gym can yield more benefits than working out in a fancy gym. But it depends on your preferences.
How to deliver the mental health services that young people desperately need

Christopher Boyle, University of Exeter; Will Shield, University of Exeter

The government should make the most of educational psychologists, who already provide vital front line services.
Five brain-boosting reasons to take up martial arts – at any age

Ashleigh Johnstone, Bangor University

As well as increasing physical fitness and mental health, martial arts can boost brain cognition too.

Politics + Society

Chernobyl brought Italy and Belarus closer together – their approach could do the same for other nations

Ekatherina Zhukova, Lund University

Forging emotional bonds through care, companionship and shared experiences, two very different countries built civic ties from the rubble of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Why CIA nominee Gina Haspel should be asked if torture is un-American

Dan Plesch, SOAS, University of London

Gina Haspel is in hot water over the CIA's use of 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. And in decades past, the US imprisoned people for using the same methods.
How does Theresa May cling to power? Here's the secret to her 'success'

Tom Quinn, University of Essex

She lurches from crisis to crisis but the prime minister remains in post. How does she do it?
Charities left out of pocket by probation scheme for ex-offenders

Rob Macmillan, Sheffield Hallam University; James Rees, The Open University; Vita Terry, The Open University

New research shows how the charity sector has been sidelined in the Transforming Rehabilitation programme.

Education
What you need to know about the new free speech pledge for universities Suzanne Whitten, Queen's University Belfast In new guidance, students and universities could be banned from censoring controversial speakers on campuses following the first ministerial intervention on free speech in 30 years.

Business + Economy
Germany's deep-rooted obsession with saving – a brief history Imko Meyenburg, Anglia Ruskin University The importance of saving is so deep rooted in Germany that an exhibition recently opened to commemorate it.