Editor's note

Airbus has warned that a no-deal Brexit could force the aircraft manufacturer to close its UK operations, which, among other things, produce all-important wings. We’ve got the ins and outs of the story – which involves a lot more than single market and customs union access.

If you’re watching the World Cup this weekend, you’ll probably be arguing over which dive, foul, or tangle should have been picked up by VAR. Introduced for the first time, the technology is designed to help referees play back incidents to catch out bad behaviour and wrong calls made on the pitch. Love it or hate it, its impact on the beautiful game is certainly creating some heated debate. And as the group stage continues in Russia, we looked at pesky midges, sturgeon that were almost wiped out by a hydroelectric plant on the Volga, and Volgograd’s enduring wartime relationship with one British city.

Turkey heads to the polls for the fifth time in four years after the snap election announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This election is an opportunity for Erdoğan to consolidate power, and a state of emergency in the country has sidelined opposition media in the run up. But opposition groups have taken their fight to social media in the hopes of thwarting what many see as a done deal.

Getting a solid night’s sleep can be fraught, without ghouls, ghosts and exploding heads scaring you awake. Some who experience sleep paralysis and loud bangs just before falling asleep attribute them to the paranormal, but sleep researcher Alice Gregory suggests something else is going on – and which can be explained through science.

And tomorrow will be the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Bamber Bridge, a race riot that took place in the north of England during World War II. But it was more a mutiny than a battle – between black American troops and white US Army military police over the unwelcome import of American Jim Crow segregation.

And from around the globe, The Conversation also covered why women’s unpaid work must be included in GDP calculations, and why Nigeria may not be ready for free and fair elections next year. And also this week, two professors debate getting rid of business schools, why your neighbours may be breathing better air, and how to save Victorian pleasure piers.

Jo Adetunji

Deputy Editor

Top stories

Ryan Fletcher / Shutterstock.com

Airbus departure? Five things you need to know to understand its relationship with Britain

Mark Johnson, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Why Airbus has warned that a no-deal Brexit could force the plane maker to close its UK operations.

VAR is already proving controversial at this year’s World Cup. EPA/ Yuri Kocketkov

World Cup VAR: technology is transforming the beautiful game

Olatunbosun Olaniyan, University of Huddersfield

VAR is part of a wider trend of digitalisation that threatens to make football less natural and spontaneous.

Enough? EPA/Erdem Sahin

Turkey resists Erdoğan on social media as snap election approaches

Rabia Karakaya Polat, University of Essex

A snap poll intended to boost the Turkish president's power has stirred up online opposition to his increasing authoritarianism.

Captblack76/Shutterstock.com

What lies behind ghosts, demons and aliens – according to sleep researchers

Alice M Gregory, Goldsmiths, University of London

Sleep paralysis and exploding head syndrome can help explain things that go bump in the night.

Black American GIs stationed in Britain during the war, these in Bristol, were given a warm welcome by their hosts but treated harshly by their white US Army comrades. brizzlebornandbred

Black troops were welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow wasn't: the race riot of one night in June 1943

Alan Rice, University of Central Lancashire

When black American troops stationed in an English town faced off against white US Army military police.

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