Thursday Morning Briefing: In Louisiana jail, deaths mount as mental health pleas go unheeded

United States

A nurse said Louisiana jail inmate Paul Cleveland was faking when he was found on the floor of his cell, naked and covered in feces. Two hours later, he was dead from a gastrointestinal bleed. Read the latest special report that looks at how jails across the U.S. have become a first line of treatment for the mentally ill.

U.S. election officials responsible for managing more than a dozen close races this November share a fear: Outdated voting machines in their districts could undermine confidence in election results that will determine which party controls the U.S. Congress.

The growing number of apprenticeships in the U.S. has more to do with European companies importing the practice into their American operations than with the long-running NBC television reality show and its former host who now lives in the White House. Read more on the world at work.

World

One recent Sunday morning in the western Ukrainian village of Ptycha, a battle for control of the church between rival Orthodox factions forced parishioners to worship in unusual places. The standoff is the upshot of a tussle that pits a church aligned with Russian Orthodoxy — widely referred to in Ukraine as the Moscow Patriarchate — against a breakaway rival called the Kiev Patriarchate.

Italy is awaiting a decision from right-wing leader Matteo Salvini on whether to join a last-ditch attempt to form a government and avoid snap elections that would be focused on membership of the euro zone. In addition, euro support in Italy has been declining over the last 15 years and the election of populist parties rises the fear that Italy might quit the monetary union.

Exclusive: Mexican presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has extended his lead well beyond his nearest rivals with just a month to go before the July 1 election, an opinion poll showed.

Sponsored by Barclays: Automation’s delayed economic impact Workplace automation is increasing, yet key economic indicators seem unaffected. Why aren’t unemployment, wages and productivity responding? Find out.

Commentary: Over the last two weeks, every household in Sweden received a booklet of instructions on how to prepare for war. Issued by the government, it was a dramatic sign of just how quickly the recently unthinkable has become something Europe’s Nordic governments in particular feel they must address, writes Peter Apps.

Reuters Top News  @Reuters

Two @Reuters journalists have been detained in Myanmar for 171 days. Follow updates on the case: https://reut.rs/2IXyvXf

4:00 AM - MAY 31, 2018

Business

Exclusive: Late to teapot party, ExxonMobil breaks with tradition in wooing China's oil market

ExxonMobil’s global oil marketing team stormed into China this week hoping to elbow aside rivals and gain access to the nation’s “teapot” refining market, executives told Reuters.

5 Min Read

U.S. to impose tariffs on EU steel, aluminum: sources

Washington will announce plans to impose tariffs on EU steel and aluminum imports as early as today, two sources said, while a magazine reported Trump was now focused on pushing German cars from the country.

4 min read

Foreign banks to benefit from U.S. bid to simplify 'Volcker Rule'

Foreign banks and funds are set to benefit from a move by U.S. regulators to simplify a trading rule that foreign banks and regulators say has inadvertently ensnared firms operating as far afield as Europe and Asia.

3 min read

Exclusive: Russia's Deripaska empire bets on mid-summer plan to escape U.S. sanctions

The aluminum empire of Russian magnate Oleg Deripaska is in close contact with the U.S. Treasury, but needs until mid-summer to come up with a plan to meet U.S. requirements to escape sanctions, the chairman of its holding company told Reuters.

3 min read

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