Portugal’s centre-right government has lost a confidence vote in parliament, potentially pushing the European Union (EU) country towards its third general election in three years. The government “tried everything right up to the last minute to avoid snap elections”, Portugal’s centre-right prime minister, Luis Montenegro, told reporters after the vote on Tuesday evening. Lawmakers voted 142-88, with zero abstentions, against the motion of confidence that Montenegro presented after...

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says administration will work with the US Congress to abolish department. The United States Department of Education has announced it will lay off almost half of its employees as President Donald Trump moves to fulfil his campaign promise to dismantle the agency. The department said on Tuesday that it would reduce the size of its workforce to roughly 2,183 employees by placing...

Search for missing surfer now a recovery operation after evidence of bite marks found on surf board. Australian police have confirmed that a surfer who went missing was “taken by a shark” after search and rescue teams recovered a surfboard scarred with “bite marks” from the area of the attack. The victim – identified by Australian media as 37-year-old Steven Payne – was mauled by a shark while...