Summary: <p>When the European parliament elected a new president last week, many of the headlines focused on one thing: the fact that she's against abortion. But Roberta Metsola's public stance is not at all unusual in a country with one of the strictest abortion bans in the world. This week we're asking: where does this incredibly strong taboo come from? Researcher and activist <a href="https://twitter.com/liza_cf">Liza Caruana-Finkel</a> is here to fill us in. We're also talking about Chinese influence at European universities, and the case of a toilet that went all the way to Italy's Supreme Court.</p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-it-is-vital-to-decriminalise-abortion-the-case-of-malta-163679">'Why it is vital to decriminalise abortion: the case of Malta' - The Conversation</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000z2yt">China's Magic Weapon - BBC</a></p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/EuropeansPod/status/1485580349929369605">Excellent tweets about embarrassing mistakes in a second (or third or fourth) language</a></p> <p>This week's Isolation Inspiration: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9112152/">The Investigation (</a><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9112152/">Efterforskningen)</a>; <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3B7eouBkao4C9Ey4YJsdwO?si=97811259c4624b96">Atlas Linguae</a></p> <p>This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at <a href="https://sphera-hub.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sphera-hub.com</a>.</p> <p>Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/europeanspodcast" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">patreon.com/europeanspodcast</a>. You can also help new listeners find the show by <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-europeans/id1315776736" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">leaving us a review</a> or giving us five stars on Spotify.</p> <p>Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak</p> <p>Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina</p> <p>This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at <a href="https://www.areweeurope.com/audio-family" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">areweeurope.com/audio-family</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/europeanspod" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/europeanspodcast/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/europeanspodcast/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="mailto:hello@europeanspodcast.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hello@europeanspodcast.com</a></p>
