The Guardian
It was a case of so near and yet so far. Donald Trump returned to New York on Thursday night for the first time since his inauguration, yet the closest he could get to his home in Trump Tower was 10 blocks away as the city that made his fortune greeted him with noisy protest..
The president bypassed his Fifth Avenue penthouse, where First Lady Melania and youngest son Barron still live, bound for the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier on the Hudson river, where he attended a gala to mark the 75th anniversary of a major second world war naval battle.
To heighten the bitter-sweetness of his homecoming, hundreds of protesters gathered blocks away from the vessel clattering pots and pans, chanting “Shame, shame, shame” and bearing posters proclaiming: “Impeach the Freak.”
Activists in Argentina have reacted with fury after two supreme court judges appointed by the centre-right government of President Mauricio Macri cast their votes in favour of of a ruling that opens the door to the early release of hundreds of convicted human rights abusers.
The court ruling, which was delivered late on Wednesday, reduces the sentence of Luis Muina, who in 2013 was condemned to 13 years in prison for kidnap and torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
A jury in Washington has convicted a woman who was arrested after laughing during a confirmation hearing for the attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
Desiree Fairooz, an activist with the leftwing NGO Code Pink, was found guilty of engaging in “disorderly or disruptive conduct” with the intent to disrupt congressional proceedings, as well as “parading, demonstrating or picketing”.
The charges stem from the hearing on 10 January, when Sessions’ then colleague, fellow Alabama Republicansenator Richard Shelby, said Sessions’ record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented”.
Fairooz laughed out loud twice at this claim, and according to the charges filed by the prosecutor, “grew loud and more disruptive” as an officer attempted to remove her from the room.
The Washington Post
It was one thing for Donald Trump to pledge on the campaign trail that his plan for health care would assure that every American had coverage. He did so repeatedly, including during a town hall event in February 2016 at which he said his promise to “take care” of everyone might sound as if he was talking about a single-payer system, but he wasn’t. “That’s not single-payer,” he said. “That’s not anything. That’s just human decency.” […]
The American Health Care Act, passed on the strength of 217 Republican votes, is another beast entirely. The bill would overhaul the Affordable Care Act, cutting Medicaid spending and changing the incentive structure to reduce government subsidies and eliminate the individual mandate.
Russia, Iran and Turkey said Thursday that they have agreed to create “de-escalation zones” across four areas in Syria, renewing diplomatic efforts to bring warring parties in the country to heel after six years of fighting. […]
The agreement, signed by all three guarantor countries, said that the zones would be demarcated by checkpoints on the ground and that “unarmed civilians” would be able to move freely between government- and opposition-held territory. Checkpoints would be overseen by the three guarantors but could, “if necessary,” be manned by unspecified “third parties,” it said.
But it was unclear how the deal differed from several previous failed cease-fires in which the Syrian air force continued to bomb rebel-held areas. The agreement said “the parties agreed to take all necessary measures to continue the fight” against designated terrorist groups “within and outside” the zones.
With tensions high over North Korean's nuclear program and the threat of conflict refusing to subside, North Korean state media lashed out Wednesday and Thursday. President Trump was one target, but China — a major ally and benefactor of North Korea — faced its own pointed critique.
The comments about Trump appeared first in Minju Choson, the principal newspaper of North Korea's cabinet, and were republished on the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) website. The commentary accused Trump of a lack of understanding of North Korea, calling his administration a “mere beginner insofar as its ignorance of its rival was concerned” and warning that “crimes such as regime change in anti-imperialist countries” would not influence North Korea.
Deutsche Welle
An Austrian citizen suspected of war crimes in Ukraine's war-torn Donbass region was arrested last weekend by Polish border police. A European arrest warrant was issued a few weeks ago for the suspect, whom Austria wants extradited as soon as possible.
The 25-year old is accused of "having killed soldiers involved in fighting at the Donetsk airport who had already surrendered and/or of having killed civilians," said a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Wiener Neustadt, in the northeastern province of Lower Austria. The suspect was already being investigated for violating the controlled substances act.
In less than a year's time, German politics have had to contend with two shocking events: Brexit and Donald Trump. No one in Berlin wants to imagine a scenario in which Marine Le Pen wins Sunday's presidential runoff election in France. That could spell the end of France's participation in the eurozone and the EU entirely. It could mean the breaking point for what has taken generations to build. Brexit seriously damaged the European Union, but the EU would be unimaginable without France.
Polls have Emmanuel Macron out front, which is no cause for comfort for Berlin, given similar polling ahead of the Brexit referendum and the U.S. election, which turned out to be wrong. The anxiety has led Chancellor Angela Merkel to chime in: "It is and remains of course up to French voters, which I won't interfere with,"she told the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" newspaper, "But I would be glad to see Emmanuel Macron win because he is pro-European.”
Der Spiegel
Trump has never made a secret of his intense disdain for the institutions that are necessary for a vigorous democracy: an independent judiciary, a critical press and a healthy opposition. Essentially, Trump would be happy to do away with all of that, or at least marginalize it. Following the ruling from San Francisco, he indicated that he is broadly dissatisfied with the federal judges there and threatened to curtail their power.
The president's anger with people who contradict him and institutions that stand in his way does not fade with time. On the contrary, the more resistance Trump is faced with, the harder he fights and the more deeply he believes that he is right. But in a democracy, it is necessary to establish alliances and build coalitions. The president, too, must defer to these constraints: He is reliant on Congress, his power over the states is limited and judges are independent.
Democracy lives from the ability to forge compromise, but that is a skill that Trump appears not to possess. As such, his first 100 days in office can be interpreted as an attack on the foundations of American democracy.
Reuters
A House banking panel on Thursday passed a controversial bill that would drastically change how the U.S. government regulates the financial sector.
With support only from the panel's Republicans, the bill approved by the House Financial Services Committee would eliminate significant parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and place new restrictions on regulators monitoring Wall Street.
The odds of the bill offered by Representative Jeb Hensarling becoming law are long, given staunch opposition by Democrats to many of its central proposals.
China's air force is making its drills more realistic and less formulaic as it seeks to boost combat readiness, an official newspaper said on Friday, mapping out the latest step in the country's ambitious modernization program.
China has rattled nerves around the region with its plan to reform the military, the world's largest, focusing on quality over quantity and replacing outmoded equipment and tactics dating back to Soviet times.
Its air force has been a big beneficiary of the modernization, getting new jets and developing stealth technologies, and is also focusing on improving its training.
The Telegraph
Prince Philip, who is 95, will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year, Buckingham Palace has announced.
The Palace said in a statement it was the The Duke of Edinburgh's decision taken with the support of the Queen.
BBC News
A Canadian activist who faced time behind bars for giving water to pigs has been found not guilty.
An Ontario judge dismissed mischief charges against Anita Krajnc, ending a legal battle that captured the global attention of animal rights activists.
Judge David Harris said he was not convinced that Ms Krajnc obstructed the use of property when she gave water to pigs headed to slaughter.
Ms Krajnc said it confirms "compassion is not a crime".
Somalia's security forces have shot dead a 31-year-old government minister after mistaking him for a militant Islamist, officials have said.
He was killed in his vehicle near the presidential palace in the capital, Mogadishu, the officials added.
The president has cut short his visit to Ethiopia following Abas Abdullahi Sheikh's killing, state radio reports.