Emmanuel Macron faces flak at home for branding the French ‘Gauls resistant to change’

Emmanuel Macron was on Thursday forced to deny angry opposition claims he was unpatriotic after branding his French compatriots “Gauls who are resistant to change”. President Macron made the comments during a chat with French expatriates while on a trip to Denmark – a country whose people he said he admired for embracing new models. "Let’s…

Melania Trump embarks on solo tour of Africa, visiting programmes funded by US aid that President wants to cut

Melania Trump handed out teddy bears to sick children on a paediatric ward in Ghana on Tuesday as she began an African tour that the White House hopes will detoxify her husband’s image on the continent. By focusing primarily on childhood health and education, Mrs Trump’s five-day swing through four African states, her first significant…

Brett Kavanaugh claims he is ‘independent, impartial’ but ’emotional’ in highly unusual op-ed

Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s controversial pick for the US Supreme Court, declared himself "independent, impartial" on Thursday in a highly unusual plea following criticism of his performance at a Senate committee hearing on sexual assault allegations against him. "I am an independent, impartial judge," said the headline of an opinion piece he wrote in The Wall Street…

Donald Trump claims ‘3,000 people did not die’ in Puerto Rico hurricane

Donald Trump has rejected an official conclusion that around 3,000 people died due to the devastating hurricane that hit Puerto Rico a year ago. Mr Trump said the death toll had only been 18 when he visited the US territory shortly after the storm, and claimed the higher figure had been inflated by Democrats to…

Majorca floods: Two Britons among eight dead amid ‘biblical’ scenes

Two British tourists were killed within hours of arriving on the holiday island of Majorca when their taxi was swept away by floodwaters of ‘Biblical proportions’. At least 10 people died when torrential rain storms deluged the town of Sant Llorenc, about 40 miles east of the capital, Palma, on Tuesday evening. Lloyd Milen, the…

Thai bay made famous in ‘The Beach’ shuts indefinitely as Philippines places visitor cap on ‘cesspool’ Boracay

The sheltered Thai cove made famous by the movie "The Beach" will be closed indefinitely due to the damage caused by millions of tourists, which has left it looking "overworked and tired".  The news comes as authorities in the Philippines also moved to restrict visitors to Boracay, a tiny island once regarded as the world’s…