France: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, standing firm against a wave of grassroots protests, said that fuel tax hikes would remain in place despite nationwide agitation. "The course we set is good and we will keep it," Philippe told France-2, "It's not when the wind blows that you change course." Nearly 300,000 protesters paralysed traffic at more than 2000 strategic sites around France in a bid to force the Government to lower taxes on diesel fuel and petrol. Other issues, like buying power, melted into the main demand as the demonstrations unfolded. The Government wants to close the gap between the price of diesel fuel and petrol as part of his strategy to wean France off fossil fuels.
United States: President Donald Trump is name-calling Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff for saying Matthew Whitaker's appointment as acting attorney-general is unconstitutional. Trump says Schiff shouldn't complain that Whitaker wasn't confirmed by the Senate because neither was Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating 2016 election interference and possible ties between Moscow and Trump's campaign. The Justice Department appoints special counsels. Critics contend Trump illegally sidestepped procedure by appointing Whitaker over Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein, who's been confirmed. Trump's tweet calls Schiff "little Adam Schitt". Schiff's response: "That's a good one. Was that like your answers to Mr Mueller's questions, or did you write this one yourself?"
Cyprus: The Communications Minister of Cyprus says a rare 6th-century portrait mosaic of St. Mark which was looted from an Orthodox Christian church more than four decades ago has returned intact to the Mediterranean island nation. Minister Vassiliki Anastassiadou said the mosaic arrived in Cyprus today. It was given earlier to church and government officials at the country's embassy in the Netherlands. AFP reports that it was handed back this week by a renowned Dutch art investigator, who found it in the possession of an unwitting British family. Arthur Brand has been dubbed the "Indiana Jones of the art world" thanks to his exploits to recover stolen works. The mosaic
depicting a youthful St. Mark was one of several that went missing from the Church of Panayia Kanakaria after Cyprus split into ethnic Greek and Turkish sides in 1974. A mosaic of St. Andrew from the same church was repatriated in April.
Spain: Spanish police have intervened to keep trouble from erupting at a rally marking the anniversary of military dictator Francisco Franco's death after feminist protesters interrupted the event in Madrid. Officers on horseback and on foot quickly moved to keep an angry crowd of about 200 away from the three members of the Feminist group Femen who ran into the gathering topless and with "Legal fascism, national shame" painted on their torsos.
