Trump indictment, Protests in Israel, King Charles in Germany, French pension reform

A demonstration of support was seen outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv after the US president lost patience with Israel's prime minister when he on the one hand pledged to pause a judicial overhaul that is tearing the country apart, and on the other did nothing to stop the bill from graduating from committee to the floor of the Knesset.

Speaking of legal baggage, Jair Bolsonaro was welcomed home by supporters on Thursday. He had decamped to Florida before the ousted president of Brazil could see his successor sworn in at the start of the year. Bolsonaro too faces a long list of probes including over his January 6-style assault on the capital Brasilia, but one case in particular that is capturing headlines: diamonds intercepted at customs in 2021 and believed to be for his wife Michelle.

The Biden administration has a new crisis on its hands: Thursday's arrest in Yekaterinburg of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who according to friends was following a story on the mercenaries of the Wagner Group. The 31-year-old Gershkovich has been charged with espionage, a first for a US journalist since the end of the Cold War.

It should have been Versailles. But due to a spot of industrial action, Charles III's first state visit as king was instead to the next country on the list. In Germany, Charles showed his green credentials by making the trip from Berlin to Hamburg by train. The new monarch also visited an organic farm where he made political hay with Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. By speaking the language of Goethe before parliament, it was a nod to his family's German roots and to his prime minister's bid to turn the page on Brexit frictions in the face of common challenges.

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