Democrats have called for emergency hearings in Congress after Donald Trump appointed a vocal critic of the Russia investigation as acting attorney general to replace Jeff Sessions. 

Matt Whitaker, Mr Sessions’s former chief of staff, will now oversee Robert Mueller’s probe into 2016 Russian election meddling despite repeatedly criticising the scope of the investigation. 

Mr Whitaker was a legal commentator before joining the Justice Department last year, and he echoed the president by warning the probe could become a “witch hunt” and that Mr Trump’s finances should not be investigated, calling that a “red line”. 

His new role as acting attorney general gives him the power to reject requests by Mr Mueller, the special counsel, as well as end parts of his investigation, fire him and even keep secret his final report. 

The personnel changes, which saw Mr Trump ask Mr Sessions to resign as attorney general just hours after the midterm elections, have triggered fears that the president is moving to restrict the Russia probe.

All 17 Democrats who sit on the House Judiciary Committee penned a letter to the Republican chairman warning the country was “in the throes of a constitutional crisis”.

They called for “emergency hearings” and that “all relevant materials” to the firing be preserved.

A protest in New York City  drew several hundred people calling for the protection ofMr Mueller’s investigation.

The protesters gathered in Times Square on Thursday night and chanted slogans including "Hands off Mueller" and "Nobody’s above the law" before marching downtown. They held signs saying "Truth Must Triumph" and "Repeal, Replace Trump."

Similar rallies were being held across the country. Organizers say the appointment of Mr Whitaker is a "deliberate attempt to obstruct the special counsel’s investigation".

Democrats will take control of the committee in January after winning back the House of Representatives in the midterms but for now are reliant on the Republicans to approve hearings, which seems unlikely. 

The Russia probe, which is looking into whether Trump campaign figures conspired with the Kremlin in the 2016 election and if the president obstructed justice, has dogged Mr Trump’s first two years in office. 

Mr Mueller, appointed to lead the investigation early last year, is still hoping to interview the president – something the White House has been resisting for months and which could soon come to a head. 

Mr Trump was infuriated by Mr Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from overseeing the probe in March 2017, often complaining that he needed an attorney general who would protect him. 

In Mr Whitaker, Mr Trump has found a man who echoes the president’s attacks on Mr Mueller. 

The 49-year-old former college American football star wrote that Mr Mueller had come “dangerously close to crossing” a “red line” by looking into the finances of Mr Trump and his family in an opinion piece for CNN last year. 

He also shared an article with the headline "Note to Trump’s lawyer: Do not cooperate with Mueller lynch mob” on Twitter, adding himself that it was “worth a read”. 

And on funding for the Russia probe, he said on CNN in July 2017: “I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would [be a] recess appointment and that attorney general doesn’t fire Bob Mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigations grinds to almost a halt.”

The comments have raised suspicions that Mr Whitaker, who once ran for the US Senate and was a frequent critic of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, could try to limit Mr Mueller’s investigation. 

Mr Trump said on Wednesday he planned to nominate a permanent attorney general, but that process could take months.

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, was one of the names rumored to be in the mix. 

The next few weeks are expected to be critical for the Mueller investigation, which has avoided big public moves in the run-up to the midterms – perhaps to avoid accusations of seeking to influence elections. 

CNN reported on Thursday that Mr Mueller’s team has begun writing its final report and there are signs the special counsel’s team are looking into Roger Stone, a political consultant and ally of Mr Trump. 

A homeless man who used a shopping trolley to fend off a knife-wielding attacker as he stabbed at police in Melbourne has been unexpectedly rewarded by grateful citizens who had donated more than A$50,000 (£28,000) by Sunday evening to help him.

Michael Rogers, nicknamed "Trolley Man" on social media, repeatedly tried to ram the attacker, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, who was lunging at police and had earlier stabbed three people, one fatally, in Friday’s attack.

His actions were filmed by witnesses, and local media and a charity tracked him down afterwards to get his story.

"I have seen the trolley to the side, so I’ve picked it up and I ran and threw the trolley straight at him. Got him but didn’t get him down," Mr Rogers told Channel Seven.

"And I did that motion about – quite a number of times, but it just wasn’t getting him down," he said.

Mr Rogers’ bravery was made even more remarkable as he was metres away from a vehicle containing gas cylinders that Shire Ali had set alight. He quickly became a hero on social media as people praised his selfless act.

Donna Stolzenberg, the founder of registered charity Melbourne Homeless Collective, started a fundraising page on GoFundMe to help the homeless man.

"As a person he just deserves it," she told Reuters by telephone from Melbourne.

By Sunday evening it had raised more than A$52,000, exceeding its original goal of A$45,000.

Ms Stolzenberg said Mr Rogers was going to need a lot of support including with financial literacy and in making sure nobody takes advantage of him.

"This funding is growing and may grow further," she said.

"Michael is experiencing homelessness and probably hasn’t had much experience with large sums of money."

Ms Stolzenberg said her organisation would also help him to find housing and organise trauma support for him to process the extraordinary events of Friday afternoon.

Reuters was unable to contact Rogers.

UK officials have picked up nine migrants off Dover who crossed the Channel aboard an inflatable boat, a day after 17 others were arrested on British shores after landing in a stolen fishing boat.

The latest group, who told police they are Iranian, included both adults and children, French officials said.

"Overnight towards 4am , what appears to be an inflatable boat carrying nine people crossed over to England after apparently leaving from Calais" in northern France, maritime authorities told AFP.

A French helicopter was dispatched but the vessel was finally intercepted near Dover by British authorities, they added.

On Tuesday, a group of 17 Iranians – 14 men and three minors – managed to reach Dover after stealing a fishing trawler from the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer and hotwiring it.

Ingrid Parrot, spokeswoman for maritime authorities in northern France, called the crossing “unprecedented” as the boat was much bigger than the usual smaller craft used.

British officials said the Iranians’ asylum cases would be reviewed.

Thousands of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia attempt to sneak into Britain by stowing away on trucks crossing to England.

Far fewer try do so by crossing in boats, though the numbers have been rising.

According to French authorities, the number of operations to either arrest or save migrants attempting to cross the Channel from France has almost doubled in 2018 compared to last year to 23 – up from 12 last year. 

France shut the notorious “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais late 2016 and both French and UK authorities said that this would put stop to attempts to illegal enter Britain.

But police say the problem has been displaced along the coast. Last month, they evicted 1,800 from the Grande-Synthe camp outside Dunkirk in the fifth such operation in five months.

Heather Nauert’s promotion to America’s UN ambassador will solidify one of the more notable trends in Donald Trump’s presidency – the remarkable influence of Fox News. 

Ms Nauert, who takes up the role from after being top spinner at the US State Department, spent more than a decade at the Right-leaning cable news channel before hopping into government two years ago. 

Her lack of top-level diplomatic experience has left critics seething, questioning whether she really has the credentials to replace Nikki Haley at the UN top table in New York, where she will be expected to face down America’s foes and lobby to pass crucial resolutions. 

But the big brand on her CV – Fox News – is one that Mr Trump has proved especially drawn to since he entered the Oval Office, not least in his top hires. 

Earlier this year, John Bolton, the mustachioed foreign policy hawk and a former US ambassador to the UN himself, was picked for the position of White House national security adviser despite his ties to former president George W Bush, usually a negative point for Mr Trump. 

His repeated appearances on Fox News, banging the drum for a hard line on Iran and North Korea, were said to have caught Mr Trump’s eye – offering a marked contrast to the formal military style of HR McMaster, the man who held the role at the time. 

(Mr Trump would get bored during briefings from Mr McMaster and once mocked his dress sense, according to Bob Woodward’s book Fear, which quotes the president saying his cheap suits made him look “like a beer salesman”.)

Two months later Mr Trump appointed another Fox name to his inner circle –  Bill Shine, a former executive at the broadcaster with two decades of experience there.  

Mr Shine was given the title of White House director of communications and is known to have played a hand in the staging of many of Mr Trump’s set-piece interviews since joining. 

It is not just appointments where the influence of Fox News can be seen. Mr Trump enjoys a close relationship with many of the channel’s top stars. 

Sean Hannity, whose evening show is often the highest rating on cable news, is an arch supporter of the president and enjoys access few other media figures can rival. 

Mr Hannity and Mr Trump frequently share late-night phone calls, usually after his 9pm programme has aired, where they chat through the latest developments making the headlines, according to a deep dive into their relationship published by New York Magazine. 

It is Mr Hannity who often gets the Trump interviews. The president in turn is known to urge his 56 million-plus followers on Twitter to tune into his ally’s show. 

And in the final days of the November midterm elections campaign Mr Hannity even appeared on stage at one of the president’s rallies, prompting a rare public rebuke from his employers. 

In fact it is Fox – whose editorial line chimes with Mr Trump, not least on demands for a harder stance on immigration and law enforcement – that almost always gets the interviews. 

CBS’s White House correspondent keeps a tally of the numbers. Last month, he noted that Mr Trump had given 40 interviews to Fox as president. That compared with four for CBS, three for ABC and zero for CNN. 

But the channel’s influence spreads wider than that. Mr Trump, who records cable news shows and watches them back via his TiVo box, is an avid consumer of the channel’s output. 

One of his favourite programmes is Fox & Friends, the breakfast show. Another is Lou Dobbs Tonight, a nightly programme on Fox Business. 

Mr Trump will tweet quotes from these shows wholesale, using the quotation marks to hammer home points he appears to endorse without directly putting them in his own name. 

Often, the remarks of Fox News talking heads appear to directly lead to the president taking some form of action. 

Back in January, Congress was due to sign-off a bill renewing surveillance powers for intelligence agencies. Bipartisan support had been secured, with the White House backing the bill. 

Then, on the day of the vote, Mr Trump unexpectedly tweeted that the act “may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign”. 

It caught the Republicans on Capitol Hill totally off guard. Why was the US president suddenly lashing out against a piece of legislation he was meant to be backing? 

Soon an explanation was found. Forty-seven minutes earlier a talking head had said on Fox & Friends: “I don’t understand why Donald Trump is in favor of this. His woes began with unlawful foreign surveillance and unconstitutional domestic surveillance of him…”

It took a phone call from Paul Ryan, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, which reportedly lasted 30 minutes for the president to eventually relent. 

He tweeted somewhat sheepishly two hours later: “With that being said, I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!”

Another example came in March during negotiations for government spending – something decided by Congress but ultimately approved by the White House. 

After weeks of wrangling, a $1.3 trillion spending bill was passed by Congress (both parts of which were controlled by Republicans at the time). Mr Trump was expected to sign it into law. 

But the lack of funding for his Mexico border wall – just $1.9 billion had been set aside, well short of the $25 billion being sought – left Fox News hosts fuming. 

Laura Ingraham, who has her own show on the channel, called it a “legislative scam”. Ann Coulter, another leading conservative name and regular Fox guest, warned the president he would be impeached if he followed through. 

In the face of the conservative onslaught, Mr Trump announced he was considering vetoing the legislation. He eventually relented, but his sensitivity to the criticism was plain to see.

So why the closeness with Fox News? The president’s admiration for its Australian owner Rupert Murdoch is one possible explanation. Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury details how Mr Trump sees him as one of the last great media titans and was hurt by his lack of interest before he ran for the White House. 

Another is the overlap in agenda. Many of the touchstones of Mr Trump’s presidency are championed by the news channel. His presidency gets a sympathetic hearing. 

A third is its audience. Fox viewers are Trump voters. The channel contributed to his unprecedented rise from reality TV star and business mogul to president. 

To keep his supporters on side, and to remain in tune the conservative movement he attached himself to with such success, Mr Trump turns to Fox News. 

When Ms Nauert takes her seat at the top UN table, America’s voice will be that of a Fox News correspondent with just two years’ diplomatic experience – and the mindmeld will become that bit more pronounced. 

Moscow has named a square in honour of Kim Philby, one of Britain’s worst traitors, in a seemingly provocative response to condemnation of the Kremlin over the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor and one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, personally ordered that an obscure intersection in the south west of the city be renamed ‘Kim Philby Square’. 

The decree was published on Moscow city’s local government website on Tuesday.

Local residents expressed bewilderment that the junction was being renamed after Philby when he never lived in the neighbourhood. A Moscow city hall spokesman declined to comment on why the road junction was being renamed after Philby and the timing of it.

But eyebrows will be raised that Moscow is doing so just weeks after the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence unit, was identified as being behind the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March. Colonel Skripal, 67, was poisoned with novichok nerve agent but survived the attack along with his daughter Yulia, 33.

In the wake of the attack, Theresa May pledged to dismantle the GRU while the two men who carried it out were unmasked as senior GRU agents who had been awarded Russia’s highest honour by Mr Putin.

Col Skripal was a senior officer in the GRU who had been caught selling secrets to MI6 and sent to the UK in a spy swap. Philby is reckoned to have been the most successful member of the Cambridge spy ring that betrayed MI6 and provided secret information to the Soviet Union over three decades.

Philby, along with other members of the ring, were recruited at Cambridge University in the 1930s. He died in Moscow in 1988 aged 76, having been awarded the Order of Lenin in 1965.

After his defection Philby lived in central Moscow, far from the windswept intersection in a relatively new part of the city that is almost exclusively made up of residential towers.

The square is however close to the sprawling campus of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

The agency has maintained Philby’s legacy, with a page on its website dedicated to him and the intelligence he provided during the Second World war.

Sergei Naryshkin, the SVR director, spoke at an event last year to mark the unveiling of a portrait of Philby at a gallery in Moscow.

Intelligence veterans suggested at that event that a street should be named after the defector because he enjoyed walking around the city.

But several residents of Yasenevo district said on a neighbourhood Facebook group they had no idea who Philby was and wondered if Moscow had run out of names of Russian writers to use.

“They should have named the ramp leading to their campus after him instead,” wrote user Katerina Reatsea, referring to the intelligence agency.

The irony of naming the junction after Philby will not be lost on Mr Putin’s critics. The Russian president had previously called Col Skripal a “scumbag” for betraying his homeland while the kremlin does not seem to take the same view of Philby.

While Col Skripal and his daughter survived the nerve agent attack, a British woman Dawn Sturgess was killed after inadvertently spraying herself with novichok contained in a perfume bottle discarded by the GRU hit squad.

Drug baron Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman ordered hits on his own family and his weapons of choice were a diamond-encrusted pistol and a gold-plated AK-47, a US court has heard.

Guzman, considered the world’s largest drug trafficker since the death of Colombia’s Pablo Escobar, is on trial in New York under draconian security arrangements after twice escaping from prison in Mexico.

Prosecutors branded Guzman a ruthless criminal boss who murdered in cold blood, with Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels claiming Guzman used a small private army consisting of hundreds of men “armed with assault rifles” to take out his rivals.

“He ordered his hit men to locate, kidnap, torture, interrogate, shoot and kill those rivals,” Mr Fels told the court. “Not even Guzman’s own family members were immune.”

Guzman’s defence team have sought to paint him as the "scapegoat" of a cartel that bribed Mexican presidents.

The substantive phase of the case finally began with opening statements in what is expected to be one of the most expensive trials in US history after two jurors were dismissed at the last minute.

One woman was struck  after complaining that the trial was causing her health problems, along with a man who claimed financial hardship, forcing lawyers and the judge to find two replacements before the full panel was sworn in.

Guzman faces 11 trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges that will likely see him incarcerated for the rest of his life in a maximum security US prison if he is convicted at the end of the more than four-month trial.

He is accused of leading the Sinaloa cartel, turning it into the world’s largest criminal group and of smuggling enough cocaine "for 328 million lines" – equivalent to more than one per every person in the United States.

But in opening statements, the defense alleged that Guzman’s co-defendant who remains at large, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, was the real culprit.

"The truth is he (Guzman) controlled nothing, Mayo Zambada did," Jeffrey Lichtman told the US federal court in Brooklyn.

Zambada, he alleged, bribed everybody, "including the very top, the current president of Mexico and the former," he added in reference to Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto and his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.

Both Mr Calderon and Mr Pena Nieto swiftly denied taking any bribes from the Sinaloa cartel, the former calling the allegation "absolutely false and reckless" and the latter saying it was "completely false and defamatory."

Guzman, who has been held in solitary confinement for nearly two years, is a "scapegoat," Mr Lichtman added. "Why does the Mexican government need a scapegoat? Because they’re making too much money being bribed by the leaders of drug cartels."

Gold-plated AK-47

Prosecutors say that from 1989 to 2014, the Sinaloa cartel smuggled 340,892 pounds (154,626 kilograms) of cocaine into the United States, as well as heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, raking in $14 billion (£10.7 billion).

"Money, drugs, murder; a vast global narcotics trafficking organization. That is what this trial is about and that is what the evidence in this case will prove," Mr Fels told the court.

Guzman, he alleged in his opening statements, had his "own private army" of hundreds of armed men, as well as his own diamond-encrusted pistol branded with his initials and a gold-plated AK-47.

US prosecutors have spent years accumulating more than 300,000 pages and at least 117,000 recordings in evidence against Guzman. They claim that Guzman ordered or committed at least 33 murders.

"You’ll see how Guzman pulls the trigger," Mr Fels told jurors. "He was indeed the boss of his organisation."

‘Mythical figure’

Prosecutors promised to lay out "this global narco empire in his own words," from text messages and letters, and from witnesses detailing how he would receive $10 million (£7.6 million) from a single shipment of cocaine.

More than a dozen of those who are expected to testify are in witness protection programmes or already in jail.

On Wednesday an admitted former member of the cartel identified Guzman as one of the organisation’s leaders in court, while prosecutors gave the jury a video tour of a tunnel between Mexico and an Arizona warehouse.

The defence sought to undercut the government’s cooperating witnesses, saying that they were murderers who would "make your skin crawl."

Mr Lichtman suggested "El Chapo is the biggest prize this prosecution has ever dreamed of", adding, "he’s a mythical figure."

Guzman twice escaped from prison in Mexico, once hidden in a laundry cart and the second time slipping down a tunnel that reached his prison shower.

In New York, he has been held in solitary confinement since January 2017. His beauty queen wife, Emma Coronel, with whom he has been banned from having any direct contact or communication, attended court.

Exiting the building in the evening, she stopped to take a couple of selfies.