Donald Trump’s chief of staff called a sudden meeting on Friday to assure colleagues that their jobs were safe amid reports of upheaval, plummeting morale and more imminent departures from White House.

John Kelly’s unusual intervention came at the end of a week that saw the abrupt firing of Rex Tilllerson and widespread speculation that national security adviser HR McMaster could be next. “The chief of staff actually spoke to a number of staff this morning, reassuring them that there were personnel changes – no immediate personnel changes at this time – and that people shouldn’t be concerned,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said. “We should do exactly what we do every day and that’s come to work and do the very best job that we can. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.” She added: “That’s exactly what we’re focused on, and many of us have relayed that to other staffers that weren’t part of that meeting. And we’re going to continue to focus on having record success in this second year as we had in our first year. We fully expect to do that and we expect to do that as a staff and as a team.”(theguardian)…[+]

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Slovakia on Friday to call for snap elections, saying the premier’s resignation was not enough to address what they see as a corrupt government. The local Dennik N newspaper said about 50,000 people turned out in the capital Bratislava alone, where protesters carried signs bearing slogans such as “Slovakia is going the wrong way” and “We want elections”.

Organisers of the “For a decent Slovakia” protest had announced there would be rallies in 34 cities at home and 25 cities abroad. The EU member has been in political crisis since last month’s killing of an investigative journalist who had been probing alleged ties between top politicians and Italian mafia.(theguardian)…[+]

Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of the Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov after a pathologist concluded he died from compression to the neck, suggesting he may have been strangled by hand or ligature.

The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command is retaining its lead role in the investigation “because of the associations Mr Glushkov is believed to have had” but has cautioned that there was no suggestion of a link with the attempted murders of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury almost two weeks ago. At the time of his death, Glushkov was about to defend a claim against him by the Russian airline Aeroflot at the commercial court in London, where he was accused of fraud. In 2017, during a trial in absentia in Russia, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing $123m from the airline, which then pursued the case in London. Glushkov failed to show up at court in central London on Monday and his body was discovered in south-west London that evening.(theguardian)…[+]