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Donald Trump has come under fire for his Syria strategy and for suggesting that the Kurdish PKK were more of a terrorist threat than ISIS. Photo: Aaron-Schwartz / Shutterstock 

Trump isolated over Syria strategy

US president Donald Trump faced a barrage of criticism after he said the Kurds were “no angels” and that the PKK was “probably…more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS”. Fox News cites former UN ambassador Susan Rice saying the statement was “among the most dishonest, craven” the president had ever made. Two-thirds of Republicans in the House joined Democrats in voting 354 to 60 on a resolution opposing Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds, The New York Times reports. And House leader Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats walked out of a meeting with the president after claiming he had a “meltdown”, according to The Guardian. Former assistant secretary of state PJ Crowley, writing for the BBC, says Trump’s “capitulation to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan” could cost him at the 2020 election. But CNBC says Trump did send a letter to Erdoğan urging him not to “let the world down” on the very day Turkey launched its offensive against the Kurds.

May warns Tories on immigration policy

Former UK prime minister Theresa May launched what The Telegraph called “a thinly veiled attack” on her successor Boris Johnson in parliament on Wednesday when she suggested that he should realise that governing is “not about headlines”. May also urged Johnson and his home secretary Priti Patel to think twice about their plans for a points-based immigration system, Sky News reports. The Independent says May also expressed concern over proposals for regional visas that would allow immigrants only to work in specific areas of the UK.

Dark Web child porn site busted

23 underage victims who were being actively abused by users of a dark web child porn site have been rescued and 338 people were arrested in an international operation on Wednesday, Reuters reports. The Korean based website used bitcoin cryptocurrency to sell access to 250,000 videos, the Korea Times says.

Recession risk high, or self-fulfilling prophecy?

In an interview with CNBC, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi said there was an “uncomfortably high” chance that a recession could hit the global economy in the next 12-18 months. But CNBC also cites Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Shiller as saying that viral narratives about recession can reach the point “where they may be self-fulfilling prophecies.”

Hong Kong protest leader attacked

Jimmy Sham of Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front was attacked by a group of up to five hammer-wielding men, the protest group says. The BBC reports that this was the second attack on Sham since protests began. The Front has said that Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam’s most recent policy address did not respond directly to their five core demands, the Hong Kong Free Press reports.

Opioid crisis lawsuits offer

Drug makers and distributors including Teva and Johnson & Johnson have offered packages worth $50 billion to resolve roughly 2,600 lawsuits alleging they fuelled the US opioid crisis, Reuters reports. Business Insider says that stocks in distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson all surged on the news of the settlements.

Something for the weekend

Saturday: celebrate all things Spanish on the place d’Armes, where music, food and showcase events take place. Saturday & Sunday: take the kids to the Rotondes for PICelectroNIC’s packed programme of music shows and workshops. Sunday: in the morning join Luxembourg’s first Race for the Cure cancer charity run in Echternach. In the afternoon head to the shops which are open for Mantelsonntag. Bus services in the capital are free.

Ants faster than Usain Bolt

Saharan silver ants can run at 85.5cm per second in 47 strides, more than 10 times Usain Bolt’s stride rate, The Guardian reports. Footage of the ants has been analysed by researchers at Ulm University in Germany

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts