STATUS UPDATES

A week in which Karl Marx’s memorial is vandalized and a student ‘plot’ defeats a politician

PLANNED OUT:

An attack on Karl Marx’s memorial in London. The marble plaque on the sculpture was apparently attacked with a hammer. Remarked the head of Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust: “I’m really sad that it’s happened in such an inarticulate way.”

UNSTRUCTURED:

A lot of presidential hours. An Axios report says Donald Trump spent around 60 per cent of his scheduled time since the midterms in “executive time.” The White House leapt to his defence. “He’s always up to something; it’s just not what you would consider typical structure.”

WELCOMING:

San Diego. Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a Republican, is touting a new, $70,000 (U.S.) position in his office to carry out a plan to make the city more welcoming to immigrants. Amid a not-so-welcoming federal climate, one of the mayor’s staff said: “We do it differently here.”

WARNING:

Norway’s government. Oslo is advising its citizens against studying in the U.K. Yes, it’s that Brexit shemozzle. Minister Iselin Nybo warned of “so much uncertainty,” and she reportedly said some students could miss exams or not finish terms. Norway is not an EU member, but possibly still bitter.

IMPATIENT:

A soccer club, for payment for a deceased soccer player. Days after the death of Emiliano Sala in a plane crash, Nantes have urgently demanded full payment for having just sold the player. Cardiff City, the unlucky buyer, is taking its time; the body had not been immediately recovered.

WAITING:

Many U.S. federal workers, for money. Nearly two weeks after the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, many federal workers still have not received back pay or most of what they are owed as government agencies struggle with glitches and delays. Another shutdown may loom.

BACKING DOWN:

Belgium’s Flemish environment minister. Joke Schauvliege has claimed security services told her that kids’ climate demonstrations were a plot against her. State security denied it, and she later admitted they’re right. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren have been protesting nationwide.

BATTLING:

Filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, with local British authorities. They’re seeking to film a First World War drama titled 1917, on Salisbury Plain, close to Stonehenge, the Guardian reports. But fears have been raised about potential undiscovered remains as well as ecological harm.