Trump on French leave as Zimbabwe damns Western ‘lies’ about Grace

US President Donald Trump took refuge in France, treating himself to a Bastille Day getaway as a new storm hit his presidency. It emerged that his son Donald jnr had met a “Russian government lawyer” during dad’s campaign last year, to dig up dirt on Hillary Clinton. Dad called his son “open, transparent and innocent”, ending yet another late-night tweet with “Sad!”.

In China, Nobel laureate and Tiananmen Square uprising survivor Liu Xiaobo died of cancer at the age of 61. He had been jailed for 11 years for “subversion”, and Beijing (our bosom Brics buddy) had refused to let him travel to the West for medical treatment.

In Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe, wife of the president, was said to have “taken over” the Mazowe Dam, with fishermen saying they were chased off. No way, the government said, blaming false Western reporting.

And as Hamburg returned to normal after the protest-ridden G20 summit last week, Justice Minister Heiko Maas lashed “riot tourists” who, he said, had travelled to Germany to protest.