How the trials against Trump are crumbling
The most recent example is Georgia.
The trial there against Donald Trump is still one of the most promising.
It's about how the current president tried to have the election results in the state changed in his favor.
The aggressive district attorney Fani Willis originally charged Trump and 18 other people close to him with election manipulation.
But now she has stumbled upon an affair with her chief investigator: Trump's lawyers wanted to have her withdrawn from the case because of their relationship - now she can pursue it, but has to withdraw her chief investigator.
Which means: This trial against Donald Trump will also be delayed; the planned start of the trial in August can hardly be maintained.
It may not even take place until the election date on November 5th.
As US correspondent Marc Pitzke writes, “there are now question marks behind at least three of the four criminal proceedings against Trump.”
This applies to the two most serious charges that US special investigator Jack Smith brought in Washington (because of the storming of the Capitol) and in Florida (because of the secret documents stashed in Mar-a-Lago): Both are stuck, objections from the defense must first be resolved - In the first case, the Supreme Court will have to decide in the summer on the question of whether Trump enjoys absolute immunity as president.
But even the third trial in New York has been delayed, involving hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels: The trial date in New York City, expected for the week after next, has been postponed by up to a month.
So anyone who hoped that Donald Trump's return to the presidency could be legally averted should now realize that it has never been likely that the courts will stop Trump - and it is becoming increasingly unlikely.
There is still only one way to prevent Trump: Joe Biden must beat him in the election.
And no, this second hope, which has been heard more often recently, will not come true either: Biden will not make room for another, younger or more promising candidate.
Firstly, because he really wants to compete.
And secondly: who should it be?
The whole story here: Donald Trump's perfidious calculations are paying off
Scholz visits Netanyahu – will he criticize?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will arrive in Israel on Sunday.
It is his second visit since the October 7 Hamas massacre.
Scholz will first fly to Amman in Jordan on Saturday, then continue to Tel Aviv, where he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has just authorized his army to carry out a military operation in Rafah because Hamas's proposals for a hostage deal are unrealistic.
Rafah is the last part of the Gaza Strip that has not yet been completely bombed.
That's why the majority of the Gaza Strip's population has sought safety there: If the offensive really takes place, one and a half million people would have to be brought to safety and cared for beforehand.
But where?
US President Joe Biden has described such an offensive as a “red line” and is increasingly moving away from Netanyahu.
Will Scholz speak to Netanyahu's conscience during his visit?
Despite the massive number of dead civilians in Gaza and despite the threat of starvation among the population, Germany has so far remained firmly on the side of Netanyahu's government.
It is a decidedly uncritical attitude with which the federal government is increasingly alone internationally, even in comparison to what remains Israel's largest supporter, the USA.
More background: Why US Senator Schumer gave an angry speech against Netanyahu
The last generation leaves the glue at home
If you step outside the door today, there is a good chance that you will find yourself caught up in a protest of the "last generation" - climate activists want to demonstrate in ten places today with "disobedient assemblies" against government policy in the face of the climate crisis: in Berlin, Bremen , Cologne, Leipzig, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Regensburg, Munich and on Rügen, they want to block streets and sidewalks in an “absolutely peaceful way.”
The group calls for a complete abandonment of fossil fuels.
The activists who became known for sticking themselves on the streets are leaving the superglue at home - the sticking activities on highways and airports should be a thing of the past.
Which is no surprise, because there wasn't exactly much sympathy for this form of blockade among the population.
Last week, the movement also announced that it wanted to run in the European elections - the Federal Returning Officer must now decide on this.
More about the ambitions of the last generation: “Bringing the resistance to the European Parliament”
The EU is courting Egypt's dictator Sisi
In order to stop migration from North Africa, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is making deals with regimes that think little of human rights or democracy.
On Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will visit her, along with heads of government Giorgia Meloni from Italy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Greece and Alexander De Croo from Belgium.
The EU Commission's goal is a far-reaching agreement with Egypt, a "comprehensive and strategic partnership."
It will be about combating irregular migration in the Mediterranean and military cooperation: in the future, European soldiers will work together with the Egyptian navy against pirates off the Somali coast.
In return, the ailing Egyptian economy should be supported with investments and loans.
The military dictator Sisi is seen as a reliable partner by the Europeans.
The Europeans previously wanted to conclude a pure migration agreement with the Tunisian autocrat Kais Saied, but so far without results.
Click here for the current daily quiz
The starting question today: When did the first Berlinale take place?
Loser of the day...
...is Rolf Mützenich.
More than two years after the start of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, the SPD parliamentary group leader has apparently still not understood who Vladimir Putin is and what he wants: namely, the restoration of the Russian empire and its zone of influence in Eastern Europe;
Ukraine does not exist for the belligerent dictator in the Kremlin.
And yet Mützenich said on Thursday: "Isn't it time that we not only talk about how to fight a war, but also think about how we can freeze a war and end it later?"
Freezing, of course, because that has worked so well in the past.
The Ukraine war, which was supposedly frozen in 2014 with the Minsk Agreements, returned with much more force in 2022.
It is and remains the problem for Mützenich and some others in the SPD that they have never been able to emotionally cope with the fact that their party was so wrong about Russia for so long.
The new, old tones from the Chancellor's SPD party are the opposite of Scholz's turnaround, they alienate Germany's European partners - and the coalition partners in the traffic lights.
The SPD parliamentary group leader and the war in Ukraine: “Phew” – how Mützenich frustrates the traffic lights
The latest reports from the night
Mike Pence refuses to support Donald Trump:
He was Trump's loyal deputy for four years, now he no longer wants to help his former boss win the election: Former Vice President Mike Pence found clear words on US television.
United plane lands with a hole in the outer panel:
The series of mishaps at United Airlines and Boeing continues: After the scheduled landing of a 737-824 plane, a large hole was discovered on the underside.
Now rubble is being searched.
Kim Jong Un brags about Vladimir Putin's car:
Almost four weeks after the delivery of the Aurus Senat, North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un took the maiden voyage in Vladimir Putin's gift.
The conclusion: You can trust the car.
We would particularly like to recommend this story to you today:
»What are you driving around here for? Why are you getting yourself into trouble?"
The camping season is open, with new dreams and old scratches.
A good opportunity to tell why camping makes you happy, even if it's not always fun.
My colleague Sandra Schulz writes about her tours with the “Monster” motorhome – and asks herself “Was everything a huge mistake?”
It was a pleasure accompanying you through the past week!
Now I wish you a nice weekend.
Yours, Mathieu von Rohr, head of the SPIEGEL foreign department