Other top stories today include sexual allegations made against James Franco, Julian Assange is given a lifeline, and Donald Trump will not visit the UK in February
Happy Friday, this is Anna breaking down today's top stories before the weekend.
Foul mouth - Donald Trump has reportedly lashed out at immigrants in a foul-mouthed Oval Office outburst. ‘Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?’ Trump asked lawmakers on Thursday. The comment made during talks on an immigration deal was apparently in reference to people from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. The UN has condemned the remarks, saying they are racist.
Not so popular now - James Franco has been accused of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behaviour by five women, including students from his acting school, US media report. Four of the actor-director's former students and an actress who said Franco was her mentor told the LA Times they were victims of ‘an abuse of power’. Franco’s legal team have denied such claims, saying they are inaccurate.
No UK visit - Donald Trump has cancelled a planned visit to the UK in February, where he had been expected to open a new $1bn (£738m) US embassy in London. In a tweet, the US president said he was not a ‘big fan’ of the new embassy, which is moving from Mayfair to south London. He said the old site was sold by Barack Obama's administration for ‘peanuts’, even though George W. Bush was in the White House at the time.
German coalition progress - Leaders of Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats have reportedly progressed past the first stage of talks about forming the next German government. According to local media, party leaders were preparing to recommend formal coalition negotiations after agreeing compromises on a wide-range of issues.
Assange offered lifeline - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was made an Ecuadorian citizen last month, the nation’s foreign ministry has revealed, in an attempt to resolve the political impasse over his presence in the UK. The 46-year-old has been offered citizenship after living for five and a half years in the small Latin American country’s embassy in Knightsbridge, central London.
Human connections - Facebook has announced that it will change how its news feed works, making posts from businesses, brands and media less prominent. Instead, content that promotes conversations among family and friends who use the site will be emphasised, explained chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on his page.