
A US judge on Tuesday blocked an executive order by President Donald Trump that could deny billions of dollars to so-called sanctuary cities as punishment for harboring illegal immigrants.

China has launched its first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, state media said on Wednesday, as the country seeks to transform its navy into a force capable of projecting power onto the high seas. Adorned with colorful ribbons, the Type 001A ship transferred from dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in the northeastern port city of Dalian, according to official broadcaster CCTV.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday hold talks with EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and chief negotiator Michel Barnier, ahead of a summit to set the bloc's Brexit red lines. In the first such meeting between the three key players, they will discuss the upcoming negotiations on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union over dinner at May's Downing Street residence.

Thousands of Brazilian indigenous tribe members clashed with riot police Tuesday while demonstrating in the capital, Brasilia, for greater rights. Some of the indigenous people were armed with bows and arrows, while police rained tear gas onto the protesters.

The European Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur should intensify talks to reach a trade agreement this year, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday, urging haste after 18 years of negotiations.

United States former president Barack Obama has returned to active politics with a speech on Monday at the University of Chicago. Obama didn’t offer any criticism of his successor, Donald Trump, instead, he offered a list of four things he said are wrong with US politics today.

European stock market rally sparked by the French presidential election spread to Wall Street on Monday. All three main US share markets jumped more than 1%, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closing at a record high. Europe's main markets jumped at least 2% and the euro hit a five-month high as fears over the election eased.

Buenos Aires said on Tuesday it was prepared to help financially Santa Cruz province, but demanded a serious program to put in order the regional government´s accounts, which has seen its basic services of education, healthcare and justice paralyzed because of months in arrears to staff.

Three people were killed in Venezuela on Monday in renewed violence, raising the death toll in three weeks of massive demonstrations against populist President Nicolas Maduro to 24, officials said. Several others were seriously injured and between life and death, said public defender Tarek William Saab.

Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has announced that she is stepping aside as leader of her National Front (FN) party. The move comes just a day after she reached the second round of the French election, where she will face centrist Emmanuel Macron. Ms Le Pen told French TV she needed to be above partisan considerations.