Unknown assailants fired three Katyusha rockets at Iraq’s Basra airport Saturday, an airport official said, after a chaotic and violent night that saw hundreds of protesters burning tires on main streets and highways and setting ablaze the Iranian consulate in the city.

The protests in Basra are the most serious to shake Iraq’s oil-rich southern Shiite heartland in years. Protesters are calling for an end to endemic corruption, soaring joblessness and poor public services and have turned their rage on neighboring Iran, blaming its outsized influence in Iraq’s political affairs for their misery.

The official said it was not clear who was behind the Saturday morning attack on Basra airport, which also houses the US consulate. He said the attack occurred at about 8 a.m. local time and did not cause casualties or disrupt flights in or out of the city. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Hours earlier, protesters shouting anti-Iranian slogans including "Iran, out, out!" stormed the Iranian consulate and set a fire inside. They also burned an Iranian flag and trampled over a portrait of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, condemned the attack, which he said caused significant damage to the building. He called for maximum punishment for the assailants.

Although the US government has disagreements with Iran, the State Department criticized the attack, without explicitly mentioning Iran. "The United States condemns violence against diplomats, including that which occurred today in Basrah," it said in a statement.

Elsewhere in the city, protesters tried to attack the headquarters of the Iran-backed Assaib Ahl Al-Haq Shiite militia and the guards stationed there opened fire. Angry protesters marched to the city’s presidential palaces compound, where Shiite paramilitary troops are stationed, and tried to breach it. At least three cars driven by the troops ploughed into the protesters, killing one and wounding four others, according to a health official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Other protesters set tires on fire on main streets and highways, ignoring a curfew imposed by the authorities.

More than 10 protesters have died in clashes with security forces since Monday, including three who were shot dead by security forces on Thursday night as protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails and set fire to a government building and offices of Shiite militias in the city. Many residents of the predominantly Shiite city accuse Iranian-backed political parties of interfering with Iraqi politics and some hold them responsible for mismanagement and the poor services in the city.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an investigation into the violence, which showed no sign of abating.

The unrest in the south comes amid a political crisis in Baghdad, adding to overall tensions in the country.

The newly elected parliament earlier this week held its first session since the national elections in May, but the session was adjourned amid disagreements as two blocs, both claiming to hold the most seats, vied for the right to form a new government. 

 Civil unrest fueled by anger against perceived corruption and misrule by Iraq’s political elite intensified across the south of the country on Friday, as protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Basra while others briefly took workers hostage at a nearby oilfield.

After five days of deadly demonstrations in Basra in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight, protesters broke in and damaged the consulate’s offices, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran’s sway over Iraq’s political affairs.

Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the storming of the consulate, which it deeply regretted, had nothing to do with protesters’ demands.

"The targeting of diplomatic missions is unacceptable and detrimental to the interests of Iraq," said ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub.

Iran, however, blamed Iraq for failing to protect its embassy and said it expected Baghdad to "identify and punish the attackers quickly," Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the ministry, told journalists, according to state media.

The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was later summoned to the foreign ministry over the complaints.

Several foreign governments have consulates in the city, including the United States and Russia.

Donald Trump has reportedly cancelled a planned trip to Ireland less than two weeks after it was announced by the White House. 

The US president had been due to visit on November 12 to “renew the deep and historic ties between our two nations" as part of a wider trip to Europe.

The Irish government appeared to be taken by surprise by the cancellation, first reported by the Irish Independent, but later confirmed to the paper that the trip was "postponed due to scheduling reasons".

Mr Trump owns a golf course in Ireland – the Trump International Golf Links at Doonbeg – and has often talked fondly about the country. 

Mr Trump hosted the Irish Taoiseach and sported a green tie to celebrate St Patrick’s Day last year, following a tradition started by his predecessors.  

He had been due to spend a day in Dublin before travelling to his golf resort on his way back from attending commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in France.  

The White House said on Tuesday final arrangements for Mr Trump’s European trip were still under review, but it is understood the Dublin portion has been removed from the schedule.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: "The president will travel to Paris in November as previously announced. We are still finalising whether Ireland will be a stop on that trip. As details are confirmed we will let you know."

Irish officials were also taken by surprise when the White House announced his trip on August 31, with Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, admitting the announcement "came a little out of the blue".

He told Irish radio station RTE on September 2: "There is an open invitation to the US President to visit Ireland at any time.

"We hadn’t known until just a couple of days ago that he was going to take the opportunity of his visit to Paris for the Armistice commemorations, commemorating a hundred years of the end of the First World War, to visit Dublin, and also he’s going to go to Doonbeg too.

"We’ve got to work on a programme and all the rest of it but I think any programme we will have will have to respect the fact that we will inaugurating our own President on the 11th of November."

The  Taoiseach’s spokesperson was unable to confirm that the trip had been cancelled when reports broke earlier on Tuesday. 

His office later said it was still possible Mr Trump will take up Mr Varadkar’s invitation at a future date, but confirmed November’s trip will not be happening.

The delay in the president’s visit may come as a relief, with several Irish political parties suggesting they would stage protests which could present a diplomatic dilemma for the government.

Mr Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama enjoyed a trip to the country in 2011. During his four-day visit he poured a pint of Guinness and at one point told the crowds: “I’m Barack Obama, from the Moneygall Obamas.” 

Mr Trump talked about his relationship with Mr Varadkar, the Irish leader, when the pair together commemorated St Patrick’s Day last March in Washington DC.  

Mr Trump joked to the Irish prime minister: "I look forward to seeing you often. Whenever you got a problem, we’ll solve it – except for trade." 

He went on: “They got those taxes so low [in Ireland]. You’re a tough one to compete with, with the taxes." 

Spanish pensioners who are property rich but cash poor are latching on to a new trend in the housing market by selling their homes but retaining the right to live in them until their death.

Elderly people like Carmen Segovia, a 92-year-old from Madrid, are gaining a boost to their quality of life in their twilight years by selling what is known as bare ownership of their properties while retaining the right of usufruct, meaning they continue to live in their homes as long as they remain alive.

"What I want is to die in my house,” Ms Segovia told the Spanish online newspaper El Español about her plan of selling her 100-square-metre flat for €200,000 (£180,000).

“I have all my family memories here so until I die, I’d like to live well."

For investors looking for a property at a good price there is, of course, no guarantee on how soon they will be able to exercise ownership.

Ms Segovia, who never married or had children, said she remains in good health.

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“Thank God, I have no illnesses. Frankly, now I just want to live in peace and travel,” she said, adding that last year she visited China after holidaying in Egypt in 2016.

With the Spanish property market heating up once again after an economic crisis that saw prices fall by 20 per cent on 2008 levels, investors hope that buying well-priced homes and waiting on their dwellers to die will bring rich rewards.

Also popular in France, real estate agents with experience of the practice say that discounts for investors on the real value of the property purchased can reach up to 50 per cent. 

But some Spaniards have described the trend as morbid when commenting on bare ownership property ads on social media.

“You could end up willing someone to die to use the house they live in. I wouldn’t be able to sleep”, commented Twitter user Troya la Gatika.

Another concern expressed by some social media is the impact on homeowners’ heirs in a country like Spain, where children are entitled by law to inherit a share of their parents’ assets.   

“We have three daughters who are all well set up,” said 88-year-old Mariano Muñoz, who has sold the Madrid home in which he continues to live with his wife, 85.

“They don’t need the money and we thought it was a good idea to sell. This way we can have money to live without worries.”   

French authorities have refused to let a couple name their newborn boy Amber because the child might suffer from unclear sexual identity.

Amber – or Ambre in French – has now joined a growing list of names such as Nutella, Strawberry, and Manhattan that have fallen foul of French courts who deem them unsuitable and potentially damaging.

The couple from the Morbihan department of Brittany had the child in January this year. But when they went to officially register his birth, the registrar reported them to the prosecutor in the town of Lorient, who decided that as Ambre was usually a girl’s name the risk of confusion over the child’s sex might prove damaging to him.

The parents were ordered to appear in a family court but the judge said she saw no grounds for forcing them to change their child’s name. The prosecutor however decided to appeal, and the baby’s name will remain in limbo at least until next April when the case is likely to come back before the court.

The child’s mothers, who are backed by Les Enfants d’Arc-en-Ciel, a group promoting the rights of gay parents, have questioned whether they are the victims of homophobia.

“Society is very unfair,” said one of the boy’s mothers Alice Gondelle. “It allows ridiculous first names like ‘Clitorine.’ I wonder why it is that with a name as classic and ancient (as Ambre) can’t get through and it is the state that is attacking us in the courts?” 

Amber, which is derived from the translucent fossil resin used in jewelry making, is a popular girl’s name in English-speaking countries, especially the United States, but its French equivalent Ambre is relatively rare in France. It is largely seen as a female name, but Ms Gondelle said in a post on her Facebook page that she knew of 37 male Ambres in France.

French officials have a long track record of knocking back names they do not approve of. In 2015, a court ruled that a couple could not call their daughter Nutella as it might “lead to mockery and unpleasant remarks.” The same court had made similar arguments a few months earlier before overturning the decision of another couple to name their child Fraise (Strawberry).

Last year a couple was told to find another name for their baby after a court ruled they could not use the name they wanted because it contained the an accented letter, “ñ”.

The French language does not use the tilde accented, but the couple from Brittany had picked a traditional but obscure name from the Breton language – Fañch.

The latest outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo is still a long way from being brought under control, a senior World Health Organization official has said.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Peter Salama, WHO’s deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response, said that in the original epicentres of the disease – around the towns of Mangina and Beni in the north east of the country – there were "promising signs" that the disease was coming under control.

But in the city of Butembo – where there have been four cases – the situation was less certain.

“Until we have traced every contact we cannot say for certain that the disease is under control,” he said.

The latest figures from WHO show that there have been 133 cases of the disease, including 91 deaths – making it the eighth largest Ebola outbreak in history.

The outbreak has been ongoing since the beginning of August in the north east of the country, where a number of militant groups operate and security is poor.  

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The Nord-Kivu and Ituri provinces of DRC, where the outbreak is occurring, are among the country’s most densely populated areas with a combined population of around 11 million.

The area borders both Rwanda and Uganda and, because of the poor security situation, there is a constant flow of refugees out of the country.

Working in an area where security is such a concern has complicated the response, said Dr Salama. All responders have had to undergo security training and they are sent out with radios so staff at base can keep track of them.

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Some 40 contacts living in the high-security "red zones" have been given mobile phones and asked to call in twice a day giving their temperature readings. 

WHO and other responders have had to use a military escort to reach people around Oicha where there is considerable unrest.

"If the outbreak was to move further north or eastwards then we would be facing more complicating factors," said Dr Salama. 

Dr Salama said that he hoped the use of experimental treatments would have an impact on the control of the disease.

As of September 11 around 29 people had been treated with the new therapies, 14 of whom had recovered and been discharged, eight have died and seven are still on treatment. 

"Almost half of patients have been successfully treated so that’s good news," said Dr Salama

The five therapies fall into two broad categories: monoclonal antibodies such as ZMapp and broad spectrum anti-viral drugs.

They have been approved for emergency use by the Congolese authorities and a team of clinicians, including representatives from WHO, the DRC ministry of health and NGOs such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), take a range of factors into account before deciding whether to administer them.

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François Esmyop, a doctor working in an MSF-run Ebola treatment centre in Mangina, said: "The first choice of drug is ZMapp but that’s complex to administer so if we don’t have enough capacity we will choose a second-line drug."

ZMapp is administered via an intravenous infusion and the patient needs to be continually monitored to ensure that they’re getting the correct dose. 

This is the first time such a range of therapies have been available during a live outbreak and doctors are keeping a close eye to work out the impact of the drugs. In previous outbreaks doctors have only been able to offer supportive care.

Dr Esmyop said: "Data is being collected but not in the same way as in a clinical trial. Setting up a clinical trial takes a lot of time and while they’re being organised patients that may benefit would be left without access. We’re operating under a monitored emergency use framework which allows the drugs to be used." 

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Donald Trump and his legal team have hit back at suggestions he could soon be impeached, with his lawyer saying that the American people would “revolt” if such a move was taken. 

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is now a legal adviser to Mr Trump, said that it was “inevitable” any attempt at impeachment would fail.

Meanwhile Mr Trump himself claimed that the stock market would “crash” and leave people across the country “very poor” if he was ever forced from office.

He also did not rule out pardoning Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager found guilty of bank and tax fraud just two days ago who faces up to 80 years in jail. 

The push-back came as new details emerged about the illegal hush money payments made to two women who claimed affairs with Mr Trump before the 2016 election. 

David Pecker, the chief executive of the company which publishes the National Enquirer, agreed to talk to prosecutors about the payments in return for immunity, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

National Enquirer figures have been accused of being involved in both payments. Mr Pecker, a long-time friend of Mr Trump, reportedly shared details about what the president knew about the deals. 

Headlines in America continued to be dominated by the claim from Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney and fixer, that Mr Trump ordered him to make the deals. 

Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws over the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, which he said was an attempt to "influence" the election. 

Mr Trump has admitted the payments came from him but denied any laws were broken, insisting the money did not come from campaign finances. 

By implicating Mr Trump as a co-conspirator in a crime, Mr Cohen triggered fresh debate about impeachment – a process that sees US congressmen vote on removing a sitting president from office. 

Mr Trump responded in a Fox News interview broadcast on Thursday. "I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who’s done a great job,” he said. 

“I’ll tell you what, if I ever got impeached I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor.” 

Mr Giuliani, who talked to Sky News after playing golf in Scotland during a break, was equally dismissive, painting Mr Cohen as a liar and Mr Trump as having little to answer. 

Asked if it was “inevitable” Mr Trump will be impeached, Mr Giuliani responded: “Hardly. I think it’s inevitable that he won’t. President Trump has been completely cleared. 

“You have this Cohen guy, he doesn’t know anything about Russian collusion, doesn’t know anything about obstruction. He’s a massive liar. If anything, it’s turned very much in the president’s favour.”

He added: "You could only impeach him for political reasons and the American people would revolt against that."

Impeachment, which would first see politicians in the House of Representatives and then the Senate vote on removing Mr Trump, is still a way off.

Both bodies, which make up the US Congress, are held by the Republicans – Mr Trump’s party – and few senior congressmen have publicly backed such a move. 

Leading Democrats have urged caution ahead of the mid-term elections in November, appearing to fear being accused of political opportunism if they pushed for impeachment. 

Some have insisted that any decision should wait until Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into Russian election meddling and obstruction of justice claims against Mr Trump, has concluded his investigation. 

In Mr Trump’s interview with Fox News he suggested that ‘flipping’, where someone agrees to tell prosecutors what they know in turn for leniency, should be made illegal. He also gave his presidency so far a rating of “A+”.