Friday’s top story: ‘merit-based’ immigration plan is ‘dead on arrival’, say critics. Plus, how Venezuela’s stalled revolution shows the limitations of the crowd

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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Trump calls plan ‘pro-American, pro-immigrant and pro-worker’

Donald Trump unveiled his plans for a new “merit-based” immigration policy on Thursday, despite warnings from his political opponents that the proposed reforms have little to no chance of passing through the Democrat-held House of Representatives. The scheme, reportedly masterminded by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would involve overhauling the “green card” system to favour immigrants with high-level skills, degrees and job offers rather than those with relatives already in the US.

Financial results. The Office of Government Ethics has released Trump’s 2018 financial disclosure report, showing mixed results for his businesses last year, amid the administration’s continued refusal to publish the president’s tax returns.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq told to prepare for proxy war

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Quds force chief Qassem Suleimani in Syria in 2017. Photograph: AhlulBayt News Agency

The leader of Iran’s powerful Quds force, Qassem Suleimani, recently met Tehran-backed militias in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, where he warned them to “prepare for proxy war” as tensions rise between Iran and US allies in the Middle East. The meeting three weeks ago is believed to have sparked a response from Washington, which has dispatched an aircraft carrier group to the Gulf, ostensibly to protect its interests in the region.

Threat level. The UK has raised the threat level for its forces in Iraq and the Gulf, defusing the spat caused by a senior British general who contradicted US claims of an increased threat from Iran earlier this week.

Alabama abortion ban sparks wave of activism

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pro-choice activists at the state capitol in Georgia, which recently passed its own controversial “heartbeat” bill. Photograph: John Amis/AFP/Getty Images

Pro-choice groups are reporting a rise in donations as they rally support against new legislation across the US following the passage of the country’s strictest abortion ban in Alabama, which was signed into law on Wednesday. Already this year, four other states have passed “heartbeat” bills outlawing abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which could be some time before many women know they are pregnant. Nine other states are considering similar bans.

Missouri bill. Missouri looks set to pass a bill that would ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest – the latest in an onslaught of state laws designed to challenge Roe v Wade.

Chelsea Manning jailed again over refusal to testify

Play Video 1:14 'I will not comply or cooperate,' Chelsea Manning says before hearing - video

Chelsea Manning, the former army intelligence analyst who spent seven years behind bars for passing state secrets to WikiLeaks in 2010, has been jailed once more for refusing to testify before a grand jury in what Virginia prosecutors hope will lead to a US trial for the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Manning recently spent 62 days in jail for refusing to appear before a previous grand jury; this time, the federal judge in Virginia said he would impose fines on Manning if she still refused to testify after 30 days.

Assange arrest. Manning told Judge Anthony Trenga she would “rather starve to death” than participate in what is presumed to be the criminal prosecution of Assange, who was arrested in London last month.

Crib sheet

Taiwan has become the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage , after its parliament rejected attempts by conservative lawmakers to pass a diluted “civil union” law.

A measles outbreak among Orthodox Jewish communities in New York has reportedly led to a rise in antisemitic incidents, including a bus driver refusing to stop for a Hassidic man and yelling “measles!” when he finally boarded her bus.

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi , the journalist killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year, has told a congressional hearing that she “cannot understand that the world still has not done anything about” his murder.

IM Pei, the Chinese-born architect behind several of the more celebrated and controversial structures of the late 20th century, including the Louvre pyramid, has died aged 102.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sophie Rundle and Suranne Jones in Sally Wainwright’s new drama Gentleman Jack, an HBO and BBC co-production. Photograph: Jay Brooks/BBC/Lookout Point/Jay Brooks

How Sally Wainwright conquered TV

She can already count Lena Dunham and Guillermo Del Toro among her fans. But now, the acclaimed British TV writer Sally Wainwright, creator of Happy Valley, is finally going global with her first HBO co-production, Gentleman Jack. “I’ve never not felt really cocky about how good I am at writing,” she tells Rebecca Nicholson.

Goodbye Gomorrah, Italy’s most notorious housing estate

Le Vele – a sprawling, concrete housing estate on the outskirts of Naples – is an infamous hub of organised crime both in fact and in fiction: the location for the film and subsequent TV series Gomorrah. Now it is to be torn down at the request of its own residents, as Sophia Seymour reports.

Inside the World Series of Birding

Every year, hundreds of birders from across the US flock to New Jersey for the World Series of Birding, which organisers describe as the “country’s largest and most prestigious birding competition”. Victoria Bekiempis joins the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks team on the hunt for 130 species.

The last Blockbuster in the world

Sandi Harding is the manager of the world’s only surviving Blockbuster video store in Bend, Oregon. “By early 2019 it was just us and one other store in Perth, Australia,” she says. “They called us from Australia on their last night and wished us all the best.”

Opinion

Two weeks ago, it seemed Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó was on his way to power, borne aloft by the crowds protesting in Caracas against the regime of Nicolás Maduro. But crowds are not enough to cause a revolution, argues Simon Jenkins.

The trouble with crowds is that, sooner or later, they go home. The Arab spring of 2011 was about what took place in the streets of various capital cities. Crowds were reputedly drawn by the much-vaunted rallying cry of social media, but they dissolved in many places into nothingness.

Sport

The Warriors have taken a 2-0 series lead against the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals after overcoming a 15-point halftime deficit in Portland on Thursday night. Steph Curry contributed 37 points to Golden State’s eventual 114-111 win.

Defending champion Brooks Koepka seized the lead in the 101st US PGA Championship at Bethpage Black on Thursday, with a round of 63 that gives him a one-stroke advantage over Danny Lee at the start of day two.

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