Romanian PM resigns after election surge in far-right vote
Bucharest | Romania's prime minister announced his resignation after a Donald Trump-aligned far-right leader scored a resounding first-round presidential victory, throwing the Black Sea nation into a fresh round of political turmoil ahead of a runoff ballot later this month.
Marcel Ciolacu said his coalition was unable to move forward after its preferred candidate in the presidential contest was eliminated. He signalled that the alliance of his Social Democrats with Romania's Liberals and another party may resume after a May 18 presidential runoff produces a winner, who will nominate a new premier.
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News.com.au
23 minutes ago
- News.com.au
US, China seek to extend trade truce with London talks
After a round of talks in Geneva last month, the United States and China will sit down at the negotiating table in London on Monday to attempt to preserve a fragile truce on trade, despite simmering tensions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will lead the US delegation, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng -- who led Beijing's negotiating team in Geneva -- will also head the team in London, China's foreign ministry announced at the weekend. "The meeting should go very well," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday: "We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva." While the government of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated that it was not involved in the content of the discussions in any way, a spokesperson said, "We are a nation that champions free trade." UK authorities "have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks," the spokesperson added. - 'Correcting the course' - The talks in London come just a few days after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House. Trump said the call, which took place on Thursday, had reached a "very positive conclusion." Xi was quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua as saying that "correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-US relations requires us to steer well and set the direction." The call came after tensions between the world's two biggest economies had soared, with Trump accusing Beijing of violating a tariff de-escalation deal reached in Geneva in mid-May. "We need China to comply with their side of the deal. And so that's what the trade team will be discussing tomorrow," Leavitt said Sunday. In April, Trump introduced sweeping worldwide tariffs that targeted China most heavily. At one point the United States hit China with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent. Then in Switzerland, after two days of talks, the two sides agreed to slash their staggeringly high tariffs for 90 days. But differences have persisted, including over China's restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals used in tech products. The impact was reflected in the latest official export data released Monday in Beijing. Exports to the United States fell 12.7 percent on month in May, with China shipping $28.8 billion worth in goods last month. This is down from $33 billion in April, according to Beijing's General Administration of Customs. - 'Green channel' - Throughout its talks with Washington, China also has launched discussions with other trading partners -- including Japan and South Korea -- in a bid to build a united front to counter Trump's tariffs. On Thursday, Beijing turned to Canada, with the two sides agreeing to regularize their channels of communication after a period of strained ties. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang also discussed trade and the fentanyl crisis, Ottawa said. Beijing proposed establishing a "green channel" to ease the export of rare earths to the European Union, and fast-tracking approval of some export licenses. That proposal from the commerce ministry in Beijing came after talks on Tuesday between China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Will beef be on the menu when Albanese meets Trump?
As most of the country marks the King's Birthday, former PM Scott Morrison has received our nation's highest honour — but should these awards be handed out to former politicians for doing the job? And with the G7 meeting of world leaders fast approaching, there's speculation about what will be up for negotiation if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with US President Donald Trump. Will the PM broach beef and biosecurity with the President? Patricia Karvelas and Jacob Greber break it all down on Politics Now. Got a burning question? Got a burning political query? Send a short voice recording to PK and Fran for Question Time at thepartyroom@
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
What's happening in LA? Trump's controversial immigration crackdown explained
US President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles streets on Saturday night. The extraordinary measure is the latest escalation in a tense immigration debate the nation has been grappling with since before the election. Here's a look at what's happening in Los Angeles and what led to the protests. In short, protests are continuing in Los Angeles for a third straight day. You might have heard them being referred to as ICE protests on social media. They began on Friday after immigration agents from ICE made dozens of arrests across the city over alleged immigration violations. On Sunday, 300 national guard troops were also deployed to guard a federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles where those arrested were being held. ICE, which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. It's responsible for enforcing the country's immigration laws. It's not uncommon for ICE to arrest people it believes are in the US illegally. But this spate of arrests comes as part of the Trump administration's controversial immigration crackdown. Mr Trump has vowed to deport record numbers of illegal immigrants during his second term, and the White House has set ICE a goal to arrest at least 3,000 migrants each day. Because of that pressure, people who were legally living in the US have been caught up in ICE raids. One of the more notable cases was the arrest of 238 men accused of being Venezuelan gang members, who weren't given a day in court before they were deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The arrest raids were also carried out in a public manner, which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said would "sow terror" in the community. They occurred at a hardware store, where street vendors and day labourers were swept up, a garment factory and a warehouse. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Cs Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. "We will not stand for this." Securing the border was one of Mr Trump's key election promises. During the presidential campaign, he argued illegal immigrants were responsible for a crime wave and described people who cross illegally into the US as "animals" who are "poisoning the blood" of the nation. While he was able to point to a handful of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, there was no data publicly available to verify the claim. Data from Texas, the only state that tracks crimes by immigration status, shows considerably lower felony arrest rates among people in the US illegally, compared to legal immigrants or citizens. But a perceived crime wave isn't the only argument in favour of an immigration crackdown. The US is grappling with cost-of-living and housing crises, too, which many citizens say is only worsened by a mass influx of illegal immigrants competing for the same resources. Brenda Lee, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, told Foreign Correspondent last year she would vote for Mr Trump because of his hardline immigration policies. "There's people that are having a hard time, you know, making ends meet," she said. "The rents are so high, we have a housing crisis, we have so many issues. "So it's like, we come first because we pay taxes." Since Mr Trump returned to office this year, ICE agents have been particularly active in California, New York and Illinois, according to analysis published by Axios last week. These states are considered "blue" because they reliably vote in favour of the Democratic Party in presidential elections. California is home to the country's largest immigrant population. About 10.6 million of its residents were born overseas, which makes up 22 per cent of the nation's foreign-born population. According to the Pew Research Center, 1.8 million immigrants in California, or about 17 per cent of the total number, were undocumented in 2022. In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Los Angeles had been "invaded" by "illegal aliens and criminals". It's a section of the military that can be used as reserves for the army and air force. Each state has its own unit, which answers to the relevant state governor and the president. While the national guard has assisted with crowd control in the past, Mr Trump's call to deploy the California National Guard is considered a rather historic move. That's because he did so without the governor's approval — something no president has done since 1965 when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama. California Governor Gavin Newsom has formally requested the Trump administration withdraw the troops, arguing their presence is "inflaming tensions". "Indeed, the decision to deploy the National Guard, without appropriate training or orders, risks seriously escalating the situation," his office wrote to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
