The Guardian

Donald Trump had told Kevin Rudd he ‘probably never will’ like him, prompting apology from ambassador
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Anthony Albanese has strongly backed Kevin Rudd to remain as US ambassador, saying he “works his guts out”, and downplayed an awkward interaction with Donald Trump during their White House meeting.
It came after a prominent Republican congressman addressed Rudd in a speech in Washington DC, jokingly telling him: “I’m glad you’re still gainfully employed.”
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White House says there are now no plans for summit ‘in the immediate future’ as latest efforts to end Ukraine war falter
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Plans to hold a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest have been put on hold as Ukraine and its European allies rallied in pushing for a ceasefire without territorial concessions from Kyiv.
The White House said there were now “no plans” for the US president to meet his Russian counterpart “in the immediate future” as a round of diplomacy at the end of last week failed to yield any significant progress towards ending the war.
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Trump can send national guard troops to Portland, appeals court rules
The Senate will vote, for the 11th time, on a House-passed funding bill that would reopen the government at 5.30pm today.
As the government shutdown enters its 20th day, there is little end in sight. The lower chamber is still out of session, as both parties continue to trade barbs over the lapse in funding.
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Fresh from a tropical holiday, the Australian prime minister caught the US president at his effusive best
‘I don’t like you either’: diplomats hold their breath as Trump chides Rudd over previous comments
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Anthony Albanese was so pleased about his first meeting with Donald Trump, so chuffed with the overwhelming – and somewhat unexpected – praise from the president, the prime minister joked that he’d use the endorsements in his campaign ads at the next election.
That’s obviously unlikely to happen – consider the effective campaign Albanese ran against Peter Dutton by comparing him to Trump, and the Labor left flank already ropable over what they view as a fawning and “shameful capitulation” over Aukus and critical minerals.
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President’s comments were greeted with laughter as diplomatic pressure valve finally released
Albanese at the White House: Trump endorses Aukus, signs $8.5bn rare earths deal and calls PM ‘great leader’
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“I don’t like you either. And I probably never will,” US President Donald Trump told Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd at the White House cabinet room table.
It was the testiest and most uncomfortable remark at a typically freewheeling and chaotic presidential press conference.
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President says US has no better friend than Australia but tells ambassador Kevin Rudd “I don’t like you’
‘I don’t like you either’: diplomats hold their breath as Trump chides Rudd over previous comments
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Donald Trump has strongly endorsed the Aukus pact and praised prime minister Anthony Albanese as a “great” leader, but the president’s navy secretary says the US may seek to “clarify some ambiguities” in the nuclear submarine deal.
Trump and Albanese also signed a multibillion-dollar agreement for Australia to supply the United States with critical minerals, amid a deepening trade war as China threatens to cut its supply of rare earth elements. But the president also downplayed any prospect of cutting tariffs on Australian goods.
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Ukrainian president will seek to win security guarantees at ‘coalition of the willing’ meeting before any US-Russia talks
Trump suggests carving up Ukraine’s Donbas region to end war after meeting with Zelenskyy
Volodmyr Zelenskyy will travel to London on Friday for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” before an expected summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Hungary, amid mounting European disquiet over Ukraine’s exclusion from the Budapest meeting.
Posting on social media, Zelenskyy said the aim of the London visit was to win security guarantees for Kyiv and there would be “many meetings and negotiations in Europe” this week.
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Feud casts doubt on future of counter-narcotics and security cooperation between two countries, analysts warn
Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Washington amid a furious war of words between the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and Donald Trump over deadly US strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
The row took a sharp turn this weekend when Petro accused the US of “murdering” a Colombian fisher in an attack on a vessel in its territorial waters. Petro and his administration said the mid-September strike was a “direct threat to national sovereignty” and that the victim was a “lifelong fisherman” and a “humble human being”.
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Donald Trump said on Sunday that he never asked the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to cede all of the Donbas region to Russia in an earlier meeting, but that it should stay divided as it is.
‘Let it be cut the way it is. It’s cut up right now. I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia,’ the US president said in response to a question from a Reuters reporter onboard Air Force One.
Trump had pushed Zelenskyy to give up swaths of territory to Russia during a tense meeting on Friday that left the Ukrainian delegation disappointed, according to two people briefed on the discussion
Trump suggests carving up Ukraine’s Donbas region to end war after meeting with Zelenskyy
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In today’s newsletter: Trump’s stance on the war continues to oscillate while Zelenskyy’s infantry face gruelling stints at the ‘zero line’ amid increasingly lethal Russian attacks
Good morning. It looked, for a moment, as if Donald Trump had finally taken a clear side in the war between Russia and Ukraine: with hints that he might be ready to provide Tomahawk missiles, and a vaunted White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, some observers thought he was on the brink of rowing in behind Ukraine in a decisive way.
Then he got on the phone with Vladimir Putin, and agreed to a face-to-face meeting within the next two weeks. And, after the White House meeting on Friday, Trump downplayed the idea that the missiles would be provided. Later reports suggested that the meeting was a “shouting match” in which Trump echoed Russian talking points and added: “If [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you.”
Israel-Gaza war | Israel launched waves of lethal airstrikes on Sunday and cut off all aid int..