U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Washington on 20 October, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday.
Albanese, who was reelected as leader of the centre-left Labor government in May, has not yet met Trump. A previous meeting planned during the G7 summit in Canada in June was cancelled when the president left early.
The leaders are expected to discuss several key issues, including the multi-billion-dollar AUKUS initiative with Britain, which aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The project is currently under review by the Pentagon, led by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, a known critic of AUKUS. Colby previously stated that submarines are a scarce and critical resource, and U.S. industry cannot produce enough to meet domestic demand.
Colby’s office has indicated the review will be completed during the northern hemisphere autumn. A senior U.S. State Department official said the review involves coordination between the Pentagon, State Department, and other agencies, but the exact timeline remains unclear.
“Ultimately, this is about ensuring that AUKUS benefits America and that the U.S. Government fully supports it,” the official told reporters.
Australia, which has already contributed roughly $1 billion to support the expansion of American submarine shipyards, remains confident that AUKUS will move forward. Under pressure from Washington to increase defence spending, Australia recently announced an additional AU$12 billion ($8 billion) to upgrade a shipyard in Western Australia.
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The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
A hacking group linked to North Korea is widely believed to be behind the theft of $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, a cyberattack that experts describe as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education and living costs. Violence erupted in Frankfurt, where shops were looted and police reported Molotov cocktail attacks.
A tenth-grade student was critically injured after a man attacked her with a chainsaw inside a classroom in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. The girl suffered severe injuries to her head, neck and back, while a classmate who tried to protect her was also hurt.
Police were deployed across Paris on Saturday, as a curfew was set to take effect in the Republique and Châtelet-Les Halles areas from 11pm Saturday until 6am Sunday (1 November).
A drone strike hit a power station in northern Sudan early Sunday (1 November), sparking a fire and triggering loud explosions, witnesses said.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education and living costs. Violence erupted in Frankfurt, where shops were looted and police reported Molotov cocktail attacks.
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, as a hostile group, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Thousands protested in Albania's capital, Tirana, on Saturday (31 October), demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation over perceived corruption allegations and dissatisfaction with the government over a lack of jobs and poor education standards.
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