Australian PM defends ambassador to US after Trump run-in
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly defended his ambassador to the US after Donald Trump said he did not like the diplomat during a meeting at the White House, BBC reported.
On Monday, Trump was asked about Kevin Rudd, a former prime minister turned ambassador to the US, who wrote several now-deleted tweets critical of the US president years before his Washington posting.
Rudd owned up to the tweets, prompting the US leader to say "I don't like you either" and causing the room to erupt in laughter.
The high-stakes meeting with Trump was Albanese's first, and the prime minister later dismissed the comments as "banter" amid calls to sack Rudd, according to BBC.
Stolen Louvre jewellery worth €88m, prosecutor says
Jewellery stolen from the Louvre in Paris in a daring daylight robbery has been valued at 88 million euros (£76m; $102m), a French public prosecutor has said, citing the museum's curator, BBC reported.
Laure Beccuau told RTL radio the sum was "extraordinary" but said the greater loss was to France's historical heritage. Crown jewels and pieces gifted by two Napoleons to their wives were among the items taken.
Thieves wielding power tools took less than eight minutes to make off with the loot shortly after the world's most-visited museum opened on Sunday morning, according to BBC.
Trump says he did not want 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks shelved
Donald Trump has said he did not want a "wasted meeting" after a plan to have face-to-face talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine were put on hold, BBC reported.
The US president indicated that a key sticking point remained Moscow's refusal to cease fighting along the current front line, in remarks at the White House on Tuesday.
Earlier, a White House official had said there were "no plans" for a Trump-Putin meeting "in the immediate future", after Trump said on Thursday that the two would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks, according to BBC.
Poland warns Russia's Putin against crossing its airspace for Trump summit
Poland warned Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday against travelling through its airspace for a summit in Hungary with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying it could be forced to execute an international arrest warrant if he did, Reuters reported.
Bulgaria, however, would be willing to let Putin use its airspace if the summit is held in Hungary, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev was quoted as saying.
Trump said last week he planned to meet Putin in Budapest as he tries to broker an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
