World news in brief: Albanese to deepen ties with UK, Canada after landslide win, say analysts

Australian PM to meet Trump with strong mandate

Sydney — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is likely to work more closely with centre-left governments in Britain and Canada, as well as other democratic allies, after a resounding election win strengthened his hand in dealing with the US, analysts said.

Albanese’s Labor Party rode a voter backlash against the policies of US President Donald Trump to a come-from-behind victory that expanded his parliamentary majority, echoing the re-election win a week ago by Canada’s ruling party.

After his cabinet is sworn in, Albanese is expected to visit Washington for discussions on US tariffs and defence matters, while also working with Asian and European nations to broaden export markets and defence co-operation, hedging against US reliance. Reuters

UK police arrest four Iranians over suspected plot

Bengaluru — Britain’s counterterrorism police arrested five men, including four Iranian nationals, on suspicion of terrorism offences over a plot to target a specific premises, the metropolitan police said in a statement on Sunday.

The arrests occurred on Saturday in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester.

The police did not disclose details of the plot, citing operational reasons. The Iranian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters

US appeals court blocks Voice of America ruling

Washington — A federal appeals court on Saturday blocked a ruling that had ordered the Trump administration to return more than 1,000 Voice of America employees back to work.

US district judge Royce Lamberth on April 22 ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions at the US news service and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts and some grants. Reuters

Rubio hails election victory of Singapore ally

Ottawa — US secretary of state Marco Rubio congratulated Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and the People’s Action Party on their victory on Saturday, and said the Trump administration looked forward to continuing to work closely with the newly elected Singaporean government.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with the newly elected government and prime minister Wong to strengthen economic growth and our bilateral defence and security ties, which benefit Americans, Singaporeans, and others across the region,” Rubio said in a statement. Reuters

Trump on economy: ‘we’re just getting started’

Washington — President Donald Trump said on Friday the US was in a “transition period” and was going to do “fantastically” while downplaying the impact any short-term recession may have.

When asked during an interview with NBC News whether it would be OK to have a recession in the short term, Trump said: “Look, yeah, it’s — everything’s OK. What we are — I said, this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically.”

Trump’s comment on the US economy being in a transition period echoed comments he made earlier on Friday in a social media post.

“We’re only in a transition stage, just getting started!” he said in a Truth Social post. The post followed the release of US data that showed job growth slowed marginally for April.

Reuters