Bus Attendant Killed After Falling Under Moving Bus at Prasat Station

[webfact]

Trump to meet Australian PM, relations strained over asylum seekers

By Colin Packham and Jeff Mason

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's "Days of Remembrance" ceremony in the The Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, U.S April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

 

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters)) - U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on May 4 in New York City as the two nations seek to repair a relationship strained by a row over an asylum seeker resettlement deal.

 

The meeting will be the first between the two leaders.

 

Relations were strained after an acrimonious telephone call shortly after Trump's inauguration, during which Trump labelled the Australia-U.S. resettlement swap agree to with former U.S. President Barack Obama as a "dumb" deal.

 

Turnbull said the 75th anniversary of the World War Two "Battle of the Coral Sea" celebrations in New York City offered a chance for the two nations to "reaffirm our alliance".

 

The bilateral meeting will follow a speech by Trump aboard the USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier turned museum on the Hudson River, to mark the anniversary of the Coral Sea battle, during which U.S. and Australian troops fought the Japanese, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

 

Australia is one of Washington's staunchest allies and troops from the two nations have fought alongside each other in all major conflicts, most recently Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Late last year, Obama agreed to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in Australian-funded camps in the South Pacific, in exchange for Australia resettling refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

But in February, Trump criticised the deal, accusing Australia of trying to export the "next Boston bombers" under the agreement, the Washington Post reported.

 

Eager to repair the relationship, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence last week visited Australia and confirmed Washington would begrudgingly honour the refugee deal with Canberra, only out of respect for the alliance between the two countries.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-26

[ilostmypassword]

Trump managed singlehandedly to gratuitously strain relations with one of the USA's staunchest allies.

Edited April 26, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[steven100]

Trump  :     Yeah god damn it  !!    how the heck are ya Mal ...

Turnball   :    I'm fine thank's Mr Trump ...

Trump  :    well come on inside and get a damn whiskey in ya ....

Turnball  :     sure Mr Trump ... that sounds good .

Trump   :    now Mal,  what the hell did ya wanna talk about ,  howz those damn kangaroos

Turnball  :    well Mr Trump,   you hung up the phone on me last time we spoke  ...

Trump   :     god damn it Mal ... it wasn't me .. it was the damn line just cut ...

[Godolphin]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

Trump  :     Yeah god damn it  !!    how the heck are ya Mal ...

Turnball   :    I'm fine thank's Mr Trump ...

Trump  :    well come on inside and get a damn whiskey in ya ....

Turnball  :     sure Mr Trump ... that sounds good .

Trump   :    now Mal,  what the hell did ya wanna talk about ,  howz those damn kangaroos

Turnball  :    well Mr Trump,   you hung up the phone on me last time we spoke  ...

Trump   :     god damn it Mal ... it wasn't me .. it was the damn line just cut ...

...

Turnbull: No worries Mr President, just as long as you say something good to boost my stocks back home. People are really starting to hate my guts.

 

Trump: Not a problem Mal, I sure can sympathise with that. Why don't we do a little immigrant bashing to take people's minds off the real stuff.

 

Turnbull: I'll do anything to save my arse Don. Would you like me to make some extravagant  promises and tell some real outrageous lies?

 

Trump: Leave that to me Mal, I'm better at it than you.

[Thaidream]

If I was the Australian PM I would tell Trump to stick it in his arse.....Trump owes him an apology. Trump needs to remember that the Australian Government allows US military to be based in Australia and also to utilize an intelligence installation there. In addition, Australia has supported the US on numerous occasions.

[simple1]

28 minutes ago, car720 said:

It makes my stomach crawl to see successive Australian Prime Ministers toddle off to the USA to continue the great Australian tradition of kissing their arse.

Saves Australia billions p.a. in defense costs

[Prbkk]

I suspect Trump has a sneaking admiration for things Australian: he appears to have mimicked some attributes of the great Les Patterson.

[elgordo38]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

Relations were strained after an acrimonious telephone call shortly after Trump's inauguration, during which Trump labelled the Australia-U.S. resettlement swap agree to with former U.S. President Barack Obama as a "dumb" deal.

 

Turnbull said the 75th anniversary of the World War Two "Battle of the Coral Sea" celebrations in New York City offered a chance for the two nations to "reaffirm our alliance".

Hope you catch  him on one of his better days. All his statements/promises/BS have a short shelf life. 

[steven100]

11 hours ago, simple1 said:

Saves Australia billions p.a. in defense costs

yes ....   joking aside ..

 

Australia needs the US.   If it wasn't for the US we would be all eating sushi now...

It's fine to jokingly bag the US and Aust relationship, however if any country started to wage war on Australian soil or threatened Australia it would be disastrous for Australia to even try to defend itself alone ...   Truth is we are in good with the US and we need to be .... they helped us before in war and we need that assurance again.

That's the truth ....

[Crowes]

16 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Trump managed singlehandedly to gratuitously strain relations with one of the USA's staunchest allies.

 

Many would argue that relations were strained when Aussies took advantage of Obama's disastrous policies by agreeing to give us your refugees. You knew what you were doing, and you didn't care. Americans will never forgive you for taking advantage of our weak leaders like that.

[simple1]

2 minutes ago, Crowes said:

 

Many would argue that relations were strained when Aussies took advantage of Obama's disastrous policies by agreeing to give us your refugees. You knew what you were doing, and you didn't care. Americans will never forgive you for taking advantage of our weak leaders like that.

All the asylum seekers destined for the US have already been assessed as genuine refugees and the US Administration is doubling down on the assessment process. You omit to note the counter deal for Australia to take in refugees destined for the US from Central American camps.

 

Australia has supported US polices at government to government level with blood and treasure for decades. In effect the OP agreement is a once off decision to assist the current Oz government politically; fair enough or is it your opinion that the US should only have a one way relationship with allies.

[mrwebb8825]

The best thing for both countries is for the aussies to send theirs back home and for the US to simply leave those in central american camps right where they are. Reaffirm alliances by adopting similar rules and regulations for refugees. Join together to and create safe zones in their own countries where they already know and understand the language and customs.

Much cheaper in the long run for both countries.

[steven100]

send refugees back home.  enforce strict pressure on governments in those countries to do more to help the starving and persecuted.

Why should tax payers in other countries have to pay just because a government elsewhere is not looking after it's own ....  

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

send refugees back home.  enforce strict pressure on governments in those countries to do more to help the starving and persecuted.

Why should tax payers in other countries have to pay just because a government elsewhere is not looking after it's own ....  

Not relevant. The USA had an agreement with Australia. Trump had a hissy fit about it during a phone conversation with the Prime Minister.  As per usual, he then backed down. ANd the USA has kept its word.

[mrwebb8825]

22 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Not relevant.

So, now you're FOR big countries dictating the future and lives of people not citizens of their countries? Now who's the flip-flopper?

[ilostmypassword]

23 hours ago, steven100 said:

send refugees back home.  enforce strict pressure on governments in those countries to do more to help the starving and persecuted.

Why should tax payers in other countries have to pay just because a government elsewhere is not looking after it's own ....  

22 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Not relevant. The USA had an agreement with Australia. Trump had a hissy fit about it during a phone conversation with the Prime Minister.  As per usual, he then backed down. ANd the USA has kept its word.

1 minute ago, mrwebb8825 said:

So, now you're FOR big countries dictating the future and lives of people not citizens of their countries? Now who's the flip-flopper?

Apparently, for you, language functions as a kind of Rorschach test and relevance be damned. The subject of the thread was Trump's pending meeting the Australian PM and the strains put on the relationship by the refugee agreement between the USA and Australia.  steven100's comment was a broad generalization about refugees, and, whatever its merits or demerits may be, it did not address the issue at hand.

 

[steven100]

14 hours ago, car720 said:

just remind me again when it was exactly that they helped us out.  Someone mentioned the Coral Sea battle.  I don't think they had saving Australia in mind at that one.  My personal reasoning is that they would drop us in at whenever it suited them or if there was a buck in it.  Let us not forget that they were happy to sit out the war until the Japs bombed Pearl Harbour.

I am old, i know the history ....  so as I said ... America did save our butts from the Japs.

On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, whose harbour was full of Allied ships. It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and followed a reconnaissance flight on 10 February 1942. On that day there were 27 Allied ships in the harbour and approximately 30 aircraft at the Darwin Civil and RAAF airfields.

The USS Houston convoy departed Darwin on 15 February 1942, followed by a Japanese flying boat which later engaged in an air strike. The USS Peary returned to Darwin on 19 February after an encounter with a possible Japanese submarine. On 19 February 1942 there were 46 ships packed into Darwin Harbour.

From the first raid on 19 February 1942 until the last on 12 November 1943, Australia and its allies lost about 900 people, 77 aircraft and several ships. Many military and civilian facilities were destroyed. The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total during the attacks.

At the time, there were many rumours alluding to the Australian Government's suppression of information about the bombings - it was thought that reports of casualties were intentionally diminished to maintain national morale.

[steven100]

14 hours ago, car720 said:

just remind me again when it was exactly that they helped us out.  Someone mentioned the Coral Sea battle.  I don't think they had saving Australia in mind at that one.  My personal reasoning is that they would drop us in at whenever it suited them or if there was a buck in it.  Let us not forget that they were happy to sit out the war until the Japs bombed Pearl Harbour.

There were three Japanese raids on Townsville between 25 and 29 July 1942.  The raids were undertaken with two Emily flying boats (W45 and W46) captained by Asai and Mizukura who dropped 15 bombs of 250 kg near the Townsville wharves where three vessels were berthed, believed to be: the SS Bantam, SS Burwah and the HMAS Swan. The second raid dropped eight bombs near the Garbutt airfield.  With warning of the raid, three American anti-aircraft batteries fired 72 rounds.

Given a 30 minute early radar warning prior to the third raid, four American Airacobras from the 8th Fighter Group were able to engage in air combat with the Japanese. A translated Japanese log report (held at the Townsville Aviation Museum) records what happened with the Japanese Emily flying boat

[mrwebb8825]

26 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Apparently, for you, language functions as a kind of Rorschach test and relevance be damned. The subject of the thread was Trump's pending meeting the Australian PM and the strains put on the relationship by the refugee agreement between the USA and Australia.  steven100's comment was a broad generalization about refugees, and, whatever its merits or demerits may be, it did not address the issue at hand.

 

I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and the other TV posters for freeing up so much time for us all. From now on, we can simply read the OP, wait for you to post and move on to something else knowing that all relevant angles, opinions and thought has already been presented. 

Now where did I put that exercise equipment I was going to get around to using when I had more free time. 

[Scott]

I suggest people stay on topic and stop with the personal remarks. 

 

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and the other TV posters for freeing up so much time for us all. From now on, we can simply read the OP, wait for you to post and move on to something else knowing that all relevant angles, opinions and thought has already been presented. 

Now where did I put that exercise equipment I was going to get around to using when I had more free time. 

You're welcome.

[impulse]

On 4/26/2017 at 5:12 PM, Thaidream said:

If I was the Australian PM I would tell Trump to stick it in his arse.....Trump owes him an apology. Trump needs to remember that the Australian Government allows US military to be based in Australia and also to utilize an intelligence installation there. In addition, Australia has supported the US on numerous occasions.

 

Better learn to speak Mandarin if they leave.  They're also the only reason Japanese isn't the current national language.