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Australia Sees No Threat to US Ties After White House Criticism of Social Media Reforms

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C-R) and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells (C-L) speak to the media while surrounded by advocates during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 08 September 2026. (EPA)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C-R) and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells (C-L) speak to the media while surrounded by advocates during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 08 September 2026. (EPA)
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Australia Sees No Threat to US Ties After White House Criticism of Social Media Reforms

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C-R) and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells (C-L) speak to the media while surrounded by advocates during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 08 September 2026. (EPA)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C-R) and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells (C-L) speak to the media while surrounded by advocates during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 08 September 2026. (EPA)

Australia said ‌on Wednesday it sees no risk to its relationship with the United States after reports that the Trump administration criticized Canberra's plans to target social media algorithms, which critics say would curtail free speech.

On Tuesday Australia's center-left Labor government said social media users would be given the choice to opt out of algorithms under draft legislation, effectively allowing them to curate their own feeds.

Social media companies face fines of up to A$109.2 million ($79 million) for non-compliance with the law.

The Australian ‌Financial Review ‌reported on Wednesday, citing White House spokesperson ‌Kush ⁠Desai, that President Donald ⁠Trump had "unequivocally warned trading partners against imposing digital services taxes, fines, and other forms of extortion on America's leading technology sector."

Desai added, "The administration remains committed to raising these issues with our trading partners."

Communications Minister Anika Wells told News24 Australia on Wednesday that US officials had not contacted her office over the ⁠proposed law and rejected the suggestion that ‌her government's social media reforms ‌amounted to extortion.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that his government ‌decides its policies based on Australia's national interest, insisting ‌his relationship with President Trump is "very good" and that the two leaders would meet in New York later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Australia's efforts to regulate ‌mostly US-based tech firms have emerged as a flashpoint under the current Trump administration.

A US ⁠congressional committee ⁠has called for Australia's internet regulator to testify about what it has described as a regime of censoring American free speech, citing attempts to have Elon Musk's X remove certain posts.

The regulator has not yet indicated whether she will comply.

Trump also opposes digital services taxes on US tech giants and has threatened tariffs on countries that pursue them.

Under an Australian law passed this year, big tech companies can be taxed 2.25% on their local annual revenue if they fail to negotiate deals to pay local media outlets for news shared on their platforms.

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Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
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Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not know if Iran is going to "give up yet" but cast the country as doing "very poorly" in its war with the US.

"I don't know if they are going to give up ‌yet but ‌they'll give up," Trump told reporters.

"They ‌are ⁠doing very poorly," ⁠he added.

A US blockade has cut Iran's financial lifeline - oil exports, and economic costs of the war have made life tougher for Iranians.

Iran's president told the UN General Assembly last ⁠week that Tehran would never surrender to ‌US pressure.

The rise in oil prices due to the ‌war has also become a major issue ‌for Trump's Republican Party heading into the November US midterm elections.

The war has led to the blockade of the Strait of ‌Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global supplies of crude oil ⁠and ⁠LNG before the conflict.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the Iran war that began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

World

Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
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Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)

European countries should have shown ‌more solidarity and offered more support to Spain after the mass arrival in Ceuta of tens of thousands of migrants, Spanish King Felipe VI said on Tuesday during a gala dinner to mark a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.

In an unusually outspoken address reflecting the depth of the crisis facing Spain following the Ceuta border rush that took place two months ago on Wednesday, the king said what happened in the enclave on the North African coast was "unacceptable" and ‌generated an enormous ‌security, public order and humanitarian challenge.

"It's a ‌situation ⁠that ought to ⁠have as a consequence a reinforcement of collaboration between member states in resources and cooperation," he said. "The European countries that suffer the most pressure from being on the external borders of the European Union cannot alone bear a responsibility that also belongs to everyone."

The king spoke during a dinner at the Royal ⁠Palace in Madrid also attended by Spain's Socialist ‌prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, a rare ‌European proponent of the benefits of migration who launched a mass ‌regularization of irregular migrants that concluded in the summer.

Sanchez, however, ‌has proposed possible changes to asylum rules to return arrivals more quickly, which NGOs and lawyers say would violate human rights conventions.

Asked in a news conference about the plans, territorial policy minister Angel Victor Torres ‌said the government was "analyzing the possibility" of a legislative amendment but that it was "not easy" ⁠due to ⁠questions of international law.

Following the mass crossing of 72,000 migrants into Ceuta on July 30, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commended Spain's swift action in returning most arrivals to Morocco. Other leaders were less understanding, however, with Italy suspending the European Union's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month.

European Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner unveiled a plan on Tuesday to strengthen EU border controls in the wake of Ceuta.

The plan, which requires the approval of member states, would strengthen the mandate of Frontex, the EU border protection agency, and give it a standing corps ready for immediate deployment.

World

Trump Says He Is Embarking on 32 Days of Campaign Travel Before November Elections

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump Says He Is Embarking on 32 Days of Campaign Travel Before November Elections

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

US ‌President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he plans 32 days of campaign travel ahead of the November midterm elections, putting himself and his record at the center of Republicans' fight to hold on to Congress as polls show Democrats poised for gains.

The November 3 elections will decide whether Republicans retain control of the US House of Representatives and the Senate or whether Democrats ‌gain the ‌power to shape Trump's final ‌two years ⁠in office, including ⁠through investigations into his administration.

Many polls show Democrats leading in key House races and challenging for control of the Senate as well, as Americans fret about high gasoline prices and Trump's ongoing war with Iran.

But Trump, speaking to reporters outside ⁠the White House, projected confidence about ‌his party's prospects and ‌dismissed signs that some Republicans are distancing themselves from ‌him in the final weeks of the campaign.

"You ‌love me, and I love them," he said, with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson standing alongside him.

Trump said he will soon embark on what he ‌described as "literally a 32-day tour" of various states, including stops in Texas and ⁠Ohio ⁠this week.

"Just so you understand, they all want me to go. I'm one person. They all want me to go campaign," he said.

The flurry of campaigning comes later than the president's advisers initially had envisioned, after a White House calendar dominated for much of the year by foreign policy and the Iran conflict.

Some Republican candidates have welcomed Trump's involvement, while others have emphasized local issues and their own records as they navigate difficult political terrain.