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Trump praises Japan’s ‘great’ female leader in talks on trade, critical minerals

Takaichi followed other world leaders to recommended Trump for the Peace Prize he has long said he is worthy of.

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U.S. President Donald Trump lavished praise on Japan’s first female leader Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, welcoming her pledge to accelerate a military buildup and signing deals on trade and critical minerals, Reuters reported.

Takaichi, a close ally of Trump’s friend and golfing partner late Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, also said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The new prime minister is also expected to offer a package of U.S. investments under a $550-billion deal agreed this year, including shipbuilding, and increased purchases of U.S. soybeans, natural gas and pickup trucks, sources familiar with the talk said.

Those gestures may temper any Trump demands for Tokyo to spend more on defending islands from an increasingly assertive China, which Takaichi sought to head off by pledging last week to fast-track plans to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP.

“It’s a very strong handshake,” Trump said, as the pair posed for photos at the Akasaka Palace in downtown Tokyo.

“Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers. I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister. It’s a big deal,” Trump told Takaichi as the pair sat down for discussions with their delegations.

Takaichi gifted Trump Abe’s putter, a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold leaf golf ball, according to photos posted on X by Trump’s assistant Margo Martin, read the report.

Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more U.S. defence equipment, while Takaichi said Trump’s role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian militants, were “unprecedented” achievements.

Takaichi followed other world leaders to recommended Trump for the Peace Prize he has long said he is worthy of.

The leaders then signed an agreement to support the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, as the countries seek to wean reliance off China’s chokehold on the materials crucial for a wide range of products from smartphones to fighter jets.

The deal aims to jointly identify projects of interest in areas such as magnets and batteries over the next six months and work together to develop stockpiles of key minerals among other measures.

Trump was last at the palace, an ornate residence built in a European style, in 2019 for talks with Abe, who was assassinated in 2022.

After lunch with Takaichi there, Trump met with relatives of people abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s to train its spies and their relatives. While some were later repatriated, Japan continues to press Pyongyang for a full accounting of all the abductees and the return of any who remain alive, a cause championed by Abe, Reuters reported.

“The United States is with them all the way,” Trump said after greeting the families.

The U.S. leader began his visit on Monday with a meeting at the Imperial Palace with Japanese Emperor Naruhito .

Takaichi’s gifts to Trump and repeated references to Abe are aimed at evoking memories of a close bond forged over hours the pair spent golfing together during Trump’s first term. Abe was assassinated in 2022, with the trial of his assailant coincidentally beginning in the western city of Nara on Tuesday.

A similar close relationship with the leader of Japan’s key security and trade partner could help Takaichi bolster her weak political position at home.

Though she has seen a surge in public support since becoming prime minister, her coalition government is two votes shy of a majority in parliament’s lower house.

Trump and Takaichi will later visit the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka near Tokyo, which is home to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, part of the U.S. military’s powerful presence in the region, read the report.

Trump will then meet business leaders in Tokyo, before travelling on Wednesday to South Korea. In talks there with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he hopes to seal a trade war truce between the world’s two biggest economies.

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Death toll from migrant rush into Spanish enclave in North Africa rises to 72

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.

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The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 ‌on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said, Reuters reported.

The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday.

More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders ​with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more did so over the weekend, Spanish authorities ​said.

The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, ⁠more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. The situation in the enclave had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be ​done to re-establish normality.

Some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb a breakwater and border fence. Many had been driven to migrate by ​economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumours.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 11 people had died, mostly by drowning while trying to cross into Spanish territory, noting that it was fact-checking reports on deaths from the other side of the border, read the report.

The ministry blamed the rush of migrants on social media misinformation, human ​trafficking networks and misinterpretation of a Spanish ruling banning immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea. That statement is similar to the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s comments on ​the matter.

Moroccan authorities set the number of those involved in the crossing at 40,000, far lower than the figure used by Spanish officials, adding that 1,135 were ‌stopped from ⁠entering Melilla, another Spanish enclave.

The statement reiterated that Morocco was committed to countering illegal migration and called for the burden of managing migration to be shared.

“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, said while holding back tears.

“In ​Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added. “If we don’t have ​a decent job, we should go ⁠on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”

Ceuta leader Juan Jesus Vivas told the newspaper El Pais the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, including some who had died in earlier, smaller ​attempts to reach the territory in hazardous night-time swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities ​were also recovering bodies ⁠from the sea, but no official information was available.

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.

Twenty-two European Union member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month, Reuters reported.

Spain has ⁠adopted a ​more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a programme to grant residency ​to more than half a million undocumented people.

It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered the enclave irregularly could not travel on to ​mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.

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Three killed, two injured in shooting at Idaho shopping center

Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.

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Three people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and at least two others were injured after a shooting at a busy shopping area in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, local authorities said.

The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. local time near an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in a high-traffic commercial district, according to Josh Palmer, the city’s public information coordinator.

Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said the suspected shooter was among the dead and confirmed that the threat to the community had been eliminated.

“At this point, the shooter is no longer a threat,” Hicks told reporters, adding that investigators are working to identify the suspect and determine a motive for the attack.

Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.

Following the shooting, the Twin Falls Police Department temporarily closed roads surrounding the scene, including a nearby bridge, as officers secured the area and launched an investigation.

Twin Falls, with a population of about 47,400, is located in Idaho’s Magic Valley region.

Police have not yet released additional details about the victims or the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and the investigation remains ongoing.

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Saar: Trade shifts from Pakistan to Central Asia and Iran discussed

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