The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, made her first royal appearance since giving birth to son Archie last month. The 37-year-old joined other members of the royal family on Saturday for Trooping The Colour, the Queen's annual birthday parade.
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The Queen turned 93 on April 21, but Trooping the Colour is the official celebration of the monarch's birthday and her ongoing reign.
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Meghan took a break from her maternity leave to ride in a carriage alongside husband, Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cornwall, and her sister-in-law Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.
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She wore a navy Givenchy look by her wedding dress designer, Clare Waight Keller, and a matching navy hat by Noel Stewart.
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Eagle-eyed fans also noticed a new piece of jewellery on the new mum's wedding finger, which appeared to be an additional band.
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Meghan is wearing a third ring on her ring finger - a delicate pave-set band - alongside her engagement and wedding rings.
The couple, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary three weeks ago, welcomed their first child together on May 6. Aside from this appearance when the new parents introduced Archie to the world two days after his birth, the Duchess has remained out of the public eye.
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Meghan was noticeably absent from the past week's events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and a state banquet at Buckingham Palace held in honour of US President Donald Trump.
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Ahead of his arrival, the American president was accused of describing the LA born Duchess as "nasty", which he denied. Meghan had described the President as "misogynistic" in an old interview from 2016.
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Anyway, it looks like Meghan may be back on the royal scene — at least for the big family occasions.
President Donald Trump announced planned tariffs on Mexican goods will not go into effect as scheduled after his administration and Mexican officials reached an agreement on immigration policy Friday.
....stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!
The tariffs — which would have been put in place on Monday — consisted of a 5 percent tax on all imported Mexican goods, and would have risen at regular intervals to 25 percent. Trump announced the tariffs hoping to force Mexico to reduce the number of Central American asylum seekers and immigrants arriving at the US southern border. The tariffs would have been devastating for the Mexican economy, and as Vox’s Dylan Scott reported, could have cost the average American family $900 per year.
Last week, Mexican officials, including Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, met with Vice President Mike Pence and other members of the Trump administration to negotiate a deal to avoid the mutually harmful tariffs. Those talks led to an agreement, with both sides offering concessions to the other.
Mexico agreed to station up to 6,000 of its National Guard troops around the country to assist with current immigration control efforts; the majority of the troops will be deployed at the border the country shares with Guatemala, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In exchange, the US has agreed to speed up processing of asylum claims (immigration advocacy group the National Immigration Forum estimates the process currently takes between 6 months and several years). The US will also expand its “Migration Protection Protocols,” a policy under which asylum seekers are sent back to Mexico while they wait for US officials to process their asylum claims.
As Vox’s Dara Lind reported, under the policy, asylum seekers must generally wait 45 days in Mexico before being allowed to present their case in US immigration court. This policy was challenged in US court; after being overturned initially, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the policy is to be allowed. It is currently in practice, although following the appeals court ruling, House Democrats crafted legislation that would block the policy. The bill has little chance of becoming law, as it would likely be ignored in the Senate and almost certainly would not be signed by the president.
Migrants waiting have said they have experienced hardship while on the Mexican side of the border; a man waiting in Tijuana told Vox in February that his friend had been robbed and harassed by police after being returned to Mexico. Border cities have also struggled to support the growing population of waiting asylum seekers.
In a statement, the US State Department said Mexico will address these issues by ensuring waiting asylum seekers are given “jobs, health care and education according to its principles.” In addition, the US has promised to fast track distribution of $5.8 billion in funds it has set aside for addressing the problems that cause migrants to leave home to seek asylum in the first place.
While Trump claimed that the tariffs would benefit Americans economically, Vox’s Dylan Scott reported it’s quite the opposite:
The auto industry is by far the most significant casualty; America’s biggest imports from Mexico are cars and auto parts. But data processors, telephones, televisions, and even beer are also moving all the time across the border. Whether it’s a car or a Corona, Americans are going to wind up paying the price for Trump’s trade war.
Americans would have paid more for major Mexican imports — everything from crude oil to produce like dates, figs, and pineapples; economists told Scott the tariffs would force the average American family to spend an additional $900 per year.
When he announced the tariffs in late May, Trump said they would encourage companies who have left the US for Mexico to return. But economists told Vox the tariffs would have actually sent those companies packing to another country instead of to the US, and that they could have sped up manufacturers’ pivot to automation.
“I don’t think the United States is a viable location for many of the production activities that are occurring in Mexico,” Kimberly Clausing, an economist at Reed College, told Scott. “A more likely response would be offshoring to another country, or turning to automation to do those activities in a less labor-intensive way in the United States.”
“There is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday. “Most of us hope that this Mexican delegation that’s come up here and discussed the challenges at the border ... will be fruitful, and that these tariffs will not kick in.”
Critics of the tariffs were also concerned they could impact the ratification of one of Trump’s signature goals — an overhaul ofNAFTA that the president calls the United Stated-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Trump negotiated the agreement with Canadian and Mexican leaders, and it makes changes to current country of origin rules, expands intellectual property protections, and opens new markets to US farmers.
Congress has yet to sign off on the plan, and the new tariffs could have made it a tough sell in Mexico for Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Among the indirect costs are likely to be a rejection (possibly by three legislatures) of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Dan Ikenson, who leads trade studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Scott, “and the loss of all credibility that the United States is a reliable negotiator and trading partner.”
The plan has yet to be finalized, and it’s unclear whether the agreement will scuttle the deal. Trump, however, suggested that the US’ relationship with its southern neighbor is now back on track, tweeting praise for Obrador, writing that Mexico has now agreed to buy more produce, and claiming “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!”
The assault, which left an American woman with a broken jaw after she refused to kiss her partner at the urging of a group of hooligans, has spawned a litany of homophobic abuse against the pair on Facebook and Twitter.
“That’s what you get for being gay,” one Facebook user commented on an article about the May 30 attack aboard a double-decker bus, which targeted Melania Geymonat, 28, and her girlfriend Chris, 29.
The social media hate poured in as London’s Metropolitan Police said they had a fifth teenage boy in custody Saturday morning. The couple was attacked by boys between the ages of 15 and 10, authorities said.
“No wonder my brother still can’t find a girl to marry,” wrote Chisomo Chitete in an online posting. “All the girls have been taken by girls.”
Despite the attacks, the couple told reporters that they refuse to hide their relationship. “We are not scared to be visibly queer,” said Chris, who did not provide her full name.
President Donald Trump has hailed a deal reached with Mexico to help stem the flow of migrants to the US after he threatened to impose trade tariffs.
Under the deal, in which Mexico agreed to take "unprecedented steps", the duties that were due to come into effect on Monday have been suspended.
"Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement," said Mr Trump.
There were fears that the tariffs could hurt US businesses and consumers.
Under Mr Trump's proposal, duties would have risen by 5% every month on goods including cars, beer, tequila, fruit and vegetables until they hit 25% in October.
The deal was reached at the end of three days of negotiations which saw Washington demand a crackdown on Central American migrants.
What do we know about the deal?
In a joint declaration released by the US state department, the two countries said Mexico would take "unprecedented steps" to curb irregular migration and human trafficking.
But it seems the US did not get one of its reported key demands, which would have required Mexico to take in asylum seekers heading for the US and process their claims on its own soil.
Under the deal, Mexico agreed to:
Deploy its National Guard throughout the country from Monday, pledging up to 6,000 additional troops along Mexico's southern border with Guatemala
Take "decisive action" to tackle human smuggling networks
The US agreed to:
Expand its programme of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico while they await reviews of their claims. In return, the US will "work to accelerate" the adjudication process
Both countries pledged to "strengthen bilateral co-operation" over border security, including "co-ordinated actions" and information sharing.
The declaration added that discussions would continue, and final terms would be accepted and announced within 90 days.
Should Mexico's actions "not have the expected results", the agreement warned that additional measures could be taken but did not specify what these would be.
In one of a series of tweets about the deal, Mr Trump quoted National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd as saying: "That's going to be a huge deal because Mexico will be using their strong Immigration Laws - A game changer. People no longer will be released into the U.S."
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told journalists: "I think it was a fair balance, because they have more drastic measures and proposals at the start, and we have reached some middle point."
Speaking at a separate news conference, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said "we couldn't be more pleased with the agreement".
Mr Trump caught members of his own party unaware when he announced the proposed tariffs last week.
Trump tariff threat recedes - for now
By Will Grant, BBC Mexico and Central America correspondent
It's still unclear whether it was internal pressure within his party or the measures being offered by Mexico that dissuaded Mr Trump from implementing the plan, or perhaps simply an appreciation of its potential consequences.
It became apparent during the talks just how intertwined the two neighbouring economies are, and many argued that a 5% tax on all Mexican goods would hurt US suppliers and customers too. Furthermore, damaging the already fragile Mexican economy could have pushed it into a full recession and created more migrants heading north in search of work.
Still, some considered the bilateral meetings were useful, in part to recognise that both nations are facing a steep rise in undocumented immigration.
The plan to deploy military personnel to Mexico's southern border may well have helped bring this dispute to an end. However, President Trump has now tied immigration to bilateral trade and could easily do so again in the future should the situation fail to improve.
What is the reaction in Mexico?
Mexico is currently one of the largest trading partners of the US, just behind China and Canada - two countries also locked in trade disputes with the US.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ran for office vowing to stand up to the US and once said he would not allow Mexico to be Mr Trump's "whipping boy".
But some Mexican politicians felt he had given too much, too quickly, and they demanded to see details of the deal.
Ángel Ávila Romero, a senior member of the left-wing PRD party, said the agreement was "not a negotiation, it was a surrender".
"Mexico should not militarise its southern border. We are not the backyard of Donald Trump," he tweeted.
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Marko Cortés, leader of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), said the sovereignty and dignity of Mexico had been damaged, newspaper El Universal reported.
Mr López Obrador said on Twitter that a rally in the border city of Tijuana on Saturday to celebrate Mexican sovereignty would go ahead.
What's the situation on the US-Mexico border?
On Wednesday, US Customs and Border Protection said migrant detentions had surged in May to the highest level in more than a decade - 132,887 arrests, a 33% increase from April.
The detentions were the highest monthly total since Mr Trump took office.
Official figures show illegal border crossings had been in decline since 2000. In 2000, 1.6 million people were apprehended trying to cross the border illegally - that number was just under 400,000 in 2018.
In 2017, Mr Trump's first year in office, the figures were the lowest they had been since 1971. But the number of arrests has been rising again, especially in recent months.
In February, Mr Trump declared an emergency on the US-Mexico border, saying it was necessary in order to tackle what he claimed was a crisis.
Ivan Golunov, a special correspondent for the independent news site Meduza, was charged in a Moscow court with attempted large-scale sale of drugs, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing Pavel Chikov of the human-rights organization Agora, whose lawyers defend the journalist.
Meduza quoted Chikov on Saturday as saying that an ambulance doctor who examined Golunov in police custody said the journalist had concussion, bruising and possible broken ribs. Police refused to hospitalize the journalist, Meduza said.
If found guilty, Golunov could be jailed for 10 to 20 years, according to Reuters.
News of the 36-year-old's arrest has provoked outrage in Russia, and journalists have staged protests over what they have described as a trumped-up drugs charge.
Golunov was known for investigating official corruption, and critics have decried his arrest as an example of how easily criminal cases can be fabricated by Russian authorities.
Beaten in custody
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-funded RT network, criticized the arrest, saying: "The government must answer all the questions society has about this arrest. For the simple reason that society has very, very, very many of them."
Golunov's lawyer and colleagues have accused police of planting the drugs on the journalist and framing him, Reuters reported.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for Golunov's release as well as investigate allegations that he had been beaten in police custody.
"Russian authorities should immediately drop their charges against Ivan Golunov, release him, and investigate allegations of mistreatment of the journalist in police custody," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
Ivan Kolpakov, the editor-in-chief at Meduza, told the CPJ that the drug charges were "absurd," and that he had "no doubts that the charges are fabricated and are related to Golunov's journalism."
In a statement posted online on Friday, Kolpakov and Meduza CEO Galina Timchenko said Golunov had been beaten by police during detention. A police spokesman rejected those claims, according to TASS.
Meduza also cited Golunov's lawyer, Dmitry Dzhulai, as saying that the detained journalist had not been allowed to eat or sleep for more than a day.
A fifth suspect is in custody in connection with a homophobic attack on a lesbian couple in London. Melania Geymonat, 28, and her partner, 29-year-old Chris, were travelling on a city bus where they were assaulted by a group of teens last month after they allegedly refused to kiss each other on demand.
In an interview with BBC News, Chris said won't be afraid to show affection in public moving forward. "I am not scared about being visibly queer. If anything, you should do it more. There are a lot of people's rights at risk and people's basic safety is at risk," she said.
"I want people to take away that they should stand up for themselves," she said.
Melania Geymonat, and her date, Chris, said they were assaulted while on a late night bus by a group of young men.
Melania Geymonat/Facebook
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the May 30 assault was "sickening," and London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it a "disgusting, misogynistic attack."
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Geymonat told BBC News she had previously experienced "a lot of verbal violence" but had never been physically attacked over her sexuality. "The violence is not only because we are women which are dating each other, it's also because we are women," she said.
Police in London have arrested five suspects, aged 15 to 18, on suspicion of robbery and an aggravated hate crime. Police said they were reviewing security footage of the attack.
President Trump on Saturday defended his agreement with Mexico that sees the country take tougher measures on illegal immigration in exchange for the U.S. dropping plans to impose tariffs on imports -- promising that Mexico “will try very hard” and place as many as 6,000 troops at their southern border.
“Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!” Trump tweeted.
Trump announced late Friday that the U.S. had reached a deal with its southern neighbors that would see planned tariffs on Mexico stopped in return for Mexico taking further action to stop the flow of migrants from Central American to the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to a joint declaration issued by the State Department, Mexico will take “unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.”
The U.S. will also expand its policy of returning asylum applicants to Mexico while their claims are processed. The U.S. committed to accelerate asylum claims while Mexico said it will “offer jobs, healthcare and education according to its principles.”
The document said that Mexico will also take “decisive action” to dismantle smuggling and trafficking operations, while both countries will increase cooperation to protect the border.
Trump tweeted on Saturday that the deal includes Mexico sending 6,000 troops to its southern border, saying that currently "there are few!” In that tweet, he quoted Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, who praised the deal in glowing terms and called it a “huge deal” and a “game changer.”
Trump also said that the U.S. ally had agreed to buy “large quantities of agricultural product from our great patriot farmers.”
For now, the deal ends plans by the Trump administration to slap a 5 percent tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico -- something that had sparked fears from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress about the possible economic fallout from such a move, with concerns it could kill off an incoming trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
It also comes amid an escalating border crisis, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting this week that it apprehended or encountered more than 144,000 migrants at the border in May -- levels not seen in over a decade. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration at the crisis and has repeatedly blamed both Congress and Mexico for the migrant surges.
Democrats remained skeptical after the agreement was announced, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeting (apparently sarcastically) that “[n]ow that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future.”
2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke, meanwhile, said that “the damage of Trump's reckless trade policies and tariffs has already been done.”
“What we see is yet another example of him trying to be both the arsonist who created this problem in the first place and the firefighter who wants credit for addressing it,” he said.
Republicans responded with relief, and with praise for the president.
“I fully supported President Trump’s strategy of using tariffs to get Mexico to secure its border and stop the flow of illegal immigration to the United States,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a statement. President Trump proved he wasn’t bluffing, and his bold leadership just resulted in a huge win for America’s safety and security.”
Trump was apparently monitoring media reaction to the agreement, and while he said that the reporting was “very good,” he criticized what he described as false reporting from other outlets: “These ‘Fakers are Bad News!”
