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Anthony Albanese has made a stunning admission while discussing Australia’s role in supporting war-torn Ukraine.

Anthony Albanese has flagged the prospect of Australia sending peace-keeping troops to Ukraine, declaring he is “open” to considering any requests for help.

The Prime Minister revealed the proposal was under consideration at a press conference in Sydney this morning but stopped short of saying any final decisions had been made.

“Well, our position on Ukraine is very clear. We stand with the people of Ukraine and we stand with President Zelenskyy,’’ he said.

“And the brave struggle of the people of Ukraine to defend their natural sovereignty, but also what they’ve fighting for is the international rule of law.

“Now Australia stands ready to assist. We have contributed $1.5 billion with $1.3 billion for military assistance directly.

“There’s discussion at the moment about potential peacekeeping. And from my government’s perspective, we’re open to consideration of any proposals going forward, as Australia has historically played an important role in areas including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of peacekeeping areas.

Inquiry launched after pair was able to fly into state despite facing trial in Romania on rape and trafficking charges

The attorney general of Florida has opened a criminal investigation of Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan after the pair were able to fly into the state last week despite facing trial in Romania on charges of rape, sex with a minor, people trafficking and money laundering.

James Uthmeier, appointed to be the state attorney general by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, said on Tuesday he had begun an “active criminal investigation” of the brothers and was prepared to use the “full force of law” in his examination of their conduct.

“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” Uthmeier said. He added: “Many of these victims are coming forward, some of them minors. People can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it.”

Self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother arrived in Fort Lauderdale last week after flying from Bucharest to the US in a private jet, as prosecutors suspended their travel ban and a court lifted a precautionary seizure on some of their assets.

The pair, who are dual US-UK citizens, were arrested in Romania in 2022 and still face trial there. As they arrived in Florida last week, Uthmeier said: “Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable.”

BEIRUT (AP) — A prominent Druze leader in Lebanon said Sunday that he will soon visit Syria to meet its interim leader as tensions simmer between members of the minority group, the war-torn country’s interim government, and Israel.

“The free Syrians must be cautious of the plots of Israel,” veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said at a news conference Sunday, accusing Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating sectarian division and chaos in the country. “In Syria there is a plot for sabotage. There is a plot for sabotage in the region and for the Arabs’ national security.”

Syrian Druze gunmen have clashed in recent days with government security forces on the city of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

Since the downfall of President Bashar Assad in December, Israel has pushed its forces into southern Syria to create a demilitarized buffer zone. Israel’s defense ministry said Saturday that it was instructing the military to prepare to defend Jaramana and protect the Druze.

In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, many who protested against the Assad government in recent years have also protested against Israel’s airstrikes and military push into the country.

March 2 (Reuters) - Influential Russian parliamentarians dismissed a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday, saying it had produced no plan to settle the war in Ukraine.

Konstantin Kosachev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the only thing Ukraine could count on was an improvement in Russian-U.S. ties.

He derided the outcome of the London meeting as "a desperate attempt to pass off as success the failure of a 10-year policy of inciting Ukraine towards Russia by the same Great Britain and, until recently, the United States".

"Europe has no plan," wrote Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia's upper house of parliament.

"And if Ukraine should count on something, it can only be on progress (if there is any to come) in Russian-American relations."

He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who hosted the meeting, "cannot fail to understand this".

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - A controversial plan by U.S. Senate Republicans to make President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent by ignoring the cost to the deficit is raising warnings from party fiscal hawks and independent analysts of a potential "debt spiral" that could undermine economic growth.

Top Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader John Thune, are determined to make permanent tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year, through a parliamentary maneuver that bypasses Democratic opposition. Because rules prohibit bills from expanding the deficit beyond a 10-year window, they intend to ignore a projected revenue loss of more than $4 trillion by claiming that tax policy would remain unaltered.

The ploy is already running into opposition from enough hardline Republican fiscal conservatives to prevent such a measure from making it through Congress, given that the party holds only a 218-215 majority in the House of Representatives.

"I can't support that. It's just a way to break the bank," said Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who is one of the leading deficit hawks in Congress.

Two other fiscal conservatives, Representatives Victoria Spartz and David Schweikert, signaled opposition as well, while others said they saw the plan as a way to avoid offsetting Trump's tax priorities with deep spending cuts.

"It's heresy. They're being absolutely intellectually disingenuous," said Schweikert, of Arizona. "This is their way of avoiding making difficult decisions on modernization and changing the spending curve. I view it as absolutely immoral."

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he believed he could salvage his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump after their explosive meeting in the Oval Office, but that talks needed to continue behind closed doors.

In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelenskiy of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three, casting into doubt Washington's ongoing support for Ukraine.

Zelenskiy, talking to reporters after a summit with European leaders in London on Sunday, said he did not think the U.S. would stop its assistance to Ukraine, because as "leaders of the civilized world" they would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, Zelenskiy said he remained prepared for any challenges that may arise. "As regards to salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue," he told reporters via a translator after the London meeting.

But he added: "I do not think it's right when such discussions are totally open. ... The format of what happened, I don't think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners."

Zelenskiy added that he remained ready to sign the proposed minerals deal with the United States, and that he believed the U.S. would be ready as well.

March 1 (Reuters) - Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said on Saturday that a Venezuelan coast guard patrol entered Guyanese waters earlier in the day, approaching an output vessel in an offshore oil block managed by Exxon Mobil

The South American neighbors are involved in a long-running dispute about which country owns the 160,000-square-km (62,000-square-mile) Esequibo area, which is the subject of an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The northwest portion of the block, close to Venezuela, has remained in force majeure as the Exxon group has been unable to complete exploration there.

"During this incursion, the Venezuelan vessel approached various assets in our exclusive waters, including FPSO Prosperity," Ali said in a statement.

• Orsi promises modern left agenda balancing welfare and growth
• Uruguay faces pressure from US on Chinese investments
• Orsi's Broad Front holds Senate majority, lacks lower house control

MONTEVIDEO, March 1 (Reuters) - Uruguay is set for a political shift to the center-left as Yamandu Orsi took office on Saturday as the country's next president.

Orsi, a 57-year-old former mayor backed by leftist ex-President Jose "Pepe" Mujica, narrowly won the November election against the ruling center-right coalition.

As a moderate, Orsi has promised to strike a different balance between social welfare and economic growth by ushering in what he described as a "modern left" agenda.

In his inaugural address at Montevideo's Legislative Palace, Orsi said that "a time of re-foundation is not starting, but one of new proposals and permanent construction", in a room that broke into cheers and applause after he credited iconic leftist Mujica.

• Jamaica presents bill to remove Charles as head of state
• Critics say new president should be elected, not nominated
• Debate on moving final court of appeal to Caribbean

KINGSTON/LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Many Jamaicans want their country to ditch King Charles as head of state but a bill presented by the government to do just that has frustrated some critics of the monarchy who believe the change should go further to slash colonial ties.

Jamaica gained independence in 1962 but - like 13 other former British colonies - it still retains the British monarch as its head of state.

Public opinion on the Caribbean island of nearly 3 million people has been shifting for years, and in December the government of Prime Minister Andrew Holness presented a bill to remove King Charles.

TBILISI, March 2 (Reuters) - The acting leader of Abkhazia has won a presidential election in the breakaway Georgian region, state media said on Sunday, months after his predecessor was driven from office following protests over an investment deal with Russia.

Acting President Badra Gunba took almost 55% of the vote in Saturday's election in the Russia-backed territory, ahead of opposition leader Adgur Ardzinba on just under 42%, Abkhazian state news agency Apsnypress reported, citing preliminary results from the electoral commission.

Georgia, of which Abkhazia is recognised as being part of by all but a handful of countries, called the election "another flagrant violation of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

In footage published by state media, Gunba thanked voters and said he would work to make Abkhazia "independent, free and prosperous".

Abkhazia has in recent months been plagued by an electricity crisis, with blackouts blamed on low water levels at a key hydroelectric plant and large-scale cryptocurrency mining, which requires large amounts of energy.

• ACLU lawsuit claims transfers violate U.S. immigration law
• Migrants face harsh conditions, including isolation and abuse
• Allegations that conditions led to suicide attempts

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. civil rights group on Saturday sued to block the Trump administration from potentially transferring 10 migrants from the U.S. to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detailing harsh conditions and suicide attempts among migrants held there.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the transfers violate U.S. immigration law by moving the detainees outside of the country and aim to stoke fear without a legitimate rationale.

The 10 detainees in the lawsuit are men from Venezuela, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan with final deportation orders, including some who have been threatened with transfer to Guantanamo, ACLU said. The men, currently held in Texas, Arizona and Virginia, are not gang members or high-risk criminals, the ACLU said.

• Three centrist parties announced coalition deal last week
• Neos members had to approve the deal to join government
• Had they not, coalition would have had one-seat majority
• Government to be sworn in on Monday after historic wait

VIENNA, March 2 (Reuters) - Members of Austria's liberal Neos party on Sunday voted overwhelmingly in favour of a coalition deal with the conservative People's Party (OVP) and Social Democrats (SPO), paving the way for their three-party government to take office.

The vote was the last remaining obstacle to the planned alliance. The government is due to be sworn in on Monday at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT), five months after a parliamentary election the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won with around 29% of the vote.

It will end the longest wait for a government in Austria since World War Two. The same centrist parties initially tried to form a coalition government without the FPO but that bid collapsed in January. The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO then led an effort that failed last month.