Daily News Roundup

Tuesday, March 6

Trump says he won’t back down on tariffs

United States President Donald Trump has insisted he is “not backing down” on his plan to impose stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, despite anxious warnings from House Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressional Republicans of a possible trade war.

The President said North American neighbours Canada and Mexico would not get any relief from his plan to place the tariffs on the imports, but suggested he might be willing to exempt the two longstanding allies if they agreed to better terms for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“No, we’re not backing down,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office, seated with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We’ve had a very bad deal with Mexico, we’ve had a very bad deal with The President opened the door to exempting the two countries from the planned tariffs, telling reporters, “that would be, I would imagine, one of the points that we’ll negotiate”.

But he added: “If they aren’t going to make a fair NAFTA deal, we’re just going to leave it this way.”

Mr Trump spoke shortly after a spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said the GOP leader was “extremely worried” about the tariffs setting off a trade war and had urged the White House “to not advance with this plan”.

Republican leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, meanwhile, circulated a letter opposing Mr Trump’s tariff plan.

In the meantime, Mr Trump’s tariff plan has been branded “absolutely unacceptable” by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

 

Lured to her death while on call, but SafeWork SA says nurse’s murder “wasn’t work-related”.

The family of murdered outback nurse Gayle Woodford say they were left feeling “angry” and “insulted” by SafeWork SA’s finding that her death was not work-related.

Gayle Woodford had been a remote area nurse with Nganampa Health Council, based in the small APY Lands community of Fregon, for almost five years before she was killed.

She was on call on the night when she was lured out of her home and raped and murdered by Dudley Davey, who is now serving life with a non-parole period of 32 years.

Now her family has revealed SafeWork SA, the body responsible for regulating workplace health and safety across the state, determined her death was not linked to the night-time on-call work she was tasked with.

In a letter to husband Keith Woodford, dated November 25, 2016, SafeWork SA said it had completed its investigation and sent its findings to the Coroner’s office that, “the death of your wife was not work-related”.

SafeWork SA is now reviewing the decision after questions from Australian Story screened on Monday night on Channel 2, wrote ABC’s  Mayeta Clark

Gayle Woodford’s daughter, Alison Woodford, was perplexed by the decision.

“I was really angry. I felt insulted,” she said.

Gayle Woodford was the on-call nurse at the time of her death, and her last consultation at the clinic was about 8:40pm on March 23, 2016.

She then returned home to continue her shift of after-hours care for the community.

Her husband said the last time he saw her she was reading in bed about 9:30pm before he fell asleep.

Sometime before 11:30pm, convicted sex offender Davey came to the door. He said he lured her out of her high-security home under the ruse that his grandmother needed Panadol.

Davey then stole the clinic ambulance with Gayle Woodford in it and drove to nearby scrubland where he raped and murdered her.

Mr Woodford said a SafeWork SA representative told him they had reached their conclusion during a round-table discussion.

“They owe the family an apology,” Mr Woodford said.

Alison Woodford said a SafeWork SA representative told her there was no CCTV footage to prove her mother was working when she was taken.

 

Kim Jong Un wants to advance Korea ties

A South Korean delegation has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over dinner as Seoul seeks to spark talks between Pyongyang and Washington, according to Reuters.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told a visiting delegation from South Korea that it is his “firm will to vigorously advance” inter-Korean ties and “write a new history of national reunification”.

“Hearing the intention of President Moon Jae In for a summit from the special envoy of the south side, he exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement,” the North’s official news agency said of the meeting that took place on Monday, without detailing what that agreement was.

“He gave the important instruction to the relevant field to rapidly take practical steps for it,” the Korean Central News Agency said on Tuesday.

“He also made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange.”

A 10-member South Korean delegation led by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, went to North Korea in hopes of encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk to one another.

The two sides have stoked months of tension in the region, prompted by bellicose insults between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has been developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States. Both Pyongyang and Washington say they want a diplomatic solution.