World News Roundup: Trump at Buckingham Palace; Macron's grip on France

Donald Trump welcomed to Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth

Britain rolled out the royal red carpet for Donald Trump on Monday but the pomp, pageantry and banquet with Queen Elizabeth looked set to be overshadowed by the U.S. President's views on Brexit, the UK's next leader and a row over China's Huawei. Trump and his wife, Melania, were greeted by the 93-year-old monarch at Buckingham Palace at the start of a three-day state visit which sees him feted with the full force of royal ceremony: a formal dinner with the queen, tea with heir Prince Charles, and a tour of Westminster Abbey, coronation church of English monarchs for 1,000 years.

Deal or no deal, we leave EU on Oct. 31: UK PM candidate Johnson

Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to be Britain's next prime minister, promised on Monday to lead the country out of the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without an exit deal, launching his leadership bid in a campaign video. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to resign on Friday having failed to deliver Brexit on schedule. She leaves behind her a divided nation and parliament with no consensus on the way ahead for the world's fifth largest economy.

Germany's Social Democrats seek new leader, question coalition

Germany's Social Democrats on Monday discussed appointing three caretaker leaders after Andrea Nahles resigned and SPD members, appalled by the party's plunging popularity, called for ditching their scrappy coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nahles, the most vocal proponent of the SPD's reluctant decision to form a third so-called "grand coalition" with Merkel's conservatives, quit on Monday after a disastrous showing at last weekend's European Parliament elections.

China warns students, academics of risks of studying in U.S.

China warned students and academics on Monday about risks involved in studying in the United States, pointing to limits on the duration of visas and visa refusals, amid a bitter trade war and other tension between the two countries. Relations between China and the United States have nosedived because of their trade conflict, U.S. sanctions on Chinese tech firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and tension over the disputed South China Sea and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

Kremlin rebuffs Trump on Syria, says military action in Idlib is justified

The Kremlin on Monday rebuffed criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump of Russian and Syrian government military action in Syria's Idlib province, saying it was justified. Trump on Sunday urged Russia and Syrian government forces to stop bombing Idlib, following a Friday Kremlin statement that signaled Moscow would continue to back a month-long Syrian government offensive there.

Exit of French center-right leader bolsters Macron's grip

France's once-dominant centre-right political party, Les Republicans, was in disarray on Monday after its leader quit, acknowledging his responsibility for the group's poor performance in last week's European elections. Laurent Wauquiez, 44, who took over as a leader in late 2017, had moved the party distinctly to the right with an emphasis on France's national identity, rural traditions and Catholic roots, and adopting a sceptical stance toward the European Union in an effort to claw back voters from the far right.

Exclusive: U.N. bid to curb North Korean missile tests, revive air traffic, delayed amid U.S. concerns - sources

A U.N. agency's bid to curb North Korea's missile program with an airspace safety audit and at the same time revive its air traffic has been delayed amid U.S. concerns that it may breach U.N. sanctions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Airlines currently take indirect routes to avoid North Korea due to the threat of surprise missile tests, which have been witnessed by some passengers on commercial flights.

Reeling from tariff threat, Mexico begins immigration talks in Washington

Fighting to stave off punitive tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, a senior Mexican delegation was set to begin high-level talks on Monday in Washington, where it will be pushed to do more to hold back Central American migrants. Trump says he will apply tariffs of 5% on all Mexican goods on June 10, and increase the rate in coming months to 25% if Mexico does not substantially halt illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexican border, which is at a decade high this year.

North Korea's former top nuclear envoy seen with Kim Jong Un: KCNA

North Korea's former top nuclear envoy, Kim Yong Chol, accompanied leader Kim Jong Un to art performance, state news agency KCNA said on Monday, signalling that the former spymaster is alive and remains a force in the power structure. Sunday's appearance followed conflicting reports of shakeups in the team that led engagement with the United States last year, only for nuclear talks to collapse after Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump failed to strike a pact at a February summit.

Pompeo says U.S. trying to level the playing field with China

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is seeking to "level the playing field" with China after decades of unfair trade practices. Pompeo made the remarks after meeting his Dutch counterpart, Foreign Minister Stef Blok, on the sidelines of a U.S.-Dutch entrepreneurship conference in the Netherlands.