The Latest: Trump signs $8.5 billion rare earths deal with Australian prime minister

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals deal Monday at the White House, making good on U.S. interest in Australia’s rich rare-earth resources as a potential counterpoint to China’s new minerals export restrictions.

The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months.

It follows Beijing’s new requirement for foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare earth materials that originated from China, or were produced with Chinese technology.

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Comey’s lawyers say case against him is driven by Trump’s ‘personal animus’ and must be thrown out

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge Monday to dismiss the case against him, saying it was orchestrated by a White House determined to seek retribution against Trump’s perceived foe.

The lawyers separately called for the indictment’s dismissal because of what they said was the illegitimate appointment of the U.S. attorney who filed the case days after being hastily named to the job by Trump.

The two-prong attack on the indictment, which accuses Comey of lying to Congress five years ago, represents the opening salvo in what is expected to be a protracted court fight ahead of a trial currently set for Jan. 5. The motions challenge not only the substance of the allegations but also the unusual circumstances of the prosecution.

Judge orders a path to release for immigrant with leukemia facing deportation

A Michigan man facing possible deportation while dealing with life-threatening leukemia must be released from custody or at least be given a bond hearing in immigration court, a judge said.

It’s a victory for Jose Contreras-Cervantes and seven other plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. If released on bond from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, they could return to their families while their cases wind through immigration court.

The Trump administration has refused bond hearings for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, even if they lack a criminal record — a reversal of past practices.

Contreras-Cervantes, 33, was diagnosed last year with chronic myeloid leukemia, a life-threatening cancer of the bone marrow and was told he has only four to six years to live, said his wife, Lupita Contreras, who is a U.S. citizen. She said while he was detained after an Aug. 5 traffic stop in suburban Detroit, he didn’t receive medication for 22 days.

The native of Jalisco, Mexico, has been living in the U.S. for about 20 years, but not legally.

Ecuador says it has no evidence that survivor of a US strike in the Caribbean committed any crime

The survivor of a U.S. strike on a submersible vessel accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean was released by authorities in Ecuador after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation, a government official said Monday.

The official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations.

AP requested comment from the Attorney General’s Office but did not immediately receive a response.

The man was repatriated by the United States over the weekend following a U.S. military attack on a submersible vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to that country.

The attack on the submersible was at least the sixth of its kind since September.