US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said he had done “a really fantastic job” on a five-nation tour of Asia in which he had made a lot of friends, but he ended it abruptly Tuesday by skipping most of a Philippine summit.

The US president, who began his journey in Japan 12 days ago, said his trip had seen progress in his goal of narrowing America’s trade deficits.

“I’ve made a lot of friends at the highest level,” Mr. Trump told reporters shortly before boarding Air Force One in Manila, adding the trip was “tremendously successful.”

“I think the fruits of our labor are going to be incredible,” he said, later predicting an already unveiled $300 billion worth of trade deals “is going to be quadrupled very quickly” to over a trillion dollars. He offered no evidence for this assessment.

“It’s been a really great 12 days,” he said. “I think we have done a really fantastic job.”

Before leaving, Mr. Trump gathered briefly with 18 other world leaders ahead of the start of the East Asia Summit, the final set piece of his trip. The former reality TV star had initially planned to skip the summit, then backtracked after criticism it could be seen as a snub.

But he did not stay for the official start of the summit on Tuesday afternoon, also missing the preceding group photo with his fellow leaders.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sat in for him at the summit, which was scheduled to run into the evening.

The summit groups the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Russia, as well as the United States.

In a trip that was dominated by the North Korean nuclear crisis, Mr. Trump was treated to pomp and pageantry in Japan and South Korea, where he repeatedly blasted the regime of Kim Jong-Un.

Aboard Air Force One, he claimed success “in terms of North Korea and getting everybody together. I think their acts are all together.”

In China, where President Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for a “state visit plus” — a welcome Mr. Trump declared “people really have never seen anything like” — the White House trumpeted more than $250 billion of trade deals.

Analysts say the headline figure hides a paucity of deliverables, with lots of the agreements being non-binding memorandums of understanding.

They say many will take years to yield results and some will never materialize.

En route to Hawaii, however, Mr. Trump was bullish, predicting a rapid closing of American trade deficits.

“I think one of the things we really accomplished big is relationship, and also letting people know that from now on, things are going to be reciprocal,” he said.

“We can’t have trade deficits of $30, $40, $50 billion; $300 billion in the case of China. We can’t do that. We have to have reciprocal trade,” he added.

“You will see numbers that you won’t believe over the years. Because over a period of years, they will be treating us much differently than they have in the past.”

During a stop in Vietnam, the issue of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election reared its head again when Mr. Trump appeared to endorse President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that there had been no plot by Moscow.

In the Philippines, Mr. Trump sparked headlines with his pally relationship with President Rodrigo R. Duterte, a man who has boasted of personally killing people and whose drug war has claimed thousands of lives.

Speaking to reporters as he flew over the Pacific Ocean, Mr. Trump again made no mention of human rights or the extrajudicial killings that campaigners say are part and parcel of Manila’s drugs war.

But he praised the “important military location” of the country and said ties, which soured when his predecessor Barack Obama spoke out against Duterte’s campaign, were back on track.

“Now we have a very good relationship there. We’re back with the Philippines,” he said. — AFP

SYDNEY — Australians have voted overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage, paving the way for legislation by the end of 2017 and sparking rainbow celebrations on Wednesday, with people wearing wedding dresses and sequined suits and declaring “our love is real.”

Australia will become the 26^th nation to formalize the unions if the legislation is passed by parliament, which is expected despite some vocal opposition within the government’s conservative right wing.

Thousands of people in a central Sydney park broke into a loud cheer, hugged and cried as Australia’s chief statistician revealed live over a big screen that 61.6% of voters surveyed favored marriage equality, with 38.4% against.

Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, who came out as gay three years ago, said the result was a huge relief.

“It means that the way you feel for another person, whoever that may be, is equal,” Thorpe told reporters at the Sydney celebrations.

The voluntary poll is non-binding but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull immediately said he would fulfill a pledge to raise a bill in parliament with the aim of passing laws by Christmas.

Mr. Turnbull played down concerns of a split in his coalition government over the policy as the conservative faction presses for amendments to protect religious freedoms that discriminate against same-sex couples.

“It is unequivocal, it is overwhelming. They have spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality,” Mr. Turnbull told reporters in Canberra after the survey results were announced. “They voted ‘yes’ for fairness, ‘yes’ for commitment, ‘yes’ for love.”

The result marks a watershed moment for gay rights in Australia, where it was illegal in some states to engage in homosexual activity until 1997.

“It’s a g’day. Way to go Australia,” tweeted US TV host Ellen DeGeneres, who is married to Australian actress Portia de Rossi in the United States.

Almost 80% of the country’s eligible voters took part in the survey — a higher voter turnout than Britain’s Brexit vote and Ireland’s same-sex marriage referendum.

Mark Barry, 59, wiped away tears as he took in the result with his partner of 35 years, Gerrard Boller.

“I know a celebrant who is going to be very happy about this,” Mr. Barry told Reuters.

TROUBLES
Irish-born Qantas Airways Chief Executive Alan Joyce, one of the few openly gay business leaders in Australia, told the Sydney crowd, many of whom sheltered from the hot sun under rainbow umbrellas, that the result was “an amazing outcome” and urged Mr. Turnbull to move quickly on legislation.

Mr. Turnbull, under pressure amid a citizenship crisis that has cost him his deputy and the government’s majority in parliament, finds his leadership tested again as the marriage equality bill enters parliament, possibly as early as Wednesday.

The conservatives’ planned amendments to the bill would allow private businesses to refuse services like wedding cakes for same-sex weddings by objecting on religious grounds.

But political analysts said the resounding “yes” vote presented Mr. Turnbull with his first opportunity in months to exert decisive control.

At least one of the conservative lawmakers has announced plans to switch to supporting the legislation, given the strength of the public vote.

Nick Economou, a political scientist at Monash University, said Mr. Turnbull “should feel emboldened by the result and this is the sort of thing he has been looking for to show some assertive leadership.”

The “no” campaign had sought to leverage powerful local religious organizations in a survey campaign that was criticized by some in the “yes” camp as divisive and aggressive.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said he was “deeply disappointed that the likely result will be legislation to further deconstruct marriage and family in Australia.” — Reuters