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Al Jazeera
43 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump in Scotland: How's his trip going and what's on the agenda?
When Donald Trump re-won the United States presidency in last year's election, the Dumfries and Galloway News in Scotland greeted the news with this headline: 'South West Scotland Hotelier Becomes President Of America For Second Time'. That more playful approach – a sign that the locals thought Trump, who owns luxury golf courses in Scotland, an amusement – now seems to have soured. The National, Scotland's pro-independence newspaper, greeted his arrival for a four-day visit this week with the following headline: 'Convicted US Felon To Arrive In Scotland'. So why is Trump visiting Scotland, and what's on the agenda for his trip? How has Trump been received in Scotland? Trump's links to Scotland go back to his mother. While his father, Fred, was the son of German immigrants, Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was a Scottish immigrant to the US – born in the village of Tong on the Isle of Lewis. Trump has made much of this connection and his love of Scotland, in general, while also making grand pledges about what his golf courses will do for tourism there. On Friday, he arrived in the small Ayrshire village of Turnberry, where he headed off for some golf, before a meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks on trade on Monday. Trump Turnberry has two golf championship courses – the Ailsa (four times host to the Open Championship) and King Robert the Bruce. Turnberry, a tiny place of about 200 people, may have seemed like a good spot to escape wider troubles, as well. Trump still can't shake off speculation, including from many in his MAGA fan base, about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Last week, the Wall Street Journal claimed Trump had sent Epstein a birthday note featuring a naked woman and text which read: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' It reported that a book given to Epstein in 2003 included letters from both Trump and Bill Clinton. On Friday, a Scottish reporter shouted at Trump: 'Are you in Scotland to escape legal problems?' He didn't reply. Some people also turned up to protest against his visit to Scotland on Friday. One protester in Turnberry was holding a sign that read: 'Scotland hated Trump before it was fashionable.' Other protest signs were less polite. Stephen Flynn, a Scottish National Party MP who is notably bald, said he wouldn't meet Trump since he would be busy 'washing his hair'. Dominic Hinde, an author and journalist based in Glasgow, said: 'Scotland doesn't need to kowtow to the White House in the way that the Westminster bubble does. We can afford to be rude in a way that Keir Starmer can't. He played on his Scottish routes and expected to be welcomed like a king every time. His reception has only got worse and worse. We don't want much to do with his kind of politics.' Because of this fuss and an assassination attempt during his election campaign last year, Turnberry became temporary home to 5,000 police officers, army trucks and road checkpoints on Friday. This is the biggest and most expensive security operation since the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Trump also plans to visit his golf course in Balmedie, near Aberdeen, as well as a new course set to open in August, during his four-day trip that is due to end on July 29. Why are some Scots angry with Trump? A dispute between Trump and local people began 14 years ago over a plan to build wind turbines that would be visible from his golf course in Aberdeenshire. He wanted them halted, calling them 'monstrosities' that would only hurt tourism. He failed to stop the wind farms, but he remains against both wind and solar power. During previous talks, Trump has asked Starmer to ditch wind and ramp up oil production. He claims offshore wind turbines are 'driving the whales crazy'. But around half of all Scotland's electricity comes from wind. Trump's golf course in Aberdeenshire has also proved controversial. Conservation groups say the course has destroyed nearby dunes. The course has also struggled to make a profit or employ as many people as had been hoped. The Stop Trump Scotland protest group made its opposition to him clear on Friday. It said: 'The people of Scotland don't want to roll out a welcome mat for Donald Trump, whose government is accelerating the spread of climate breakdown around the world.' What will Trump discuss with the UK's prime minister? Talks with Keir Starmer will centre on refining a US-UK trade deal made in June, which set a 10 percent tariff on British goods going to the US. It also expanded access to US goods in the British market and set tariffs on the first 100,000 UK vehicles exported to the US annually at 10 percent, compared with 25 percent for other countries. In 2024, the UK shipped about 106,000 cars worth 9 billion pounds ($12.1bn) – including luxury brands such as Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Aston Martin, to the US, according to car manufacturers and the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK is now hoping to have a 25 percent tariff on UK steel and aluminium lowered, although that already compares favourably with a 50 percent duty for the rest of the world on the same goods. Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec in London, said: 'The UK is in a relatively good position in that Trump has raised most tariffs on UK exports by only 10 percent and that Britain is facing a 10 percent tariff on most of its car exports, and not 25 percent levies, as the majority of other countries are. A good result would be a tariff-free trade deal, but that would be difficult to achieve in normal circumstances, let alone now.' Trump has claimed that the UK gets a better deal than other large economies, saying at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in June: 'The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them. That's their ultimate protection.' On Friday Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'It's in Britain's national interest to have strong relations with the US administration and as a result of both that long-term special relationship, but also more importantly, the work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal.' However, Kathleen Brooks, research director at UK investment group XTB, said: 'While the UK was 'blessed' with an early trade deal, it has not helped the UK's economic predicament, as yet. 'The fact Trump has come to Scotland as the EU continues to wait for confirmation about its tariff rates with the US is interesting. Trump also has golf courses in Ireland, so his choice to visit Scotland could be seen as a rebuttal to the EU. It could also deflect some of the furore over the Epstein scandal.' Some Trump acolytes have been critical of the UK in general, saying it lacks freedom of speech and that London has 'no-go' zones. Starmer is thought unlikely to bring such matters up while he negotiates on trade. What else might come up? Trump is also due to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has made positive noises, saying: 'Scotland shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries. The partnership remains steadfast through economic, cultural and ancestral links – including, of course, with the president himself.' He has also pledged to raise issues beyond trade, such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Trump will be back in the UK before too long, following this visit. A state visit with First Lady Melania is planned for September 17, when the president will be expected to meet King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,248
Here is how things stand on Saturday, July 26: Fighting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were facing fierce fighting around the city of Pokrovsk in the country's east, a logistics hub near where Russia's military has been announcing the near-daily capture of Ukrainian villages. Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, described Pokrovsk and five other sectors as among the most difficult theatres of war along the 1,000km (620-mile) front with Russia. Earlier on Friday, Russia's Ministry of Defence announced the capture of two villages on either side of Pokrovsk – Zvirove to the west and Novoekonomichne to the east. A third village – Novotoretske – near Pokrovsk was declared 'liberated' by Moscow earlier this week. President Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were also 'continuing to act' in border areas in the northern Sumy region, where Russian troops have gained a foothold in recent weeks. According to the popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState, Kyiv's forces have retaken the previously lost village of Kindrativka in Sumy. Moscow is trying to establish in Sumy what Russia's President Vladimir Putin calls a 'buffer zone' between Russia and Ukraine. Weapons and military aid Zelenskyy has toured a local factory producing interceptor drones, increasingly seen as a solution to protecting Ukrainian cities from Russian air attacks, and said a goal had been set to make up to 1,000 of the weapons each day. He said interceptor drones had proved efficient at downing waves of Russian attack drones. Zelenskyy also said his country was working to secure international funding for 10 Patriot air defence systems, following a deal that allows European states to buy weaponry from the United States and donate it to Kyiv. The US announced that it is providing a $4bn loan guarantee for the purchase of American military equipment by Poland, which borders both Russia and war-torn Ukraine. Russia's only aircraft carrier, the 40-year-old Admiral Kuznetsov, is likely to be sold or scrapped, the chairman of Russia's state shipbuilding corporation Andrei Kostin told the Kommersant newspaper. Sanctions US President Donald Trump said he is looking at secondary sanctions on Russia amid the war in Ukraine. Acting US ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, urged all countries, specifically naming China, to stop exports to Russia of dual-use goods that Washington says contribute to Russia's industrial base and enable its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine. In response, China's deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, said China did not start the war in Ukraine, is not a party to the conflict, has never provided lethal weapons, and has always 'strictly controlled dual-use materials, including the export of drones'. Geng also urged the US to 'stop shifting blame' in the conflict. The European Parliament is considering proposals to speed up the European Union's phasing out of Russian gas by one year, to January 2027, the Reuters news agency reported, as officials in Brussels prepare to negotiate a legally-binding ban. Russia-backed Indian oil refiner Nayara Energy has named Sergey Denisov as its new chief executive, after the firm's previous CEO, Alessandro des Dorides, resigned following European Union sanctions that targeted the company, Reuters reports. Ceasefire Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he may speak to Trump and President Putin this week to see if a leaders' meeting in Istanbul is possible to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy could only happen as a final step to seal a peace deal, adding that it was unlikely that such a meeting could occur by the end of August, as Ukraine had proposed. Politics and diplomacy Ukraine's top anticorruption investigator Semen Kryvonos said he did not expect attempts to derail his agency's work to end, despite an abrupt U-turn by Zelenskyy on curbing the independence of two anticorruption agencies that fuelled rare wartime protests. Kryvonos said he was taken aback by those attempts. Trump said he would like to maintain the limits on US and Russian strategic nuclear weapons deployments set in the 2010 New START agreement, which expires in February. Trump made the comments as he exited the White House on a trip to Scotland. Regional developments Georgia hosted major multinational military exercises with NATO troops, despite its government facing growing accusations of drifting away from a pro-Western path and edging closer to Russia's orbit amid the war in Ukraine.
Al Jazeera
9 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
With Trump go-ahead, Skydance and Paramount to complete merger in August
The entertainment company Paramount Global is expected to close its $8bn merger agreement with Skydance Media on August 7, a date that marks two weeks after the administration of President Donald Trump gave its approval. On Friday, the two companies announced the final stage of the year-long deal, which was first announced in July 2024. The merger is considered a massive shake-up in the media landscape of the United States, drawing to a close the reign of the powerful Redstone family over the Paramount entertainment empire. But the merger has garnered even more attention in recent weeks for its political backdrop. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave the green light for the merger to go forward, after a series of moves under Paramount that were widely interpreted as concessions to the Trump administration. The FCC is technically an independent agency of the federal government, but since taking office in January for his second term, President Trump has sought to bring such agencies under his influence, including by appointing loyal allies to their leadership. That put the fate of the Paramount-Skydance merger in question, particularly given Trump's combative relationship with CBS Broadcasting Inc, one of Paramount's premier properties. Conflicts over content Trump has long taken an adversarial approach to the news media, and CBS's flagship news programmes were no exception. Some of those tensions came to a head in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, when Trump, a Republican, was facing off against Democratic contender Kamala Harris. The TV news magazine 60 Minutes had a tradition of interviewing each of the major party nominees for the presidency in the lead-up to the vote, and it had invited both Trump and Harris to participate. Harris accepted the invitation, but 60 Minutes said Trump cancelled. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, disputed that characterisation. 'There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in,' Cheung wrote on social media. 'They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.' The back-and-forth escalated when 60 Minutes aired two different cuts from its interview with Harris. One version, which aired on a sister programme Face The Nation, featured more of Harris's answer about her stance towards Israel. The other version, which aired on the 60 Minutes broadcast, was shorter. Trump called the different edits evidence of deceptive reporting tactics and filed a lawsuit against Paramount, CBS's parent company. 'CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news,' his court filing alleged. 'That is false,' 60 Minutes responded in a statement to its website. 'When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.' While many media experts expected Paramount to prevail on the merits of the case, the company instead sought to negotiate an end to the case. Earlier this month, it agreed to pay $16m to Trump, to go to his future presidential library. Shortly thereafter, another top CBS show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, revealed it had been cancelled, allegedly for financial reasons. But the timing and unexpected nature of the cancellation drew speculation that it might have been an attempt to appease Trump and streamline the merger, given the fact that Colbert frequently lambasted the Republican president on his show. Trump himself posted on Truth Social, 'I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.' The Late Show was consistently the top-rated late-night comedy show, and it had won a Peabody Award and multiple Emmy nods. South Park TV show takes aim Within weeks of both the 60 Minutes lawsuit settlement and the cancellation of The Late Show, the FCC gave its blessing to the merger between Paramount and Skydance. Under the merger, Skydance founder David Ellison, the son of Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison, is expected to helm operations. Upon the merger's approval, Trump's appointee to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, released a statement echoing some of the president's criticisms of major news outlets. He also hinted that the merger would result in changes to CBS's news output. 'Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,' he wrote. 'It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance's commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcasting network.' 'In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company's programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.' To ensure compliance with that commitment, Carr said an ombudsman would be appointed to the media giant for a period of at least two years. Carr added that the merger between Skydance and Paramount would also bar the new mega-company from implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which are designed to create an equal playing field for people regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion or ability. But hours after the FCC granted its approval, the Paramount-owned channel Comedy Central aired an episode of the animated series South Park that mocked President Trump and satirised its parent company's $16m settlement. In one scene, an animated Jesus attempts to warn the show's characters about Trump. 'The guy can do whatever he wants now that someone backed down, OK?' the animated Jesus says. 'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert?' The Trump administration has since blasted the show as irrelevant.
