Britain's plan to transfer Chagos Islands blocked by last-minute legal injunction
Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and it had been expected that the deal would be signed off on Thursday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
31 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's trip to Scotland echoes an earlier visit, when he applauded Brexit
Yet in Britain, history has diverged from Trump's vision in important respects. Polls show that close to 60 percent of Britons now believe Brexit was a mistake. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made mending relations with the European Union one of the priorities of his Labour government. The populist wave that Trump predicted would wash across Europe has ebbed and flowed, leaving a fragmented political landscape with a handful of populist leaders whose fortunes are mixed. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy is on the rise, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary is struggling. Advertisement 'Populism is still a relatively limited phenomenon,' said Kim Darroch, who was Britain's ambassador to the United States during Trump's first term. 'Brexit happened, but it's very hard to argue, even by its most ardent proponents, that it has been anything other than a comprehensive disaster.' Still, in retrospect, he said, Trump's 2016 visit came at a 'turning point in history, and we haven't seen how it's all going to work out.' Advertisement On Saturday, as Trump played golf at his course, protesters around Scotland took to the streets to decry his visit and accuse United Kingdom leaders of pandering to the American. Trump and his son Eric played with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens. Security was tight, and protesters kept at a distance and unseen by the group during Trump's round. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the US Consulate about 100 miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the UK. Nine years ago, trade was paramount in British politics. Darroch recalled that British officials were nervous that Trump, who had long been vocal about his support for Brexit, would land in Scotland before the vote rather than after it. With the polls showing a narrow margin, they worried that he would throw his support to the Vote Leave campaign at a critical moment. As it happened, the Brexiteers did not need Trump, winning by 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. On that Friday morning, as a dazed Britain digested the implications of Brexit, he played the role of cheerleader and political analyst. 'I said this was going to happen, and I think it's great thing,' Trump said, as he emerged from a helicopter to the serenading of bagpipers. 'Basically, they took back their country,' he told an audience that included journalists and greenskeepers from the resort. 'People want to take their country back, they want to have independence in a sense, and you're going to have more than just, in my opinion, more than just what happened last night. You're going to have many other cases where people want to take their borders back.' Advertisement Trump said he saw a 'big parallel' between Brexit and his candidacy. That view has been endorsed by political analysts, who regard the referendum as a canary in a coal mine for Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton. In many ways, Scotland was the wrong place for Trump's message. Scots voted by a wide margin to remain in the European Union. Two years earlier, in 2014, they had voted in a referendum to stay part of the United Kingdom. 'He was talking to the nonconverted,' Darroch said. Today, the regret about Brexit extends beyond Scotland. Britain cycled through four Conservative prime ministers in the upheaval that followed the vote. Last July, the Tories were swept out of power by Starmer's Labour Party. Trump remains stubbornly unpopular in Britain, particularly in Scotland, where he is viewed as an unreliable investor who clashed with neighbors at his other resort, Trump International Scotland, north of Aberdeen. But having returned to power, he is a commanding figure on the world stage. King Charles III has invited him to make a rare second state visit in September. And Starmer has assiduously cultivated him. He will visit the president at Turnberry on Monday before flying with him to Aberdeen. Trump has said little about the waning popularity of Brexit, preferring to focus on the trade deal he struck with Starmer in May. The president will even roll out the welcome mat for the European Union this time around, meeting Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, to discuss trade negotiations between the United States and the EU. Advertisement It was not clear whether Trump would meet with Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-immigrant party, Reform UK, during this visit. Farage is his most conspicuous political ally in Britain and has ridden Trump's antiestablishment mantra to new prominence. Regardless of whether that prompts Trump to take another victory lap this weekend, his defenders argue that the rise of Reform UK shows that the essence of his populist message has been validated in Britain. 'All the push-polls in Christendom won't change the fact that the UK has its sovereignty back and they will never rejoin the EU,' said Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist to Trump. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Paramilitary-Backed Coalition Declares New Government in Sudan
A coalition led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan declared its own government on Saturday, a decision that raised concerns the north African nation was headed toward partition and continued war. The government to be led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo was announced in Nyala in the western Darfur region where the RSF has its stronghold.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Trump plays golf in Scotland while protesters take to the streets and decry his visit
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — President Donald Trump played golf Saturday at his course on Scotland's coast while protesters around the country took to the streets to decry his visit and accuse United Kingdom leaders of pandering to the American. Trump and his son Eric played with the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family's company took over in 2014. Security was tight, and protesters kept at a distance wand unseen by the group during Trump's round. He was dressed in black, with a white 'USA' cap, and was spotted driving a golf cart. The president appeared to play an opening nine holes, stop for lunch, then head out for nine more. By the middle of the afternoon, plainclothes security officials began leaving, suggesting Trump was done for the day. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the U.S. Consulate about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff U.S. tariffs on goods imported from the U.K. Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition.' Anita Bhadani, an organizer, said the protests were 'kind of like a carnival of resistance.' Trump's late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the president has suggested he feels at home in the country. But the protesters did their best to change that. 'I don't think I could just stand by and not do anything,' said Amy White, 15, of Edinburgh, who attended with her parents. She held a cardboard sign that said 'We don't negotiate with fascists.' She said 'so many people here loathe him. We're not divided. We're not divided by religion, or race or political allegiance, we're just here together because we hate him.' Other demonstrators held signs of pictures with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein as the fervor over files in the case has increasingly frustrated the president. In the view of Mark Gorman, 63, of Edinburgh, 'the vast majority of Scots have this sort of feeling about Trump that, even though he has Scottish roots, he's a disgrace.' Gorman, who works in advertising, said he came out 'because I have deep disdain for Donald Trump and everything that he stands for.' Saturday's protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that demonstrated across Scotland when Trump played at Turnberry during his first term in 2018. But, as bagpipes played, people chanted 'Trump Out!' and raised dozens of homemade signs that said things like 'No red carpet for dictators,' 'We don't want you here' and 'Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.' One dog had a sign that said 'No treats for tyrants.' Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow. Trump also plans to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. But golf is a major focus. The family will also visit another Trump course near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, before returning to Washington on Tuesday. The Trumps will cut the ribbon and play a new, second course in that area, which officially opens to the public next month. Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who is also set to meet with Trump during the visit, announced that public money will go to staging the 2025 Nexo Championship, previously known previously as the Scottish Championship, at Trump's first course near Aberdeen next month. 'The Scottish Government recognizes the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy,' Swinney said. At a protest Saturday in Aberdeen, Scottish Parliament member Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity, not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.' The president has long lobbied for Turnberry to host the British Open , which it has not done since he took over ownership. In a social media post Saturday, Trump quoted the retired golfer Gary Player as saying Turnberry was among the 'Top Five Greatest Golf Courses' he had played in as a professional. The president, in the post, misspelled the city where his golf course is located, ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the Trump family's company took over Turnberry in 2014, not 2008.
