US President pampered upon touching down in Doha
DONALD TRUMP HAS touched down in Doha in Qatar for the second day of his four-day Middle East tour, the first foreign excursion of his second US Presidential term.
The tiny Gulf country pampered the US President upon his arrival, lining his procession from the airport with members of the Royal Family and horse-mounted soldiers as he made his way to meet Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
His lavish trip has been clouded by controversy over accusations of corruption over the gifting
of a luxury aircraft by the Qatari royal family
, which Trump has said he will accept and keep for himself for personal use following his Presidency.
Members of the Qatari Royal Family lined Trump's possession to meet the country's Emir.
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Alamy
The move raises huge constitutional and ethical questions – as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power as the ultra-sensitive Air Force One. US justice department officials will probe the decision, it has been announced.
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Qatar, an oil-rich nation in the Middle East, is home to a major regional US air base and served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas on ending the devastating retaliatory offensive on Gaza by the Israeli military.
The visit to Qatar comes just days after Washington negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of a hostage with US citizenship, Edan Alexander. Trump's four-day tour does not include a visit to Israel, of which the US is its closest ally.
Qatar, an oil-rich nation in the Middle East, is home to a major regional US air base.
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Alamy
Securing the future of positive relations between the US and the Gulf nations is a priority of the trip, Trump has said, adding that he will engage with Israel on another occasion. He has also repeated his decision to bypass ths US' traditional western allies.
Eight years ago, Trump also chose Saudi Arabia for his first overseas trip as president – when he memorably posed with a glowing orb and participated in a sword dance.
A multi-billion dollar investment deal was agreed with the country yesterday
.
Trump is set to finish his tour of the Gulf with a final stop in Abu Dhabi later in the week.
Includes reporting from
© AFP 2025
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Irish Daily Mirror
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Another teenager told in her statement how Gallagher asked him to assist her with a tumble dryer and told her to put her hand behind a wooden board and he got her to hold something. He told the girl to hold the 'pipe' harder and then to loosen it and then to increase her grip before he said 'yeah, that's fine.' The young woman then said the pipe was 'squishy, wet and warm' and when she stood up she saw Gallagher's penis sticking out from the zipper of his trousers. One young woman eventually came forward and told a person in charge what had happened which led to others coming forward making complaints of a similar nature against Gallagher. Gallagher was interviewed by Gardai on three occasions and initially denied anything untoward had happened. During one interview with Detective Garda Paul McHugh, Gallagher admitted asking one woman to hold a pipe on a tumble dryer as it had been leaking. He claimed the woman had got up and left for no apparent reason and he had been left nervous and embarrassed by the incident. However, he later admitted the offences and entered a guilty plea. Victim impact statements from the women were read out in court while two young women chose to read out their own statements. One young woman fought back tears as she told how despite being the victim she felt ashamed and disgusted by what had happened and often thinks about if she could have stopped this from happening to other women. She added that she often thinks about Gallagher's son and that she prays that he is safe. An older victim said she feels vulnerable and intimidated by what had happened and that she is sorry that she did not speak up sooner but was afraid that people would laugh at her or not believe her. Another victim told how she was a student but failed her exams because she became depressed after Gallagher's assault on her. 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She added that she does feel disgusted by what had happened but sometimes feels glad that he had chosen her and that she had alerted the authorities to what was happening as she hated to think what number of victims there might have been. Gallagher took to the witness stand and said he wanted to apologise to his victims. He said he 'truly regretted' his actions and was sorry for the hurt and pain he had caused his victims and their families. Asked by his barrister, Mr Colm Smyth, SC, if he realised this was a huge breach of trust, Gallagher replied that he did. He also revealed that he had engaged in 24 counselling sessions to better understand the impact his actions have had on others. Mr Smyth said his client accepted full responsibility for his actions, that he had now lost his employment and had become a pariah in the local community because of the publicity surrounding the case. He added the fact that the offences took place in a sacred place, a place of pilgrimage for Christian people going back many centuries, also had to be acknowledged. Mr Smyth suggested to Judge John Aylmer that there also has to be 'light at the end of the tunnel' for Gallagher, asking him to consider his client's remorse, his blameless life up until now and his guilty plea.
