logo
US to leave UN agency again, citing anti-Israel bias

US to leave UN agency again, citing anti-Israel bias

Independent3 days ago
The United States is set to withdraw from UNESCO again, citing the agency's perceived anti-Israel bias.
This marks the second instance of the US leaving UNESCO during a Trump administration, following a previous withdrawal and subsequent rejoining under the Biden administration.
The decision to pull out will become effective at the end of December 2026.
The move is a setback for the Paris-based agency, established after the Second World War to foster peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture.
The US had previously withdrawn from UNESCO in 1984 over alleged financial mismanagement and anti-American bias, rejoining in 2003.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump says he was NEVER briefed by Pam Bondi on his name being in Epstein files
Trump says he was NEVER briefed by Pam Bondi on his name being in Epstein files

Daily Mail​

time24 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Trump says he was NEVER briefed by Pam Bondi on his name being in Epstein files

President Donald Trump on Friday denied ever being briefed by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files. 'No, I was never briefed. No,' he told reporters after he landed in Scotland to visit his golf courses. But Bondi briefed Trump during a May 2025 meeting that his name was found in the Epstein documents 'multiple times,' according to reports. Other high-profile individuals are also named. Just because the president is named in the files does not implicate him in any wrongdoing or connect him to Epstein's child sex trafficking crimes. Administration officials told the Wall Street Journal that Bondi's May meeting with Trump was a routine briefing covering a number of topics - and the Epstein files weren't the focus. White House communications director Steven Cheung slammed the Journal's report as 'fake news' in a statement to the Daily Mail. 'The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about,' he said when the report came out earlier this week.

Five issues Donald Trump raised speaking to journalists after Scotland arrival
Five issues Donald Trump raised speaking to journalists after Scotland arrival

Daily Record

time24 minutes ago

  • Daily Record

Five issues Donald Trump raised speaking to journalists after Scotland arrival

The US President was greeted by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Ambassador Warren Stephens after the Air Force One flight touched down on Friday night. Donald Trump spent around five minutes speaking to journalists after arriving in Scotland this evening. ‌ The US President waved to supporters who had gathered outside the airport before heading down the stairs onto the tarmac at Prestwick Airport after the Air Force One flight touched down at around 8.28pm on Friday. ‌ The 79-year-old was greeted by US Ambassador Warren Stephens and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before he spoke to media. ‌ Trump was pressed on a number of issues during the short briefing with reporter. He then left the airport in his motorcade at about 8.50pm on Friday, bound for his golf course at Turnberry on the west coast of Scotland, south of Ayr. Here are the five main issues discussed by Trump. ‌ Plans for the trip Trump is expected to meet Keir Starmer in South Ayrshire in the coming days before they then both travel to Aberdeenshire, where the President will formally open a new golf course at his Menie Estate. Speaking to reporters at Prestwick Airport in Scotland, the US president said: "It's wonderful to be here in Scotland. We are going to be meeting with the Prime Minister tomorrow or the next day and we are going to do some great things."We have numerous executives that we are going to be meeting with. We are going to be meeting with a lot of people. We will be staying in Turnberry and then going to Aberdeen, which is the oil capital of Europe actually." Keir Starmer Trump only had glowing words for Sir Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting. ‌ He said: 'I like your Prime Minister, he's slightly more liberal than I am – as you probably heard – but he's a good man. He got a trade deal done. 'You know, they've been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done – that's a good deal, it's a good deal for the UK. 'I'll be seeing him tomorrow, I guess tomorrow evening'. ‌ Ghislaine Maxwell Trump was also asked about Ghislaine Maxwell - and the Epstein files - telling reporters: "I really have no... really nothing to say about it. "She is being talked to by a very smart man, by a very good man, Todd Blanch. "And, I don't know anything about the conversation. I haven't really been following it. ‌ "A lot of people are asking me about a pardon. "Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons. "This is just not a time to be talking about pardons. Todd will come back with whatever he's got." ‌ Immigration Trump said that European countries need to 'get your act together' on migration. He said: "I mean, there's a couple of things I could say, but on immigration, you'd better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore." Trump also claimed that illegal migration was an 'invasion' which was 'killing Europe'. ‌ Speaking to reporters at Prestwick Airport in Scotland, the US president said: 'Last month, we (the United States) had nobody entering our country. Nobody. Shut it down. And we took out a lot of bad people that got there with (former US president Joe) Biden. 'Biden was a total stiff, and what he allowed to happen…. but you're allowing it to happen to your countries, and you've got to stop this horrible invasion that's happening to Europe; many countries in Europe. 'Some people, some leaders, have not let it happen, and they're not getting the proper credit they should. ‌ 'I could name them to you right now, but I'm not going to embarrass the other ones. 'But stop: this immigration is killing Europe.' Windmills Trump also once again criticised windfarms as I spoke to reporters. The US president said: 'Stop the windmills. You're ruining your countries. I really mean it, it's so sad. 'You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they're stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans. 'Stop the windmills."

There's a royal reason Trump won't escape Jeffrey Epstein fallout on trip to his Scotland golf courses — Prince Andrew
There's a royal reason Trump won't escape Jeffrey Epstein fallout on trip to his Scotland golf courses — Prince Andrew

The Independent

time26 minutes ago

  • The Independent

There's a royal reason Trump won't escape Jeffrey Epstein fallout on trip to his Scotland golf courses — Prince Andrew

The Republican-led House of Representatives shut down early for its summer break to avoid Jeffrey Epstein motions. The Senate GOP has been in see-no-evil mode the past week over the controversy swirling around the seemingly vanished 'client list' of the high-flying financier and convicted pedophile who once palled around with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among many other power players. So it makes perfect sense that President Trump is hoping for five days away from the Epstein fallout firestorm that has landed him in hot water not just with Democrats but his own MAGA base over the Justice Department's stonewalling on the release of all the Epstein files, as Trump and AG Pam Bondi had promised. Well, Scotland may not be far enough for that. Sure, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer early next week, but the vast majority of his known itinerary consists of visits to his Scottish golf resorts. One, Trump Turnberry and the other Trump International in Aberdeen, where he is set to open a brand new course that will be named for his late mother, Mary Anne McLeod Trump, who was born in Scotland. And that's the problem for Trump, thanks to a particular member of the Royal family who happens to be a golf-loving frequenter of his courses, is Scotland's Earl of Inverness — and who also happens to be tainted by his past close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein... Prince Andrew. Trump Turnberry, in fact, still boasts of its visits from Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from royal duties in 2020 over his links to Epstein. The former Royal Navy officer — currently eighth in line to the British throne — had a long and controversial relationship with with the late sex offender that predated Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting a teenage prostitute but also which continued long after the financier became a pariah in most respectable circles. Andrew's habit of staying at Epstein's residences during travel to the U.S. became fodder for controversy even as the royal claimed there was nothing untoward about the relationship and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. But the whispers and rumors took on a more urgent character after Andrew became the defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that the Duke once had sexual relations with her after she was trafficked to him as a minor by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Although Buckingham Palace asserted in a 2015 statement that Giuffre's allegations — which included claims that she'd had sexual relations with the Duke on three separate occasions — were 'categorically untrue,' the Duke and Giuffre ended up settling the lawsuit, with no admission of liability, in February 2022, one month after Andrew's royal patronages and honorary military titles were revoked by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Andrew has always strongly denied the allegations leveled against him by Giuffre. Giuffre, perhaps the most outspoken survivor of Epstein's sexual abuse, died by suicide at the age of 41 in April. 'It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,' Giuffre's family said in a statement to The Independent after she died. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.' Since then, Andrew has largely remained out of the spotlight with his reputation tarred by his association with the late sex offender. But that disgrace doesn't appear to bother Trump or his eponymous real estate and resort company, which as of this week still lists Andrew as one of the 'famous visitors' who have enjoyed the 'refined hospitality' at Trump Turnberry. His Aberdeenshire golf resort has even deeper connections to the prince, who played a major role in convincing Trump to build it in 2006, less than a decade before his entry onto the American political scene. According to Agence France-Presse, Andrew met with Trump at the his eponymous New York skyscraper in September of that year to cajole the developer into moving forward with the Aberdeen golf project. He later said the Prince was a 'great guy' who'd made a 'terrific impression' on him. 'He gave a presentation here to make sure I spend one billion pounds in your country, and that's what I'm going to be doing,' Trump added, according to the report. The relationship between the prince and the future president continued for the intervening decade, and when Trump visited Scotland during his second year in the White House, Andrew joined him for a round of golf at Turnberry — a round Trump later claimed to have won. The pair remained cordial enough that when President Trump visited the U.K. for a state visit in his first term in 2019, Andrew was his designated royal escort. The president's escape to his ancestral homeland comes as there continues to be bipartisan furor around Department of Justice records about Epstein, a one-time power-player financier and convicted pedophile who was arrested for alleged sex trafficking by federal authorities in 2019 and was found to have died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial. The years-old prosecution has been a longtime fixation for many of Trump's MAGA supporters who believe they contain damaging information on prominent Democrats and other liberal celebrities. For years, the president's supporters have pushed for release of what they believe was a list of powerful people to whom Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls, as well as other information they believe would reflect negatively on members of the Democratic Party, various Hollywood celebrities, and other purported elites who they believe to be part of a sinister cabal controlling world events. Trump has winked and nodded at such beliefs and had indicated during his 2024 campaign that his administration would release the documents in question if he were victorious in last year's presidential election. But many of his most prominent supporters have been crying foul in recent weeks after the Department of Justice announced it would not be releasing the so-called Epstein Files. And Democrats are now joining the chorus of calls for transparency, citing Trump's likely presence in the documents on account of his long-term friendship with Epstein. Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but reportedly cut ties before Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. While Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing or charged with any crime, his proximity to Epstein, someone he once called a friend, has heightened conspiracy theories that the government is withholding documents that could reveal embarrassing information about high-profile individuals. Still, being named in the so-called Epstein list of contacts or case files is not an indication of any wrongdoing and Trump has denied having any knowledge of Epstein's crimes before he ended their friendship as has Bill Clinton. Trump has also sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation over its reporting that he sent a bawdy 50th birthday message to Epstein. Clinton, likewise, was reportedly one of many who sent messages to the financier on that occasion. On Thursday, Trump made yet another effort to dissuade his base from caring about the Epstein matter by lashing out on Truth Social, calling the entire affair a 'scam' and a 'hoax' and stating that he hopes the release of grand jury testimony about the late sex offender will quell the entire thing. But if the president is hoping to gain some distance from the scandal with some time on the links, he's gone to the wrong golf courses.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store