
Australia to recognise Palestinian state in September
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BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Newshour Funerals held for Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza
The Israeli military says it targeted 28-year-old correspondent Anas al-Sharif, alleging he had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas", but has produced little evidence to support that claim. We speak to Al Jazeera's Managing Editor. Also in the programme: The Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay has died from wounds sustained when he was shot at a campaign rally in June; and mentally fit at 96 - we meet the man willing to have his mental arithmetic tested on a television gameshow. (Photo: Al Jazeera staff members gather at the network's studios, to remember their colleagues Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and another colleague, who were killed in Gaza City by an Israeli strike. Credit: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)


The Herald Scotland
26 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon memoir reveals letters from Donald Trump
In 2019, a judge ruled Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd had to pay the legal bills incurred by the Scottish Government following his unsuccessful challenge. Ms Sturgeon has never met the US President – a fact she said she is not 'unhappy about'. Following the dispute over wind farms, the now-President also sent Ms Sturgeon cuttings of newspaper articles about the 'evils of wind power' around 2018 while building his Aberdeenshire golf course. She said he had underlined passages, writing 'CRAZY!!!!' in 'all thick black Sharpie'. While Ms Sturgeon has not met Trump, she said she received a 'green ink' letter – a term used to describe eccentric views. Read more: Nicola Sturgeon memoir: Why former first minister cried for Boris Johnson 'I hated it': Sturgeon on the SNP's #ImWithNicola branding He had taken 'umbrage' to a proposed offshore windfarm amid fears it would ruin the view from his Aberdeenshire golf course. 'He sent me cuttings of newspaper articles about the evils of wind power,' she writes. 'He underlined passages and scrawled single words followed by multiple exclamation marks in the margins – 'CRAZY!!!!' for example, all in thick black Sharpie.' Later, Ms Sturgeon had a phone call with Trump ahead of his first inauguration in January 2017. Ms Sturgeon was in her constituency office in Govanhill for the phone call and described the exchange ranking 'amongst the most absurd of my entire time in office'. She said she felt she had to 'say her piece' immediately and emphasised the need for the 'longstanding' relationship between Scotland and the US continue. But she also condemned some of the rhetoric used during his presidential campaign and said she hoped policies like a Muslim ban would not be part of his administration. She also asked about his Scottish businesses. 'I doubt he heard a single world,' she said. The President then launched into a 'monologue', according to the former first minister. Paraphrasing the President, she said he asked whether Ms Sturgeon was aware he was Scottish on his mother's side, before describing Scotland as having a 'mad obsession' with wind farms. 'Had I noticed what had happened to the US economy since his election?' she writes. 'No President had ever created since a strong economy and he wasn't even in office yet. His popularity ratings were soaring too. It was unprecedented. And his sons? Did I know he had the smartest sons any father had ever had? And so it went on.' Ms Sturgeon then said: 'When the call ended, I wondered if I had just woken from a very bad acid dream.' A few minutes after that call, Ms Sturgeon's chief of staff, Liz Lloyd received a call from President Trump's national security adviser General Mike Flynn. He was calling to 'ask Liz if it was true that the President-elect had just spoken to the First Minister, and if so, could she tell him what had been discussed? It seemed that he had known nothing about it.' The bizarre exchange comes as the President made a parting dig at Ms Sturgeon following his visit to Scotland last moth. He praised John Swinney but said he did not "have a lot of respect" for the "woman that preceded him", adding that she was a "terrible first minister".


Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Prince Andrew has no public future - and lack of royal status 'annoys him', author claims
The author of a new book about Prince Andrew has called for "more accountability from the Royal Family and more transparency" after encountering what he claims was considerable secrecy while researching his book. Andrew Lownie has spent four years working on Entitled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York - a book unauthorised by Prince Andrew - and submitted hundreds of Freedom of Information requests to government departments. However, he has revealed to Sky News that all of his applications for information about Prince Andrew and his official work were knocked back. The royal household and the royal archive are already exempt from FOI requests. Image: Andrew Lownie Speaking ahead of the book's publication, which has already attracted considerable attention because of more lurid claims about the duke, Mr Lownie told Sky News: "Clearly there are details that people have picked up on and run with. And you know, that's inevitable in these sort of books." But he added: "If they're to earn our trust and support, they have to show that they are not hiding things - that they are behaving well." Mr Lownie said he was given a catalogue of reasons by the likes of the Foreign Office and the Department for Business and Trade as to why they couldn't help with information about Prince Andrew's public work as a trade envoy in the 2000s. Sky News was shown a selection of those response letters. "They blame everything from security reasons, to cost and man hours, to data protection, to my questions being too broad," the author said. But Mr Lownie believes it's in the interest of the Windsors to be more open if they want to guarantee long-term backing from the public, and he hopes his book may trigger more calls for greater transparency. Read more UK news: Met Police make 'most arrests in a decade' at protest Major incident as crews battle wildfire near Bournemouth Image: All of his applications for information were knocked back It comes as a new YouGov report found that Prince Andrew remains the most unpopular royal in the country, with 87% of people having a negative view of him. According to the survey, just 5% of people have a favourable view of the Duke of York. The poll also found the royals are less popular with a younger audience. Only 36% of 18 to 24-years-olds believe the monarchy is good for the country, compared with about 60% of Britons overall. The generational difference is underlined given 81% of over-65s think Britain should continue to have a monarchy, but this falls with each age group to just 41% of 18 to 24s. Stories about Prince Andrew continue to attract a huge amount of attention and regularly still make him a difficult distraction for the Royal Family. Mr Lownie says he got no sense of any appetite to reintroduce him into public life while doing his research. "I don't think he has any public future. I would say his private future is pretty limited too. I mean, he lives in Royal Lodge [on the Windsor Estate], he plays golf, watches TV, and presumably sees his grandchildren ... he's living the life of a retired man." Image: Lownie speaking to Sky's Rhiannon Mills But according to one member of staff, the removal of his royal and military titles has stung more than Prince Andrew has publicly shown. "What most annoys him is his lack of a royal status," Mr Lownie added. "That's what really sort of gave him his whole sense of identity. And that's, you know, it's not being able to put on his uniforms and strut around and being self-important." Buckingham Palace has not made any comments on the book as the Duke of York is no longer a working royal. Sky News approached the Duke of York's office but received no response.