logo
King visits Scotland... but will be 300 miles from Trump

King visits Scotland... but will be 300 miles from Trump

Telegraph28-07-2025
The King will visit Scotland on Monday, but will still be 300 miles from the US president.
The monarch, 76, is not set to cross paths with Donald Trump during the president's four-day informal visit to his Turnberry golf course in Scotland, which he bought in 2014.
On a visit to Caithness, in the far north of Scotland, the King will unveil a plaque and attend a reception at a nuclear site to commemorate engineers who experimented with plutonium and uranium to generate electricity in the 1950s.
Both the White House and Buckingham Palace agreed that it would be preferable to delay meeting in person until Mr Trump's official state visit in September, when the King will host him in Windsor Castle.
Sources previously said this decision was made partly because of 'diary challenges'.
Mr Trump met Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Sunday and will meet with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on Monday.
After his meeting with Mrs von der Leyen, Mr Trump announced that a US-EU trade deal had been reached.
The UK-US trade deal is expected to be the main topic on the agenda with Sir Keir and September's state visit comes at a crucial time as the Government seeks to reaffirm transatlantic ties.
The president, who has made no secret of his deep fondness and admiration for the Royal family, said ahead of his visit that the King was a 'great gentleman'.
The formal state visit, which will take place from Sept 17 to 19, will also include Melania Trump, the first lady.
Asked what he hoped to achieve upon his return to the UK, he told the BBC: 'Have a good time and respect King Charles.'
The King, who is still undergoing weekly cancer treatment, will share the hosting duties with the Queen.
Scotland's largest nuclear clean-up
On Monday, the monarch is also expected to meet with sea cadets and Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers.
On arrival at Scrabster Harbour, he will greet the crew of the Pacific Heron, a second-generation, purpose-built nuclear transport ship that is one of the most sophisticated in the world.
He will then visit Fish Market Hall and spend time meeting staff from the nuclear industry and community members from Thurso.
From 1955 until 1994, Dounreay was the UK's centre of nuclear research and development and scientists experimented with plutonium and uranium to generate electricity using a more advanced type of nuclear reactor.
It is now described as 'Scotland's largest nuclear clean-up and demolition project' and a site of 'construction, demolition and waste management'.
The King will attend a reception to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL), which has been operating for 50 years between Europe and Japan.
The purpose-built ships are three of the most advanced cargo vessels in operation, and PNTL was described as operating 'a flawless nuclear safety record' and is committed to innovation regarding the sustainability of its shipping operations.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

First migrants detained under ‘one in, one out' deal as PM vows to secure border
First migrants detained under ‘one in, one out' deal as PM vows to secure border

Rhyl Journal

time20 minutes ago

  • Rhyl Journal

First migrants detained under ‘one in, one out' deal as PM vows to secure border

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government was prepared to defend itself against legal challenges if migrants seek to avoid being sent back across the English Channel. The migrants detained were among those who risked the Channel crossing on Wednesday, the day the pilot scheme began operating. The first small boat migrants have been detained under our landmark UK-France returns deal. This is what happens next 👇 — Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 7, 2025 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: 'We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France. No gimmicks, just results. 'If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it.' The pilot scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by the Prime Minister and French president Mr Macron during his state visit to the UK in July. UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant's arrival by small boat while French authorities will respond within 14 days. This is in exchange for an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought to the UK under a safe route. No figures have been confirmed for how many migrants will be sent back, although reports from France have suggested it could be around 50 a week, a small fraction of the numbers making the crossing in small boats. The Home Secretary said: 'The pilot has now begun, so the first migrants who have arrived on the small boats are now in detention. We will then swiftly make the referrals to France and that process will now start to be able to return people to France. 'It's the beginning of the pilot and it will build as well over time, but we're also clear that France is a safe country, so we will robustly defend against any legal challenge that people try. 'We do expect for people to start being returned in a matter of weeks.' The Home Office is expected to launch a campaign in the coming days to make migrants in northern France and elsewhere aware of the new treaty. Ms Cooper added: 'Criminal gangs have spent seven years embedding themselves along our border and it will take time to unravel them, but these detentions are an important step towards undermining their business model and unravelling the false promises they make.' The Home Secretary has acknowledged the accord is not a 'silver bullet' to stop small boat crossings, which are running at record levels so far in 2025. But the Government hopes it will be a turning point as migrants will be sent back across the Channel for the first time. The process for asylum seekers to come to the UK under the 'one in, one out' pilot scheme has also been launched, with adults and families in France able to express an interest in coming to the UK through an online platform set up by the Home Office. They will have to meet suitability criteria, a standard visa application process and security checks. If accepted, they would be given three months in the UK to claim asylum or apply for a visa, and would be subject to the same rules for all asylum seekers not allowed to work, study or have access to benefits. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said just a 'token handful' of migrants had been detained and suggested the pilot scheme would fail. He said: 'Keir Starmer's promise last year to 'smash the gangs' has turned out to be nothing more than a gimmick that didn't work, and this is just the same. 'They are detaining a token handful of arrivals and in return we accept unvetted migrants from France. The whole thing is riddled with loopholes, opt-outs and legal escape routes that will make removals near-impossible.'

Takeaways from AP's report on Alaska Natives' response to oil and mining proposals
Takeaways from AP's report on Alaska Natives' response to oil and mining proposals

The Independent

time20 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Takeaways from AP's report on Alaska Natives' response to oil and mining proposals

President Donald Trump 's administration and its allies have pushed aggressively for drilling, mining and logging in Alaska. This has intensified long-standing debate over extraction projects in the nation's largest state, particularly within Alaska Native communities. Some view such projects as key to jobs and economic development. Others see them posing environmental risks as they've already faced severe fishing restrictions on the state's longest rivers due to a collapse in the salmon population. Scientists are unsure of the causes of the salmon collapse — which possibly include warming waters and commercial fishing — but opponents of extraction say its possible impacts could be similar in terms of endangering subsistence traditions and food sources. They say this risks, in turn, damaging their sacred connections to the land and to cultural traditions tied to fishing and hunting. How has the administration pushed for extraction projects? Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office in January seeking to 'maximize the development and production of the natural resources' in the state. Congress, in its recent budget bill, authorized an unprecedented four new sales of oil and gas leases in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. It also authorized more sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the northern part of the state. Extraction proposals take years to become reality, if ever. Previous lease sales have generated limited interest, and the extent of oil reserves in the Arctic refuge remains uncertain. Members of Trump's Cabinet visited Alaska in June. They called for doubling the amount of oil coursing through its vast pipeline system and building a massive natural gas pipeline as its 'big, beautiful twin.' The administration is also boosting the proposed Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, which would include construction of a 200-mile road in wilderness areas and open the way for more mines. Private corporations are pursuing projects, some in collaboration with Alaska Native corporations — which sometimes are in conflict with their Indigenous shareholders — and landowners. One is an oil exploration project in the Yukon Flats. Another is a proposed major gold mine in southwestern Alaska, which would require a massive dam to contain millions of tons of chemical and mineral waste. Project proponents say the dam will be safely built, incorporating the surrounding geology and state-of-the-art design. Trump's policy shifts came even as he removed one of the most prominent Alaska Native names from the official map. He returned the federal name of 'Mount McKinley' to the largest mountain in Alaska and North America. For all their disputes over extraction, Native and Alaska political leaders were largely united in wanting to keep its traditional Athabascan name of Denali, which translates to 'the high one.' What are the views of Alaska Natives favoring such projects? They say the projects can be done safely and bring much-needed jobs and economic development. They say this enables Native communities to fund services while retaining their subsistence hunting, fishing and other cultural traditions. 'We find that balance,' said PJ Simon, first chief of the Allakaket Tribal Council. 'We don't want handouts by the federal government. We want to stand on our own two feet.' Regional and local Native-run corporations, with the mandate of pursuing economic development for the benefit of Native shareholders, are actively involved in extraction proposals. In some cases, they own land and mineral rights in areas eyed for drilling or mining. What about Alaska Natives opposing such projects? They fear large-scale drilling and mining will overwhelm their ancient subsistence traditions. They say any short-term profits will precede a long-term legacy of environmental impacts to rivers, tundra and hunting grounds. 'Our people have been stewards of this land for millennia, and we've taken that relationship seriously because we have to sustain our resources,' said Gloria Simeon of Bethel, a small regional hub in southwestern Alaska, and a member of the environmental advocacy group Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition. Already, tribes are struggling with severe fishing restrictions on their longest rivers, the Yukon and Kuskokwim, because of a collapse in salmon populations, which they have relied on for generations. The salmon collapse has been blamed on such factors as commercial overfishing and climate change. But many fear that extractive industries will create similar and permanent damage to caribou, salmon and other traditional food sources. 'We're already dealing with salmon problems,' said Chief Brian Ridley of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a Fairbanks-based coalition of Athabascan tribes across Interior Alaska that oppose proposed drilling projects and the Ambler road project. 'The concern is if we start going down this path anywhere along the Yukon or any of the rivers and there's a spill, would that completely eliminate all the salmon stocks?' He said it's not just theoretical. A mine disaster in Canada last year caused a massive release of cyanide-laced debris, which caused fears that contamination might spread. Such a mining accident in the Yukon watershed could 'really take all the gains that we've gotten of trying to get the fish stocks back and really put us back to zero,' Ridley said. Why are subsistence hunting and fishing so important? Alaska Native people have relied for generations on hunting and fishing to survive the brutal winters — and in modern times, as a healthier alternative to expensive groceries. Fish camps and caribou hunts are closely interwoven with cultural traditions, where elders transmit skills and stories to younger generations. 'Protecting the river and the land and the Earth is part of the partnership and the relationship that we have as caregivers,' said Simeon. Who are Alaska Natives? Alaska Natives consist of diverse cultural and language groups in the state, among them the Aleut, Athabascan, Iñupiat, Tlingit and Yup'ik. They widely share a history in the region dating back thousands of years. They also share cultural and spiritual traditions, including those closely associated with subsistence hunting, and a belief in a sacred connection to the land, water and wildlife. Specific practices vary, and many follow both traditional and Christian practices. More than 1 in 5 Alaskans identify as Alaska Native or American Indian alone or in combination with another racial group, the highest ratio of any state, according to 2020 U.S. Census figures. The 1971 Alaska Claims Settlement Act, which resolved long-standing land claims with the federal government, resulted in establishment of regional and local for-profit corporations run by Native leaders for the benefit of Native shareholders. In some cases, such corporations are involved in extraction projects that tribal coalitions from the same area oppose. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

South Park targets Donald Trump once again
South Park targets Donald Trump once again

The Independent

time20 minutes ago

  • The Independent

South Park targets Donald Trump once again

The latest South Park episode continues its satire of Donald Trump, his colleagues, and supporters. Titled Got a Nut, the episode features parodies of figures, including a miniature JD Vance, Kristi Noem, and Cartman imitating Charlie Kirk. The plot sees Mr Mackey join ICE due to financial struggles, leading to a scene where an animated Kristi Noem parodies her controversial dog-killing confession during an ICE orientation. The episode depicts Trump inviting Mackey to his Mar-a-Lago complex, where he is shown in bed with Satan, with the mini JD Vance offering assistance. This instalment follows a social media exchange where the Department of Homeland Security used a South Park image to promote ICE, prompting a sarcastic retort from the show's official account.

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