LONDON: A British government minister expressed concern on Saturday that a visit by a senior Indian diplomat to a Sikh temple in Glasgow had been disrupted by protesters the day before.
“The safety and security of foreign diplomats is of utmost importance and our places of worship in the UK must be open to all,” junior foreign office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a post on social media.
Long-standing tensions between some Sikhs and the Indian government have increased since Canada earlier this month linked the killing of a Sikh separatist advocate near Vancouver to Indian government agents — allegations which India has dismissed as “absurd.”
India’s embassy to Britain issued a statement on Saturday saying its top diplomat Vikram Doraiswami and another senior official had been due to meet community leaders at a Sikh gurdwara or place of worship on Friday in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.
It said three protesters — whom it described as “non-local extremist elements” — threatened its diplomats and one tried to open the door of Doraiswami’s car, prompting the officials to abandon the visit.
A spokesperson for Scotland’s police force said officers had been called to a report of a disturbance near the gurdwara, but there were no injuries. Enquiries were ongoing and no arrests had been made, police added.
“Glasgow Gurdwara strongly condemns such disorderly behavior to disrupt the peaceful proceedings of a Sikh place of worship,” the religious body said in a statement to media.
Canada and Britain are home to the largest populations of Sikhs outside India, after some Sikhs emigrated to flee violence in the 1970s and 1980s in the Indian state of Punjab that killed thousands.
India complained to Britain earlier this year after Sikh separatists detached the Indian flag from the country’s high commission in central London and called for better security.
UK government concerned at disruption to Indian diplomat’s Glasgow visit
https://arab.news/gasdb
UK government concerned at disruption to Indian diplomat’s Glasgow visit
- Glasgow Gurdwara strongly condemns such disorderly behavior to disrupt the peaceful proceedings of a Sikh place of worship
Former French president Sarkozy stripped of Legion of Honour
- The right-wing ex-president ruled France from 2007-2012
- He has been beset by legal problems since leaving office
The right-wing ex-president ruled France from 2007-2012 and has been beset by legal problems since leaving office following a bruising presidential election defeat.
An appeals court last year upheld his conviction for illegal attempts to secure favors from a judge and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle bracelet instead of serving a one-year jail sentence.
The decision to revoke his award had since been expected, according to the rules of the order, despite current French President Emmanuel Macron saying he was opposed to the move.
Sarkozy becomes the second former head of state to be stripped of the award after Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain, who was convicted in August 1945 for high treason and conspiring with the enemy.
Sarkozy, whose electronic tag was removed this month, is using his last remaining legal avenue, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, to defend himself against the conviction.
He is currently on trial in a separate case on charges of accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The court is to give a verdict in September with prosecutors asking for a seven-year prison term for Sarkozy, who denies the charges.
Despite his legal problems, Sarkozy remains an influential figure on the right and is known to regularly meet with Macron.
Cambodia seeks ICJ help over Thai border dispute: PM
- Thailand has tightened border controls with Cambodia in recent days
- While Cambodia ordered troops on Friday to stay on “full alert”
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has asked the International Court of Justice to help resolve a Thai border dispute that turned into a bloody military clash last month, Prime Minister Hun Manet said Sunday.
One Cambodian soldier was killed on May 28 as troops exchanged fire in a disputed area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet.
The Thai and Cambodian armies both said they had acted in self-defense, but agreed to reposition their soldiers to avoid confrontations.
Thailand has tightened border controls with Cambodia in recent days, while Cambodia ordered troops on Friday to stay on “full alert” and banned Thai dramas from TV and cinemas.
Hun Manet said in a Facebook post on Sunday that “Cambodia submitted an official letter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek a resolution on the border dispute” in four areas — the site of last month’s clash and three ancient temples.
“Cambodia chooses international law and peace,” the Cambodian leader said.
“Cambodia only needs justice, fairness and clarity in border demarcation and delimitation with our neighboring countries, so that our future generations will not continue to have issues with each other.”
Hun Manet said Friday his government was waiting to hear from Thailand whether it would join Cambodia in its bid to refer the dispute to the ICJ.
The row dates back to the drawing of the countries’ 800-kilometer (500-mile) frontier in the early 20th century during the French occupation of Indochina.
Cambodia has previously sought help from the ICJ in a territorial dispute over a border temple.
The court ruled the area belonged to Cambodia, but Thailand said it did not accept the court’s jurisdiction.
Violence sparked by the dispute has led to 28 deaths in the region since 2008.
Officials from the two countries met in Phnom Penh on Saturday over the border spat and Thailand’s foreign ministry said the meeting had “made progress in building mutual understanding.”
More meetings are due on Sunday.
Trump pocketed over $57 million from crypto coin sales
- Trump and his sons helped launch the cryptocurrency investment and lending platform ahead of last year’s election, raising conflict of interest concerns especially after he went on to win
NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump pocketed more than $57 million from token sales by the crypto venture he and his sons helped launch last year, according to federal financial disclosure forms released by the White House.
The more than 230-page document issued by the Office of Government Ethics, dated Friday, lists the US president’s holdings including stocks, dividends, real estate and investment portfolios.
It showed that Trump, who during his first presidential election campaign in 2016 broke with the long tradition of candidates publishing their income tax returns, raked in $57.4 million from the sale of World Liberty Financial tokens.
Trump and his sons helped launch the cryptocurrency investment and lending platform ahead of last year’s election, raising conflict of interest concerns especially after he went on to win.
He lent his name to this new company and launched a “Trump” memecoin in January, just hours before his inauguration.
World Liberty Financial had issued 100 billion tokens, of which some 22.5 billion were allocated to the Trump-affiliated company DT Marks Defi.
Once hostile to the crypto industry, Trump has since returning to power enthusiastically embraced the sector, taking significant steps to clear regulatory hurdles and making large-scale investments.
Trump has, among other moves, appointed crypto advocate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
He has also established a federal “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” aimed at auditing the government’s bitcoin holdings, which were mainly accumulated by law enforcement from judicial seizures.
Cryptocurrencies now have “a champion and an ally” in the White House, Vice President JD Vance said last month during a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.
The document also provides an overview of the royalties that Trump has received through the sale of branded products and licensing agreements around the world.
For instance, he earned $2.8 million from watches and $2.5 million from perfumes and sneakers.
His Mar-a-Lago club in Florida also generated over $50 million in income for the president.
Trump’s golf courses around the world also helped pad his coffers, allowing him to pocket $29.1 million from the one in West Palm Beach, and $110.4 from the one in Miami.
The president also received a monthly retirement payment of $6,484 from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
As Trump goes to G7 summit, other world leaders aim to show they’re not intimidated
- Many world leaders see fewer reasons to be cowed by Trump, even as they recognize the risks if he followed through on his threats
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has long bet that he can scare allies into submission — a gamble that is increasingly being tested ahead of the Group of Seven summit beginning Monday in Canada.
He’s threatened stiff tariffs in the belief that other nations would crumple. He’s mused about taking over Canada and Greenland. He’s suggested he will not honor NATO’s obligations to defend partners under attack. And he’s used Oval Office meetings to try to intimidate the leaders of Ukraine and South Africa.
But many world leaders see fewer reasons to be cowed by Trump, even as they recognize the risks if he followed through on his threats. They believe he will ultimately back down — since many of his plans could inflict harm on the US — or that he can simply be charmed and flattered into cooperating.
“Many leaders still seem intimidated by Trump, but increasingly they are catching on to his pattern of bullying,” said Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “In places as diverse as Canada, Iran, China and the EU, we are seeing increasing signs that leaders now recognize that Trump is afraid of anything resembling a fair fight. And so they are increasingly willing to stand up to him.”
In the 22 instances in which Trump has publicly threatened military action since his first term, the US only used force twice, according to a May analysis by Shapiro.
World leaders feel comfortable standing up to Trump
Ahead of the G7 summit, there are already signs of subtle pushback against Trump from fellow leaders in the group. French President Emmanuel Macron planned to visit Greenland over the weekend in a show of European solidarity. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the US is no longer the “predominant” force in the world after Trump’s tariffs created fissures in a decades-long partnership between the US and its northern neighbor.
“We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans throughout the Cold War and in the decades that followed, as the United States played a predominant role on the world stage,” Carney said this past week in French. “Today, that predominance is a thing of the past.”
The new prime minister added that with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the US became the global hegemon, a position of authority undermined by Trump’s transactional nature that puts little emphasis on defending democratic values or the rule of law.
“Now the United States is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contributions to our collective security,” Carney said.
Israel’s attack on Iran has added a new wrinkle to the global picture as the summit leaders gather to tackle some of the world’s thorniest problems
A senior Canadian official said it was decided early on that the G7 won’t be issuing a joint communiqué as it has at past summits — an indication of how hard it can be to get Trump on the same page with other world leaders. The White House said individual leader statements will be issued on the issues being discussed.
Speaking last month at a conference in Singapore, Macron called France a “friend and an ally of the United States” but pushed back against Trump’s desire to dominate what other countries do. Macron said efforts to force other nations to choose between the US and China would lead to the breakdown of the global order put in place after World War II.
“We want to cooperate, but we do not want to be instructed on a daily basis what is allowed, what is not allowed, and how our life will change because of the decision of a single person,” Macron said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pushed back against Trump’s agenda of levying higher tariffs on imported goods, arguing it would hurt economic growth. The Japanese leader specifically called Trump ahead of the summit to confirm their plans to talk on the sidelines, which is a greater focus for Japan than the summit itself.
“I called him as I also wanted to congratulate his birthday, though one day earlier,” Ishiba said.
Trump cares about being tough, but G7 is a chance to reset relations
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the summit was an opportunity for Trump to “mend” relationships with other countries so China would be unable to exploit differences among the G7.
She said other foreign leaders are “not intimidated” by Trump’s actions, which could be driving them away from tighter commitments with the US
“The conversations that I’ve had with those leaders suggest that they think that the partnership with the United States has been really important, but they also understand that there are other opportunities,” Shaheen said.
The White House did not respond to emailed questions for this story.
Many leaders feel more confident that they can sidestep Trump’s threats
Having originally made his reputation in real estate and hospitality, Trump has taken kindly to certain foreign visitors, such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Starmer has sought to keep Trump in line with Europe in supporting Ukraine and NATO instead of brokering any truces that would favor Russia. He has echoed the president’s language about NATO members spending more on defense. But in his Oval Office visit, Starmer also pleased Trump by delivering an invite for a state visit from King Charles III.
The German government said it, too, wanted to send a public signal of unity, saying that while Trump’s recent meeting with Merz at the White House went harmoniously, the next test is how the relationship plays out in a team setting.
There will also be other world leaders outside of the G7 nations attending the summit in mountainous Kananaskis, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Trump dressed down in the Oval Office.
Italy’s Meloni has positioned herself as a “bridge” between the Trump administration and the rest of Europe. But Italy’s strong support of Ukraine and Trump’s threatened tariffs on European goods have put Meloni, the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration, in a difficult position.
Mark Sobel, US chair of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, an independent think tank, said Trump’s “trade policies, backing for right wing European movements, seeming preference for dealing with authoritarians and many of his other actions are alienating our G7 allies,” even if the US president is correct that Europe needs to do more on defense.
But even as other G7 leaders defuse any public disputes with Trump, the US president’s vision for the world remains largely incompatible with they want.
“In short, behind the curtains, and notwithstanding whatever theater, the Kananaskis summit will highlight a more fragmented G7 and an adrift global economy,” Sobel said.
Minnesota police, FBI hunt suspect in deadly shooting of Democratic state lawmakers
- Couple Mark and Melissa Hortman were killed by a gunman posed as police officer
- The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, was eported to have links to evangelical ministries
MINNEAPOLIS/WASHINGTON: A gunman posing as a police officer killed a senior Democratic state assemblywoman and her husband on Saturday in an apparent “politically motivated assassination,” and wounded a second lawmaker and his spouse, said Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and law enforcement officials. A major search backed by the FBI was underway for the suspect, who fled on foot after firing at police and abandoning a vehicle in which officers found a “manifesto” and a list of other legislators and officials, law enforcement officials said. The suspect was identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans told a news briefing.
Boelter should be considered “armed and dangerous” and is believed to still be in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Evans said, adding that it was too soon to determine a motive.
The suspect had links to evangelical ministries and claimed to be a security expert with experience in the Gaza Strip and Africa, according to his online postings and public records reviewed by Reuters. Boelter also described himself online as a former employee of food service companies.
Evans said investigators were aware of similar reports of his connections and would be exploring them.
The list found in the abandoned vehicle that looked similar to a police SUV contained about 70 names, including abortion providers, and lawmakers in Minnesota and other states, CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources.
ABC News, also citing law enforcement officials, said the list included dozens of Minnesota Democrats including Walz, US Representative Ilhan Omar, Senator Tina Smith and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
The killings of Melissa Hortman, a former assembly speaker and her husband, Mark, prompted reactions of shock and horror from Republican and Democratic politicians across the country and calls for dialing back increasingly divisive political rhetoric.
The shootings come on the heels of a heated hearing in Congress on Thursday in which Walz and two other Democratic governors defended their states’ policies to maintain sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, drawing attacks from Republicans who support Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Minnesota State Patrol chief Col. Christina Bogojevic said that police found flyers in the suspect’s vehicle with “No Kings” printed on them, but he had no direct links to the thousands of nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump’s policies taking place on Saturday.
The protests were timed to counter Trump’s long-sought military parade in Washington. The organizing No Kings Coalition canceled all protests in Minnesota, citing a shelter-in-place order and the suspect’s at-large status.
Trump said he was briefed on the “terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota, which appears to be a targeted attack against State Lawmakers.”
“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!” Trump said in a statement.
Police impersonator
Hortman and her husband were shot dead in their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, Walz said. The Minneapolis suburb is located in the northern part of Hennepin County, a Democratic stronghold in a state where Republicans have made gains in recent years. Prior to Hortman’s killing, the Minnesota House of Representatives she served in was evenly split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans.
Hortman’s official website says she and her husband have two children.
Walz said that the gunman went to the Hortmans’ residence after shooting Senator John Hoffman and his wife multiple times in their home in the nearby town of Champlin.
They underwent surgery, Walz said, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic” that they would survive “this assassination attempt.”
“This was an act of targeted political violence,” he said. “Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.”
Law enforcement officials said the gunman attacked the Hoffmans at around 2 a.m. CDT (0700 GMT) and then drove about five miles to the Hortmans’ residence.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that a “very intuitive” police sergeant who responded to the Hoffman attack asked colleagues to “proactively” check the Hortmans’ residence.
The two officers arriving at the Hortmans’ home saw what appeared to be a police vehicle parked in the driveway with its emergency lights on and an individual dressed and equipped as a police officer leaving the home, he said.
The suspect “immediately fired upon the officers, who exchanged gunfire and the suspect retreated back into the home,” Bruley continued.
The suspect wore a vest with a taser, other police equipment and a badge when he fled the home. The Hortmans and Hoffmans were on the list of names found in the suspect’s car, officials said.
The FBI called the shooting a “deliberate and violent attack on public servants and their families.” It offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
Political violence surge
The pre-dawn Minnesota killings come amid a surge in US political attacks in recent years, underscoring the dark side of the nation’s deepening political divisions.
These include the attempted 2020 kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and a man who broke into Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence in April and set it on fire.
In July last year, then-candidate Trump escaped an assassination attempt by a gunman while speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said it arrested a person in connection with a threat against state lawmakers who had planned to attend a protest at the state capitol in Austin, which it evacuated. There was no indication of a direct link to the Minnesota killings.
Trump has faced criticism from some opponents over his handling of incidents involving political violence.
In one of his first moves in office earlier this year, Trump pardoned nearly everyone criminally charged with participating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
