Johnson says working with Biden is ‘breath of fresh air’ after first face-to-face talks

Published

3 years ago

June 10, 2021

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Boris Johnson has described working with US President Joe Biden as a “breath of fresh air” following the pair’s first face-to-face meeting.

The prime minister met Donald Trump’s successor in Carbis Bay on Thursday, ahead of this week’s G7 summit at the Cornwall resort.

Mr Johnson said the new US administration had “so much they want to do together”, including on NATO and climate change – subjects on which Mr Biden has dramatically different viewpoints to Mr Trump.

And the prime minister also suggested a possibly strained conversation with the US president over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland had been avoided, as he hailed the “common ground” between the UK, US and EU on preserving the Good Friday Agreement.

It follows reports Mr Biden’s administration had accused Mr Johnson’s government of “inflaming” tensions during an ongoing row between the UK and EU over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

After the pair’s discussions, which lasted around an hour and 20 minutes, Mr Johnson said: “The talks were great, they went on for a long time, we covered a huge range of subjects.

“It’s wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and to Joe Biden, because there’s so much they want to do together with us, from security, NATO, to climate change.

“And it’s fantastic, it’s a breath of fresh air.”

Mr Johnson and Mr Biden had been due to meet at Saint Michael’s Mount, an historic castle on a tidal island off the coast of Cornwall.

Reports suggested their wives, Carrie Johnson and Jill Biden, were due to have a tour of the island while the leaders held talks.

But a Number 10 source confirmed the visit to Saint Michael’s Mount was “sadly off due to the weather” and the talks were rearranged to Carbis Bay, where the G7 summit will be held between Friday and Sunday.

Prior to their meeting, Mr Biden and Dr Biden, Mr Johnson and Mrs Johnson, stood together to enjoy the view across the bay.

“It’s gorgeous, I don’t want to go home,” Mr Biden said.

And, after Mrs Biden and Mrs Johnson left the two leaders, Mr Biden revealed how he told the prime minister “we have something in common, we both married way above our station”.

Newlywed Mr Johnson replied that he was “not going to dissent from that point, I’m not going to disagree with the president there”.

“Or indeed on anything else, I think it highly likely,” he added.

Dr Biden wore a jacket embroidered with the word “LOVE” on the back, an item she previously wore at the kickoff rally of her husband’s presidential campaign in 2019.

Asked about her outfit, Dr Biden said: “I think that we’re bringing love from America.

“This is a global conference and we’re trying to bring unity across the globe and I think that’s important right now – that people feel a sense of unity… feel a sense of hope after this year of the pandemic.”

Some immediately drew comparisons between Dr Biden’s jacket and her predecessor as first lady, Melania Trump, who wore a green jacket that said, “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” on a 2018 trip to a Texas border town to visit migrant children housed in shelters.

Before getting to the substance of their talks, Mr Biden and Mr Johnson inspected documents related to the Atlantic Charter, a declaration signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt in August 1941 that set out common goals for the world after the Second World War.

Mr Johnson noted that the charter laid the foundation for the United Nations and NATO.

“Yeah, I know,” Mr Biden said.

US

Man sets himself on fire in protest area outside Trump trial

Published

2 hours ago

April 19, 2024

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Iran grounds flights across country after reports of explosions

A man has set himself on fire outside the courthouse in New York where former US President Donald Trump is on trial.

The man was in the designated protest area outside the courthouse.

It comes after jury selection for Trump’s hush money trial concluded with 12 people, and six alternatives, chosen to decide whether the former US president covered up payments to women who alleged they had affairs with him.

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US

Donald Trump labels hush money trial a ‘mess’ after jury selected

Published

22 hours ago

April 18, 2024

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Donald Trump labels hush money trial a 'mess' after jury selected

Donald Trump described the hush money case against him as a “mess” after the jury who will decide his fate has been selected.

Leaving the court in New York after proceedings were adjourned for the day, Trump addressed reporters, saying he was supposed to be in states like Georgia, New Hampshire and North Carolina as part of his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.

“[But instead] I’ve been here all day,” he said, labelling the trial as “unfair”.

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Trump held up a stack of news stories and editorials that he said were critical of the case while he continued railing against the trial.

“The whole thing is a mess,” he said.

It comes as all 12 jurors have been seated in the first criminal case against a former US president.

Members of the jury include a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers.

Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News reported there are seven men and five women on the jury.

It comes after lawyers grilled hundreds of potential jurors asking questions on everything from their hobbies and social media posts to their opinion of the former president.

More than half of a second group of prospective jurors were dismissed by Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday after most said they doubted their ability to be fair and impartial.

One juror was also dismissed after she said she “slept on it overnight” and woke up with concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in the case.

The challenge now is to select six alternate jury members before the trial can move to opening statements, with Mr Merchan hopeful this will be completed on Friday.

Trump is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up a $130,000 (£104,200) payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, during his 2016 election campaign.

Ms Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 (£120,000), both claim to have had affairs with Trump.

His lawyers say the payment was meant to spare himself and his family embarrassment, not to help him win the election.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could get up to four years in prison if convicted.

The former president faces two other criminal trials accusing him of trying to subvert his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, and another that accuses him of mishandling classified information after he left the White House in 2021.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

US

Boeing whistleblower claims 787 Dreamliner planes ‘defective’

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

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Boeing whistleblower claims 787 Dreamliner planes 'defective'

Crisis-hit Boeing has rushed to defend itself from fresh whistleblower allegations of poor practice, as the airline continues to grapple its latest safety crisis.

A Congressional investigation heard evidence on Wednesday on the safety culture and manufacturing standards at the company – rocked in January by a mid-air scare that saw an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight suffer a panel blowout.

One Boeing quality engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee that Boeing was taking shortcuts to bolster production levels that could lead to jetliners breaking apart.

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He said of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, that has more than 1,000 in use across airlines globally including at British Airways, that excessive force was used to jam together sections of fuselage.

He claimed the extra force could compromise the carbon-composite material used for the plane’s frame.

“They are putting out defective airplanes,” he concluded, while adding that he was threatened when he raised concerns about the issue.

The engineer said he studied Boeing’s own data and concluded “that the company is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 programme that could significantly reduce the airplane’s safety and the life cycle”.

Boeing denied his claims surrounding both the Dreamliner’s structural integrity and that factory workers jumped on sections of fuselage to force them to align.

Two Boeing engineering executives said this week that its testing and inspections regimes have found no signs of fatigue or cracking in the composite panels, saying they were almost impervious to fatigue.

The company’s track record is facing fresh scrutiny amid criticism from regulators and safety officials alike in the wake of the incident aboard the Alaska Airlines plane.

It has become a trust issue again after the worst period in Boeing’s history when two fatal crashes, both involving MAX 8 aircraft, left 346 people dead in 2018 and 2019.

All 737 MAX 8 planes were grounded for almost two years while a fix to flawed flight control software was implemented.

A separate Senate commerce committee heard on Wednesday from members of an expert panel that found serious flaws in Boeing’s safety culture.

One of the panel members, MIT aeronautics lecturer Javier de Luis, said employees hear Boeing leadership talk about safety, but workers feel pressure to push planes through the factory as fast as they can.

In talking to Boeing workers, he said he heard “there was a very real fear of payback and retribution if you held your ground”.

Pressure on Boeing to focus on safety has included restrictions placed on production, limiting its manufacturing output.

At the same time, it is still facing three separate investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board relating to the panel blowout.

A management shake-up announced amid the inquiries will see the chief executive depart the company by the year’s end.

Sky News has approached British Airways for comment.