Trump opponents inflate snarling orange 'Trump baby' in London
Opponents of Donald Trump flew a six-meter blimp depicting the U.S. president as an orange, snarling nappy-wearing baby just outside the British parliament on Friday.
Trump, who arrived in Britain on Thursday, told the Sun newspaper that planned protests against him in London and other British cities made him feel unwelcome so he was avoiding the capital as much as possible.
"I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London," Trump told the newspaper.
"I used to love London as a city. I haven't been there in a long time. But when they make you feel unwelcome, why would I stay there?"
Opponents of Donald Trump flew a six-meter blimp depicting the U.S. president as an orange, snarling nappy-wearing baby just outside the British parliament on Friday.
Snarling orange 'Trump baby' blimp flies outside British parliament
But some Britons see Trump as crude, volatile, unreliable and opposed to their values on a range of issues. More than 64,000 people have signed up to demonstrate in London against Trump's visit while other protests are expected around the country.
A few hundred people gathered to watch the blimp launch in Parliament Square, with organisers of the stunt wearing red boiler suits and red baseball caps emblazoned with "TRUMP BABYSITTER".
After counting down from 10 to 1 a cheer went up as the large balloon rose to fly around 10 metres off the ground, next to parliament and the River Thames.
Organiser Daniel Jones, a charity communications officer aged 26, said they were trying to make people laugh as well as making a serious point.
"It's also about giving a boost to those in America resisting his policies," he said. One man dressed as a guerilla and wore a Trump plastic mask, stood inside a large metal cage.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was criticised by Trump in the Sun interview for failing to control crime and prevent militant attacks, gave his blessing for the blimp to be flown and rejected suggestions this showed a lack of respect to the U.S. president.
"The idea that we restrict freedom of speech, the right to assemble, the right to protest because somebody might be offended is a slippery slope," he told BBC radio, adding that a protest to welcome Trump was also planned.
"We have a rich history in this country of having a sense of humour as well.
European Union countries are completely united on trade and will not be divided by the threat of further U.S. import tariffs, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.Asked about the threat that U.S. President Donald Trump could extend increased import tariffs from steel and aluminium to EU cars, Le Maire said EU states were determined to maintain a united stance."Nobody will divide France and Germany never, never, never, and nobody will divide the EU member states. Everybody is aware that the unity of the European countries is the right response to the raise of tariffs," he told reporters before a meeting of EU finance ministers.Trump claims victory after forcing NATO crisis talksEU tells UK financial firms time running out for Brexit licencesTrump keeps up spending demands at NATO but turns on charm
'EU will not be divided over US tariffs'
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was preposterous for Donald Trump to blame a rise in violent crime in the city on immigration after the U.S. president criticised his handling of crime and militant attacks."The idea that you can blame this on immigration from Africa is I think preposterous and we should call him out when he does so," Khan told BBC radio on Friday.Trump told the Sun newspaper that the London mayor had "done a very bad job on terrorism" and referred to "crime that is being brought in" to the city."I think he has done a very bad job on terrorism," Trump told the Sun. "I think he has done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in."Trump says May's Brexit plan kills hope of a US trade deal
London mayor says preposterous for Trump to blame crime on immigration
In preparing for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump has provoked a rare agreement among Democrats and Republicans alarmed by the possibility of a cozy meeting.While Republican Trump has gone softer on Putin, calling him a "competitor" and "not my enemy" on Thursday, lawmakers from both parties hardened their warnings to Trump before he sits down with the Russian leader in Helsinki on Monday.Trump says May's Brexit plan kills hope of a US trade deal"Putin is not America's friend, nor merely a competitor. Putin is America's enemy — not because we wish it so, but because he has chosen to be," Republican Senator John McCain said."It is up to President Trump to hold Putin accountable for his actions during the meeting in Helsinki," McCain said in a statement. "Failure to do so would be a serious indictment of his stewardship of American leadership in the world.”Trump has touted the summit as an opportunity to reduce tensions, inflamed by Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, its military backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which turned the tide of the Syrian civil war in 2015, and accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.Twitter begins purging locked accountsU.S. lawmakers want Trump, both privately with Putin and publicly, to condemn Russia's actions.Congress has taken a hard anti-Russia stance, nearly unanimously approving last year a tough sanctions law targeting Moscow. But lawmakers worry Trump will fail to take Putin to task, particularly over the election meddling, which the Russian leader has denied.U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow interfered and Trump has said he would discuss it, although he has stated both a willingness to believe Putin's denials and U.S. agencies. Trump has described a special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign aides and Russia as a political witch hunt.Blast reported near Cairo’s international airport"Our goal must be to demonstrate to the world that the community of democratic nations does not intend to accede to Putin's or any other authoritarian's view of the world. We will resist Russia's aggression," Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator Marco Rubio said in an op-ed in USA Today on Thursday.Senior Trump administration officials also have voiced fears about what he might give Putin to the detriment of allies in Europe, especially after seeing how Trump appeared to get only vague commitments from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their June 12 summit in Singapore to discuss denuclearization.White House orders greater access to files on FBI informantTrump declared that he had ended the nuclear threat from North Korea, but one senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: "Who's to say he won’t come out of Helsinki saying he and Putin agreed that Russia no longer poses a threat to the rest of Europe?"'EASIEST' PART OF TRUMP TRIPWorries over Trump's commitment to European allies and his deference to Russia loomed large at the NATO summit that wrapped up on Thursday. Trump claimed a personal victory after telling European allies to increase their defense spending or lose Washington's support. He particularly railed against Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel.Trump took another swipe at U.S. allies when he told reporters in Brussels that he thought his meeting with Putin would be "the easiest" part of his week-long European trip.U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican, criticized Trump for saying that."The Russian president is a man schooled in treachery and espionage. He jails and murders his opponents, presides over a mafia state and he is an enemy of democracy. Why would a meeting with Putin be easier than a meeting with the allies that we rely on most to be a bulwark against him?" Flake asked in a Senate speech.Putin won re-election for six more years in March with opposition leader Alexei Navalny barred from running on what he says was a false pretext.Europeans and some U.S. officials are particularly concerned about whether Putin will ask Trump to suspend NATO military drills in the Baltic states on Russia's doorstep.Another senior U.S. official said that if Putin came away from the meeting with Trump thinking he had permission to act in the Baltics, Estonia might become the epicenter of what NATO has helped to prevent.Trump's assertion that Russia is a competitor and not an adversary is contrary to the judgments of U.S. intelligence agencies and his chief diplomat, Mike Pompeo, who at his April confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State, said the United States needs "to push back in each place we confront them," referring to the Russians.While Trump said on Thursday that he expects the Helsinki summit to be "just a loose meeting," some at home are hoping it will be a "non-event" with nothing groundbreaking."Based on just the way things are shaping up, I think a non-eventful Helsinki meeting might be best for our country," Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, told Reuters.
Trump says Putin 'not my enemy'