Australia

Is Trump right to call US embassy in London a ‘bad deal’?

US President Donald Trump has cancelled planned trip to London
Blames his dissatisfaction with the n..

Published

6 years ago

January 13, 2018

Europe Disk

US President Donald Trump has cancelled planned trip to London
Blames his dissatisfaction with the new US Embassy which opens next week
Trump tweeted that the old embassy in Mayfair had been sold for 'peanuts'
UK Land Registry documents reveal that it was sold $431million (£315million)
Figure is far below the estimated $687 million (£500m) experts had estimated
The new embassy in London's Nine Elms on the Thames has cost $1bn

By Sara Malm For Mailonline

Published: 04:43 EST, 12 January 2018 | Updated: 16:18 EST, 12 January 2018

President Trump's claim that the US Embassy in London was ‘sold for peanuts’ appears to have been vindicated after documents reveal that it went for just £315m ($431m) – far below the £500 million ($687 million) experts estimated.

When it was sold five years ago property experts said that the market value of the deal was £500m ($680m) and it was thought that this was the sum achieved.

However official Land Registry records reveal that the 999-year lease of the land was actually sold for almost £200m less than expected.

Shiny and new: The US government has spent £750m ($1bn) on building the new London embassy in Nine Elms near Battersea

Old gold: The Qatari royal family's property arm bought the old US Embassy in Mayfair for $431million (£315million) and is transforming it into a luxury hotel

Then and now: The location of the old embassy in Grosvenor Square compared to the new one in Nine Elms

He's got a point: Documents show Trump's description of the sale as 'peanuts' may have some truth, with the sale price far below what property experts had believed it to be

This is the lease document for the existing US Embassy in Westminster. The lease dates from Christmas Day 1954 and lasts for 999 years

Land Registry documents revealed the central London site was sold for £315million

Winners! Qatar's then emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and his wife Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser al-Misnad were rulers when their investment vehicle, Qatari Diar, bought the mbassy for far below what property experts believed it was worth

The President claimed just before midnight on Thursday in Washington D..C. on Twitter that the reason he cancelled his trip to London to open the new embassy is because 'the Obama Administration sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for "peanuts," only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal.'

English property law means that the Duke of Westminster, one of the UK's wealthiest men, owns the land underneath the old embassy.

The current duke's great uncle, the 4th Duke of Westminster, sold the US government a lease on the land where the former embassy, which opened in 1960, stands.

Standing in London's Grosvenor Square, in the heart of Mayfair, itself the wealthiest part of the city, the old embassy was bought by Qatari Diar – the property development arm of the Qatari royal family – in 2013.

The Qataris will now spend $1.4bn (£1.08bn) to refurbish the building and turn it into a five-star Rosewood hotel with 137 bedrooms.

President Trump, pictured today speaking at the White House, took to Twitter to accuse the Obama administration of selling the existing US Embassy for 'peanuts'

President Trump has cancelled his planned trip to London over what he labelled a 'bad deal' regarding the new US Embassy

The President was pictured holding up a proclamation honoring Martin Luther King Jr in Washington today as the fallout from his UK snub continued

New digs: The Canyonlands Garden, which represents the Grand Canyon and the south west desert landscapes of the United States, is seen in the new US embassy

Grand: A woman walks past the consular and visa section during a press preview of the United States Embassy building in December

Old times: The interior of the old US embassy building in Grosvenor Square is seen in the 60s

Special relationship: One of the rooms in the old embassy, which will not become a hotel

A TALE OF TWO EMBASSIES
OLD: GROSVENOR SQ	NEWS: NINE ELMS
Opened: 1960 Architect: Eero Saarinen Storeys: Nine (three under ground) Size: 225,000 square feet Rooms: 600 Employee capacity: 750 Distinguishing feature: A gilded aluminum bald eagle with a 35ft wingspan on the roof Nearby landmarks: Hyde Park, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street	Opened: 2019 Architect: Kieran Timberlake Storeys: 12 Size: 518,000 square foot Rooms: Unknown Employee capacity: 1,000 Distinguishing feature: It is surrounded by an 8ft-deep, crescent-shaped, moat Nearby landmarks: Battersea Power Station, Tate Britain, Battersea Park

The new £750m ($1bn) embassy is much further from the attractions of central London in a former working-class area called Nine Elms.

Shortly before the sale, the old embassy was given Grade II listed status, which in UK law makes it virtually impossible to significantly alter it.

That means any developer is restricted on what they can do to maximise value from the site but knocking down the building and starting again.

When the new embassy was purchased, the prime consideration was security after a dramatic overhaul of US embassy protection around the world.

The Nine Elms site was large and relatively cheap, but the building itself is vast, heavily protected and designed to be future proof. The total cost was £750 million – $1 billion.

Christian Warman, director of central London estate agency Tedworth Property, said that US may have 'sold the family silver' when it comes to leaving the site in Grosvenor Square for the Nine Elms site criticised by President Trump – but that they had sold high and bought low.

'Grosvenor Square is one of London's finest addresses and the embassy was very prominent and hugely well connected to businesses and professionals who live and work in the area,' Mr Warman told MailOnline.

'However, the site is very small and the security around it required can be disruptive to people and traffic in the area.

'The site they have bought is in one of London's up and coming areas and they would've sold the embassy near the peak of the market in an area where prices had risen massively.

Not happy: The US President claims the reason he cancelled his trip to London is because ‘the Obama Administration sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal’

Not happy: The US President claims the reason he cancelled his trip to London is because 'the Obama Administration sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for 'peanuts,' only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal'

Sorry Theresa: The President reportedly spoke to the Prime Minister as recently as last month and spoke about his upcoming trip

'They would have bought the Nine Elms site a long time ago, so you essentially they sold at the top and bought at the bottom.'

'In terms of whether the Americans have sold the family silver; yes Mayfair is always going to be a prime hub of London, and right now Nine Elms isn't, but it could become a very important business and residential area by end of the first quarter of this century. Not least as a result of the American embassy going there. '

'It's not unthinkable that Nine Elms will be considered prime central London in ten, 20 or 50 years, so you could argue that it's a good deal for America.'

The new US Embassy is a distinctive 12-storey, cube-shaped building, located between Vauxhall and Battersea in south-west London, and has been designed by Philadelphia architecture firm Kieran Timberlake.

The embassy website says that the project 'has been funded entirely by the proceeds of the sale of other US Government properties in London, not through appropriated funds.'

Today, a removals van was pictured outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square in central London

Embassy staff are gearing up to move out of the current embassy in favour of the new building in Battersea

The move comes as Donald Trump cancels his planned trip to the UK, blaming dissatisfaction with the move to the new embassy

Removals workers were pictured wheeling out several items from the current embassy today

The new embassy in London's Nine Elms on the Thames has cost $1billion. Removals staff were pictured hard at work today preparing for the move

The former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square in London's Mayfair, which Mr Trump has described as 'perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London'

New front: An artists impression of what the new five-star Rosewood hotel in the old embassy will look like after the $1.4bn (£1.08bn) refurbishment

Update: The Grade II listed building will be turned into a 137-room luxury hotel, with development set to start later this year

Trump claimed the new embassy is in an 'off location'. It is located within a 561-acre regeneration project set to transform one of the South Bank of the Thames' last remaining industrial stretches.

It includes an extension of London Underground's Northern Line, with two new stations at Battersea and Nine Elms due to open in 2020.

Developers hope the area will become a thriving business hub, with Penguin Random House UK and Apple set to open offices nearby, while the Royal College of Arts has submitted a planning application for a £50 million state-of-the-art building.

They hope the project will bring to the area thousands of new homes, 25,000 new jobs, green spaces and visitor attractions.

Barack Obama George W. Bush

Despite Mr Trump publicly blaming predecessor Barack Obama (left), the US announced plans to move to the new site in October 2008 – when George W Bush (right) was in the White House

Officials have already moved into the £750million US embassy near Battersea Power Station in South London. The new building will open for business on January 16

Currently, however, much of the area resembles a large construction site, with the skyline changing constantly as the developments progress.

Trump blamed his predecessor Barack Obama for selling the old embassy but the move was actually announced in October 2008 – when George W Bush was in the White House.

However, the sale went through in 2009, when Obama was in office.

Several London embassies have been sold off as private or commercial property in recent years,.

The Former European Council of Foreign Relations near St James's Park was sold for £21.5million to Galliard Homes in 2013.

In the same year, the Canadian High Commission in Grosvenor Square, directly beside the former US embassy, was sold by the Canadian government to an Indian property developer, and the Brazilian Embassy, also in Mayfair, went for £40million.

Original Article

Daily Mail

Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith: Top soldier won’t apologise for alleged war crimes

Published

3 months ago

June 22, 2023

Europe Disk

Ben Roberts-Smith is proud of his actions in Afghanistan, the former Australian soldier said in his first comments since a judge ruled claims he committed war crimes were true.

A landmark defamation case this month found Mr Roberts-Smith was responsible for the murders of four Afghans.

The Victoria Cross recipient says he is innocent and will consider an appeal.

“I’m devastated… It’s a terrible outcome and it’s the incorrect outcome,” he said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters from Nine as he returned to Australia for the first time since the judgement was delivered, Mr Roberts-Smith also said he would not apologise to those affected by his alleged crimes.

“We haven’t done anything wrong, so we won’t be making any apologies,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith sued three Australian newspapers over a series of articles alleging he had carried out unlawful killings and bullied fellow soldiers while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009-2012.

But Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko threw out the former special forces corporal’s case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling it was “substantially true” that Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians, and bullied peers.

The 44-year-old, who remains Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, was not present for the civil court ruling, having spent the days leading up to it on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who left the defence force in 2013, has not been charged over any of the claims in a criminal court, where there is a higher burden of proof.

None of the evidence presented in the civil defamation case against Mr Roberts-Smith can be used in any criminal proceedings, meaning investigators must gather their own independently.

This week it was confirmed that the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) – which is responsible for addressing criminal matters related to the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan – would work alongside Australian Federal Police (AFP) to examine three alleged murders local media say involve the former soldier.

The killings allegedly took place at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 and in the southern Afghan village of Darwan.

The OSI was set up following a landmark inquiry in 2020, known as the Brereton Inquiry, which found “credible evidence” that Australia’s special forces unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan.

There are currently 40 matters that are being jointly investigated by the OSI and the AFP.

Earlier this year former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz became the first Australian defence force member to ever be charged by police with the war crime of murder.

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65911638

Australia

Why Australia decided to quit its vaping habit

Published

4 months ago

May 28, 2023

Europe Disk

He’s talking about students in his class, teenagers, who can’t stop vaping.

He sees the effect of the candy-flavoured, nicotine-packed e-cigarettes on young minds every day, with children even vaping in class.

“The ones who are deepest into it will just get up out of their seat, or they’ll be fidgeting or nervous. The worst offenders will just walk out because they’re literally in withdrawal.”

Those who are most addicted need nicotine patches or rehabilitation, he says, talking about 13 and 14-year-olds.

is enough and introduced a range of new restrictions. Despite vapes already being illegal for many, under new legislation they will become available by prescription only.

The number of vaping teenagers in Australia has soared in recent years and authorities say it is the “number one behavioural issue” in schools across the country.

And they blame disposable vapes – which some experts say could be more addictive than heroin and cocaine – but for now are available in Australia in every convenience store, next to the chocolate bars at the counter.

For concerned teachers like Chris, their hands have been tied.

“If we suspect they have a vape, all we can really do is tell them to go to the principal’s office.

“At my old school, my head teacher told me he wanted to install vape detector alarms in the toilet, but apparently we weren’t allowed to because that would be an invasion of privacy.”

E-cigarettes have been sold as a safer alternative to tobacco, as they do not produce tar – the primary cause of lung cancer.

Some countries continue to promote them with public health initiatives to help cigarette smokers switch to a less deadly habit.

Last month, the UK government announced plans to hand out free vaping starter kits to one million smokers in England to get smoking rates below 5% by 2030.

But Australia’s government says that evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit is insufficient for now. Instead, research shows it may push young vapers into taking up smoking later in life.

‘Generation Vape’

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are lithium battery-powered devices that have cartridges filled with liquids containing nicotine, artificial flavourings, and other chemicals.

The liquid is heated and turned into a vapour and inhaled into the user’s lungs.

Vaping took off from the mid-2000s and there were some 81 million vapers worldwide in 2021, according to the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction group.

Fuelling the rise is the mushrooming popularity of flavoured vapes designed to appeal to the young.

These products can contain far higher volumes of nicotine than regular cigarettes, while some devices sold as ‘nicotine-free’ can actually hold large amounts.

The chemical cocktail also contains formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde – which have been linked to lung disease, heart disease, and cancer.

There’s also a suggestion of an increased risk of stroke, respiratory infection, and impaired lung function.

Experts warn not enough is known about the long-term health effects. But some alarming data has already been drawn out.

In 2020, US health authorities identified more than 2,800 cases of e-cigarette or vaping-related lung injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 68 deaths attributed to that injury.

In Australia, a major study by leading charity The Cancer Council found more than half of all children who had ever vaped had used an e-cigarette they knew contained nicotine and thought that vaping was a socially acceptable behaviour.

School-age children were being supplied with e-cigarettes through friends or “dealers” inside and outside school, or from convenience stores and tobacconists, the report said.

Teens also reported purchasing vapes through social media, websites and at pop-up vape stores, the Generation Vape project found.

“Whichever way teenagers obtain e-cigarettes, they are all illegal, yet it’s happening under the noses of federal and state authorities”, report author and Cancer Council chair Anita Dessaix said.

“All Australian governments say they’re committed to ensuring e-cigarettes are only accessed by smokers with a prescription trying to quit – yet a crisis in youth e-cigarette use is unfolding in plain view.”

In addition to the government’s move to ban the import of all non-pharmaceutical vaping products – meaning they can now only be bought with a prescription – all single-use disposable vapes will be made illegal.

The volume and concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes will also be restricted, and both flavours and packaging must be plain and carrying warning labels.

But these new measures are not actually all that drastic, says public health physician Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University.

“Australia is not an outlier. It is unique to have a prescription-only model, but other places actually ban them completely, and that includes almost all of Latin America, India, Thailand and Japan.”

‘We have been duped’

Health Minister Mark Butler said the new vaping regulations will close the “biggest loophole in Australian healthcare history”.

“Just like they did with smoking… ‘Big Tobacco’ has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added sweet flavours to create a new generation of nicotine addicts.”

“We have been duped”, he said.

Medical experts agree. Prof Banks argues that the promotion of e-cigarettes as a “healthier” alternative was a classic “sleight-of-hand” from the tobacco industry.

As such vaping has become “normalised” in Australia, and in the UK too.

“There’s over 17,000 flavours, and the majority of use is not for smoking cessation”, she tells the BBC.

“They’re being heavily marketed towards children and adolescents. People who are smoking and using e-cigarettes – that’s the most common pattern of use, dual use.”

Professor Banks says authorities need to “de-normalise” vaping among teenagers and make vapes much harder to get hold of.

“Kids are interpreting the fact that they can very easily get hold of [vapes] as evidence [they’re safe], and they’re actually saying, ‘well, if they were that unsafe, I wouldn’t be able to buy one at the coffee shop’.

But could stricter controls make it harder for people who do turn to vapes hoping to quit or cut down on tobacco?

“It is important to bear in mind that for some people, e-cigarettes have really helped. But we shouldn’t say ‘this is great for smokers to quit’, says Prof Banks.

“We know from

Australia, from the US, from Europe, that two-thirds to three-quarters of people who quit smoking successfully, do so unaided.”

“You’re trying to bring these [vapes] in saying they’re a great way to quit smoking, but actually we’ve got bubble gum flavoured vapes being used by 13-year-olds in the school toilets. That is not what the community signed up for.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65522841

Australia

Australia: Scott Morrison saga casts scrutiny on Queen’s representative

Published

1 year ago

August 27, 2022

Europe Disk

In the past fortnight, Australia has been gripped by revelations that former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to several additional ministries.

The move has been labelled a “power grab” by his successor as prime minister, and Mr Morrison has been scolded by many – even his own colleagues.

But the scandal has also dragged Australia’s governor-general into the fray – sparking one of the biggest controversies involving the Queen’s representative in Australia in 50 years.

So does Governor-General David Hurley have questions to answer, or is he just collateral damage?

‘Just paperwork’

Governors-general have fulfilled the practical duties as Australia’s head of state since the country’s 1901 federation.

Candidates for the role were initially chosen by the monarch but are now recommended by the Australian government.

The job is largely ceremonial – a governor-general in almost every circumstance must act on the advice of the government of the day. But conventions allow them the right to “encourage” and “warn” politicians.

Key duties include signing bills into law, issuing writs for elections, and swearing in ministers.

Mr Hurley has run into trouble on the latter. At Mr Morrison’s request, he swore the prime minister in as joint minister for health in March 2020, in case the existing minister became incapacitated by Covid.

Over the next 14 months, he also signed off Mr Morrison as an additional minister in the finance, treasury, home affairs and resources portfolios.

Mr Morrison already had ministerial powers, so Mr Hurley was basically just giving him authority over extra departments.

It’s a request the governor-general “would not have any kind of power to override or reject”, constitutional law professor Anne Twomey tells the BBC.

“This wasn’t even a meeting between the prime minister and the governor-general, it was just paperwork.”

But Mr Morrison’s appointments were not publicly announced, disclosed to the parliament, or even communicated to most of the ministers he was job-sharing with.

Australia’s solicitor-general found Mr Morrison’s actions were not illegal but had “fundamentally undermined” responsible government.

But the governor-general had done the right thing, the solicitor-general said in his advice this week.

It would have been “a clear breach” for him to refuse the prime minister, regardless of whether he knew the appointments would be kept secret, Stephen Donaghue said.

Critics push for investigation

Ultimately, Mr Hurley had to sign off on Mr Morrison’s requests, but critics say he could have counselled him against it and he could have publicised it himself.

But representatives for the governor-general say these types of appointments – giving ministers the right to administer other departments – are not unusual.

And it falls to the government of the day to decide if they should be announced to the public. They often opt not to.

Mr Hurley himself announcing the appointments would be unprecedented. He had “no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated”, his spokesperson said.

Emeritus professor Jenny Hocking finds the suggestion Mr Hurley didn’t know the ministries had been kept secret “ridiculous”.

“The last of these bizarre, duplicated ministry appointments… were made more than a year after the first, so clearly by then the governor-general did know that they weren’t being made public,” she says.

“I don’t agree for a moment that the governor-general has a lot of things on his plate and might not have noticed.”

The historian says it’s one of the biggest controversies surrounding a governor-general since John Kerr caused a constitutional crisis by sacking Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975.

Prof Hocking famously fought for transparency around that matter – waging a lengthy and costly legal battle that culminated in the release of Mr Kerr’s correspondence with the Queen.

And she says the same transparency is needed here.

The Australian public need to know whether Mr Hurley counselled the prime minister against the moves, and why he didn’t disclose them

The government has already announced an inquiry into Mr Morrison’s actions, but she wants it to look at the governor-general and his office too.

“If the inquiry is to find out what happened in order to fix what happened, it would be extremely problematic to leave out a key part of that equation.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – Mr Morrison’s predecessor – has also voiced support for an inquiry.

“Something has gone seriously wrong at Government House,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It is the passive compliance along the chain… that did undermine our constitution and our democracy… that troubles me the most. This is how tyranny gets under way.”

PM defends governor-general

Prof Twomey says the criticism of Mr Hurley is unfair – there’s was no “conspiracy” on his part to keep things secret.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to expect that he could have guessed that the prime minister was keeping things secret from his own ministers, for example.

“Nobody really thought that was a possibility until about two weeks ago.”

Even if he had taken the unprecedented step to publicise the appointments or to reject Mr Morrison’s request, he’d have been criticised, she says.

“There’d be even more people saying ‘how outrageous!'” she says. “The role of governor-general is awkward because people are going to attack you either way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also defended Mr Hurley, saying he was just doing his job.

“I have no intention of undertaking any criticism of [him].”

A role fit for purpose?

Prof Hocking says it’s a timely moment to look at the role of the governor-general more broadly.

She points out it’s possible the Queen may have been informed about Mr Morrison’s extra ministries when Australia’s parliament and people were not.

“It does raise questions about whether this is fit for purpose, as we have for decades been a fully independent nation, but we still have… ‘the relics of colonialism’ alive and well.”

Momentum for a fresh referendum on an Australian republic has been growing and advocates have seized on the controversy.

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all,” the Australian Republic Movement’s Sandy Biar says.

“It’s time we had an Australian head of state, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s constitution.”

But Prof Twomey says republicans are “clutching at straws” – under their proposals, the head of state would also have been bound to follow the prime minister’s advice.

“It wouldn’t result in any changes that would have made one iota of difference.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62683210