Trump to visit UK mid-yr, possibly July: reports

Queen marks 92nd b’day

LONDON, April 21, (Agencies): US President Donald Trump will visit Britain midway through 2018, possibly in July, British newspapers reported on Saturday, citing government sources in Washington and London.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said officials were still working out the details of a visit by Trump after the Daily Mail, citing a British government source, said that dates in mid-July have been pencilled in.

Britain is keen to reinforce its “special relationship” with the United States as May’s government prepares to leave the European Union, a divorce that will shape the country’s standing in the world, but Trump has yet to visit London.

The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed official in the Trump administration as saying the president was looking at a visit to Britain in “late summer”. Many British voters have said that if the US president comes to Britain they would protest on a range of issues.

The US Embassy in London was not immediately available for comment on the reports.

Trump

Queen marks 92nd birthday:

Queen Elizabeth II marked her 92nd birthday on Saturday with traditional gun salutes and a Commonwealth-themed charity concert featuring Tom Jones, Kylie and Shaggy.

Horse-drawn guns fired 41 times in Hyde Park and 62 times at the Tower of London, while at Windsor Castle, the band played “Happy Birthday” during the changing of the guard.

In the evening, the monarch and her family were due to attend a concert with performers from around the Commonwealth, the 53-nation grouping which held its summit in London this week.

Australia’s Kylie, Canadian pop chart-topper Shawn Mendes, South African all-male choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo and US-Jamaican reggae star Shaggy were to join British stars including Jones, Craig David and Sting.

The queen usually celebrates her birthday in private, saving the pomp for her official birthday in June.

The concert at the Royal Albert Hall will raise money for a new youth charity, The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

The monarch’s grandson Prince Harry, who will marry US actress Meghan Markle at Windsor on May 19, is the trust’s new president and was due to give a speech at the concert.

The queen has been the symbolic head of the Commonwealth since her father King George VI’s death in 1952, but its leaders agreed on Friday that her son and heir Prince Charles should succeed her.

The summit was overshadowed by a row over Britain’s treatment of Caribbean immigrants, while Charles himself also came under scrutiny.

Prince Charles as ‘next Commonwealth head’:

Heir to the British throne Prince Charles was approved Friday as the next head of the Commonwealth of the UK and its former colonies, according to UK media reports.

Leaders from the 53-nation Commonwealth, holding a private meeting at Windsor Castle near London, agreed Charles should one day succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, the BBC and other outlets said.

The Commonwealth was formed as Britain’s former colonies gained their independence, and its first head was the queen’s father, King George VI.

Elizabeth has led the group since taking the throne in 1952. However, the position is not hereditary, and some people have suggested a non-royal leader would be more appropriate in the 21st century.

The monarch — who turns 92 on Saturday — said Thursday that she hoped her son and heir would one day “carry on the important work started by my father in 1949.”

The British government backed Charles to succeed his mother, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he agreed “very much” with the queen’s wishes. The position is largely symbolic, but the queen’s commitment has been a major force behind the survival of the Commonwealth. She has visited almost every member country, often multiple times, over her 66-year reign.

Charles is a longtime champion of environmental causes, a priority for the Commonwealth. Its members include small island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific that are among the countries most vulnerable to rising seas, fiercer storms and other effects of global climate change.

Britain confident in Brexit talks:

Britain expressed confidence on Friday that no hard border with Ireland would return following Brexit, but European Union negotiators have dismissed a proposal by Britain on how to ensure goods would flow freely after it quits the EU.

At a negotiating session on Wednesday, Brussels officials and diplomats said the EU rejected proposals London first made last summer and introduced into the talks last month. That verdict reflected no change in the positions but put a more formal gloss on the impasse.

A British suggestion that it could form a “customs partnership” with the EU, collecting duties on behalf of the EU while pursuing its own tariff policy and refusing to be bound by EU courts and regulations, was dismissed last year in Brussels as impractical and a threat to the EU market.

That opinion was confirmed on Wednesday to Olly Robbins, who runs Britain’s negotiating team, EU officials and diplomats said. One described the British idea as “rather farcical”.

Both sides have committed to avoiding customs checks and other border impediments that might rekindle violence in the British province of Northern Ireland.

The EU has said Britain should be ready to leave Northern Ireland under EU economic regulations if it wants a treaty to ensure an orderly withdrawal next March. British Prime Minister Theresa May rejects that because it could isolate the province from the mainland.

British officials did not comment on the substance of London’s latest proposal. EU diplomats said it was designed to resolve the Irish border issue by avoiding customs checks between Britain and the EU, while keeping Britain out of the EU’s customs union — something May has also rejected despite pressure from some in her own party.