Month: June 2022

US officials there had posted a rainbow flag and message of solidarity from President Joe Biden for Pride month.

But Kuwait officials criticised the embassy for “supporting homosexuality” and demanded it didn’t happen again.

Rights for LGBT people are severely restricted in Kuwait and it is illegal there for men to be gay.

In a pair of tweets published in English and Arabic on Thursday, the US Embassy in Kuwait quoted President Biden as saying all humans “should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love”.

The post, published to mark the beginning of Pride Month, appeared with a picture of a rainbow flag symbolising LGBT rights.

Hours later, Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected what had been published and had summoned the US Charges d’Affaires James Holtsnider to hand him a memorandum condemning the posts.

According to its statement, the Foreign Ministry ordered the embassy to respect Kuwaiti laws and “not to publish such tweets”.

Kuwaiti officials accused the embassy of violating international conventions requiring diplomats to “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state”.

Many conservative Kuwaiti Twitter users responded with similar outrage to the US embassy’s Pride post, including MP Osama Al-Shaheen who wrote: “The behaviour of the American embassy is unacceptable.”

“Foreign embassies must respect the public order of Kuwait and its official religion,” he added.

Another Kuwaiti social media user accused US officials of “imposing a diseased and decadent culture on our conservative Muslim society”.

Rights for LGBT people are extremely limited in socially conservative Kuwait – one of 69 countries in the world where being gay is criminalised.

According to the Gulf state’s penal code, men who have same-sex relations can be punished by up to seven years in prison.

Until this year, it was a criminal offence in Kuwait to be a trans person. A court has now overturned the law as unconstitutional.

In a primetime speech to the nation from the White House, Mr Biden said too many everyday places in America had become “killing fields”.

He said if Congress could not outlaw such weapons, it should seek to raise the age to buy them from 18 to 21.

Mr Biden spoke after a string of mass shootings in the country.

The US president also called for expanding federal background checks and nationwide red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to remove weapons from anyone deemed dangerous.

But the prospects for Congress passing any gun control measures look uncertain, and the US Supreme Court could instead be poised to expand Americans’ gun rights in a landmark case that justices are considering.

“This is not about taking away anyone’s guns,” said Mr Biden.

“This isn’t about taking away anyone’s rights,” he added. “It’s about protecting children.”

“Why in God’s name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30-round magazines, that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes?” the Democratic president continued.

Mr Biden touted a 1994 ban on assault-style weapons that he helped pass. It lapsed after 10 years, and debate has raged ever since over whether it was effective in reducing gun violence.

His remarks come in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Even as he prepared to speak on Thursday, multiple people were shot in an attack at a cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.

Private gun ownership is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

The extent of congressional gridlock on the issue was underscored earlier in the day during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held an emergency session to debate new gun control proposals.

Congressman Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, joined the hearing from his home via Zoom and displayed several handguns from his personal collection that he said would be banned if the legislation was passed.

A Democrat from Texas interjected to say: “I hope the gun is not loaded.”

Mr Steube replied: “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.”

Louisiana Republican Louie Gohmert said Democrats “accuse Republicans of being complicit in murder”.

“How dare you. You think we don’t have hearts?” he added.

The Democratic-led Protecting Our Kids Act combines eight different gun control bills, and includes many of the proposals Mr Biden spoke of on Thursday.

The bill may pass the House next week, but is not expected to clear the Senate.

One possible area of bipartisan agreement on a modest gun control measure may be expanded red flag flaws. Senators from both parties met on Thursday for the second time to discuss that idea.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is deliberating on one of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws, in New York, that places tight restrictions on who can carry a gun in public.

If the justices strike down the law, as their comments in a November hearing suggested might happen, state-level bans across the nation on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines could end up being overturned.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 233 mass shootings in the US so far this year. It defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, excluding the shooter.

Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said more talks with the rail operator would take place on Monday.

He said the aim was to avoid industrial action by negotiating a deal that was acceptable to his members.

ScotRail has meanwhile introduced a temporary scaled-back timetable for Sunday services.

Mr Lindsay warned that the railways could be hit by a series of 24-hour strikes if the issue is not resolved.

ScotRail, which was nationalised by the Scottish government in April, is currently running a greatly-reduced timetable after many drivers refused to work overtime or on their rest days over the dispute.

But it did not put a Sunday timetable in place, resulting in services being delayed and cancelled at the last minute.

On Thursday, ScotRail announced to customers: “We’re introducing a temporary timetable for Sundays too, so we can provide greater certainty & reliability for our customers.

“It will be available to view on our website and app from Saturday morning.”

Details of the timetable on the ScotRail revealed there would be only one train an hour from Glasgow to Troon and Ayr. The route would normally be busy on a bank holiday weekend, with two services running.

Aslef has previously rejected a 2.2% pay offer, before later being offered 4.2% and improved conditions – which Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth said she was “hopeful” would be accepted.

But the union announced on Wednesday that its national executive had rejected the offer and would ballot for industrial action unless further talks were held.

ScotRail said it was frustrated by the decision, and “astonished” that the union had decided not to put the improved pay offer to its members.

It said the “substantially improved” offer reflected the cost-of-living challenges faced by families across the country, while balancing it against the need to provide value for the taxpayer.

Transport Scotland – the government’s transport agency – described the latest offer as being “both fair and affordable”.

When ScotRail made an improved pay offer to Aslef, there was optimism the package might be good enough to settle the row.

That was never certain but it was a surprise to see it rejected by the union at this stage.

ScotRail had described the 4.2% pay offer as its “final offer”. Aslef believe it may be possible to get a better deal.

Regardless of affordability, there is a problem.

ScotRail is now back in public ownership and covered by public sector pay policy.

The 4.2% offer compares to the 2% being offered to council workers and teachers.

Council workers are now being balloted on strike action.

What sort of pay rise will council and education unions consider acceptable if rail workers should get 4.2% or even more?

Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday, Mr Lindsay said the union had held a series of meetings with about 250 of its members – only one of whom said the offer was acceptable.

He added: “We will sit down with ScotRail again on Monday and we believe that we are close to reaching agreement. We think there’s a number of things that can be done to reach a settlement.

“We’re a trade union that has never been on strike in 20 years here in Scotland. We’re not even taking industrial action just now.”

Mr Lindsay said drivers had to work an extra two days a month on average to keep the railways running, which he said showed that there was a “chronic shortage”.

He added: “Train driving is a stressful and tiring job and having quality time away from their workplace is something that we always encourage people to do, but we also support anyone who wishes to work additional shifts.”

He said the ball was now in ScotRail’s court to come back with an acceptable offer “using the money that’s already in this package” that would avoid industrial action.

If that did not happen, he said the union was likely to ballot its members for a withdrawal of all overtime working and a series of discontinuous 24-hour stoppages.

But he stressed: “We are a long way off from that. We’re a highly-trained team of negotiators and we’ll go in and we’ll speak again on Monday.

“Hopefully we can thrash out a deal that delivers for Scotland’s train drivers, but more importantly delivers for the people of Scotland as well.”

Mr Lindsay also dismissed suggestions that the union was being unrealistic in its pay demands at a time when other public sector workers such as teachers are being offered 2%.

He said: “I’m not going to apologise for train drivers making reasonable demands when we’re facing an earnings and income crisis.

“We cannot continually play one worker off against another.

“I am more than happy to support council workers and to support Cosla’s claim for the Scottish government to give more money to Scottish councils to ensure that Scottish council workers, teachers and everyone else gets a fair pay rises.”

ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month which it said would give customers a degree of certainty about rail services after the network was hit by hundreds of cancellations.

The timetable has almost 700 fewer services a day, with the last train on many routes leaving up to four hours earlier than before.

ScotRail managed to run extra services on Wednesday night to ensure fans were able to get to and from Scotland’s World Cup play-off match with Ukraine at Hampden.

The decision was made with “great reluctance” after considering the “journey and activity required”, the palace said.

However, she did take part in a beacon lighting ceremony on Thursday evening.

Four days of celebrations marking the Queen’s 70-year reign began earlier.

The 96-year-old monarch appeared twice at Buckingham Palace balcony, flanked by other senior royals, as they watched a military parade and waved at thousands of well-wishers gathered on The Mall.

Hours after the ceremony, the palace confirmed she would not attend Friday’s thanksgiving service, but said she “would like to thank all those who made today such a memorable occasion”.

The next Jubilee event the Queen is due to attend is the derby at Epsom race course on Saturday, although it is yet not known whether she will still appear at the horse race.

The service at St Paul’s in central London will give thanks for the Queen’s seven decades as monarch.

Senior royals including the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will all attend, with Prince Charles officially representing the Queen.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who have flown over from California – will also join. It will be Prince Harry and Meghan’s first royal event together since leaving the UK two years ago.

However, Prince Andrew will be absent after testing positive for Covid.

The royals will be joined by more than 400 honours recipients, including NHS and key workers, public servants and representatives from charities and the Armed Forces.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give a reading from the New Testament,while the sermon will be given by the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, after Archbishop of CanterburyJustin Welby tested positive for Covid-19.

The largest church bell in the UK, the 16-tonne Great Paul, will ring continuously for four hours after the service. The event begins at 11:30 BST on Friday, with coverage starting on BBC One from 09:15.

Other political attendees will include Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, cabinet members, former prime ministers and the leaders of the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Young people representing countries where the Queen is head of state will lead an ‘Act of Commitment’ to celebrate her life and reign.

Thursday evening’s beacon lighting event saw the Queen symbolically touch a globe to begin the ceremony at Windsor Castle.

The head of state illuminated the globe, symbolically sending a chain of lights from her Windsor Castle home to Buckingham Palace, where Prince William watched as a sculpture, the Tree of Trees, was bathed in light.

Thousands of beacons were also lit across the UK and the Commonwealth to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Beacons were visible around Scotland to mark the occasion, with tributes being lit at landmarks from Edinburgh Castle to Ben Nevis – Britain’s highest mountain.

One of the main flames to be lit in Wales was outside the Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay, where the evening’s celebrations were capped with a firework display over the water.

In Northern Ireland, 13 beacons were lit at Enniskillen Castle, while the building was illuminated purple and two beams of light were projected into the night sky.

The service is not the first engagement the Queen has had to miss in recent months because of health problems.

In May, she missed the State Opening of Parliament because of “episodic mobility problems” and in February she caught Covid, which she said left her feeling “very tired and exhausted”.

The Queen will have pulled out of the thanksgiving service only with very great regret.

She has a deep religious faith and the service at St Paul’s Cathedral would have been one of her highest priorities for the weekend.

It was thought that she was more committed to attending the church service than many of the weekend’s events.

But Thursday’s exertions have left her suffering from discomfort, with a recurrence of the mobility problems that have caused her to cancel events before.

Now it seems the journey to St Paul’s, a procession and the length of the church service have become too difficult.

It’s at short notice, with the programme for the church service already printed. So it will leave a real sense of loss to have the Queen, the focal point of the service, no longer attending.

Officers confirmed that the suspected shooter, who was armed with a rifle and a handgun, was also dead.

Police arrived at the scene on Wednesday afternoon at St Francis Hospital in three minutes – which they say ensured the death toll wasn’t higher.

Multiple injuries had also been confirmed, officials added.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Deputy Police Chief Eric Dalgleish said: “Right now we have four civilians that are dead, and one shooter that is dead.”

He said the shooter, who has not yet been identified, sustained fatal gunshot wounds which were believed to have been self-inflicted.

The suspect “had one long gun and one hand gun on the scene at the time”, he said.

No information was available about a possible motivation for the attack.

Deputy Dalgleish said that police received a call about an active shooter at 16:52 local (20:52 GMT) and arrived at the scene within three minutes.

“The officers who did arrive did hear shots in the building and that’s what directed them to the second floor,” he said.

Officers are currently interviewing witnesses throughout the building, including those who were on the second floor – where the attack took place.

Speaking to ABC News, Captain Richard Meulenberg said that by the time police arrived at the medical campus they “found a few people have been shot” and some of them had already died.

It was a “catastrophic scene”, he said.

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the Tulsa shooting, White House officials also said in a statement.

Last Saturday, President Biden urged Americans to make their voices heard to prevent further gun violence, following the killing of 19 children and two teachers at a school in Texas.