President Donald Trump will invite French president Emmanuel Macron on the first state visit of the administration, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
Mr Trump is the first US president in decades to wrap up his opening year without offering a counterpart the honour of a state visit, a diplomatic tool used to impress and showcase ties between allies.
The designation means Mr Macron will be welcomed with a showy arrival ceremony on the White House lawn, including a 21-gun salute, followed by private meetings with the president and a joint news conference before American and French journalists. Mr Macron will also be the guest of honour at a glitzy state dinner, typically attended by hundreds of guests and meticulously planned by the first lady.
Mr Trump was the French president’s special guest at an annual Bastille Day celebration last year that coincided with the 100th anniversary of the US entrance into the First World War. Mr Trump apparently was so inspired by the grand military parade in the heart of Paris that he later called for a similar display of US military hardware in Washington this year.
CNN reported on plans to invite France’s leader, which was later confirmed by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. A formal announcement, including the date, is pending.
Mr Macron, who is also new to the presidency, and Mr Trump met several times last year and spoke by telephone this month. They first met last May in Belgium and gripped each other's hands so tightly during an extended handshake that Mr Trump’s knuckles appeared to turn white.
Mr Trump was celebrated during a series of state visits as he toured Asia last November.
During the presidential campaign, Mr Trump spoke dismissively of state dinners, a key component of a state visit. In 2015, Mr Trump panned president Barack Obama's decision to welcome Chinese president Xi Jinping on a state visit that year.
“I would not be throwing (Xi) a dinner,” Mr Trump said at the time. “I would get him a McDonald’s hamburger and say we’ve got to get down to work.”
Xi was among those who feted Mr Trump last year, pouring on the pageantry as he welcomed Mr Trump to Beijing on what the Chinese billed as a “state visit, plus”.
Not since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s has a president ended his first year in office without hosting a foreign leader for a state visit, according to the White House Historical Association.
Mr Coolidge assumed office in 1923 after the sudden death of President Warren G Harding, and was elected to a full term in 1924. He didn’t hold a state dinner until October 1926, for Queen Marie of Romania, according to the association.
Every president since Mr Coolidge has hosted at least one state visit in their first year.
Mr Trump last year accepted an invitation for a state visit to Britain from the UK's Queen Elizabeth. A date still has not been set.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Short-term let permits explained
Homeowners and tenants are allowed to list their properties for rental by registering through the Dubai Tourism website to obtain a permit.
Tenants also require a letter of no objection from their landlord before being allowed to list the property.
There is a cost of Dh1,590 before starting the process, with an additional licence fee of Dh300 per bedroom being rented in your home for the duration of the rental, which ranges from three months to a year.
Anyone hoping to list a property for rental must also provide a copy of their title deeds and Ejari, as well as their Emirates ID.
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Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
