Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 17 January 2018
New US Embassy criticized by Trump opens in London

By GREGORY KATZ on immigration and cli-
Associated Press mate change. Substantial
LONDON (AP) — The new protests were expected.
U.S. Embassy in London, London Mayor Sadiq Khan,
criticized last week by Presi- who Trump has repeatedly
dent Donald Trump as too criticized, said Trump seems
expensive and poorly lo- to have “got the message”
cated, opened its doors to that many Londoners find
the public Tuesday for the his policies to be intolerant
first time. and wrong.
The gleaming embassy, in Trump is still invited for a
the formerly industrial Nine state visit — to be hosted
Elms neighborhood in south by Queen Elizabeth II — but
London, replaces the em- no date has been set. The
bassy in Grosvenor Square invitation was extended
that had for decades been by the British government
associated with the U.S. nearly a year ago during
presence in the United Trump’s first days in office.
Kingdom. That building has U.S. officials say the new
been sold to a Qatari gov- embassy cost $1 billion
ernment investment fund (1.38 billion pounds) and
planning to turn it into a was paid for entirely with
luxury hotel. money raised by the sale
U.S. officials say it would A Visa Services gazebo stands outside as the first group of Visa applicants to go into the new of other U.S. government
United States Embassy building in London, wait in line outside, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The new U.S.
have cost hundreds of mil- Embassy in London, criticized last week by President Donald Trump as too expensive and poorly properties in London.
lions of dollars to upgrade located, opened its doors to the public Tuesday for the first time. The new building, with its
security at the older build- (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) distinctive cube shape, is
ing and bring it up to mod- location for 1.2 billion dol- with cranes as a number of cause the procedures had nearly twice as large as the
ern safety standards. lars. Bad deal. Wanted me major towers are shooting worked well during the day. Grosvenor Square facility. It
Trump tweeted last week to cut ribbon-NO!” up in the blocks surround- Though Trump blamed pre- is the single most expensive
that he would not come to There were no ceremonies ing the embassy, which is decessor Barack Obama embassy building ever built
London to open the new to mark the public open- helping the area’s rejuve- for the expensive new em- by the United States.
embassy because it repre- ing of the facility and some nation. bassy in his angry tweet, Robert Johnson, appoint-
sented a poor investment. landscaping features were Visa processing was begin- the project was in fact an- ed by Trump as U.S. am-
The president’s tweet read: still being put in place. A ning in a “soft” rollout of the nounced in October 2008 bassador to Britain, called
“Reason I canceled my trip line of evergreen trees was new facility. Officials said 50 during the presidency of the new energy-efficient
to London is that I am not being planted at the edge applicants were processed George W. Bush. embassy a “bargain” dur-
a big fan of the Obama of the site, and only a rela- Tuesday. The embassy ini- Trump’s plans to visit Brit- ing a pre-opening tour for
Administration having sold tively small number of peo- tially planned to process ain have met resistance journalists last month. He
perhaps the best located ple showed up on official 200 people per day for from some politicians and said the embassy, which
and finest embassy in Lon- business. the rest of the week, but activists who disagree with does not have a perimeter
don for “peanuts,” only to The formerly rundown doubled that figure to 400 his policies on a number of fence, is both welcoming
build a new one in an off neighborhood is littered late Tuesday afternoon be- fronts, including his actions and secure.q

Even the eyelashes freeze: Russia sees minus 88.6 degrees F

MOSCOW (AP) — Even falling to the bottom of a
thermometers can’t keep thermometer that was only
up with the plunging tem- set up to measure down to
peratures in Russia’s re- minus 50 degrees. In 2013,
mote Yakutia region, Oymyakon recorded an
which hit minus 67 degrees all-time low of minus 71
Celsius (minus 88.6 degrees degrees Celsius (minus 98
Fahrenheit) in some areas Fahrenheit).
Tuesday. But the press office for Ya-
In Yakutia — a region of 1 kutia’s governor said Tues-
million people about 3,300 day that all households
miles (5,300 kilometers) and businesses in the re-
east of Moscow — students gion have working central
routinely go to school even heating and access to
in minus 40 degrees. But backup power generators.
school was canceled Tues- Residents of Yakutia are no
day throughout the region strangers to cold weather
and police ordered par- and this week’s cold spell
ents to keep their children was not even dominat-
inside. ing local news headlines
In the village of Oymya- In this photo taken on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, Anastasia Gruzdeva, left, poses for selfie with her Tuesday. But some media
kon, one of the coldest in- friends as the temperature dropped to about -50 degrees (-58 degrees Fahrenheit) in Yakutsk, outlets published cold-
habited places on earth, Russia. Temperatures in the remote, diamond-rich Russian region of Yakutia have dropped to weather selfies and stories
state-owned Russian tele- near-record lows, plunging to -67 degrees Centigrade (-88.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. about stunts in the extreme
vision showed the mercury (sakhalife.ru photo via AP) cold.q