U.S. President Donald Trump listens as South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers a statement from the Rose Garden after meetings at the White House - ReutersLONDON - 12 January 2018: U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a visit to London scheduled for early this year, saying he was disappointed with the "Obama administration having sold" the U.S. embassy in the British capital. "(The) reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having 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," Trump said in a tweet late on Thursday (January 11).However, the embassy website showed that the decision to move the location was taken months before Barack Obama took office in January 2009.The U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the UK said in October 2008 the embassy would be relocated for security reasons. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!," Trump said on Twitter.The United States is leaving behind an imposing 1960 stone and concrete embassy in London's upmarket Grosvenor Square - an area known as 'Little America' during World War Two, when the square also housed the military headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.The new embassy on the South Bank is a veritable fortress set back at least 100 feet (30 meters) from surrounding buildings - mostly newly-erected high-rise residential blocks - and incorporating living quarters for the U.S. Marines permanently stationed inside.The $1 billion construction, overlooking the River Thames, was wholly funded by the sale of other properties in London.

Source: Egypt Today January 12, 2018 06:00 UTC