der

Duhan van der Merwe, for one, wants “to leave a legacy” as he prepares to earn his 50th cap versus the USA at Murrayfield on Saturday.

“There’s still a lot more to give. I wouldn’t say there’s something I want to achieve as an individual, but as a team, I probably want to look forward to this autumn nations and go and win all four games,” the Edinburgh wing said.

“Looking at the Six Nations, have a real go at that. We’ve been talking about that over the last couple of years. Hopefully, the day I retire, I’ll be able to say I’ve won a Six Nations.”

Things are looking brighter for Scotland heading into this campaign than they were for this year’s Six Nations, when a crippling injury list grew to such horrendous proportions that any chance of a title challenge was mortally wounded before the action even kicked off.

Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings, Kyle Steyn and all the others have returned, with Huw Jones the only notable absentee for this autumn series.

The healthy Scottish representation on the summer British and Irish Lions tour – 12 Scots tasted action in Australia – should also inject some fresh confidence into the group.

For Van der Merwe, however, it was a mixed experience. Having played all three matches in the Test series in South Africa in 2021, he failed to break into Andy Farrell’s matchday squad for any of the three Tests against the Wallabies.

“It was obviously bittersweet,” the 30-year-old said.

“It was a really special tour to be involved in that. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected in one of the Tests, but I’ll be taking it game by game just to try and be at my best for Scotland.

“I’m not going to particularly look at a single game and say, ‘you guys didn’t select me’ and I’m going to try and have my best game’. I’m just going to take it game by game to show what I can do as a player.”

Van der Merwe has shown exactly what he can do in a Scotland jersey since his Test debut against Georgia in 2020.

He delivered a taste of what was to come in his first Scotland outing with a try – and he has gone on to amass 32 of them in 49 caps to become the country’s record try-scorer.

Starting against the USA will give him a chance to extend that record – and an opportunity to enjoy a personal milestone that seemed unlikely when he started his rugby journey in Scotland five years ago.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “When I made my debut back five years ago, I never thought I’d be sitting here making my 50th. It’s just a very special moment for myself and my family.

“I came over as a pretty raw player back in 2017 to Edinburgh. So to be on the receiving side of a couple of walk-ins and a couple of lucky tries against England kind of just shows the hard work that I’ve put in over the last couple of years.

“There’s been a lot of special memories over the last five years. I’m not getting any younger, am I? I kind of have to make the most out of what I think I’ve got left. I’ve got so much more to give over the next couple of years.”

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Russia is suspected of interfering with the Global Positioning System of a jet carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union said Monday

She was in a chartered jet Sunday headed from Poland to southern Bulgaria as part of a tour of eastern EU countries, including “front line” states of Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and Romania bordering Russia and Belarus. She was expected to discuss defense readiness as part of the tour.

Bulgaria borders Romania and is 1,000 miles from western Russia.

Despite no functional GPS, the plane landed safely at its intended airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, though pilots relied on paper maps, the Financial Times reported.

Von der Leyen, accompanied by Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, visited an arms producer in Sopot.

On Monday, she traveled to Lithuania and Romania.

“We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia,” Arianna Podesta, deputy spokesperson of the commission, said in a statement obtained by Politico.

“This incident underlines the urgency of the president’s current trip to frontline member states, where she has seen firsthand the everyday threats from Russia and its proxies.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Bulgaria’s information was “incorrect.”

Bulgaria’s government explained how the plane landed at the airport.

“Air Traffic Services immediately proposed an alternative landing approach using ground-based navigation aids [Instrument Landing System],” the Bulgarian government said in a news release. “The ground-based navigation aids used in Bulgaria are independent of GPS systems. We further clarify that there was no need to divert the flight.”

Without correct GPS information, there is a risk of colliding with other planes or unintentionally flying into the ground, water or other object.

“Threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions,” the European Commission said, adding they would “ramp up our defense capabilities and support for Ukraine.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, GPS jamming has worsened, Cyrille Rosay, a senior cybersecurity expert at the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, told the BBC.

The BBC reported no proven link has yet been established between Russia and GPS jamming.

Bulgaria, which was a satellite state in the Soviet Union with Russia until the collapse in 1989, has had a “noticeable increase” in GPS incidents, the nation’s Air Traffic Services Authority said.

In March 2024, a British air force plane carrying Defense Secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal jammed while flying close to Russia’s Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania. Legitimate signals are replaced with fake ones, indicating an incorrect location.

“They have gone from isolated incidents to being normalized,” Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Program, told the BBC. “No one has been willing or able” to convince Moscow to stop an expanding “campaign of interference.”

Airlines operating around the Baltic coast in the last few years in three countries — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — have reported tens of thousands of jamming incidents.

The navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was disrupted due to suspected Russian interference, the European Commission has said.

A spokesperson said the “GPS jamming” happened while the Commission president was about to arrive in southern Bulgaria on Sunday, but she still landed safely.

They added: “We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.”

The Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that von der Leyen’s plane had to land at Plovdiv Airport with the pilots using paper maps.

The European Commission said “threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions” and that the incident would reinforce its commitment to “ramp up our defence capabilities and support for Ukraine”.

The EU will deploy additional satellites into low Earth orbit with the aim of bolstering its ability to detect GPS interference, the bloc’s Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said following the incident.

The Bulgarian government confirmed that, during the flight, “the satellite signal transmitting information to the plane’s GPS navigation system was neutralised”.

The statement continued: “To ensure the flight’s safety, air control services immediately offered an alternative landing method using terrestrial navigation tools.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the FT that its information was “incorrect”.

The Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority said there had been a “noticeable increase” in GPS incidents, including jamming, since February 2022 – when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of incidents of jamming have been reported by airlines operating around the Baltic coast in the last few years. The three Baltic nations – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – are bookended by Russian territory.

In March 2024, an RAF plane carrying the UK’s then-Defence Secretary Grant Schapps reported a spoofing incident – in which legitimate signals are replaced with fake ones, indicating a false location.

The plane, which had been flying near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Poland and Lithuania, was able to continue its journey safely.

The issue has become so prevalent that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) convened a special conference in 2024 to discuss spoofing incidents – warning they could “pose significant challenges to aviation safety”.

Moscow regularly denies accusations of interference or attacks on commercial aviation, and no proven link has yet been established between Russia and the rise in GPS jamming.

But European governments and experts regularly blame Russia, claiming such practices fit with an alleged Kremlin strategy to generally sow disorder and undermine European security.

While planes can rely on other forms of navigation than GPS, jamming it mid-flight can increase the risk of collisions – either with other planes or by causing the pilot to unintentionally fly into the ground, water or other obstacle.

Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme, told the BBC such interference had indeed become a “constant feature” of flying near Russia, disrupting time and positioning services that had “previously been taken for granted”.

“They have gone from isolated incidents to being normalised,” he said, adding that “no one has been willing or able” to convince Moscow to stop an expanding “campaign of interference”.

Von der Leyen was visiting Bulgaria as part of a tour of eastern EU states to discuss defence readiness.

A Commission spokesperson said she had “seen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies” during the tour.

United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold crunch talks with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland after weeks of intense trade talks between the two sides as Brussels aims to ink a deal with Washington to avoid a transatlantic trade war.

Von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will meet with the US president at his Turnberry golf club in Scotland on Sunday. European ministers are hoping the meeting will result in a deal to avoid the 30 percent tariffs that Trump has threatened on EU goods.

According to people involved in the talks, European negotiators are aiming for tariffs to be set at 15 percent. Trump told reporters on Friday that the bloc “want[s] to make a deal very badly”.

On July 12, Trump threatened to impose the 30 percent tariffs if no agreement could be secured by his deadline, which expires on Friday. That would come on top of the 25 percent tariffs on cars and car parts and 50 percent levies on steel and aluminium already in place.

The EU, Washington’s biggest trading partner, has been a frequent target of Trump’s escalating trade rhetoric with the president accusing the bloc of “ripping off” the US.

In 2024, EU exports to the US totalled 532 billion euros ($603bn). Pharmaceuticals, car parts and industrial chemicals were among the largest exports, according to EU data.

Will the Trump-von der Leyen meeting achieve a breakthrough and end the uncertainty in transatlantic trade ties?

What are the main differences between the two sides?

The US president told reporters at Turnberry on Friday that there are “20 sticking points”.

When asked what they were, he said: “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”

At the same time, he described von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and predicted their meeting on Sunday would be “good”, rating the chances of a deal as “50-50”.

On the European side, it is understood that a growing number of EU countries are calling for Brussels to push ahead with an already prepared retaliatory tariffs package on 90 billion euros ($109bn) of US goods, including car parts and bourbon, if talks break down.

The two sides, which traded 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) in goods and services  in 2023, have been negotiating since April 9 when Trump paused what he calls his “reciprocal” tariffs, which he placed on nearly all countries.

During that time, the US has been charging a flat 10 percent levy on all EU products as well as 25 percent on cars and 50 percent on steel and aluminium.

This month, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said: “We have to protect the EU economy, and we need to go for these rebalancing measures.”

Still, the bloc is understood to be rife with disagreement over  trade policies with the US. While Germany has urged a quick deal to safeguard its industries, other EU members, particularly France, have insisted EU negotiators must not cave in to an asymmetrical deal that favours the US.

On Saturday, von der Leyen spokesperson Paula Pinho said: “Intensive negotiations at technical and political [level] have been ongoing between the EU and US. Leaders will now take stock and consider the scope for a balanced outcome that provides stability and predictability for businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.”

What have the US and EU traded with each other?

In 2024, the US-EU goods trade reached nearly $1 trillion, making the EU the single largest trading partner of the US.

In total, the US bought $235.6bn more in goods than it sold to the 27 countries that make up the EU. On the other hand, the US earned a surplus on services trade with the EU.

The US mainly bought pharmaceutical products from the EU as well as mechanical appliances, cars and other nonrailway vehicles – totalling roughly $606bn.

The US exported fuel, pharmaceutical products, machinery and aircraft to the EU to the tune of $370bn.

Why have they struggled to ink a deal so far?

Like all the nations the US runs a trade deficit with, Trump has long accused the EU of swindling his country and is determined that Brussels adopt measures to lower its goods trade surplus with the US.

Washington has repeatedly raised concerns over Europe’s value-added tax as well as its regulations on food exports and IT services. Trump has argued that these controls act as nontariff trade barriers.

Indeed, Sefcovic recently told the Financial Times that he wants to reduce the US-EU trade deficit by buying more US gas, weapons and farm products.

And while European leaders want the lowest tariffs possible, they “also want to be respected as the partners that we are”, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

On July 14, meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels that “we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools”.

He added: “If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.” Negotiators in Scotland are hoping it doesn’t come to that.

This month, Oxford Economics, an economic forecasting consultancy, estimated that a 30 percent tariff could push the EU “to the edge of recession”.

Countermeasures from the EU would also hit certain US industries hard. European tariffs could reduce US farmers’ and auto workers’ incomes, which are key Trump constituencies.

The majority of Andy Farrell’s Test squad is more or less settled, but there were some guys out there playing for big stakes.

Hugo Keenan needed a reassuring display at full-back given that Blair Kinghorn will miss the first Test in Brisbane. And he delivered. Jac Morgan was competing for the open-side jersey that’s flitted between himself, Josh van der Flier and Tom Curry. Morgan was influential.

With the news coming through about Ringrose, Huw Jones picked a good night to have a big game. His partnership with Sione Tuipulotu was convincing.

By the time Farrell entered the fray the game was over as a contest, but he looked good all the same, although there are bigger examinations to come, of course.

After so many slow starts, the Lions must have craved a fast one – and they made it happen.

Hansen was good in the air, Morgan was good on the floor and Keenan was particularly good when taking a quick line-out throw that was at the heart of the first try, the brilliant Jones giving the pass for Van der Merwe to score.

Within a blink of an eye, White had taken advantage of a giant amount of space at the side of a ruck and he ran away to the posts. Smith’s conversion made it 12-0. The high hopes some might have had for the AUNZ side started to disappear into the night sky above the Adelaide Oval at that point.

The Lions were slick and sharp, the best they’ve been on tour. Ruthless, too. Pollock might have been held up in the corner, but it didn’t really matter. Soon enough, Tuipulotu and Smith were putting Van der Merwe away for the big man’s second try of the night.

More good stuff from Jones and more reminders of what a world-class attacker he is. If the Lions get bad news on Ringrose then what a player they have in Jones, who’s been getting better and better since returning from injury.

May 14 (UPI) — The European Court of Justice Wednesday ruled there was no plausible reason to block The New York Times from getting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s texts with a Pfizer executive.

The commission blocked the texts from being released to the newspaper, claiming it did not hold them.

“The Commission decision refusing a journalist of The New York Times access to the text messages exchanged between President von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer is annulled,” the court ruling said.

The court said Matina Stevi, a journalist with The New York Times, requested access to all text messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla between Jan. 1, 2021, and May 11, 2022.

The texts were secret messages before a multi-billion-dollar vaccine deal was reached between the European Union and Pfizer.

The commission rejected the request for the texts on the grounds that the commission did not hold the requested documents.

But the court ruling said Stevi and The New York Times “succeeded in rebutting the presumption of non-existence and of non-possession of the requested documents.”

The court added that the commission “has not given a plausible explanation to justify the non-possession of the requested documents.”

The court found the commission should have provided a more detailed explanation on why the documents were withheld.

The commission has the right to appeal the decision.

“The commission will now closely study the General Court’s decision and decide on next steps. To this effect, the Commission will adopt a new decision providing a more detailed explanation,” it said in a statement.

“Transparency has always been of paramount importance for the commission and President von der Leyen. We will continue to strictly abide by the solid legal framework in place to enforce our obligations.”

HEC Paris Business School law professor Alberto Alemanno said the court decision would enhance accountability for EU leaders.

“This judgment provides a fresh reminder that the EU is governed by the rule of law, with its leaders subject to the constant scrutiny of free media and of an independent court,” Alemanno said.

Dutch MEP Raquel Garcia Hermida-van der Walle called the court decision a “slam dunk for transparency.”

“People just want and are allowed to know how decisions are made, it is essential in a democracy. Even if it was done over a text message,” she said.