Biden visits Queen Elizabeth’s coffin as UK counts down to funeral

Biden visits Queen Elizabeth’s coffin as UK counts down to funeral
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, London, Sunday Sept. 18, 2022. (AP)
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Updated 18 September 2022

Biden visits Queen Elizabeth’s coffin as UK counts down to funeral

Biden visits Queen Elizabeth’s coffin as UK counts down to funeral
  • Biden crossed himself and put his hand on his heart as he stood with his wife Jill on a gallery overlooking the flag-draped casket
  • Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, French President Macron and other heads of state headed for a reception with UK king

LONDON: US President Joe Biden paid his last respects in London to Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday, as time ticked down for ordinary mourners to view her coffin ahead of the funeral.
Biden crossed himself and put his hand on his heart as he stood with his wife Jill on a gallery overlooking the flag-draped casket in the cavernous Westminster Hall while members of the public filed by.
After witnessing the somber scene, the US leader, Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, French President Emmanuel Macron and other heads of state from around the world headed for a reception with King Charles III.
Biden, who flew in late Saturday, has said Charles’s mother, who reigned for a record-breaking 70 years until her death on September 8 aged 96, “defined an era.”
Australia’s anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state and met Charles on Saturday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was “a constant reassuring presence.”




Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales (L) speaks with First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska (L) during a meeting at Buckingham Palace on September 18, 2022. (AFP)


There was also a private audience at Buckingham Palace for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, which like Australia and 12 other Commonwealth realms now counts Charles as its sovereign.
“You could see that it meant a huge amount (to Charles) to have seen the sheer scale and outpouring of people’s love and affection for her late Majesty,” she told BBC television Sunday.
But in a sign of challenges ahead for the new king, Ardern added that she expected New Zealand to ditch the UK monarchy “over the course of my lifetime.”
Members of the public were already camping out in advance to catch a glimpse of Monday’s grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers worldwide.




President of Singapore Halimah Yacob and her husband Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee pay their respects as they pass the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, as it Lies in State inside Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster in London on September 18, 2022. (AFP)

E.J. Kelly, a 46-year-old school teacher from Northern Ireland, secured a prime spot with friends on the route the procession will take after the funeral.
“Watching it on television is wonderful but being here is something else,” she told AFP, equipped with camping chairs, warm clothing and extra socks.
“I will probably feel very emotional when it comes to it, but I wanted to be here to pay my respects.”
Crowds also thronged around Windsor Castle, west of London, where the queen’s coffin will be driven after the service for a private burial to lay her to rest alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never seen it this busy,” said Donna Lumbard, 32, a manager at a local restaurant.




A picture of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and floral tributes are displayed in a window in Windsor on September 18, 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8. (AFP)


Starting with a single toll from Big Ben, British Prime Minister Liz Truss will lead a national minute’s silence at 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Sunday to reflect on the “life and legacy” of the queen.
Near the Scottish town of Falkirk, 96 lanterns were to be lowered into a “pool of reflection” at the foot of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal, before wreaths are placed in the water.
Those wanting to view the flag-draped casket have until 6:30 am (0530 GMT) on Monday to make it into Westminster Hall opposite the abbey.
As the queue continued to snake for miles (kilometers) along the River Thames on Sunday, the waiting time stood at more than nine hours, and the line is likely to be closed by the evening.
“To avoid disappointment please do not set off to join the queue,” the government said.
Andy Sanderson, 46, a supermarket area manager, was in the line and finally reaching parliament.
“She was the glue that kept the country together,” he said.
“She doesn’t have an agenda whereas politicians do, so she can speak for the people.”

As mourners slowly filed by on Saturday evening, Prince William and his estranged younger brother Prince Harry led the queen’s eight grandchildren in a 12-minute vigil around the coffin.
Harry — who did two tours with the British Army in Afghanistan — wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals cavalry regiment in which he served.
The move appeared to be the latest olive branch offered by Charles toward Harry and his wife Meghan after they quit royal duties and moved to North America, later accusing the royal family of racism.
Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 am.
Reflecting on the queen’s wishes for the hour-long ceremony, the former archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said she “did not want what you call long, boring services.”
“The hearts and people’s cockles will be warmed,” he told BBC television.
Leaders from Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea were not invited to join the 2,000 guests.
Moscow’s foreign ministry last week called the decision “deeply immoral,” and “blasphemous” to the queen’s memory. China will attend at the abbey, but was barred by parliamentary leaders from the lying-in-state.
As their private grief has played out in the glare of global attention, a fresh opinion poll from YouGov showed the royal family’s popularity has risen in the UK.
William and his wife Kate topped the ranking of most popular royals while Charles saw his approval ratings rise 16 points since May.
The queen’s second son Prince Andrew, in disgrace over his links to billionaire US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, paid tribute Sunday to the queen’s “knowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment.”
Camilla gave her first public comments as the new queen consort, recalling her mother-in-law’s smile and “wonderful blue eyes.”
“It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman” in a world dominated by men, Charles’s wife said in televised comments.
“There weren’t women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role.”


Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack
Updated 19 sec ago

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack
  • Deadly mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, but a female attacker is highly unusual
  • There have been 89 school shootings — defined as anytime a gun is discharged on school property — in the US so far in 2023
At least three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday before police shot dead the shooter, who appeared to be a teenage girl.
Police began receiving calls of a shooter at The Covenant School at 10:13 a.m.. Officers could hear gunfire coming from the school’s second floor, Don Aaron, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, told reporters.
The shooter had at least two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, Aaron said. Two officers from a five-member team shot at her in what Aaron described as a lobby area and she was dead by 10:27 a.m..
“We do not know who she is at this juncture,” Aaron said.
Deadly mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, but a female attacker is highly unusual. Only four of the 191 mass shootings since 1966 catalogued by The Violence Project, a nonprofit research center, were carried out by a female attacker.
There have been 89 school shootings — defined as anytime a gun is discharged on school property — in the US so far in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, a website founded by researcher David Riedman. Last year saw 303 such incidents, the highest of any year in the database, which goes back to 1970.
Three students were pronounced dead after arriving at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds, John Howser, a hospital spokesperson, said in a statement. Three adult staff members were killed by the shooter, police said.
Besides the deceased, no one else was shot, Aaron said.
Students’ parents were told to gather at a nearby church.
The Covenant School, founded in 2001, is a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville with about 200 students, according to the school’s website. The school serves preschool through 6th graders and held an active shooter training program in 2022, WTVF-TV reported.

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis
Updated 34 min 23 sec ago

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis
  • Hoban’s company made over £6m in 2022 primarily by finding bridging hotels for Afghan refugees

LONDON: A former travel agent made £2.19 million ($2.7 million) in 2022 from winning UK government contracts to house migrants in hotels, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.

Debbie Hoban is one of the most prominent private-sector chiefs profiting from the UK’s crippling refugee crisis.

Her Leeds-based company, Calder Conferences, made more than £6 million last year, primarily by finding bridging hotels for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.

The company is now among many being paid to house small-boat arrivals and other asylum seekers in nearly 400 hotels throughout the UK, the Daily Mail reported.

Hoban lives in a £3 million country farmhouse with four bedrooms, a triple garage, swimming pool, jacuzzi, and basement wine cellar. Social media shows on her lavish trips to India’s Taj Mahal and attending the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

The BBC revealed that due to a severe scarcity of official accommodation a total of 395 hotels in the UK are being used to house 51,000 asylum seekers. This costs taxpayers more than £6.8 million per day.

“The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain,” a British Home Office spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

“The Home Office is committed to making every effort to reduce hotel use and limit the burden on the taxpayer,” they added.

In early 2020, Calder was reported to have had secret talks on behalf of the Ministry of Justice to support housing up to 2,000 prisoners in a Butlin’s holiday camp in the English east-coast town of Skegness to alleviate the jails crisis during the coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Mail reported.

Calder’s representatives met with Butlin’s executives and discussed a £10 million scheme to place low-risk prisoners in leisure facilities. However, senior government officials halted the plan before it could be implemented.

The Daily Mail approached Calder Conferences for a comment, but were told, “we decline to comment.”


Humza Yousaf becomes Scotland’s first Muslim leader

Humza Yousaf, the first Muslim leader of a major UK political party, faces an uphill battle to bring Scotland independence
Humza Yousaf, the first Muslim leader of a major UK political party, faces an uphill battle to bring Scotland independence
Updated 27 March 2023

Humza Yousaf becomes Scotland’s first Muslim leader

Humza Yousaf, the first Muslim leader of a major UK political party, faces an uphill battle to bring Scotland independence
  • Glasgow-born Yousaf took oath in English and Urdu when first elected to Scottish Parliament in 2011
  • Yousaf vowed in victory speech Monday to deliver independence in this generation

EDINBURGH: Humza Yousaf, the first Muslim leader of a major UK political party, faces an uphill battle to revive Scotland’s drive for independence following the long tenure of his close ally Nicola Sturgeon.
The new and youngest Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, 37, says his own experience as an ethnic minority means he will fight to protect the rights of all minorities.
The Glasgow-born Yousaf took his oath in English and Urdu when he was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011, before progressing to become the first Muslim to serve in the devolved government’s cabinet.
He has been hailed by his supporters as a polished communicator who can unite the party as support stagnates for the SNP’s central policy — independence for Scotland.
Despite the UK government’s opposition to a new referendum, and a Supreme Court setback, Yousaf vowed in his victory speech Monday to deliver independence in this generation.
And, as his wife and mother brushed away tears, he paid tribute to his paternal grandparents after they came to Scotland from Pakistan in the 1960s barely speaking English.
They would not have imagined “in their wildest dreams” that their future grandson would become the leader of their adopted homeland.
“We should all take pride in the fact that today we have sent a clear message: that your color of skin or indeed your faith is not a barrier to leading the country that we all call home,” Yousaf said.
He also vowed to be his own man as Scotland’s first minister. But far from running away from Sturgeon’s controversial record, he also says he will keep his experienced predecessor on “speed dial” for advice.
That has fed into critics’ portrayal of Yousaf as a political lightweight who will remain in thrall to Sturgeon’s camp.
At the same time, he is promising a more collegial style of leadership. “Mine would be less inner circle and more big tent,” he told LBC radio.
With the independence push stymied for now, following Sturgeon’s more than eight-year tenure as first minister, Yousaf takes over facing crises in health care and education under the SNP’s own watch in Scotland.
His record as Sturgeon’s minister for justice and health care was savaged on the campaign trail by his chief rival, Kate Forbes, and Yousaf must also heal a fractured party after its bruising leadership election.
Yousaf says he was toughened after facing racist abuse growing up in Glasgow, especially after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
“I’ve definitely had tough times,” he recalled, reflecting on his time in politics.
“I’ve thought to myself, ‘goodness, is there more that I can take personally’ because I also come under a tremendous amount of abuse online and, unfortunately, sometimes face to face.”
Yousaf’s Pakistani-born father forged a successful career in Glasgow as an accountant. The new SNP leader’s mother was born into a South Asian family in Kenya.
Yousaf attended an exclusive private school in Glasgow, two years behind Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
He studied politics at Glasgow University, and worked in a call center before becoming an aide to Sturgeon’s predecessor as SNP leader and first minister, Alex Salmond.
Yousaf entered the Scottish cabinet in 2012, serving in various roles including justice, transport and most recently health.
He married former SNP worker Gail Lythgoe in 2010, but they divorced seven years later.
In 2021 he and his second wife Nadia El-Nakla launched a legal complaint against a nursery, accusing it of racial discrimination after it denied admission to their daughter.
The complaint was upheld by education inspectors but the couple have now dropped it, and the nursery denied the accusations.
He was accused of deliberately skipping a Scottish vote to legalize gay marriage in 2014, due to pressure from Muslim leaders.
Yousaf insisted he had a prior engagement, and contrasts his own record to Forbes’ religiously conservative views as a member of a Scottish evangelical church.
He says he will “always fight for the equal rights of others” and not legislate based on his own faith.
But one person’s constitutional position will not be protected in a Yousaf-led Scotland — that of King Charles III.
“I’ve been very clear, I’m a republican,” he told Scottish newspaper The National, calling for debate on whether Scotland should move to an elected head of state.


Kremlin denies Turkish media reports of planned Putin visit to Ankara

Kremlin denies Turkish media reports of planned Putin visit to Ankara
Updated 27 March 2023

Kremlin denies Turkish media reports of planned Putin visit to Ankara

Kremlin denies Turkish media reports of planned Putin visit to Ankara

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday denied Turkish reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to visit the Turksih capital, Ankara.

Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported on Monday that the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria may hold consultations in Moscow in early April.


Police fire tear gas as fresh protests erupt in Kenya despite ban

Police fire tear gas as fresh protests erupt in Kenya despite ban
Updated 27 March 2023

Police fire tear gas as fresh protests erupt in Kenya despite ban

Police fire tear gas as fresh protests erupt in Kenya despite ban
NAIROBI: Police fired tear gas to disperse anti-government protests on Monday over the high cost of living, after the opposition vowed demonstrations would go ahead despite a police ban.
Security was tight, with riot police stationed at strategic points in Nairobi and patrolling the streets, while many shops were shut and train services from the capital’s outskirts into the central business district were suspended.
Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga has urged people to take to the streets every Monday and Thursday, even after protests a week ago turned violent and paralyzed parts of Nairobi.
Police clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators in Nairobi’s largest slum Kibera, where protesters set tires on fire, defying a warning by the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome who said Sunday that the rallies were “illegal” and would be banned.
The situation was calmer elsewhere in the city, with a heavy police presence in neighborhoods where protests had taken place last week.
During last Monday’s clashes in Nairobi and opposition strongholds in western Kenya, a university student was killed by police fire while 31 officers were injured as running battles erupted between riot police and demonstrators.
More than 200 people were arrested, including several senior opposition politicians, while protesters — as well as Odinga’s own motorcade — were hit with tear gas and water cannon.


It was the first major outbreak of political unrest since President William Ruto took office more than six months ago after defeating Odinga in an election his rival claims was “stolen.”
Despite the police ban, Odinga called Sunday on Kenyans to join what he has described as “the mother of all demonstrations.”
“I want to tell Mr.Ruto and the IG Koome that we are not going to be intimidated,” he said. “We are not going to fear tear gas and police.”
Odinga also accused Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua of orchestrating an operation to cause “mayhem” at Monday’s rallies.
Nairobi residents were wary after the previous violence.
“I may have to close too because I have seen most of my neighbors are closed,” said Mercy Wangare, an Mpesa (mobile money) kiosk attendant at an electronics shop.
“I am just weighing the situation before I decide because the sight of these policemen patrolling around is a sign that it may not end up well.”
The Communications Authority of Kenya has sought to prevent television stations from broadcasting the demonstrations live, but the move was blocked by the High Court.


Ruto, who is currently on a four-day trip to Germany and Belgium, has urged his rival to halt the action.
“I am telling Raila Odinga that if he has a problem with me, he should face me and stop terrorizing the country,” he said Thursday.
“Stop paralysing the businesses of mama mboga, matatu and other Kenyans,” he said, referring to women stallholders and private minibus operators.
Many Kenyans are struggling to put food on the table, battling high prices for basic goods as well as a plunging local currency and a record drought that has left millions hungry.
“If the leaders don’t talk, it is us who are affected. They are rich people, it is who will sleep hungry,” motorcycle taxi driver Collins Kibe told AFP.
During the election campaign, Ruto portrayed himself as champion of the downtrodden and vowed to improve the lot of ordinary Kenyans.
But critics say he has broken several campaign promises and has removed subsidies for fuel and maize flour — a dietary staple.
Demonstrators in Kibera, an Odinga stronghold, on Monday banged empty pots and pans as they faced off against police, chanting “we don’t have maize flour.”
Kenya’s energy regulatory body has also announced a hike in electricity prices from April, despite Ruto insisting in January there would be no such increase.
Last week’s protests proved costly, with Gachagua saying the country had lost at least $15 million.
Police said Friday they had launched a manhunt for suspects involved in last week’s riots, and published photographs showing people throwing rocks at police, burning tires and vandalising property.
But an AFP Fact Check investigation found that a number of the photographs were old and unrelated to Monday’s events.
And on Saturday, a red-faced Directorate of Criminal Investigations issued an apology on Twitter for what it said was a “mix-up of images.”