Queen Elizabeth’s coffin lowered into vault ahead of private burial

Queen Elizabeth’s coffin lowered into vault ahead of private burial
King Charles III places the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II, held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. (AP)
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Updated 19 September 2022

Queen Elizabeth’s coffin lowered into vault ahead of private burial

Queen Elizabeth’s coffin lowered into vault ahead of private burial
  • Later in the evening, in a private family service, the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband will be buried together
  • They will be buried in the same chapel where the queen’s parents and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest

WINDSOR, England: Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was lowered into a vault at Windsor Castle, her final resting place, on Monday after a day of inimitable pageantry that drew world leaders to her funeral and huge crowds to the streets to say farewell to a revered monarch.
Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers lined the route her hearse took from London, throwing flowers, cheering and clapping as it passed from the city to the English countryside that she so loved much.
Many more had crammed into the capital to witness the procession and funeral, in a moving tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch who won global respect during 70 years on the throne.




Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince George of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales look at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II. (AFP)


Inside the majestic Westminster Abbey where the funeral was held, some 500 presidents, prime ministers, foreign royal family members and dignitaries, including Joe Biden of the United States, were among the 2,000 congregation.
Later the attention switched to St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, where some 800 guests attended a committal service ahead of her burial.
It concluded with the crown, orb and sceptre — symbols of the monarch’s power and governance — being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar.
The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, then broke his ‘Wand of Office’, signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and placed it on the casket before it slowly descended into the royal vault.




US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive for the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in central London, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. (AP)

As the congregation sang the national anthem, King Charles appeared to be fighting back tears.
Later in the evening, in a private family service, the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband of more than seven decades, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will be buried together in the same chapel where her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest.
It was in the same vast building that the queen was photographed mourning Philip alone during the pandemic lockdown, reinforcing the sense of a monarch in synch with her people during a testing time.




Members of the public on The Mall in central London listen to the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. (Reuters)

At the funeral, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told those present that the grief felt by so many across Britain and the wider world reflected the late monarch’s “abundant life and loving service.”
“Her late majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth,” he said.
“Rarely has such a promise been so well kept. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen.”
Music that played at the queen’s wedding in 1947 and her coronation six years later again rang out. The coffin entered to lines of scripture set to a score used at every state funeral since the early 18th century.
After the funeral, her flag-draped casket was pulled by sailors through London’s streets on a gun carriage in one of the largest military processions seen in Britain, involving thousands of members of the armed forces dressed in ceremonial finery.




Royal Navy Sailors walk ahead and behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, as it travels on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London on September 19, 2022. (AFP)


They walked in step to funeral music from marching bands, while in the background the city’s famous Big Ben tolled each minute. King Charles and other senior royals followed on foot.
The casket was taken from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and transferred to a hearse to travel to Windsor, where more big crowds waited patiently.
Among those who came from around Britain and beyond, people climbed lampposts and stood on barriers and ladders to catch a glimpse of the royal procession.
Some wore smart black suits and dresses. Others were dressed in hoodies, leggings and tracksuits. A woman with dyed green hair stood next to a man in morning suit as they waited for the London procession to begin.
Millions more watched on television at home on a public holiday declared for the occasion, the first time the funeral of a British monarch has been televised.
“I’ve been coming to Windsor for 50 years now,” said Baldev Bhakar, 72, a jeweller from the nearby town of Slough, speaking outside Windsor Castle.
“I saw her many times over the years; it felt like she was our neighbor and she was just a lovely woman; a beautiful queen. It was good to say one last goodbye to our neighbor.”




The hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II drives through Windsor Castle ahead of the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II at St. George's Chapel, in Windsor, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. (AP)


Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle, her summer home in the Scottish highlands.
Her health had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out hundreds of official engagements well into her 90s had withdrawn from public life.
However, in line with her sense of duty she was photographed just two days before she died, looking frail but smiling and holding a walking stick as she appointed Liz Truss as her 15th and final prime minister.
Such was her longevity and her inextricable link with Britain that even her own family found her passing a shock.
“We all thought she was invincible,” Prince William told well-wishers.
The 40th sovereign in a line that traces its lineage back to 1066, Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952 and became Britain’s first post-imperial monarch.
She oversaw her nation trying to carve out a new place in the world, and she was instrumental in the emergence of the Commonwealth of Nations, now a grouping comprising 56 countries.
When she succeeded her father George VI, Winston Churchill was her first prime minister and Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union. She met major figures from politics to entertainment and sport including Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Pele and Roger Federer.




The cortege carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. (Reuters)


Despite being reputedly 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, she dominated rooms with her presence and became a towering global figure, praised in death from Paris and Washington to Moscow and Beijing. National mourning was observed in Brazil, Jordan and Cuba, countries with which she had little direct link.
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life,” Welby said during the funeral. “Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”
The tenor bell of the Abbey — the site of coronations, weddings and burials of English and then British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years — tolled 96 times.
Among the hymns chosen for the service were “The Lord’s my Shepherd,” sung at the wedding of the queen and her husband Philip in the Abbey in 1947. In the royal group following the casket into the Abbey was the queen’s great-grandson and future king, Prince George, aged nine.




King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince William, and Prince Harry, from left, follow the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried towards Saint George's chapel for her funeral at Windsor castle, Britain, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP)


In addition to dignitaries, the congregation included those awarded Britain’s highest military and civilian medals for gallantry, representatives from charities supported by the queen and those who made “extraordinary contributions” to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards the end of the service, the church and much of the nation fell silent for two minutes. Trumpets rang out before the congregation sang “God Save the King.” Outside, crowds joined in and broke into applause when the anthem was over.
The queen’s piper brought the service to an end with a lament called “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep” that faded to silence.


Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky
Updated 12 sec ago

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky
  • Crew members were flying two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, operated by the 101st Airborne Division
  • The HH-60 is a variant of the Black Hawk helicopter designed to provide support for various military operations
The governor of Kentucky said on Thursday fatalities were expected after two US Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine training mission over the state late on Wednesday.
The status of the crew members was not immediately known, the US Army’s Fort Campbell said in a statement, without providing the number of people who were on board.
“We’ve got some tough news out of Fort Campbell, with early reports of a helicopter crash, and fatalities are expected,” governor Andy Beshear said in a post on Twitter, adding that local authorities and emergency services were responding to the accident.
Crew members were flying two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, operated by the 101st Airborne Division, which crashed at around 10:00 p.m. ET (0200 GMT Thursday) in Kentucky’s Trigg County, Fort Campbell’s public affairs office said.
“The command is currently focused on caring for the service members and their families,” the statement said, adding that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The HH-60 is a variant of the Black Hawk helicopter designed to provide support for various military operations, including air assaults and medical evacuations, according to the Army.

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US
Updated 30 March 2023

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US
  • Paul Rusesabagina’s arrival in San Antonio was announced by his daughter Carine Kanimba
  • Rusesabagina was credited with sheltering more than 1,000 ethnic Tutsis at the hotel he managed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide

HOUSTON: The man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” and was freed by Rwanda last week from a terrorism sentence returned Wednesday to the United States and joined his family after being held for more than two years.
Paul Rusesabagina’s arrival in San Antonio was announced by his daughter Carine Kanimba, who tweeted that “our family is finally reunited today.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that “we’re glad to have him back on US soil.”
Rusesabagina’s plane first touched down in Houston and the 68-year-old would visit a military hospital in San Antonio, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.
Rusesabagina, a US legal resident and Belgian citizen, was credited with sheltering more than 1,000 ethnic Tutsis at the hotel he managed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed. He received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts.
Rusesabagina disappeared in 2020 during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs. His family alleged he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will to stand trial.
In 2021, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted in Rwanda on eight charges including membership in a terrorist group, murder and abduction following the widely criticized trial.
Last week, Rwanda’s government commuted his sentence after diplomatic intervention on his behalf by the United States. On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Rusesabagina was in Doha, Qatar, and would make his way back to the US.
Rusesabagina had been accused of supporting the armed wing of his opposition political platform, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change. The armed group claimed some responsibility for attacks in 2018 and 2019 in southern Rwanda in which nine Rwandans died.
Rusesabagina testified at trial that he helped to form the armed group to assist refugees but said he never supported violence – and sought to distance himself from its deadly attacks.
Rusesabagina has asserted that his arrest was in response to his criticism of longtime President Paul Kagame over alleged human rights abuses. Kagame’s government has repeatedly denied targeting dissenting voices with arrests and extrajudicial killings.
Rusesabagina became a public critic of Kagame and left Rwanda in 1996, first living in Belgium and then the US.
His arrest was a source of friction with the US and others at a time when Rwanda’s government has also been under pressure over tensions with neighboring Congo and Britain’s plan to deport asylum-seekers to the small east African nation.
Rights activists and others had been urging Rwandan authorities to free him, saying his health was failing.
In October, the ailing Rusesabagina signed a letter to Kagame that was posted on the justice ministry’s website, saying that if he was granted pardon and released to live in the US, he would hold no personal or political ambitions and “I will leave questions regarding Rwandan politics behind me.”
Last year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Kagame in Rwanda and discussed the case.
Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, had said Sullivan personally engaged in the case, “really doing the final heavy lifting to get Paul released and to get him on his way home.”


Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
Updated 30 March 2023

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
  • The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff has the infection but did not have COVID-19
  • Francis is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, amid concern for the 86-year-old’s condition.
The 86-year-old pontiff was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after complaining of breathing difficulties over the past few days, the statement said. Tests showed he had the infection but did not have COVID-19, it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the Vatican said.
Francis, who this month marked 10 years as pope, is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems. He had part of one lung removed in his early 20s when training to be a priest in his native Argentina.
His latest hospitalization comes ahead of a Palm Sunday service on April 2 that marks the start of a hectic week of ceremonies leading to Easter Sunday on April 9, throwing into doubt whether he would be able to lead them as customary.
Francis’ health has attracted increased scrutiny in the past two years, during which he has undergone colon surgery and begun using a wheelchair or a walking stick due to chronic pain in one knee.
The Vatican had initially said the pope had gone to hospital on Wednesday for a scheduled check-up. But Italian media reported he arrived in an ambulance after canceling a television interview at the last minute.
Francis had attended his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the morning, appearing in good health.
In Argentina, the faithful offered prayers for the recovery of the pope, who has not returned to his homeland since leaving for the Vatican a decade ago.
“If the Pope could listen to us, I would tell him that we need him because the reform that he faced is not finished,” said Marcela Mazzini, a professor at Inmaculada Concepcion Seminary in Buenos Aires, where the pope, then called Jorge Mario Bergoglio, studied.
The son of Italian immigrants, the future pope lived modestly when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, traveling by public transport and keeping a low profile when he visited the poor in shanty towns, where many still remember him.
The leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics suffers from diverticulitis, a condition that can infect or inflame the colon, and was operated on at the Gemelli hospital in 2021 to remove part of his colon.
He said in January that the condition had returned and that it was causing him to put on weight, but that he was not overly concerned. He did not elaborate.
Francis said in an interview last year that he preferred not to have surgery on his troublesome knee because he did not want a repeat of long-term negative side effects from anesthesia that he suffered after the 2021 operation.
Last July, returning from a trip to Canada, Francis acknowledged that his advancing age and his difficulty walking might have ushered in a new, slower phase of his papacy.
But since then he has visited Kazakhstan and Bahrain and made a trip last month to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
He has also committed to visiting Hungary in late April, Portugal in August and the French city of Marseille in September. He has said, if it can be arranged, he would want to then fly from Marseille to Mongolia.
After praising his late predecessor Benedict XVI’s historic decision to resign on health grounds in 2013, Francis has indicated he would follow the example only if he were gravely incapacitated.


Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks
Updated 30 March 2023

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks
  • Group known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP is separate but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban
  • TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Taliban militants killed four police officers by targeting a police vehicle with a roadside bomb and wounded six in an attack on a police station in northwest Pakistan early Thursday, police and the insurgents said.
The bomb killed four officers in a police vehicle carrying reinforcements sent to respond to the attack on a police station in Lakki Marwat, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Six officers were wounded in the attack at the police station.
Local police officer Ashfaq Khan said a search was underway for the militant suspects who attacked the police station in Lakki Marwat and later targeted the police vehicle with a bomb.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP is separate but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. There has been an uptick in attacks in Pakistan after the Pakistani Taliban ended a cease-fire with the government of Pakistan.
TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops were leaving the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in the past two decades but there has been an uptick since November, when the TTP ended a monthslong Afghan Taliban-brokered cease-fire with the government of Pakistan.


Death toll in Philippine ferry blaze rises to 31: governor

Death toll in Philippine ferry blaze rises to 31: governor
Updated 33 min 53 sec ago

Death toll in Philippine ferry blaze rises to 31: governor

Death toll in Philippine ferry blaze rises to 31: governor
  • MV Lady Mary Joy 3 enroute to Jolo island from the southern port city of Zamboanga when it caught fire midway off Basilan close to midnight, says governor

MANILA: The number of people killed in a fire that ripped through a ferry in the southern Philippines has risen to 31, the local governor said Thursday, after more bodies were found inside the burned-out wreckage.

“We initially have 13 deaths recorded, then we have 18 new deaths, so it’s now 31 deaths,” Basilan governor Jim Hataman-Salliman said.

Many of those rescued had jumped off the ferry in panic at the height of the fire and were plucked from the sea by the coast guard, navy, another ferry and local fishermen, said Hataman-Salliman. The search and rescue effort was continuing Thursday.

The governor said most of those onboard the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 were rescued overnight but authorities were double-checking the numbers from different rescue teams, suggesting the figures could change.

The ferry was enroute to Jolo town in Sulu province from the southern port city of Zamboanga when it caught fire midway off Basilan close to midnight, he said.

The dead included at least three children, who apparently were separated from their parents, and at least 23 passengers were injured and brought to hospitals, he said.

“Some of the passengers were roused from sleep due to the commotion caused by the fire. Some jumped off the ship,” Hataman-Salliman said by telephone.

Most of those who died drowned and were recovered at sea, officials said.

The burned ferry has been towed to Basilan’s shoreline and an investigation was underway, Hataman-Salliman said.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.