News
Prince and Princess of Wales Arrive in US, Meghan Markle Outed in New Book
On Wednesday, the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived in the United States for the first time in eight years. Their arrival comes as Meghan Markle is outed as a “merciless opportunist” in a new book.
Their arrival comes days after Prince William’s godmother, who was also the late Queen Elizabeth‘s lady-in-waiting, resigned after making racist and “unacceptable” remarks to a Black visitor at Buckingham Palace.
However, the start of the visit was overshadowed by the resignation and apology of 83-year-old Lady Susan Hussey, one of William’s six godmothers, following racism claims from William’s brother Harry and mixed-race sister-in-law, Meghan.
“Racism has no place in our society,” the royal couple’s spokesman told reporters in Boston.
“These comments were unacceptable, and it is appropriate that the individual resigned with immediate effect.”
William was not involved in the decision but “believes it is the correct course of action,” according to the spokesman.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker greeted the heir to the British throne and Kate as they stepped off the plane.
They were then scheduled to meet at Boston City Hall with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, US Climate Envoy John Kerry, and America’s Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy.
The royal couple’s first trip abroad since William, 40, became heir to the throne in September, when his father succeeded Queen Elizabeth II to become King Charles III.
They last visited the United States in 2014, when they visited New York and Washington and attended a White House reception with then-President Barack Obama and his deputy, Joe Biden.
According to the White House, Biden will meet with the royal couple on Friday.
“Kate and I are overjoyed to be back in America,” William said shortly after arriving.
It’s also their first trip to the United States since Harry and Meghan abruptly left the royal family in early 2020. There has been no announcement of a meeting between the estranged brothers.
The visit will conclude with a star-studded ceremony for William’s Earthshot Prize initiative to combat climate change on Friday evening.
The awards ceremony, dubbed “William’s Superbowl moment” by royal insiders, is now in its second year and awards five innovators pound sterling 1 million (US$1.2 million).
Several celebrities are set to perform at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, including Billie Eilish and Annie Lennox, sisters Chloe x Halle, and actor Rami Malek.
They will also visit charities working with disadvantaged youth and a laboratory specializing in green technologies.
New book Outs Meghan Markle as “Merciless Opportunist.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s story began as a fairytale romance. However, it devolved into heated debates and family feuds somewhere along the way.
Tom Bower’s New Book Revenge delves into the gruesome details.
He, too, believes he knows who is to blame. Although the book’s full title is Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors, Markle is the true subject of the book.
Markle’s beginnings did not foreshadow the international drama that was to follow. She was born in 1981 in Los Angeles to Thomas Markle, 37, and Doria, 24. Thomas was a white TV lighting director. Doria was Black, a free spirit attempting to make a name for herself as a designer.
The marriage ended in divorce. But Thomas adored his new daughter, whom he referred to as “his whole life, his little princess,” according to Tom Jr, his son from a previous marriage.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s story began as a fairytale romance. However, it devolved into heated debates and family feuds somewhere along the way.
When Doria started traveling for her fashion business, Thomas took full custody. Meghan was nine years old.
She was already used to being in the spotlight. “Meghan was videoed sitting on a red blanket, wearing a gold crown at a friend’s birthday party,” Bower writes.
“She had been influenced after watching a tape of Princess Diana’s fairytale wedding and directed the other girls to bow and intone to her ‘Your Royal Highness.'”
Her father catered to her need for attention by paying for acting classes, ballet classes, and lighting for her school plays. He also paid for her college education – $45,000 per year to study drama at Northwestern – and assisted her in getting her place and a used car after graduation. He even covered the cost of the gas.
Father corrected Meghan’s Story.
Years later, he was astounded when Markle delivered speeches to working-class college students, claiming to understand their financial difficulties. “I’m sorry,” her father told the press, “but that is completely false.” “I paid her tuition in full, and I have the bank statements to prove it.”
Markle went on a slew of Hollywood auditions after graduating from college. Few were successful. She was one of the Deals or No Deal hosts.
Working Actress is an anonymous blog where she complains about having to “kiss actors with smelly breath.” She fell in love with and married a young producer.
Bower refers to marriage as a “starter marriage.” However, Markle had already landed a role on Suits. As her profile grew, she began pursuing endorsement deals and speaking engagements. She also began to drift away from her father and her past. Friends who attempted to maintain contact noticed a shift.
“The tone of her voice, her mannerisms, and the way she laughed no longer seemed real to me,” one said. “It was like a light went out.”
With the success of Suits, she landed some Canadian TV commercials, including one for a Christian charity. Then, in the summer of 2016, during a Suits junket in London, Markle met a fashion publicist who was a childhood friend of Harry’s.
According to Bower, Markle asked the publicist if she could set up the actress with the prince.
The honeymoon period with the media was brief.
A meeting was eventually set up at a private London club. The woman wasn’t surprised when Markle breathlessly told her agent. “I could see where she was coming from,” the agent explained. “Her desire to marry a prince was even documented in one of her old blogs.”
The date went well, and Markle and Harry began seeing each other regularly. The Sunday Express broke the news four months after the couple’s first date. “The British media was ecstatic,” writes Bower. ‘He’s happier than he’s been in many years,’ according to The Times.”
British tabloids began looking into Markle’s American ancestors. The reporting grew snobbish, even racist. According to the press, her father lived in a run-down Hollywood apartment. They claimed her mother was from the ghetto. They referred to Markle’s estranged half-sister as “a social climber with a soft spot for gingers.”
Following the formal announcement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement, there was a second burst of positive press coverage.
A still-adoring Harry invited Markle to spend the weekend in the country with his friends. It went differently than planned. She was a mixed-race, liberal, feminist Yankee. They were white, wealthy, conservative British men who enjoyed hunting, horseback riding, drinking, and making politically incorrect jokes.
Markle was irritated and let them know.
Harry’s friends quickly texted each other after the party ended. “Wait, what about HER?” “A complete nightmare.”
As previously stated, Harry proposed, and she accepted. Following the formal announcement, there was a second burst of positive press coverage.
However, the family remained cautious. Diana’s brother, Harry’s Uncle Charles, advised him not to rush. William, his older brother, advised him to “get to know the girl.” Harry didn’t pay attention.
Meghan Markle’s mother was the only relative who attended her wedding. According to a spokesperson, her father was too ill to travel.
The wedding plans were carried out. The friction increased as well. Staff at the palace complained that Markle was rude and demanding. Her half-sister had already dubbed her “Princess Pushy.”
There were disagreements about the wedding menu, music, and guest list. A conversation with Markle’s soon-to-be-sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, reportedly ended in Kate’s tears as the two argued over the dress Kate’s 3-year-old was to wear.
Throughout, Harry stood up for his fiancée. “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets!” he exclaimed finally.
His grandmother, the Queen, then summoned him for a private meeting. “He was firmly put in his place,” according to the Times.
Over 17 million people watched the wedding. Attendees included George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams. Her mother was the only member of Markle’s family to attend.
According to a spokesperson, her father was too ill to travel. The spokesperson did not say whether the father and daughter were still speaking.
Markle Always Needed to be a Celebrity
The wedding itself went off without a hitch. But what happened next? Traditionally, the new bride would be expected to step back and play a supporting role at this point.
But Markle had always wanted to be a celebrity. She wanted to handle her publicity and pursue new charitable or commercial opportunities.
“The Royal Family had embraced a media junkie determined to capitalize on her newfound celebrity,” Bower claims.
“She had never intended to give up her career and become a devoted family member.”
Journalists began comparing the two young royal couples, and the younger pair were found wanting. This only fueled Markle’s rage. “She despised the comparisons to uncomplaining Kate,” Bower observes. The gap between the two brothers widened.
When Harry suggested they be more respectful of Meghan, William reacted angrily, citing her willful ignorance of protocol and rudeness to her staff. “Meghan’s behavior,” Bower reports, “was unacceptable to him.”
Harry was furious. Markle was heartbroken. There were dark days ahead, and she later admitted to having suicidal thoughts. In 2020, the couple decided that the only thing to do was to abandon everything. They would relinquish any role as “working royals,” Harry stated.
The couple has since relocated to California, where they focus on multi-media business ventures, a charitable foundation, and their two young children.
What did they leave behind in England? Only bad feelings, Bower insists. He describes Markle as a “merciless opportunist.”
Business
United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents
United Airlines is attempting to reassure passengers following a spate of accidents on its Boeing jets this year. In a statement to customers, the airline states that safety is “at the center of everything that we do.”
“While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have captured our attention and sharpened our focus,” CEO Scott Kirby wrote in a Monday morning statement to customers.
United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents
On Friday, a United Boeing 737-800 landed in Medford, Oregon, missing an underside fuselage panel.
Earlier this month, United experienced four mishaps, all involving Boeing jets. A United Boeing 737-900ER blew flames from its engine after takeoff from Houston, a Boeing 777 lost a wheel during takeoff from San Francisco, a Boeing 737 Max slipped off a runway in Houston, and a United Boeing 777 trailed hydraulic fluid as it left Sydney.
“Our team is reviewing the details of each case to understand what happened and using those insights to inform our safety training and procedures across all employee groups,” Kirby continued.
The airline is extending pilot training by one day, retooling training for new mechanics, and “dedicating more resources to supplier network management.”
Passengers witnessing a run of negative articles about the airline and its Boeing jets may consider booking elsewhere. In its letter, the airline is attempting to keep consumers from departing. As of the end of last year, 81% of the jets used on United’s mainline operations were manufactured by Boeing, compared to little more than half of the jets in rivals Delta and American Airlines’ mainline fleets.
Aside from the problems on flights, the most dramatic Boeing incident this year featured an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, which lost a door stopper on a January 5 flight, resulting in a gaping hole in the plane’s side. And last week, a Latam Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, fell unexpectedly, throwing some passengers to the cabin ceiling.
United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents
Investigators are still investigating the causes of both events, but a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board showed Boeing left the bolts required to keep the door plug in place on the 10-week-old Alaska Air jet. Boeing asserted that an incident in the cockpit rather than a problem with the aircraft’s systems may have caused the Latam accident.
The age of the aircraft in the United incidents suggests that the problem could be with their staff rather than Boeing’s well-documented quality faults. For example, Boeing purchased the jet that lost its panel on a Friday trip in 1998. So, Boeing’s quality difficulties are likely unrelated to that occurrence.
However, Boeing’s issues have impeded United’s operations. Due to the FAA’s production slowdown, it has halted hiring a new class of pilots since it will receive fewer new planes from Boeing this year, as previously promised. In January, the Alaska Air incident grounded its 737 Max 9 jets for three weeks.
United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents
Furthermore, approval of a new generation of Boeing jets, the 737 Max 10, ordered by United, has been delayed due to the company’s quality and safety issues.
Kirby told investors last week that United is considering purchasing more jets from Boeing competitor Airbus. He also stated earlier this year that the Alaska Air incident was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” on United’s plans to receive deliveries of the Max 10 in the near future.’
SOURCE – (CNN)
Politics
For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.
According to new data, the world’s oceans have now been subjected to an unprecedented year of heat, with new temperature records being smashed every day.
Global water surface temperatures began breaking daily records in mid-March last year, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, raising fears about marine life and extreme weather worldwide.
For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.
“The amplitude by which previous sea surface temperature records were beaten in 2023, and now again in 2024, is remarkable,” said Joel Hirschi, associate head of marine systems modelling at the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom.
Gregory C. Johnson, a NOAA oceanographer, reported that the global average ocean temperature in 2023 was 0.25 degrees Celsius higher than the previous year. That increase “is equivalent to about two decades’ worth of warming in a single year,” he told CNN. “So it is quite large, quite significant, and a bit surprising.”
According to scientists, human-caused global warming, along with El Niño, a natural climate trend characterized by higher-than-average water temperatures, is accelerating heat.
The biggest repercussions are for marine life and global weather. As the global waterwarms, hurricanes and other extreme weather phenomena, such as blistering heat waves and heavy rains, may gain more force.
High temperatures are already wreaking havoc on coral. In March, based on aerial observations, authorities declared that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is witnessing its seventh mass bleaching episode.
Bleaching happens when heat-stressed corals release the algae that dwell in their tissue and serve as a food supply. If water temperatures continue too high for too long, corals will starve and die.
For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.
Data from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program suggest that the crisis extends far beyond Australia, with the world potentially facing a fourth worldwide mass coral bleaching event in the coming months.
Ocean heat creates the conditions for more powerful hurricanes. “The warmer the ocean, the more energy to fuel storms is available,” said Karina von Schuckmann, an oceanographer at Mercator Ocean International in France.
Temperatures in the North Atlantic, an water area important for storm generation, have been unusual, startling some scientists who are still investigating the specific causes.
“At times, the records (in the North Atlantic) have been broken by margins that are virtually statistically impossible,” Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, said to CNN.
If water temperatures remain high in the second half of 2024 and a La Niña event intensifies the Atlantic hurricane season, “this would increase the risk of a very active hurricane season,” Hirschi explained.
The oceans contain around 90% of the world’s excess heat generated by burning planet-heating fossil fuels. “Measuring water warming allows us to track the status and evolution of planetary warming,” Schuckmann stated in an interview with CNN. “The ocean is the sentinel for global warming.”
El Niño is expected to weaken and fade in the coming months, perhaps reducing record water temperatures if La Niña replaces it.
For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.
“In the past, surface temperature values have decreased after the passage of El Niño,” Schuckmann said. However, she cautioned that it is now hard to forecast when water temperatures will fall below record levels.
While natural climatic variability will cause water temperatures to vary, NOAA’s Johnson predicts that in the long run, they will “continue to break records as long as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere rise.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
News
Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote
Vladimir Putin won a historic fifth term as Russia’s president on Monday, as the electoral commission announced the results of a referendum in which he faced no serious challenges and took place amid the toughest crackdown on dissent and free speech since Soviet times.
Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote
Putin claimed that the landslide majority demonstrated Russians’ “trust” and “hopes” in him, while lawmakers throughout Europe blasted the vote as a hoax and Russia’s efforts to conduct elections in seized portions of Ukraine that it claims as its territory.
Here’s what Putin, European leaders, and others say:
“Of course, we have a lot of work ahead. But I’d like to clarify one thing: no one has ever been able to intimidate or stifle our will or self-conscience since our consolidation. They have failed in the past and will fail in the future. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.
“The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights, and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression.” – Statement from the European Union.
“These Russian elections highlight the intensity of repression under President Putin’s administration, which tries to stifle all dissent to his illegal war. Putin eliminates his political opponents, controls the media, and declares himself the winner. “This is not a democracy.” — David Cameron, UK Foreign Secretary.
Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote
“Searches at voting stations’ entrances, attempts to examine ballots before voters place them in ballot boxes, and detentions of voters who arrived at noon. According to reports, at one voting location in Moscow, police asked that the chairman of a commission (of poll workers) unlock a ballot box and hand them a ballot with anything inscribed on it. This is the first time in my life that I have witnessed such ridiculousness.” — Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of Golos, the independent election watchdog, on Telegram.
Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote
“The Russian election was one without a choice. Holding so-called elections in portions of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia violates international law. It is all the more amazing that so many Russians made it known over the weekend that they do not agree with this Russian president. That you go to a polling station even if you’re surrounded by military earns me the highest respect.” — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
SOURCE – (AP)
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