King Charles III crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey

Britain's King Charles III with the St Edward's Crown on his head attends the Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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Updated 06 May 2023
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King Charles III crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey

  • The historic and solemn event dates back to the time the new king’s predecessor William the Conqueror in 1066
  • British PM says ‘no other country could put on such a dazzling display’ as some display anti-monarchy sentiments

LONDON: King Charles III was crowned on Saturday in Britain’s biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a sumptuous display of pageantry dating back 1,000 years.

In front of a congregation of about 100 world leaders and a television audience of millions, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, slowly placed the 360-year-old St Edward’s Crown on Charles’ head as he sat upon a 14th-century throne in Westminster Abbey.

The historic and solemn event dates back to the time of the 74-year-old’s predecessor William the Conqueror in 1066.

Charles’ second wife Camilla, 75, will be crowned queen during the two-hour ceremony, which while rooted in history, is also an attempt to present a forward-looking monarchy, with those involved in the service reflecting a more diverse Britain and leaders from all faiths.

For a nation struggling to find its way in the political maelstrom after its exit from the European Union and maintain its standing in a new world order, its supporters say the royal family provides an international draw, a vital diplomatic tool and a means of staying on the world stage.

“No other country could put on such a dazzling display - the processions, the pageantry, the ceremonies, and street parties,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

Despite Sunak’s enthusiasm, the coronation takes place amid a cost of living crisis and public skepticism, particularly among the young, about the role and relevance of the monarchy.

Saturday’s event was on a smaller scale than that staged for Queen Elizabeth in 1953, but still sought to be spectacular, featuring an array of historical regalia from golden orbs and bejeweled swords to a scepter holding the world’s largest colorless cut diamond.

Charles automatically succeeded his mother as king on her death last September, and the coronation is not essential but regarded as a means to legitimize the monarch in a public way.

The king and queen left Buckingham Palace for the abbey in the modern, black Diamond State Jubilee Coach accompanied by cavalrymen wearing shining breastplates and plumed helmets.

Hundreds of soldiers in scarlet uniforms and black bearskin hats lined the route along The Mall, the grand boulevard to Buckingham Palace. Tens of thousands ignored the light rain to mass in a crowd more than 20 deep in some places to watch what some saw as a moment of history.

“The split second glance of seeing the king is really important but I think the whole day as well ... the idea of the nation coming together. You very much feel the pride in the nation,” said Mark Strasshine after the royal coach went by.

However, not all were there to cheer Charles, hundreds of republicans booed and waved banners reading “Not My King.”

More than 11,000 police were deployed to stamp out any attempted disruption, and the Republic campaign group said its leader Graham Smith had been arrested along with five other protesters.

“It is an unequal and out of date system because it has a hereditary billionaire individual born into wealth and privilege who basically symbolizes the inequality of wealth and power in our society,” said lawmaker Clive Lewis, who was among the anti-monarchy protesters.

GREAT AND GOOD

Inside the abbey, bedecked with flowers and flags, politicians and representatives from Commonwealth nations took their seats alongside charity workers and celebrities, including actors Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and US singer Katy Perry.

Much of the ceremony featured elements that Charles’ forebears right back to King Edgar in 973 would recognize, officials said. Handel’s coronation anthem “Zadok The Priest” was sung as it has been at every coronation since 1727.

But there was also the new, including an anthem composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, famed for his West End and Broadway theatre shows, and a gospel choir.

Charles’ grandson Prince George and the grandchildren of Camilla acted as pages, and although a Christian service, at the end there will be an “unprecedented” greeting from faith leaders.

However, there was no formal role for either Charles’ younger son Prince Harry, after his high-profile falling out with his family, or his brother Prince Andrew, who was forced to quit royal duties because of his friendship with late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

They sat in the third row behind working members of the royal family.

Charles looked serious as he swore oaths to govern justly and uphold the Church of England - of which he is the titular head - before the most sacred part of the ceremony when he was anointed on his hands, head and breast by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby with holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem.

After being presented with symbolic regalia, Welby placed the St Edward’s Crown on his head and the congregation cried out “God save the King.”

After the service, Charles and Camilla will depart in the four-ton Gold State Coach built for George III, the last king of Britain’s American colonies, riding to Buckingham Palace in a one-mile procession of 4,000 military personnel from 39 nations.

It will be the largest show of its kind in Britain since the coronation of Charles’ mother.

“When you see everyone dressed up and taking part it is just fantastic. It makes you so proud,” said teacher Andy Mitchell, 63, who left his house in the early hours to get into London.

“My big concern is that younger people are losing interest in all of this and it won’t be the same in the future.”


India launches attack on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir

Updated 3 sec ago
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India launches attack on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian armed forces launched "Operation Sindoor," hitting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted, the statement added.


Germany’s Merz voices ‘concern’ on Gaza, to send foreign minister to Israel

Updated 18 min 30 sec ago
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Germany’s Merz voices ‘concern’ on Gaza, to send foreign minister to Israel

  • Friedrich Merz said FM Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that ‘we are currently preparing this trip together’
  • Friedrich Merz: ‘Israel must remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations’

BERLIN: Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday voiced “considerable concern” about the Gaza conflict and said he would send his foreign minister to Israel this weekend.

The conservative Merz, 69, long a strong supporter of Israel, said that Israel has a right to fight the Palestinian militant group Hamas but must follow international law.

Merz, who took office on Tuesday, said Germany’s new Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that “we are currently preparing this trip together.”

Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans for the “conquest” of Gaza, an official said Monday, and Israel’s military has said expanded operations would entail displacing “most” of its residents to the southern part of the territory.

Merz, speaking to public broadcaster ARD, said: “We view the developments of the last few days with considerable concern.”

“Israel has the right to defend itself against the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and everything that followed,” said Merz.

“But Israel must also remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations, especially as this terrible war is raging in the Gaza Strip, where this confrontation with Hamas terrorists is necessarily taking place.”

He added that “it must be clear that the Israeli government must fulfil its obligations under the international law of war and that humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip must be provided.”


Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement

Updated 34 min 36 sec ago
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Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement

  • Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws
  • Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement

TALLINN: Authorities in Belarus opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old activist who became the face of the country’s pro-democracy protests in 2020, a rights organization said Tuesday.
Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws on holding and organizing protests, Belarus’ Viasna human rights center said.
Authorities accused Bahinskaya of repeatedly walking the streets of the Belarusian capital displaying symbols striped with white, red and white: the same colors used by Belarus’ pro-democracy opposition. If found guilty, the activist faces up to three years in prison.
Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement, which reached its peak during mass protests in the summer of 2020, shortly after the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, was declared president for a sixth consecutive term.
Observers widely condemned the vote as rigged. In March, Lukashenko was sworn in to a seventh term.
Bahinskaya’s defiance and caustic tongue quickly has made her a popular opposition figure. When told by police in 2020 that she was violating a government ban on unauthorized demonstrations, she simply responded, “I’m taking a walk” — a snappy reply that was adopted by thousands and chanted at demonstrations.
“I noticed that the riot police more rarely beat protesters when they see elderly people among them,” she told The Associated Press at the time. “So I come out to protest as a defender, an observer and a witness. I’m psychologically and intellectually stronger than the police. Even among those who detained me, there were people who respected me.”
The 2020 protests triggered a wave of police violence from Belarusian security services, and political repression that has engulfed the country of 9.5 million people.
More than 65,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been beaten by police, and independent media and nongovernmental organizations have been shut down and outlawed, prompting condemnation and sanctions from the West.
Belarus holds about 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. At least six political prisoners have died in prison, according to human rights activists.
Bahinskaya has been previously detained on multiple occasions, collecting fines totaling 7,200 Belarusian rubles (about $2,400).
As part of the case against her, Bahinskaya was detained in early May and taken for a forced psychiatric examination, Viasna said. In April, UN experts reported that Belarusian authorities had resumed the Soviet practice of forced psychiatric treatment as a punishment for political dissent, and that at least 33 cases of punitive psychiatry had already been recorded against political prisoners.
“Bahinskaya is a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism within the country, and it is important for the authorities to break her,” Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka told the AP. “This is a show case against an elderly person who has dedicated her entire life to the fight for freedom.”
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives and works in exile in Lithuania, also condemned the case.
“Today, the regime is still afraid of Nina Bahinskaya’s courage,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “For decades, Nina has stood up to tyranny.”


Putin tells Pezeshkian Russia wants ‘fair’ US-Iran nuclear deal

Updated 06 May 2025
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Putin tells Pezeshkian Russia wants ‘fair’ US-Iran nuclear deal

  • The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing ‘logistical reasons’ for the delay
  • Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022

MOSCOW/TEHRAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow wants a “fair” nuclear deal between the US and Iran and was ready to help advance talks, the Kremlin said.

“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to contribute to the promotion of this dialogue with the goal of reaching a fair agreement based on the principles of international law,” the Kremlin said in a readout of a call between the leaders.

The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons” for the delay.

The two countries have held three rounds since April 12, their highest-level contact since the US withdrew from a landmark deal with Iran in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as president.

Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022. 

The two countries, both under massive Western sanctions, signed a strategic partnership earlier this year. 

Most recently, Moscow has sent two planes to help put down a fire after a deadly explosion in Iran’s biggest commercial port.

Russia earlier confirmed its readiness to help find a diplomatic solution to the stand-off between Washington and Tehran, and to play any role in the talks.

A fourth round of talks is likely to take place over the weekend in Muscat, with Iranian state media pointing to May 11 as a probable date.

Cautioning that the timing was not yet finalized, an Iranian source close to the negotiating team said: “The talks will take place over two days in Muscat, either on Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.”

Top US negotiator Steve Witkoff also said Washington was trying to hold the next round of talks this weekend, according to the news site Axios, a day after Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached with his administration to resolve the long-standing dispute.

Western countries say Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.


Indonesia bus crash leaves at least 12 dead

Updated 06 May 2025
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Indonesia bus crash leaves at least 12 dead

PADANG: A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said.

The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra’s Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police.

He said police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned.

The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said.

Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition.

Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.