The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Cheers and some boos greet royal tour in Quebec
- Monaco's Prince Albert marries in royal pomp
- U.S. slams Gaddafi threat to attack Europe
| Cheers and some boos greet royal tour in Quebec Posted: 02 Jul 2011 09:02 PM PDT MONTREAL (Reuters) - Well-wishers outnumbered anti-monarchist protesters greeting Britain's Prince William and Kate on Saturday as the royal newlyweds' tour of Canada arrived in French-speaking Quebec. No violence was reported, but groups supporting Quebec nationalism reminded onlookers the monarchy is still a touchy subject in Quebec, where Britain's defeat of France in 1759 gave it sovereignty over Canada.
One protest sign in English read; "Parasite Go Home" while another read in French; "Free Scotland. Free Quebec" according to Reuters photographers on the scene. The protesters used megaphones to shout over a line of riot police, but their calls were often countered by chants from the larger crowd supporting the nine-day visit that began on Thursday in the national capital Ottawa. Monarchy supporters hope the tour will reinvigorate the royal family's image in Canada, which they would also nominally rule if they eventually become king and queen of Britain. Aides say the couple are enjoying the visit, and have occasionally fallen behind schedule after taking more time than had been scheduled to greet well-wishers. The couple visited a hospital neonatal unit, then went to a cooking school where they donned chefs' uniforms to cover William's dark blue suit and Kate's gray Kensington dress as they prepared food during a cooking lesson. The couple are scheduled to spend the night on a Canadian Navy frigate as it travels down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to Quebec City. (Reporting by Louise Egan, Chris Wattie and Christine Muschi; Writing by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; Editing by Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Monaco's Prince Albert marries in royal pomp Posted: 02 Jul 2011 08:01 PM PDT MONACO (Reuters) - Monaco's sovereign ruler Prince Albert wed South African Charlene Wittstock on Saturday in an opulent ceremony attended by European royalty and the international elite, fanning hopes for a new era of glamour.
The 53-year-old married Wittstock, 33, in the courtyard of his palace at the foot of a marble double staircase lined with white flowers. The long-awaited nuptials are the first of a ruling prince in Monaco since the prince's father, Prince Rainier III, married the Hollywood star Grace Kelly in 1956, and comes two months after Britain's wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Albert winked at his bride, who smiled shyly, as they sat on red velvet chairs holding hands, while the voice of a South African singer filled the courtyard. The long white train of Wittstock's Giorgio Armani duchess satin gown encrusted with thousands of tiny crystals flowed over the red carpet. The groom wore the white dress uniform of Monaco's Carabinieri royal guard. Albert's sisters Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, both dressed in pink, smiled as they watched the couple wed in front of a crowd including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, Armani and opera singer Renee Fleming. Gathered to witness the event was a who's-who of Europe's royal families: Albert, King of Belgium, Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Felipe and Letizia of Spain among others. Another 3,500 attendees sat outside to watch the festivities on giant TV screens. The couple married in a civil ceremony in the palace throne room on Friday. The wedding puts a spotlight on the tiny principality built around images of luxury and its ancient House of Grimaldi whose family members have ruled since 1297. One royal fan travelled from the Netherlands to cheer and thousands of well-wishers are expected to flood the city state surrounded on three sides by France. "We have followed the whole history, the life of the principality of Monaco," said Meina Meyes. "We really feel like part of the family because we know everything about them." After the ceremony, Her Serene Highness will lay her bouquet at a nearby chapel, just as Princess Grace once did. A wedding dinner prepared by chef Alain Ducasse and royal ball awaits at the Monte Carlo opera, followed by fireworks. Home to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix race car, Monaco is still considered a playground of the very rich: residents pay no income or property tax, and yachts crowd the port. But tragedy and scandal, including admissions from Albert that he fathered two illegitimate children, have chipped away at its mystique over the years. Just days ago, rumours of discontent threatened to mar the festivities. The palace strongly denied a report in French weekly L'Express that Wittstock tried to skip town on a one-way flight to South Africa and that it took "infinite persuasion" by the prince and his entourage to change her mind. The son of Prince Rainier and Kelly -- who as Princess Grace ushered in an era of glamour to the tiny city-state and who died in a car crash in 1982 -- Albert met Wittstock while presiding over a swimming race in 2000. Wittstock, whose champagne blonde hair and sculpted figure draws comparisons with Kelly, is a former national champion swimmer from middle-class roots. She stopped competing in 2007. The culmination of months of painstaking preparations, the event has generated building excitement in the 8,000 Monegasques who hold citizenship from the world's smallest independent state after the Vatican City. (Writing by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Louise Ireland) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| U.S. slams Gaddafi threat to attack Europe Posted: 02 Jul 2011 08:01 PM PDT MADRID/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped up Western calls on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to quit, brushing off his threat to attack Europeans in their homes and offices.
"Instead of issuing threats, Gaddafi should put the well-being and the interests of his own people first and he should step down from power and help facilitate a democratic transition," Clinton told reporters on a trip to Spain. In an address relayed to some 100,000 supporters in Tripoli's Green Square on Friday, Gaddafi urged NATO to halt its bombing campaign or risk seeing Libyan fighters descend on Europe "like a swarm of locusts or bees". "Retreat, you have no chance of beating this brave people," Gaddafi said. "They can attack your homes, your offices and your families, which will become military targets just as you have transformed our offices, headquarters, houses and children into what you regard as legitimate military targets," he said. NATO announced it had stepped up strikes on Gaddafi forces in west Libya including the capital Tripoli, saying it had carried out more than 50 attacks since Monday. Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the alliance stance was unchanged. "Spain's and the international coalition's response is to maintain the unity and determination with which we have been working these past months," she said. Libyan rebels who had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of the capital were stopped in their tracks on Friday by a barrage of rocket fire from government forces, underlining the dogged resistance of Gaddafi troops to a five-month revolt. "(It) was obviously a strategic withdrawal because of the battlefield situation and the amount of bombardment that the revolutionary forces were receiving," said rebel spokesman Ahmed Bani. "But we hope to counter that within the next 48 hours." In Tripoli, a senior source in Gaddafi's government said there was reliable intelligence indicating the rebels were planning to attack oil export terminals in the eastern towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf. "The Libyan government will do whatever (possible) to prevent such attacks," the source, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. "It urges international oil companies as well as international insurance companies to put pressure on their governments to force the rebels, who are supported by NATO, to stop their destructive operations." HELICOPTER ATTACKS Coalition military officials refuse to characterise the situation on the ground as a stalemate after a 104-day bombing campaign that has strained alliance firepower and tested unity, with internal divisions over strategy surfacing. Analysts say part of NATO's strategy is to use the attacks to hinder efforts by authorities to put down any future uprising in Tripoli. Britain's Defence Ministry said Apache helicopters hit three tanks and a bunker firing position in an attack on an army camp west of Tripoli late on Friday. Libyan state TV said NATO also bombed the central Al-Jufrah region on Saturday. A document seen by Reuters showed African Union leaders had agreed on Friday that member states would not execute the arrest warrant for Gaddafi, leaving open the possibility that he could go into exile in one of the African Union's 53 nations. The grouping also offered to host talks on a ceasefire and a transition to democratic government, but did not call on Gaddafi to step down and left open whether he had a future role. Mansour Sayf al Nasr, the rebels' representative in France, told reporters at the summit in Equatorial Guinea: "We understood that the spirit of the document is that Gaddafi will not have a role to play in the future of Libya." Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga, vice president of the Benghazi-based rebel council, told Reuters: "We reject the African Union proposal because it includes nothing concerning our demands. We are only demanding one thing: Gaddafi's resignation ... We can gain freedom and democracy only if Gaddafi steps down. "I think we can obtain freedom only through military operations and we will be able to do this." In Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim did not comment on whether any AU-hosted negotiations should start on the assumption that Gaddafi would step down, saying only: "We have been saying for months that we will have talks with all parties." Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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