International
Camilla wins praise for first week in Queen Consort role
AFP | by Juliette MONTESSE
Camilla has taken on the role of Queen Consort to her husband King Charles III with a minimum of fuss after gradually overcoming public opposition.
King Charles III, in his first speech to the nation on September 9, thanked his “darling wife” Camilla for her support.
The couple finally married in 2005 after a long-running love affair that was at times adulterous.
“I know she (Camilla) will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much,” Charles said in a televised tribute the day after his mother’s death.
Camilla, 75, was at Charles’s side on September 8 when he rushed to the queen’s Scottish residence of Balmoral, where she died that day.
Since then, she has been travelling around the UK with the new king, showing herself to be a rock of stability in the royal family: taking part in a brief walkabout outside Buckingham Palace, the proclamation of the new king and trips to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
While Camilla is not topping polls on the most popular royals, her approval rating has hugely improved.
Last year, fewer than half of people in Britain wanted her to become queen.
A poll published by YouGov on Tuesday found 53 percent now think Camilla will do a good job as consort, while 18 percent thought she would not.
On Friday, those queueing in London to see the queen’s coffin told AFP that they respected Camilla’s support for Charles and had come to appreciate her role.
“I’ve changed my mind (about Camilla) in the last five or 10 years,” said one man, Peter Finlayson, who works in risk management.
“If you look back in history, Camilla has always been there for Charles; she is a great support to him and she has earned the right to be there.
“They are providing the continuity that we all thought we had lost with the queen.”
For Deborah Toulson, a 57-year-old maths tutor, “this week particularly, she (Camilla) has been amazing”. She said she had noticed Camilla subtly guiding Charles on what to do at recent public appearances.
Camilla has nevertheless faced long-standing dislike from many British people, who see her as morally culpable for being Charles’s mistress during his failed marriage to Diana.
She has slowly earned her stripes and won round the queen, who personally recommended that she become known as Queen Consort to Charles.
Broken toe
When Charles came to Westminster Hall last week to receive condolences from parliament, Camilla came with him in a black dress and pearls and they sat on matching gold thrones.
When the new king and his two brothers and sister held a silent vigil in Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral, standing around the queen’s coffin, Camilla sat nearby.
Tabloids welcomed the tact of the new queen, who chose to wear a diamond brooch in the shape of a thistle, Scotland’s national emblem, which had been a gift from Queen Elizabeth.
Camilla has carried out duties while recovering from a broken toe, an injury thought to have happened before the queen’s death, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“She is in quite a lot of pain but she is just getting on with it. It is unfortunate timing to say the least but she’s been an absolute trouper,” a source told the paper.
At a signing ceremony in Northern Ireland, when Charles was caught on camera losing his cool over a leaking fountain pen, Camilla stood there stoically and took the offending pen while Charles stormed out.
Camilla “has shown through time that she is an immense support for Charles and she has again proved it this week by being very calm,” said another woman waiting in the queue, Anne-Marie Whatts, a Londoner in her early 40s who works in information technology.
Camilla’s biographer Angela Levin, wrote in The Telegraph that Camilla has a better understanding than Charles of what the public is thinking because “she had a relatively normal life until her 50s”.
What remains to see is whether Camilla is allowed to express herself: over the last week, we have barely heard her speak.
International
Trump Orders Construction of New ‘Golden Fleet’ to Revitalize U.S. Naval Superiority
President Donald Trump issued an executive order this Monday for the immediate construction of two new warships that will bear his name. These vessels will be the pioneers of what he described as the “Golden Fleet,” a future generation of “Trump-class” battleships that he claimed would be “100 times more powerful” than those currently in service.
The announcement took place at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The President indicated that following the initial two ships, the administration aims to commission up to 25 additional vessels. He is scheduled to meet with Florida-based contractors next week to expedite production, criticizing existing defense firms for failing to deliver results efficiently.
This naval expansion is a cornerstone of Trump’s goal to revitalized the American shipbuilding industry and address the strategic gap between the U.S. and competitors like China.
The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tension. Just last week, Trump ordered the seizure of all sanctioned tankers involved with Venezuela’s “ghost fleet” to cripple the country’s crude oil industry. Since December 10, the U.S. military—deployed in the Caribbean under the guise of counter-narcotics operations—has already detained two tankers linked to Venezuelan oil transport.
International
U.S. Judge Blocks ICE from Re-detaining Salvadoran Erroneously Deported Under Trump Administration
A U.S. federal judge ruled this Monday, December 22, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is prohibited from re-detaining Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García, who was erroneously deported to El Salvador earlier this year during the administration of President Donald Trump.
During a hearing in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Ábrego García must remain free on bail through the Christmas holidays, concluding that his initial detention lacked a legal basis. The ruling follows a request from his legal team for a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from carrying out a new arrest.
Earlier this month, on December 11, Judge Xinis ordered his release from a Pennsylvania migrant detention center after determining that the government had detained him without a formal deportation order. In 2019, an immigration judge had already ruled that Ábrego could not be returned to El Salvador because his life was in danger.
Despite that protection, Ábrego García was deported in March 2025 following a raid by the Trump administration. Officials argued at the time that he was a gang member, and he was sent directly to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador. In June, he was returned to the United States to face a new trial for alleged human smuggling—a charge he denies.
On Monday, Judge Xinis also temporarily invalidated a new deportation order issued by an immigration judge following Ábrego’s recent release, granting him legal protection through the coming weeks. His trial is scheduled to begin in Tennessee in January 2026.
International
Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco
The U.S. city of San Francisco was plunged into darkness Saturday night after a power outage left about 130,000 customers without electricity, although the utility company said service was restored to most users within hours.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) said in a statement posted on X that nearly 90,000 homes had their power restored by 9:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT on Sunday), while the remaining 40,000 customers were expected to have service restored overnight.
Large areas of the city, a major technology hub with a population of around 800,000, were affected by the blackout, which disrupted public transportation and left traffic lights out of service during the busy weekend before Christmas, a crucial period for retail businesses.
“I know it’s been a difficult day,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a video posted on social media from the city’s emergency operations center. “There has been progress, but for those still without power, we want to make sure they are safe and checking in on their neighbors,” he added.
Lurie said police officers and firefighters advised residents to stay home as much as possible. He also noted that officers and traffic inspectors were deployed to manage intersections where traffic lights were not functioning.
The mayor confirmed that the outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation. Parts of the city were also covered in fog, further complicating conditions during the incident.
As a result of the blackout, many businesses were forced to close despite it being the weekend before Christmas. The sudden drop in shopper traffic ahead of the holiday is “devastating” for retailers, the manager of home goods store Black & Gold told the San Francisco Chronicle.
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