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Prince William, Kate, in US for visit overshadowed by new race row

Photo: CJ GUNTHER / POOL / AFP

| By AFP | Cecilia Sanchez with Phil Hazlewood and Jitendra Joshi in London |

Prince William and wife Kate began their first visit to America in eight years Wednesday under the cloud of a fresh racism row after his godmother quit the royal household for repeatedly asking a Black British woman where she was “really” from.

The Prince and Princess of Wales met Boston mayor Michelle Wu and governor-elect Maura Healey at the city hall and then sat courtside at a Boston Celtics versus Miami Heat NBA game as they kickstarted their three-day trip focused on climate change.

The beginning of the visit — which comes after racism claims from William’s brother Harry and mixed-race sister-in-law, Meghan — was however overshadowed by the resignation and apology of 83-year-old Susan Hussey, one of William’s six godmothers.

“Racism has no place in our society,” a spokesman for the royal couple told reporters in Boston. 

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“These comments were unacceptable, and it’s right that the individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.”

William was not involved in the decision but “believes it’s the right course of action to be taken”, the spokesman added.

The trip is the royal couple’s first one overseas since the 40-year-old William 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 went to New York and Washington, in a trip that included a reception at the White House with the then-president Barack Obama and his deputy, Joe Biden.

The White House said Biden will meet the royal couple on Friday.

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Awards

It is also their first trip stateside since Harry and Meghan sensationally quit the royal family in early 2020. No meeting has been announced between the estranged brothers.

The visit will culminate on Friday evening with a star-studded ceremony for William’s Earthshot Prize initiative to tackle climate change.

The awards ceremony — described by royal insiders as William’s “Superbowl moment” — is now in its second year, and rewards five innovators with £1 million each ($1.2 million).

A host of stars are expected at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, including singers Billie Eilish and Annie Lennox, sisters Chloe x Halle, and actor Rami Malek.

Other engagements include discussions with local officials about rising sea levels in the city on the North Atlantic coast.

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They will also meet charities working with disadvantaged young people and a laboratory specializing in green technologies.

“We are both looking forward to spending the next few days learning about the innovative ways the people of Massachusetts are tackling climate change,” William told cheering crowds outside city hall.

Hussey is a longstanding former lady-in-waiting to William’s late grandmother, queen Elizabeth II and was a courtier to Queen Consort Camilla. 

She was portrayed in Season Five of the hit Netflix series, “The Crown,” the recent release of which has driven US interest in the House of Windsor up even further.

Ngozi Fulani, the chief executive of the London-based Sistah Space group which campaigns for survivors of domestic abuse, said the comments came as she attended a palace reception on Tuesday.

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Asked where she was from, Fulani said Hackney, northeast London, prompting the woman whom she identified only as “Lady SH” to ask: “No, what part of Africa are you from?”

Fulani said she was born and raised in the UK and was British but the woman persisted.

“Where do you really come from, where do your people come from?… When did you first come here?” she was asked.

Fulani repeated that she was a British national born in the UK and was forced to say she was “of African heritage, Caribbean descent.”

Women’s Equality Party leader Mandu Reid, who witnessed the exchange, called it “grim” and like an “interrogation.”

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‘Unacceptable’

Buckingham Palace said it took the incident “extremely seriously” and called the comments “unacceptable and deeply regrettable.”

“In the meantime, the individual concerned would like to express her profound apologies for the hurt caused and has stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect.” it added.

British media outlets all quoted palace sources as confirming it was Hussey who made the remarks.

Camilla has scrapped the formal roles of ladies in waiting, but Hussey, whose late husband was a former BBC chairman, was kept on as a royal retainer by King Charles III.

Last year, William insisted “we are very much not a racist family”, after Harry and Meghan — who have won many fans among younger people and in the Black community for taking on the British establishment — alleged that an unidentified royal had asked what color skin their baby would have.

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International

China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”

The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.

That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”

“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.

Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”

In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”

This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.

The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.

Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.

For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.

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International

Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants

The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.

According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.

The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”

The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.

The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”

These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.

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International

Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”

“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.

The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.

“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.

Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.

“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.

The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.

Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.

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