William and Kate Kiss video

Royal wedding: what next for newly-weds Prince William and Kate?

Prince William and Kate Middleton will struggle to find the quiet life they crave following the grand splendour of the Royal wedding with a series of high profile events set to put them into the international spotlight once again. 

 

Pictures of the newly-weds are now an even greater prize than ever for the paparazzi Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge turn the key in the door of their Anglesey cottage next week, it might all seem a bit quiet.

Gone will be the hundreds of thousands of people who roared with applause as they made their way back to Buckingham Palace in a carriage after the Royal wedding.

Gone too will be the two billion people who watched them exchange their vows and kisses on the Palace balcony.

Instead, they want a low-key life with Prince William on duty as a Flight Lieutenant Wales at RAF Valley, where he will continue to work as a search and rescue helicopter pilot until 2013, and his new bride an officer’s wife.

But it will not be that simple for the Prince and his wife, who until the wedding was known as Kate Middleton.

In fact, they will be seen together in a series of significant royal events in June and will then go on a nine-day tour of Canada.
They will be the main attractions at the Queen’s official birthday ceremony at the trooping the colour parade, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday celebrations and the Garter Day ceremony, all in June, and the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall in Edinburgh in July.
All four events will surely be of greater global interest with the added glamour of the newly-married couple.
The couple’s tour of Canada from June 30 to July 8 will be the showpiece public engagement this year. They will take part in Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa, before visiting Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and the Arctic.
The trip is double the length of Prince William’s previous overseas trips, and with several engagements a day across a country that is increasingly ambivalent about its realm status, the couple will be under pressure to “perform”.
“The objective is for them to get to know the country and allow the country to get to know them a little,” says an aide.
“Of course it will be Catherine’s first overseas tour and she will learn a lot about the process, but nobody is expecting her to know the ropes after one overseas tour. That will come in time.”
The scale of the tour is in contrast to the “one or two” other engagements planned for the couple in the months ahead, with palace aides saying that the Duchess will not consider any solo appearances “for quite some time”.
“They are not going to disappear – they will be out and about doing things from time to time,” says an aide.
“But they want to establish themselves as a married couple with a private life first, then use the summer and the autumn to settle down in their new life and take decisions from then.
“Catherine will of course start thinking about what she wants to do with regards to taking on patronages and charities.
"The way the two Princes [William and Harry] have operated – picking organisations which they have a genuine interest in – is a good model for how we expect Catherine will want to operate.
“The couple recognise that the time will come in their lives later where they have to represent organisations from a vast cross-section of national life, but now they can concentrate on things they are passionately interested in, and in Catherine’s case that is supporting charities that try to help vulnerable people through things that she’s passionate about, like sports and arts.”
The aide added: “The couple won’t be pressured by anyone into becoming full-time working Royals before their time. They will do it as they want to do it, as they have always conducted their relationship.”
They will also be house hunting for a new London home over the summer, and will move out of Clarence House which they currently share with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Either Buckingham Palace or Kensington Palace, the former residence of Diana, Princess of Wales, will become their new London base.
But however hard the Duke and Duchess attempt to lead a low-profile life away from their official engagements, their marriage presents a challenge: pictures of them are now an even greater prize than ever for the paparazzi.
Those which might not be published in the UK will still be hugely valuable in sales around the world – even if they are simply of the royals browsing the shelves of the Anglesey branch of Waitrose or popping into their local pub for dinner on the back of Prince William’s Ducati motorbike.
Heavy-duty security may help. North Wales Police already supplies a unit of 15 armed officers to protect the couple, in addition to their team of Scotland Yard Royal protection officers.
In recent months, the Royal family has informed media organisations that they will take a much tougher line on future intrusions of privacy.
Prince William has said he will take a “zero tolerance” approach towards over zealous reporters and photographers, letting it be known that he will consider civil or even criminal action, depending on the nature of any intrusion.
The key, aides believe, is in living a “low-key” life – a phrase which is the key to the plans for their future.
“Ultimately the couple are very good at keeping control of their own lives,” says an aide. “The remoteness of where they live and how they conduct their lives in Anglesey and how they conduct their private lives amongst their friends, has always meant that under intense pressure, they retain a great degree of privacy.
“We recognise the paparazzi may be a problem, but just because they are now married and one of the most high-profile couples in the world, Prince William feels that he and Catherine have a right to privacy when they are going about every day lives, and he will not tolerate any form of pursuit or harassment.”

 

Qadhafi encouraging mass rape: U.S. official

A top United States official has alleged that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi supplied Viagra, a drug to treat sexual impotence, to his forces to encourage them to commit mass rape.

Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, reportedly brought up the Viagra issue “during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Qadhafi forces and the rebels”.

Media reports said her statements were based on claims by the Al Jazeera news channel last month that “Libya-based doctors... had found Viagra in the pockets of pro-Qadhafi soldiers”.

The Guardian quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying “I was in the room when she mentioned Viagra... She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi's forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story.” The report added that Ms. Rice was “trying to persuade doubters that Libya was not just a civil war and that Qadhafi was encouraging human rights abuses.”

Diplomatic sources reportedly said that no one else present at the meeting responded to the allegation and it “did not cause a stir.”

However contradicting Ms. Rice, NBC News carried comments by U.S. military and intelligence officials to the effect that there was no evidence that Colonel Qadhafi's forces were being supplied Viagra and engaging in systematic rape in rebel areas.

According to media reports, “The officials added that although rape has been used as a weapon in many other African conflicts, they have not seen reports of that coming from Libya.”

Apart from the political angle, Ms. Rice's claim also begs the medical question of what effects the drug has on the human body. Speaking to The Hindu a doctor said, “Viagra does not affect libido, it only acts locally. Further it has a limited period of action.”

She added that the link between Viagra and sexual drive was “very weak,” and concurred that it would only result in mass rape in this case if the soldiers were anyway intent on committing rape and at the same time suffering from problems relating to sexual impotence.

nini/thehindu

U.S. thumps Austria at Worlds

KOSICE, SLOVAKIA  - Blake Wheeler of the Atlanta Thrashers was one of five different goal-scorers, as the United States opened Group C play at the 2011 World Ice Hockey Championship with a resounding 5-1 victory over Austria.
St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and New York Rangers prospect Chris Kreider also scored the Americans, who got a 12-save performance from Al Montoya of the New York Islanders. Rangers rookie forward Derek Stepan collected two assists in the win.
Marco Pewal supplied the lone tally for Austria, while Jurgen Penker stopped 27 shots in defeat.
Also Saturday, Finland bested Denmark, 5-1, in their Group D opener.
Juhamatti Aaltonen registered a goal and an assist, while Petri Vehanen needed to make just eight saves for Finland.
Frederik Andersen turned aside 39-of-44 shots in the loss for Denmark.


nini/torontosun

US, Taiwan cement ties over nuclear safety

Taiwan will sign a letter of intent with the United States over U.S support during a nuclear emergency, said Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Deputy Minister Shieh Der-jhy (謝得志).

The document will be signed by Taiwan's AEC and America's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to confirm U.S assistance in the case of a nuclear emergency.
The U.S will dispatch experts and send special equipment to help the country in case of nuclear disasters, said Shieh.
In addition to crisis aid, the U.S will also provide training on nuclear power management and disaster prevention to Taiwan personnel from time to time.
The signing of the letter of intent has nothing to do with any commercial interests, as no new order is placed with American General Electric Co. for nuclear equipment or service purchase, added Shieh.
Shieh will head for the U.S today with a group of AEC officials for routine meetings on nuclear safety. He will visit several NNSA laboratories and discuss nuclear safety issues with his American counterparts during his stay.
As part of American efforts to boost global nuclear safety, Andrew W. Reynolds, a technology adviser to the U.S Secretary of State, visited nuclear power plant No. 1 on Friday.
The U.S is one of the major exporters of nuclear technology. The Obama administration has sent dozens of nuclear experts, tons of equipment and several robots to help Japan in its struggle to contain the radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
The serious radioactive leakage in Japan has prompted Taiwan's government to take action to strengthen national nuclear safety, including reviewing the safety of domestic nuclear power plants.
Nuclear security will be discussed in the next round of cross-strait talks, President Ma Ying-jeou said in early April. In addition, a cross-strait nuclear safety mechanism will be built with measures for both sides to communicate on nuclear power safety information, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.


nini/chinapost