Queen's message hails terror-hit London and Manchester

The Queen will pay tribute to London and Manchester in her Christmas Day broadcast for the way in which they dealt with this year's terror attacks.

Looking back over the events of 2017, the Queen says both cities' "powerful identities" had "shone through".

The Queen will also praise the Duke of Edinburgh for his support, in the year of their 70th wedding anniversary.

She will spend the day at Sandringham with the Royal Family, including Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle.

It will be the first time someone who is yet to marry into the Royal Family will have joined its Christmas celebrations.

The Queen was absent from last year's Christmas morning service at the estate in Norfolk because of a heavy cold.

Theme of home

The Queen recorded this year's Christmas message to the Commonwealth a few days ago in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace.

Its main theme is the importance of "home", which she describes as a place of "warmth, familiarity and love", with a "timeless simplicity" and "pull".

On a table, alongside photographs of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are two pictures of her with the Duke of Edinburgh, one of which was taken on their wedding day in 1947 and the other from their anniversary in November this year.

Comments

As many as 12 killed in New York’s deadliest fire in decades

More than 160 firefighters helped bring the blaze under control. (Source: Fire Department New York/Twitter) A massive fire ignited accidentally by a three-year-old boy swept through a five-story apartment building in New York, killing at least 12 people including a toddler and injuring four others in the deadliest blaze to hit the city in decades. The fire broke out around 6:50 pm (local time) yesterday on the first floor of the Prospect Avenue apartment in the Bronx borough of the city and spread quickly, officials said, adding that the cause of the blaze is under investigation. “We found that this fire started in a kitchen on the first floor,” fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “It started from a young boy, three and a half years old, playing with the burners on the stove. The fire got started, the mother was not aware of it – she was alerted by the young man screaming.” The boy’s mother fled with her two children, leaving the door to the apartment open – allowing t...

Ukraine crisis: Exchange of hundreds of prisoners takes place

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends a ceremony to welcome prisoners of war (POWs), released after the exchange with pro-Russian separatists, upon their arrival at an airport in Kharkiv, Ukraine December 27, 2017. (Source: Reuters) Ukraine and separatist rebels in the east of the country have exchanged hundreds of prisoners, in one of the biggest swaps since the conflict began in 2014. Around 230 people were sent to rebel-held areas in return for 74 prisoners who had been held by pro-Russia rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, BBC reported on Wednesday. It was the first swap in 15 months. The release and exchange of prisoners was one of the points in the Minsk peace agreement, signed in 2015. The deal has stalled since and analysts say the swap does not signify wider progress. Both sides continue to hold other prisoners. The number of prisoners swapped was lower than initially announced after dozens of people who were meant to be returned to rebel-held terr...

Nepal declares ban on solo, blind and double amputee climbers from Everest

This ban is likely to irk solo mountaineers, who enjoy the challenge of climbing alone. In a bid to prevent accidents, Nepal has banned solo climbers from climbing its mountains, including Mount Everest, reported news agency AFP. Earlier on Friday, the cabinet declared revised regulations of the Himalayan nation’s mountaineering, where banning solo climbers from scaling its mountains was one of the key measures being flagged ahead of the 2018 spring climbing season. The cabinet also declared a ban on double amputee and blind climbers, even though Everest has drawn multitudes of mountaineers wanting to overcome their disabilities and achieve the formidable feat. “The changes have barred solo expeditions, which were allowed before,” Maheshwor Neupane, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, told AFP. Neupane added that the law was revised to make mountaineering safer and decrease deaths. Earlier in April this year, an experienced...

I GLOBAL NEWZ

Search This Blog