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- HP: IMD issues heavy rain ‘Red Alert’ for Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi districts for next 48 hours Times of India
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Harry and Meghan lash out at UK media in new Netflix documentary
“Harry & Meghan” is one of a series of programs the pair is producing under a commercial deal with Netflix.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hit out at what they called the “exploitation and bribery” of the British press in a new, hotly anticipated Netflix documentary released Thursday.
In a series billed as exposing “the full truth” behind the couple’s life inside Britain’s royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also condemned the “unconscious bias” around race within Buckingham Palace, and the lack of support they received from other royals.
In the opening episode, Harry describes the release of the documentary as an act of “duty and service.” It marks one of a series of programs the pair is producing under a commercial deal with Netflix.
“I feel as though being part of this family, it is my duty to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media,” Harry says in the opening episode.
The six-part mini-series, entitled “Harry & Meghan,” acts as a love letter to the pair’s high-profile relationship, revealing new details of their first introduction in 2016 via a mutual friend on Snapchat, to their ultimate decision to step down from the royal family in 2020.
The first three episodes of the series were released Thursday, with the second batch to be released next week.
It all comes down to control, it’s like, ‘This family is ours to exploit.’
But within the episodes released so far, the series is notable as much for what it misses out as what it contains.
There are few, if any, difficult questions and a distinct lack of critical voices throughout the documentary.
Harry’s brother, William, the Prince of Wales, for instance, features only briefly in a montage of childhood photos, and there is little reference to wider high-profile feuds between the couple and other members of the royal family over recent years.
There is also a distinct lack of input from other members of the royal family.
A disclaimer at the beginning of episode one states that members of the royal family “declined to comment on the content within this series.” However, a senior royal source confirmed to NBC News that neither Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, nor any member of the royal family are aware of any such approach for comment on the content of the series.
Here’s what the series tells us:
Collusion between palace and British press
One of the key themes running throughout the series is a critique of the British press, which Harry describes as being in cahoots with Buckingham Palace to ensure constant media coverage.
“There’s leaking but there’s also planting of stories,” he says, though doesn’t provide specific examples.
In the third episode, the Duke of Sussex refers to a royal rota, through which different press outlets and broadcasters are given slots to cover members of the family, likening it to an extension of the palace’s PR team. Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the claims.
Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.
Picture Alliance | Getty Images
“If you’re part of the royal rota, you have priority over the story over everybody else,” Harry says. “All royal news goes through the filter of all newspapers within the royal rota, most of which, apart from the Telegraph, happen to be tabloids.”
“It all comes down to control, it’s like, ‘This family is ours to exploit. Their trauma is our story and our story and our narrative to control’,” he added.
The prince also refers to the BBC’s now infamous interview with his mother, the late Princess Diana. While acknowledging that the interview was secured by “deceitful” means, he says: “She spoke the truth of her experience.”
More allegations of racism within the royal family
The documentary also expands on a prior, explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the couple made allegations of racism within the royal family.
Harry says that other members of his family failed to support the couple when Meghan, the first mixed-raced member of the modern royal family, faced racism in the media.
However, the pair seem to moderate their accusations against the family, referring to such racial discrimination as “unconscious bias.”
For so many people in the family … there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mold.
“As far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well,” he says.
“So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like, ‘My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?'”
“I said, ‘The difference here is the race element,'” Harry adds.
Last week, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s lady-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, was embroiled in a racial scandal after repeatedly asking charity boss Ngozi Fulani where she was “really from.”
Pushback against conventional royal marriages
Harry also appears to make a thinly veiled swipe at his father, King Charles III, and brother, William, in defense of his relationship with Meghan.
In episode one, Harry, whose relationship with the American-born has come under immense scrutiny — not least for her divorcee status, a factor overlooked in the docuseries — points to what he calls the difference between “making decisions with head and heart.”
Harry & Meghan, the hotly-anticipated new Netflix documentary from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has been released.
Jacob King – Pa Images | Pa Images | Getty Images
“For so many people in the family — especially, obviously, the men — there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mold as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with,” Harry said.
Charles famously married Diana at the behest of the royal family, despite having a long-running and well-documented relationship with his now wife, Camilla, queen consort. William’s wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, meanwhile, has been widely accepted in the media, despite being a non-royal herself.
Likening himself to his mother, Diana, Harry added, “My mum certainly made most of her decisions, if not all of them, from the heart. And I am my mother’s son.”
A barometer for Harry and Meghan’s popularity
The release of the series has already come up against criticism for allegedly using footage and photos in misleading ways.
Comments made by the pair about being hounded by the media, for instance, are accompanied by at least three images which have nothing to do with the couple, according to reports.
Meantime, others have questioned the couple’s decision to shine further light on their relationship despite ostensibly stepping down from the royal family in order to preserve their privacy.
But much will hinge on the wider public’s response to the series, as Harry and Meghan attempt to forge a new future — and income — outside of the monarchy.
It is not clear how much the couple have been paid for the series, though the wider commercial deal between Netflix and Archewell Productions is thought to be worth millions of dollars.
“In order to survive in the future, they need to maintain that popularity,” James Holt, executive director of the couple’s Archewell Foundation, says of the Royal Family in the series.
To some extent, the same is true for Harry and Meghan.
Tropical Storm Fiona forms, soon to lash Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico
Tropical storm warnings have been hoisted in the northern Leeward Islands — including Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and Anguilla — and could be expanded into Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by Thursday afternoon or evening. Existing watches will probably be upgraded to warnings as the 50 mph storm churns due west at 14 mph.
Winds up to tropical storm force will probably get there beginning Friday night and will accompany heavy rainfall on the order of 3 to 6 inches. After passing near or over Puerto Rico, Fiona looks to curve northward, at which point a jigsaw puzzle of uncertain atmospheric ingredients will play a west-vs.-east tug of war to determine where it ultimately goes.
Fiona is the sixth named storm of what, until now, has been a relatively quiet Atlantic hurricane season. The Atlantic basin is running at about 47.4 percent of average for ACE, or accumulated cyclone energy — a measure of overall storm activity.
According to hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach, it’s the slowest start to a season since 2014, defying expert predictions of a particularly active 2022 season. By comparison, the hyperactive season of 2021 had already cranked out 20 named storms and was on the verge of dipping into the Greek alphabet.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time Thursday, the center of Fiona was located about 495 miles east of the Leeward Islands and was moving west at a typical pace. That westward motion is expected to continue through Friday, when Fiona will deliver impacts to the islands and Puerto Rico.
Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 50 mph, and the National Hurricane Center anticipates subtle strengthening to a 55 mph storm. Thereafter, a plateau in intensity is expected as it continues west. The agency has asked ships within 300 miles of the storm’s position to record and submit weather observations every three hours, which will aid in forecasting and modeling efforts. An Air Force Hurricane Hunter plane will be dispatched to investigate the storm later Thursday.
On infrared satellite imagery, Fiona is replete with deep convection, or shower and thunderstorm activity. That’s evidenced by the darker reds and whites, indicative of high, cold cloud tops. But the majority of the storminess is displaced to the east of its low-level circulation — notice in white the low-level cloud field spiraling into the center, which is obscured by higher clouds to the east.
That lack of vertical alignment of the system is the result of westerly to northwesterly wind shear, or a change of wind speed and/or direction with altitude. It knocks the system off-kilter, and until it’s able to better stack itself vertically, Fiona will struggle to intensify. Strengthening isn’t really expected in the near-term, as shear doesn’t look to relax any time soon.
Eventually, the low-level center may become stretched if a thunderstorm and its associated updraft pass over said vortex, but whether that will happen before arrival in Puerto Rico remains to be seen.
Fiona is expected to bring impacts to the northern Leeward Islands beginning late Friday, and its core should cross the archipelago sometime early Saturday. A general 3 to 6 inches of rain, with a chance of locally higher amounts, is expected. Gusty squalls with winds approaching 50 to 60 mph are likely as well, along with dangerous coastal rip currents.
From there, the American (GFS) model hints that Fiona could track north of Puerto Rico while still sideswiping the northeastern fringe of the U.S. territory.
Conversely, the European model simulates a track south of Puerto Rico and eventually into Hispaniola. That could shred the storm’s circulation before emergence over the waters of the southeastern Bahamas. The storm’s torrential downpours over the Dominican Republic and Haiti could well lead to flooding and landslides, especially in mountainous areas where there is potential for double-digit rainfall totals.
The Hurricane Center forecast for the track of Fiona splits the difference between the American and European models, calling for a path over Puerto Rico before Fiona navigates the Mona Passage west of the island and east of Hispaniola as it begins a northward curve. The ultimate wild card, and hence the different track scenarios, is when that right turn to the north will take place, which depends on the strength and position of high pressure to the northeast. That high acts as a guardrail.
Ultimately, Fiona will be steered to the north, where, if it evades land and its inner core remains intact, it could begin intensifying in the next five to seven days.
Some computer model simulations project it will pass ominously close to the Eastern Seaboard, shunted west by the Bermuda High and further lured toward the coast by approaching low pressure seeking to capture it. Other models allow it to escape out to sea, which would pose a greater risk to Bermuda. All told, it’s simply too early to tell — but this is one you’ll want to closely watch.
S.C. Republicans lash out at colleagues over strict abortion bill
“Yes, I’m pro-life,” Shealy said. “I’m also pro-life for the mother, the life she has with her children who are already born. I care about the children who are forced into adulthood that was made up by a legislature full of men so they can take a victory lap and feel good about it.”
“It disgusts me,” she added.
South Carolina senators are considering a near-total ban on abortion starting at fertilization. It would be an even more severe restriction than the one they passed last year that went into effect in late June, which prohibits abortion at about six weeks when doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat. The state Supreme Court voted last month to temporarily block the ban.
Shealy is one of three Republican women in the Senate. All of them said that, without exceptions for rape and incest, they won’t support their colleagues’ bill.
The Senate adjourned Wednesday night without a vote but is scheduled to reconvene Thursday morning. If the bill clears the Senate, it will go back to the House, which last week approved a version that included exceptions for rape and incest until the 12th week of pregnancy.
Shealy is not the only South Carolina Republican typically supportive of antiabortion measures to express doubts about the strict abortion proposals. On Aug. 16, state Rep. Neal Collins said he regretted voting last year to ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
About two weeks after the six-week ban took effect, Collins said, a doctor called to tell him about a 19-year-old woman who’d recently arrived at the emergency room 15 weeks pregnant. Her water broke, the fetus was nonviable and the standard of care called for an abortion.
But, since there was a heartbeat, the hospital’s lawyers told the doctors they couldn’t approve one. They discharged the woman instead, leaving her with a greater than 50 percent chance of losing her uterus and a 10 percent chance of developing a life-threatening infection.
“That weighs on me,” Collins said. “I voted for that bill. These are affecting people.”
Shealy also voted to ban abortions after six weeks. In fact, she co-sponsored the bill, telling her colleagues during a floor debate last year that the legislation “protects the life of the unborn with a heartbeat.”
On Wednesday — about a year-and-a-half later — she found herself denouncing the new antiabortion legislation and scolding her male colleagues for trying to pass it. In doing so, she told them that women are smart enough to run households and businesses, to take care of children and aging parents.
“The only thing that we are not smart enough to do is take care of our own bodies. We need men in government, not medical professionals, to do that,” she said sarcastically, adding, “The South Carolina legislature — we know best.”
State Sen. Penry Gustafson echoed Shealy from the floor a few minutes later. The Republican said she was against abortion and wished that no one had sex before marriage and that pregnancies were always wanted. But, Gustafson added, she lives in “Realville,” where she acknowledges that’s not reality. She also challenged fellow Republicans to consider mothers’ rights.
Gustafson maligned the bill as “wishful-thinking legislation.”
“This bill does not recognize or even acknowledge another right besides the right of the baby,” Gustafson said. “So, do we women have no autonomy over our own bodies? Are we simply baby machines?”
Then she asked other senators to weigh possible health emergencies. What if a woman is carrying a dead fetus? What if someone has an ectopic pregnancy that could threaten their life? What if an 11-year-old girl gets raped and impregnated?
“Well, that’s just too bad, according to this bill,” Gustafson said.
Sandy Senn, the third Republican woman in the Senate and the only one who voted against the six-week ban passed last year, mocked her male colleagues for calling a special session to address the ban and presuming that “women and families need your guidance because y’all know better than them.”
“You cannot legislate morality, you cannot tell people who to sleep with, you cannot tell people who to marry and you cannot tell women what to do with their own bodies, try as you might.”
Senn warned them that passing the ban could come with consequences in November’s election. “This issue is huge,” she said, adding, “You don’t think that women will vote single-issue on something like this?”
Tornadoes reported as record-setting winds lash central U.S.
Fierce winds swept across parts of the Midwest on Wednesday, damaging buildings, closing highways and overturning tractor-trailers, officials said.
The winds were record-setting. Wednesday had the most wind gusts of 75 mph or greater since at least 2004, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said. There were 55 such gusts “and counting,” it said.
There were also preliminary reports of tornadoes across parts of Nebraska and Iowa, and one was reported in Minnesota, according to the weather service. Storm survey teams will confirm whether they were tornadoes.
“Very unusual for December,” said Bryon Miller, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Omaha/Valley office. “Going back at least 50 years there hasn’t been an event in eastern Nebraska or western Iowa like this in the month of December.”
Forecasters had warned of an “extremely powerful storm system” that would bring the threat of severe thunderstorms and damaging winds across the Great Plains and Upper Midwest on Wednesday night.
More than 140,000 customers were without power in Iowa, according to tracking site poweroutage.us. Smaller outages, but still in the tens of thousands, were in Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri.
Roads in western Kansas, including a portion of Interstate 70, were closed due to blowing dust and crashes, the state Department of Transportation said.
Tractor-trailers in the state blew over and there were brownout conditions and close to zero visibility near Wakeeney, Kansas, and officials urged people to stay off the highways. Kansas State University Salinas said its campus suffered weather damage and was closed.
“If you don’t have to travel, don’t. Stay home,” the Kansas DOT urged in a tweet.
Wildfires in Kansas caused and fueled by high winds led to evacuation orders for cities in Osborne, Russell and Rooks counties, NBC affiliate KSN of Wichita reported.
Residents were later allowed to return, Russell County Administrator John Fletcher told the station. A wildfire also prompted Sheridan County officials to evacuate a few homes near Quinter, according to The Associated Press.
The National Weather Service in Topeka said it received reports of the smell of smoke, likely from the central Kansas fires.
Wednesday’s weather also caused air traffic controllers at Kansas City International Airport to evacuate the “tower cab” for a little less than an hour, the airport said.
The high winds also knocked down power lines and toppled a truck in Colorado, and prompted the closure of several roads, state and local officials said.
Parts of Jefferson County, Colorado, saw wind gusts of up to 95 mph Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Boulder said.
More than 500 flights at Denver International Airport were delayed and almost 150 were canceled, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.
In Colorado Springs, firefighters responded to hundreds of calls even as the roof of its headquarters was blown off, the fire department said.
There were likely a few fast-moving, relatively weak tornadoes in south-central Nebraska, and the chance of damaging winds lingered after the thunderstorm threat largely passed, Ryan Pfannkuch, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Hastings, said.
Video released by the Nebraska State Patrol showed a big rig topple in front of a trooper on Interstate 80 near Lincoln on Wednesday afternoon. The driver was not injured.
Late Wednesday, high wind warnings stretched from parts of South Dakota and Missouri to northern Michigan. A line of thunderstorm warnings crossed Wisconsin and Illinois from north to south. The National Weather Service in Chicago warned that there could be wind gusts of 65 mph if the line of storms holds together.
The storm was shifting north after hitting the Plains, the weather service said. It is expected to bring high winds and snow to the upper Great Lakes region, the agency said.
The high winds that battered the central U.S. come days after deadly storms and tornadoes that struck Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri. More than 70 people died in Kentucky alone.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday that one of those tornadoes, which devastated the Kentucky city of Mayfield and others, was an EF4 with 190 mph winds.
President Joe Biden visited Kentucky on Wednesday and pledged federal help.
Solar storm warning: Stream of charged particles set to lash Earth – impact time predicted | Science | News
The stream heading towards Earth is expected to produce some beautiful aurora effects in the polar regions.
And the good news is that the forecast does not predict any impacts on technology or communications.
Depending on their severity, solar storms are known to sometimes knock out satellites or cause power blackouts.
SpaceWeather.com’s astronomers wrote: “Earth is exiting one solar wind stream. Another is on the way.
“Flowing from a southern hole in the sun’s atmosphere, the gaseous material is due to arrive on November 21 to 22.
“NOAA forecasters say that a corotating interaction region (CIR) travelling just ahead of the stream could spark geomagnetic activity and Arctic auroras on November 20.”
Tony Abbott raises fears China ‘could lash out disastrously’ as Taiwan tensions grow | Tony Abbott
The former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has raised fears Beijing “could lash out disastrously very soon” amid growing tensions over the future of Taiwan – and argued the US and Australia could not stand idly by.
Delivering a keynote address to a regional forum in Taipei on Friday, Abbott dismissed claims that Australian officials were beating the “drums of war”, while calling on Beijing to “scale back the aggression”.
Abbott is visiting Taiwan as a private citizen, but the conservative former prime minister was granted an audience with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, on Thursday.
Abbott used an address to the Yushan Forum on Friday to accuse China of displaying “growing belligerence to Taiwan” – including through a recent increase in incursions by military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence zone.
“Sensing that its relative power might have peaked, with its population ageing, its economy slowing, and its finances creaking, it’s quite possible that Beijing could lash out disastrously very soon,” said Abbott, who was prime minister from 2013 to 2015.
“Our challenge is to try to ensure that the unthinkable remains unlikely; and that the possible doesn’t become the probable.”
Abbott said he did not believe the US “could stand by” and watch Taiwan be “swallowed up” by China.
“I don’t think Australia should be indifferent to the fate of a fellow democracy of almost 25 million people,” he added.
Abbott – the prime minister who signed Australia’s free trade agreement with China in 2014 – said “much has changed” since then. But he said Australia continued to have “goodwill towards the people of China, about a million of whom are now Australians and making a fine contribution to our country”.
“Australia has no issue with China – we welcome trade, investment and visits, just not further hectoring about being the chewing gum on China’s boot,” Abbott said.
The secretary of Australia’s Department of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo, attracted criticism in April when he said that free nations “again hear the beating drums” of war, and were bracing for “the curse of war”.
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In Friday’s speech Abbott said: “So if the ‘drums of war’ can be heard in our region, as an official of ours has noted, it’s not Australia that’s beating them. The only drums we beat are for justice and freedom – freedom for all people, in China and in Taiwan, to make their own decisions about their lives and their futures.”
Abbott said China had taken “a wrong turn”. Its actions were responsible, he said, for the reinvigorated Quad grouping of the US, Japan, India and Australia.
“The more aggressive it becomes, the more opponents it will find,” Abbott said.
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Abbott said he had hesitated to attend the same conference two years ago “lest that provoke China” but he cited a range of developments since then, including the clampdown on dissent in Hong Kong and “weaponising” trade against Australia.
In an apparent reference to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, Abbott said Beijing had “cancelled popular personalities in favour of a cult of the red emperor”.
Abbott called on governments – including Australia’s – to welcome Taiwan into the trade deal now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Abbott also suggested China’s own bid to join the CPTPP should be blocked at the current time. He said China could not be admitted to the trade grouping “while engaged in a trade war with Australia, and in predatory trade all-round”.
The former prime minister said China could “hardly succeed while it mistreats its own people and threatens its neighbours”.
“Nothing is more pressing right now, than solidarity with Taiwan, if we want a better world; hence my enthusiastic presence here today, to stand with this island that’s brave and free,” Abbott said.
“I won’t end urging you to stay safe rather something nobler and higher: stay free.”
Tsai spoke immediately before Abbott at the forum on Friday, telling the audience she had enjoyed their conversation the previous day.
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, said the government was committed to its one-China policy – but that did not prevent Australia from strengthening ties with Taiwan, which she described as a “leading democracy” and a “critical partner”.
“We have been concerned by tensions across the Taiwan Strait sharpening in recent months,” Payne told the ABC on Thursday. “It is clear that conflict is in no one’s interests here and we are concerned by increased air incursions by China into Taiwan’s air defence zone in the past week.”
Comment has been sought from the Chinese embassy in Canberra.
Williamson County, Tennessee: Some parents lash out at board that reinstated mask mandate in elementary schools
The Board of Education in Williamson County, just south of Nashville, approved the mask requirement for elementary school students, staff and visitors inside all buildings and on buses beginning Thursday and ending September 21, according to information from the school district.
During the board’s special session, parents on both sides of the issue shared their opinions with the board.
One parent, who identified himself as Daniel Jordan, a former Marine, told the board, “Actions have consequences. If you vote for this, we will come for you, in a non-violent way. … In the past, you dealt with sheep, now prepare yourself to deal with lions.”
Jennifer King, a parent and pediatric intensive care physician, said, “As a pediatric ICU physician, we are seeing more younger previously healthy children admitted with respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome than we have in prior strains, as cases in children are on the rise. This trend will only worsen if we don’t act now.”
During the meeting, the crowd cheered, clapped and booed, and people holding signs were at one point asked to clear the room.
Video obtained by CNN from outside the meeting also showed crowds heckling masked individuals leaving the meeting, with one man saying, “We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you.” A Williamson County Sheriff’s Office sergeant could be seen imploring the crowd to be peaceful.
The board released a statement on the matter, saying, “Our parents are passionate about their children’s education, and that’s one of the reasons for our district’s success over the years. With that said, there’s no excuse for incivility.
“We serve more than 40,000 students and employ more than 5,000 staff members. Our families and staff represent a wide variety of thoughts and beliefs, and it is important in our district that all families and staff have the opportunity to be represented and respected. We will continue to work toward making sure all voices are heard and that all families, staff and community members feel safe sharing their opinions,” the district added.
The temporary mask mandate will allow teachers who are at least six feet from students to remove their masks, the district said. The measure applies specifically to elementary schools, and masks are strongly encouraged for middle and high school students.
In late July, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that localities encourage all teachers, staff, students, and visitors in schools to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, because of the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.