Charles is proclaimed king; sons unite to thank the public
King Charles III has been formally proclaimed sovereign of the U.K. in a ceremony in London. The development Saturday came as details emerged of the highly choreographed ceremonies that will end with the funeral of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sept. 19. In this time of sorrow, there was also signs of reconciliation. Prince William and his brother Harry, together with Catherine, now Princess of Wales and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, appeared jointly in Windsor to thank thousands of mourners who came to lay floral tributes to the queen. It was the first time that the quarelling younger generation of royals had worked together since the Sussexes stepped aside from royal duties and moved to California in 2020.
Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to start categorizing gun shop sales
Payment processor Visa Inc. says it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops. The move disclosed Saturday marks a major win for gun control advocates. They say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a preclude to a mass shooting. But gun rights advocates have argued such a step would unfairly segregate legal gun sales when most sales do not lead to mass shootings. Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, just announced Friday. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.” It joins Mastercard and AmEx, who said they would also start adopting the standard.
Black preacher arrested while watering flowers sues police
A Black pastor who was arrested by white police officers while watering the flowers of a neighbor has filed a federal lawsuit over the ordeal. Michael Jennings is suing three officers and the central Alabama town of Childersburg for an unspecified amount of money. He alleges the arrest violated his constitutional rights and caused lingering problems including emotional distress and anxiety. Jennings was helping out a friend by watering plants when a neighbor called police about a suspicious person and officers showed up. He was arrested after refusing to provide identification, but the charge was later dropped. A city attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Cooler, wetter weather brings California a moment of relief
For more than a week, Californians endured a heat wave that broke records, pushed the state’s energy grid to the brink and parched the landscape, creating conditions ripe for catastrophic wildfires. Several new blazes ignited and quickly burned through bone-dry vegetation, sending thousands fleeing from their homes. So residents felt exalted when Saturday arrived cooler and wetter. Forecasters in Southern California predicted temperatures in the 80s on Saturday, as well as continuing scattered showers from the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay, which brought rain to much of the state. For firefighters battling the state’s most dangerous blazes, Saturday morning came with sighs of relief.
Activists blast holiday for Philippine dictator’s birthday
Human rights activists in the Philippines have rejected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s move to proclaim the birthday of his father, an ousted dictator, a special holiday in their northern home province. Marcos Jr. authorized the declaration of the public non-working holiday in Ilocos Norte province on Monday to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of his father and namesake. The dictator was ousted in an army-backed pro-democracy uprising in 1986. Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had also authorized the late president’s birthday to be observed as a holiday in Ilocos Norte. Rights activists held a news conference Saturday to reject the holiday declaration and said it was another move by the new president to whitewash the image of his father and family.
Hong Kong sentences 5 to 19 months for children’s books deemed ‘seditious’
Five speech therapists in Hong Kong were sentenced to 19 months in prison Saturday after they published a series of children’s books the court said instilled a hatred of the government in young readers. The Hong Kong police’s national security department arrested the five last year, accusing them of violating a colonial-era law on seditious publications. Prosecutors said that the defendants’ series of three books about a flock of sheep resisting the tyrannical rule of a wolf pack could “weaken” Beijing’s sovereignty over Hong Kong by portraying the Chinese government as authoritarian.
By wire sources
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