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The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton took place on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London. Prince William, second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, first met Catherine Middleton in 2001, when both were studying at the University of St Andrews. Their engagement on 20 October 2010 was announced on 16 November 2010. The build-up to the wedding and the occasion itself attracted much media attention, with the service being broadcast live around the world, and being compared and contrasted in many ways with the 1981 marriage of William's parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Estimates of the global audience for the wedding range from 300 million to two billion people whilst 24.5 million watched the event live in the United Kingdom.
Much of the attention focused on Kate Middleton's status as a commoner (i.e., not of recent royal blood or a part of the aristocracy) marrying into royalty. Hours before the service, the Queen conferred the titles Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus upon William. Upon her marriage, Middleton therefore became Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, but is not styled as 'Princess Catherine'. As Prince William was not the heir apparent to the throne, the wedding was not a full state occasion and many details were left to the couple to decide, such as much of the the guest listof about 1,900. It was a public holiday in the United Kingdom and featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry. It was attended by most of the Royal Family, as well as many foreign royals, diplomats, and the couple's chosen personal guests. Middleton wore a white dress with a 270-centimetre (110 in) train, by British designer Sarah Burton, as well as a tiara lent to her by the Queen.
Prince William wore the uniform of his honorary rank of Colonel of the Irish Guards. William's best man was his brother, Prince Harry, while the bride's sister, Pippa, acted as her maid of honour. The wedding ceremony began at 11:00 am BST (UTC+1). John Robert Hall, the Dean of Westminster, conducted the service, with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, conducting the marriage ceremony itself and Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, giving the sermon. Following the wedding, the couple intend to continue living on Anglesey in North Wales, where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot.
According to the Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, “The ceremony of beatification of John Paul II will be held on May 1, the day of the Feast of Divine Mercy, after Benedict XVI signed a decree beatification, presented by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. The signing of the Pope was the only step that was missing to give ‘green light’ to the beatification of his predecessor, after the 30 cardinals and bishops who are part of the Commission of the Pontifical Council approve on Wednesday a miracle through the intercession of John Paul II.
The miracle happened with the healing of a French nun Marie Simon Pierre, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease since 2001, the same as John Paul II suffered in his later years. Two months after the death of the Pope in April 2005, the nun beat all the symptoms of Parkinson’s, which is ‘unexplained’ by the medical authorities of the beatification commission. Sister Marie Simon was the key to the beatification process of Pope Benedict XVI’s predecessor.” According to Cardinal Angelo Amato “There are 251 miracles attributed to the former Pope”. After beatification, a second miracle is required to be stated definitely as “holy” and usher in the saints list of the Church.
~~Osama Bin Laden DEAD!!!
On April 29, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the CIA to conduct a raid, dubbed "Operation Neptune Spear". In the late evening of May 1, 2011, (EDT), the president announced that bin Laden had been killed in the operation. Two teams of 12 U.S. Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team Six), of theJoint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA paramilitary operatives, stormed bin Laden's compound in two helicopters. One of the helicopters experienced a vortex ring state upon approach resulting in a grazing of the tail rotor with the compound's wall. The damaged aircraft was "hard-landed" allowing the mission to continue, however it had to be destroyed on-site to protect technology secrets. Back-up forces were immediately available, and another helicopter was brought in to retrieve the commandos and relevant contents. All combined, a total of 79 commandos and a dog (believed to have explosive-detection training) were involved in the raid.
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, bin Laden's courier, opened fire on the SEALs from the guesthouse with an AK-47 assault rifle where he and his wife were killed in the returned fire. A second group of SEALs entered the main house where they were confronted by al-Kuwaiti's brother who had his hands behind his back. He was shot and killed by the SEALs, who feared he might have a weapon. Bin Laden's unarmed 22-year-old son rushed towards the SEALs on the staircase and was also shot and killed. The entire raid, including intelligence sweeps of the compound, was completed in less than 40 minutes. His body was taken and biometric facial recognition tests were performed. Subsequent genetic testing supported the preliminary identification. On May 6, 2011, al-Qaeda confirmed that bin Laden was dead. They also vowed that they would continue attacking the U.S. and its allies.
Within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden's body was transported to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for final rites and burial at sea. One U.S. official stated, "Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult." MSNBC reported, "There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants." His death attracted protests from hundreds of people in the city of Quetta, in southwestern Pakistan, who burned U.S. flags and paid homage to the late al-Qaeda leader. Shortly after his death, controversial claims were made regarding a will he has written a short time after 9/11, in which he guided his children not to follow the path of Jihad. Others claimed the will to be misquoted by the media, and that his children were guided not to seek the leadership of Jihad. Following bin Laden's death, the U.S. State Department issued a "worldwide caution" for Americans, and U.S diplomatic facilities everywhere were placed on high alert, a senior U.S official said.
Crowds gathered outside the White House, in New York City's Times Square, as well as the World Trade Center, the site of the September 11 attacks, to celebrate bin Laden's death. Chittral News, a Pakistani news site, claimed that some people were dismayed that Pakistan has lost its sovereignty.Four years of CIA surveillance of bin Laden's courier led to the intelligence which made the raid possible. The courier owned the compound. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that bin Laden's wife had rushed the invading commandos and was shot in the leg, but was not killed.] Bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter, who witnessed her father being shot, was injured in her leg by a piece of flying debris. The Guardian reported, "She was comforting her father's fifth wife, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, 29, who was shot in the calf by commandos as they closed in on bin Laden." Amal and eight of bin Laden's children were taken into Pakistani custody following the raid. Bin Laden had cash totaling 500 euro and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed. Amal had told interrogators that she had not left the compound in the five years that she lived there with bin Laden.
