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Joe Biden Missing As Wife, World Leaders Attend King Charles III’s Coronation

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First lady Dr. Jill Biden is set to bear witness to the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla today (Saturday).

But, the American First Lady is attending the King’s coronation events without President Joe Biden.

Jill led the US delegation to this weekend’s highly anticipated and epoch-making events.

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It’s an honor to represent the United States for this historic moment and celebrate the special relationship between our countries,” she said in a tweet Thursday as she departed Washington, DC.

Biden travelled for the King’s coronation with her granddaughter Finnegan Biden on Friday.

READ ALSO: Anti-monarchy Protest Rocks King Charles III Coronation [VIDEO]

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They touched down in England late Thursday evening and took a packed schedule of events on the three-day trip. She met with Mrs. Akshata Murty, wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, at 10 Downing Street.

Biden and Murty visited veterans and their families, participating in a health and wellness program before visiting with children at a local primary school hosting a coronation fair.

According to the office of the first lady, Biden will also greet US embassy staff and their families in London.

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Why President Biden is not attending Coronation

While President Joe Biden will not be attending the coronation – US officials have noted that no previous US president has attended a British monarch’s coronation – he told MSNBC in an interview that aired Friday that he had spoken to King Charles ahead of the ceremony

The president said he told King Charles that he may visit the United Kingdom in July while he is in Europe for a NATO summit and hopes to discuss environmental issues – a cause the monarch is passionate about.

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READ ALSO: Tiwa Savage To Perform At King Charles III Coronation

Last month, King Charles extended an invitation to the president to come to the United Kingdom for an official state visit, and he accepted, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the time.

The coronation events

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The main coronation event today (Saturday) at Westminster Abbey, will be a “solemn religious service, as well as an occasion for celebration and pageantry,” conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, according to Buckingham Palace.

Biden is expected to attend a reception in the evening hosted by US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Jane Hartley.

She will conclude her visit Sunday alongside other heads of state and dignitaries in town for the occasion at a “Coronation Big Lunch” hosted by Sunak and Murty at 10 Downing Street.

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Recall that the first lady last traveled to the UK with the president in September to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

READ ALSO: UK Releases New Banknotes Featuring Portrait of King Charles III [see security features]

Speaking to CNN in a phone interview during that trip, the first lady said that she had spoken with King Charles about his mother during a private reception with the royal family and other visiting dignitaries on the eve of the funeral service.

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“We really talked about the woman, and who she was, and what she meant really to the whole world,” Biden said, adding that she noted to King Charles the human toll of grief.

“He is the king, but, you know, no one should forget he lost his mother, and Prince William lost a grandmother, and sometimes we tend to forget the really human piece there, and the sorrow they have to bear – and how they have to grieve in public. But … they seem to be doing OK,” the first lady said.

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UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

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The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

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His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

READ ALSO:UK Police Hunt Asylum Seeker Mistakenly Freed For Sex Offence

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

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He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

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The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

READ ALSO:Alleged Misappropriation: MFM Accuses UK Agency Of Discrimination

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

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A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

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READ ALSO:UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

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He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

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Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

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Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

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READ ALSO:Madagascar’s President Denounces ‘Coup Attempt’ As Gen Z Protests Escalate

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

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Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

READ ALSO:Madagascar Passes Bill To Castrate Child R*pists

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

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The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

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Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

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Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

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READ ALSO:FULL LIST: Trump, Kamala, Netanyahu, Others Shortlisted For 2024 Time’s Person Of The Year

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

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The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

READ ALSO:Kamala Harris Secures Democratic Presidential Nomination

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

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She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP

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