LONDON: Kate, Britain’s Princess of Wales, has said she is making good progress as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy but is “not out of the woods” ahead of her first public appearance on Saturday since surgery revealed the presence of cancer.
In a personal written message released on Friday, Kate said she had been “blown away” by the thousands of kind messages from across the globe that followed her cancer announcement in March.
She said they had made a world of difference to her and her husband, heir-to-the-throne Prince William.
“I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” her statement said.
“On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”
Her improved health means she will be able to appear in public for the first time since last December, when she joined other senior royals for an annual Christmas Day church service.
On Saturday morning, Kate, 42, will accompany her three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, in a carriage during “Trooping the Color,” an annual military parade held in central London to mark the monarch’s official birthday.
She will also join King Charles, Queen Camilla and the other senior family members on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, the high-profile pinnacle of the event.
While Kate said she was hoping to take part in other events this year, aides cautioned that Saturday did not mark a return to a full schedule of work.
“My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months,” she said. “I’m looking forward to attending The King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet.”
Abdominal surgery
Kate spent two weeks in hospital in January after she underwent major abdominal surgery, and two months later she announced in a video message that tests had revealed the presence of cancer, and she would begin preventative chemotherapy.
Her office, Kensington Palace, has declined to give further details about the type of cancer or about her treatment, other than to say the preventative chemotherapy had begun in February.
In her message, Kate said on days when she felt well it was “a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity.” As part of that, she was starting to do work from home, and was able to hold some meetings.
“I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty,” said the princess, who is often known by her maiden name Kate Middleton. “Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
A new photo of the princess was also released to coincide with her message, showing Kate looking well dressed in a jacket and jeans, standing under a tree on the Windsor estate to the west of London, where the family home is located.
Her illness has coincided with that of Charles, 75, who has also been undergoing treatment for cancer. He returned to public duties in April, and has remained busy, although his diary commitments are being limited to minimize risks to his recovery.
“His Majesty is delighted that the Princess is able to attend tomorrow’s events, and is much looking forward to all elements of the day,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.
Kensington Palace also said William was pleased to see Kate starting to return to the work and projects that were so important to her.
“He will continue to focus his time on supporting his wife and children, while continuing to undertake his public duties,” a spokesperson said.
Britain’s Kate says she is making good progress with cancer treatment, will attend event
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Britain’s Kate says she is making good progress with cancer treatment, will attend event
- “I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” Kate’s statement said
NYPD shared a Palestinian protester’s info with ICE. Now it’s evidence in her deportation case
- Leqaa Kordia, whose mother is an American citizen, was arrested at a protest outside Columbia University on March 13
- New York City law generally prohibits police from sharing information about arrests with federal immigration officials
NEW YORK: New York City’s police department provided federal immigration authorities with an internal record about a Palestinian woman who they arrested at a protest, which the Trump administration is now using as evidence in its bid to deport her, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The report — shared by the NYPD in March — includes a summary of information in the department’s files about Leqaa Kordia, a New Jersey resident who was arrested at a protest outside Columbia University last spring. It lists her home address, date of birth and an officer’s two-sentence account of the arrest.
Its distribution to federal authorities offers a glimpse into behind-the-scenes cooperation between the NYPD and the Trump administration, and raises questions about the city’s compliance with sanctuary laws that prohibit police from assisting with immigration enforcement efforts.
Kordia, 32, was among the earliest people jailed in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on noncitizens who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
She was detained during a voluntary check-in with immigration officials in Newark, New Jersey, on March 13, then flown to an immigration jail in Texas. Her arrest was announced by the US Department of Homeland Security the next day in a statement that cited an expired visa and her role in “pro-Hamas protests.”
It remains unclear how immigration authorities were able to learn about Kordia’s presence at the protest near Columbia last April.
At the demonstration, police cited Kordia with disorderly conduct. But the charge was dismissed weeks later and the case sealed.
City law generally prohibits police from sharing information about arrests with federal immigration officials, although there are exceptions for criminal investigations.
On March 14, an NYPD officer generated a four-page report on Kordia and shared it with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
In an emailed statement, an NYPD spokesperson said the department “received a request from a federal agency related to a criminal investigation and shared relevant information in accordance with our sanctuary city policies.”
“The NYPD does not participate in programs that are designed for visa revocation or any civil immigration matter,” the statement added.
The department declined to say what the investigation entailed.
Inquiries to the DHS and ICE were not returned.
Legal experts and civil liberties advocates said the document reflected a worrisome level of information-sharing between the city and the federal government, which has conflated criticism of Israel with support for Hamas, a US-designated terror group.
“The intention of the sanctuary laws is to protect against this kind of collusion and pretextual information sharing,” said Meghna Philip, the director of special litigation at the Legal Aid Society.
“It seems to be a clear violation of the law,” Philip added, “and raises questions about what guardrails, if any, the NYPD has around sharing information with a federal government that is seeking to criminalize speech.”
A low-profile protester
Kordia grew up in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and moved to New Jersey in 2016 with her mother, an American citizen. She studied English at a local exchange program, but let her student visa expire because she believed her application for permanent residency was sufficient to remain in the country legally, according to her attorneys.
Kordia’s case stood out among those ensnared by Trump’s crackdown. She was not an outspoken activist and had not publicly criticized Israel, either in social media posts or newspaper op-eds. She maintained no social media presence and did not appear on any of the public lists maintained by pro-Israel groups that seek to identify people who participate in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Her name was not mentioned in news reports about the demonstrations.
While the Trump administration identified her as a Columbia student, she has never been affiliated with the university and was not enrolled in any college when she joined a protest in 2024 outside Columbia. Her attorneys said she was peacefully voicing her dissent against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which they said has killed over 100 of her relatives.
A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to say when they were first approached by federal authorities or whether the March 14 report was the first time they had shared information about Kordia’s arrest record.
Surveillance and interrogations
Beginning in early March, attorneys for Kordia say federal agents began interrogating members of her family and her neighbors. They also subpoenaed records from her MoneyGram account and “established a trace on her WhatsApp messaging account,” her attorneys said in a court filing.
“The investigation revealed nothing except that Ms. Kordia sent a single payment to a Palestinian family member in 2022, which itself is protected First Amendment” rights, the filing states.
At an April 3rd hearing, the federal government pointed to Kordia’s prior arrest for protesting as a reason she should not be released. An immigration judge found no evidence she had acted violently at the protest and agreed to grant Kordia a $20,000 bond, which her family paid.
The government has appealed that decision, keeping her detained for now.
In a petition seeking her release, attorneys for Kordia, a devout Muslim, said she had been denied halal meals since arriving at the jail. As a result, she has lost 49 pounds (22 kilograms) and fainted in the shower, according to facility records shared with her attorneys.
“The government’s entire argument that Ms. Kordia is a danger to the United States rests on a single summons for her participation in a demonstration,” Arthur Ago, her attorney, said. “The only reason she’s confined right now is because of her political viewpoint.”
Mayoral cooperation
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has criticized the city’s sanctuary protections, while insisting his administration is “meticulously” following the law.
When asked by the AP last month if the NYPD could turn over information to its federal law enforcement partners about a summons issued to a protester, the mayor insisted no such request was ever made.
“We have no record that this happened,” Adams said. “When I inquired, they said we did not turn over anything and we don’t collaborate for civil enforcement. They said that over and over again.”
His office did not respond to inquiries Friday.
Togo nationals captured with Russian forces on Ukraine front; Moscow accused of trying to murder prominent blogger
- Most of the Togo nationals were recruited under alleged scholarships in Russia, says foreign ministry
- Ukraine intel agency says woman arrested after failed hit on Internet personality Serhii Sternenko
LOME, Togo: People from the small west African nation Togo have been “captured and detained” by Ukrainian armed forces after taking part “in military operations alongside Russian armed forces,” Togolese authorities said Friday.
In a statement seen by AFP, Togo’s foreign ministry said that the “majority of compatriots, in particular young students, had left Togo under alleged scholarships offered by structures claiming to be based in Russia.”
The ministry called on citizens, “particularly young people who wish to pursue their studies abroad, to exercise utmost vigilance.”
It “urges them to verify the authenticity of scholarship offers before making any commitment, and to contact the relevant departments or any other ministry concerned... to obtain reliable and secure information before any departure abroad, particularly to Russia.”
In March, the Martin Luther King Movement (MMLK), Togo’s leading human rights organization, alerted the authorities to the case of a Togolese student captured on the battlefield and imprisoned in Ukraine.
“Having received his study visa at the Russian embassy in Cotonou, the compatriot left Togo for Russia on August 21, 2024,” MMLK said in a statement.
“Arriving in Russia, he was forced to join the army to go to the front in Ukraine. It was there that he was seriously wounded, captured and thrown in prison,” it said.
The press also reported in recent months several cases of African nationals, often students or former prisoners, notably from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Benin, fighting with Russian forces on the Ukrainian front.
Prominent blogger targetted
In another development, Ukraine’s internal security agency, the SBU, on Friday accused Russian intelligence of orchestrating an attempt to assassinate a prominent Ukrainian blogger, accusing a 45-year-old woman of carrying out the failed hit.
The attempt to kill Internet personality Serhii Sternenko, who once led the local chapter of a right-wing group but is now better known in Ukraine for crowdfunding donations for military drones, took place on Thursday.
In a statement on Telegram, the SBU said the woman, whom it did not name, had fired several shots with a pistol, one of which hit Sternenko in the leg. The blogger said there was no danger to his life.
The woman’s lawyer said in court that she did not contest the facts of the case.
Russia’s FSB security service and its military intelligence agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the SBU’s allegations.
The SBU did not specify which of Russia’s several security services it believed to have recruited the woman, but said that they had last year told her to move into Sternenko’s apartment block in Kyiv, and to pick up a pistol from a dead drop.
The SBU said the woman’s handler told her on the morning of May 1 to kill Sternenko outside his apartment block.
The agency posted screenshots of what it said were messages between the woman and the handler and a video from a security camera showing the assassination attempt.
The accused’s lawyer said the contact had told the woman that Sternenko was working for Russia’s FSB.
The woman told the court that the contact, whose gender was not disclosed, had introduced themselves online as an SBU agent, and that she had initially feared them. Subsequently she had fallen in love with them despite never seeing their photo, she said.
US military creates new military zone along border with Mexico
- The US military said it had established the “Texas National Defense Area” in a 63-mile-long strip running east from the Texas-New Mexico border in El Paso
WASHINGTON: The US military has created a second military zone along the border with Mexico, adding an area in Texas where troops can temporarily detain migrants or trespassers to one designated in New Mexico last month.
President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign since taking office, increasing troops at the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.
The Trump administration in April said it designated a 60-foot-wide, 170-mile-long (18 meter by 270 km) strip along the base of New Mexico as a “National Defense Area.”
Late on Thursday, the US military said it had established the “Texas National Defense Area” in a 63-mile-long strip running east from the Texas-New Mexico border in El Paso.
US Customs and Border Protection maintains jurisdiction over illegal border crossings in the area and troops would hand over migrants they detained to US Border Patrol or other civilian law enforcement, according to the Defense Department.
So far, 82 migrants have been charged for crossing into the New Mexico military zone, according to the state’s US Attorney’s Office. US troops have not detained any of them and they were dealt with by CBP officials.
The zone is intended to allow the Trump administration to use troops to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events like civil disorder.
Around 11,900 troops are currently on the border. The number of migrants caught crossing illegally in March fell to the lowest level ever recorded, according to government data.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, a Republican, on Thursday posted pictures of razor wire barrier construction on the border, saying “Texas continues to work with the Trump Administration to stop illegal immigration.”
Since 2021 Abbott has deployed the state’s National Guard and police to border security.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has opposed what she called a “deportation buffer zone” in her state.
In a March social media post the Democrat called it “a waste of resources and military personnel, especially when migrant crossings are at the lowest in decades.”
US hiring better than expected despite Trump uncertainty
- rump took to his Truth Social account after the data was published to talk up the “strong” employment figures
WASHINGTON: US hiring slowed less than expected in April while the jobless rate remained unchanged, according to government data published Friday, buoying investors navigating the early turbulent months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has looked to slash the number of federal employees and embarked on a trade war that many economists warn is likely to cool growth and push up inflation.
With Trump’s tariff plans still in their early stages, their effect has not yet filtered through into hiring: The world’s largest economy added 177,000 jobs last month, down slightly from a revised 185,000 in March, the Department of Labor said in a statement.
However, job creation was still well above the market consensus of 130,000, according to Briefing.com, and remained slightly above the average monthly gain over the past 12 months.
The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2 percent, in line with expectations.
US financial markets closed sharply higher on the news, with all three major Wall Street indices ending the day firmly in the green.
“Markets breathed a sigh of relief this morning,” Northlight Asset Management chief investment officer Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients.
“While recession fears are still simmering on the back burner, the buy-the-dip dynamic can continue — at least until the tariff pause runs out,” he said, referring to Trump’s recent decision to pause higher levies on dozens of trading partners until July to allow for trade talks.
Trump took to his Truth Social account after the data was published to talk up the “strong” employment figures.
“Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!!” the US president wrote.
“NO INFLATION, THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!!” added Trump, who has been outspoken in his calls for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
The independent central bank has kept its key lending rate at between 4.25 and 4.50 percent for months, as it looks to bring inflation from its current elevated levels to its long-term target of two percent while keeping one eye firmly fixed on the unemployment rate.
Financial markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to extend its rate cut pause next week, according to data from CME Group.
Sectors that saw job gains last month included health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance, the Labor Department said.
But federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April, bringing the total decline in the number of government employees since January to 26,000.
The Trump administration is facing legal action after attempting to lay off tens of thousands of federal workers as part of an aggressive cost-cutting drive.
Average hourly earnings grew 0.2 percent to $36.06 in April, the Labor Department said Friday.
“There is nothing to complain about here,” High Frequency Economics chief economist Carl Weinberg wrote in a note to clients. “You cannot find any evidence of a nascent recession in these figures.”
While traders may breathe easier today, many analysts have stressed that it is still early days for the new administration, and warned they still expect tariffs to cool job creation in the future.
“It will be extraordinary if employment is unscathed this year by the jump in tariffs on imports, the drop in asset prices and the extreme economic policy uncertainty,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote in an investor note published on Monday.
These factors are likely “causing many businesses to defer non-essential spending,” they added, noting that they had not yet seen any significant changes in the payroll data they track.
US readies Russia sanctions over Ukraine, OKs possible F-16 training and sustainment
- Targets include natural resources and banking entities
- Trump has not decided whether to deploy the sanctions
WASHINGTON: US officials have finalized new economic sanctions against Russia, including banking and energy measures, to intensify pressure on Moscow to embrace US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end its war on Ukraine, according to three US officials and a source familiar with the issue.
At the same time, the US State Department has approved the potential sale of F-16 training and sustainment, along with related equipment, to Ukraine for $310 million, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The targets include state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom and major entities involved in the natural resources and banking sectors, said an administration official, who like the other sources requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
The official provided no further details.
It was far from clear, however, whether the package will be approved by Trump, whose sympathy for Moscow’s statements and actions have given way to frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spurning of his calls for a ceasefire and peace talks.
The US National Security Council “is trying to coordinate some set of more punitive actions against Russia,” said the source familiar with the issue. “This will have to be signed off by Trump.”
“It’s totally his call,” confirmed a second US official.
“From the beginning, the president has been clear about his commitment to achieving a full and comprehensive ceasefire,” said National Security Council Spokesman James Hewitt. “We do not comment on the details of ongoing negotiations.”
The US Treasury, which implements most US sanctions, did not respond to a request for comment.
An approval by Trump of new sanctions, which would follow the Wednesday signing of a US-Ukraine minerals deal that he heavily promoted as part of his peace effort, could signify a hardening of his stance toward the Kremlin.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the United States and its allies have added layer upon layer of sanctions on the country. While the measures have been painful for Russia’s economy, Moscow has found ways to circumvent the sanctions and continue funding its war.
Trump “has been bending over backwards to give Putin every opportunity to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to have a ceasefire and an end to the war,’ and Putin keeps rejecting him,” said Kurt Volker, a former US envoy to NATO who was US special representative for Ukraine negotiations during Trump’s first term. “This is the next phase of putting some pressure on Russia.”
“Putin has been escalating,” he continued. Trump “has got the US and Ukraine now in alignment calling for an immediate and full ceasefire, and Putin is now the outlier.”
Since assuming office in January, Trump has taken steps seen as aimed at boosting Russian acceptance of his peace effort, including disbanding a Justice Department task force formed to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
He also has made pro-Moscow statements, falsely blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the conflict and calling him a “dictator.”
Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, has advocated a peace strategy that would cede four Ukrainian regions to Moscow, and has met Putin four times, most recently last week.
But three days after that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Putin’s maximalist demands for a settlement and Moscow’s forces have pressed frontline attacks and missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, claiming more civilian casualties.
Reuters reported
in March that the United States was drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief but Trump in recent weeks has expressed frustration with Putin’s foot-dragging on ending the invasion and last Saturday held a “very productive” one-on-one meeting in the Vatican with Zelensky.
The next day, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he was “strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions and Tariffs on Russia” that would remain until a ceasefire and final peace deal.
Volker said that Russia has been earning hard currency that funds its military through oil and gas sales to countries like India and China and that it would be “very significant” if Trump slapped secondary sanctions on such deals.
Secondary sanctions are those where one country seeks to punish a second country for trading with a third by barring access to its own market, a particularly powerful tool for the United States because of the size of its economy.
F-16 training
Days before the F-16 training and sustainment deal, Ukraine and the US signed a deal heavily promoted by Trump, to give the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Ukraine has previously received F-16 jets from US allies under a jet transfer authorized by former President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump has not been as eager to assist Kyiv with weapons support, instead relying on transfers authorized by Biden.
Under Biden, more than $31 billion worth of weapons and equipment was pledged to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the president to approve rapid transfers to foreign countries from US military stockpiles, without having to seek congressional approval.
These weapons and others purchased with US funds on behalf of Ukraine and shipped via the same channels continue to flow. This sale is separate from that, and represents an actual weapons deal whose principal contractors include Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, BAE Systems and AAR Corporation , the Pentagon said in a statement.
The sale could include aircraft modifications and upgrades, flight training, maintenance, and sustainment support; spare parts, repair, ground handling equipment, classified software, classified publications and support.
