Queen Elizabeth's Reaction to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Exit Sends a Strong Message About Who Is in Control - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s announcement about taking a “step back” from their royal duties was a shock to many, but Queen Elizabeth signed off on the move, sharing in a statement that she was supportive of their decision. Taking a closer look at the queen’s statements about the matter, one royal expert noticed that she offered subtle clues that she’s in control.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth called a special meeting

After Prince Harry and Markle’s bombshell announcement that they’d be leaving the royal family, Queen Elizabeth met with Prince Harry, Prince William, and Prince Charles to discuss Harry and Markle’s future, after which she issued a statement in support of their exit plan.

In the statement, she noted: “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.”

She added: “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.”

Once things were finalized with the Sussexes’ exit, Queen Elizabeth revealed the details of their plan, with some brief remarks about the outcomes of their discussions, including a note that she’s “proud” of Meghan.

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“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.” – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex For more information, please visit sussexroyal.com (link in bio) Image © PA

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Jan 8, 2020 at 10:33am PST

In her statement, the queen noted: “Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family. I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.”

The statement continued: “I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family. It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”

Her statement “shows who is in control”

The queen’s statement was brief and supportive but certainly shows who’s in charge,” according to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams. Fitzwilliams told Express: “In this statement, the queen shows who is in control. It also underlines the fact that there is no half-way house when you are a working royal.”

Fitzwilliams added: “Harry and Meghan won’t use their titles or perform royal duties but over and above the line drawn here, the queen is showing her displeasure at the way they have behaved despite her emollient words which are so supportive.”

The expert further noted how taking Harry’s military appointments away from someone “who has served in Afghanistan twice emphasizes that the queen feels he has let down the monarchy. The royal family was already reeling from the crisis with Andrew, when Harry released a statement without telling senior royals who had, apparently, been involved in discussions on this for months.”

“The Queen has shown dedication to duty her whole life and clearly feels let down,” he added.

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2020-01-22 10:02:57Z
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Venezuela intelligence agents raid Guaido offices: Opposition - Al Jazeera English

Agents from Venezuela's Sebin intelligence service on Tuesday raided the offices of Juan Guaido while the opposition leader was travelling in Europe, an opposition politician said.

"We have just confirmed that Sebin officers are inside the office of president Guaido," legislator Delsa Solorzano told reporters after speaking to security guards at Caracas's Zurich Tower.

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National Assembly leader Guaido has been recognised as president by the United States and more than 50 other countries in his year-long power struggle with socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who earlier this year tried to block Guaido's re-election as Assembly president.

The opposition said one of their legislators, Ismael Leon, was also arrested on Tuesday on his way to the National Assembly.

"Cowardly dictatorship! While I am away, consolidating support to overcome the tragedy that we Venezuelans are enduring, they shamelessly show what they are all about," Guaido, visiting London, wrote on Twitter.

European trip

The tower where the offices are located had been surrounded in the afternoon by hooded and armed Sebin officers dressed in black.

The offices were empty when the search began, the opposition said, adding that several legislators had been unable to gain access.

"Whatever procedure is under way, they are carrying it out without authorisation ... without witnesses, and they have no search warrant," Solorzano said outside the building.

Legislator Angel Torres said the agents "abruptly entered" the offices amid opposition fears they could plant false evidence.

Venezuelan authorities made no comment on the report of the arrest of Leon.

The 36-year-old Guaido has defied a travel ban to fly to London for talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of a European trip which will include a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

On Monday he visited Bogota, Colombia and met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who promised Guaido more US support in his effort to unseat Maduro.

Despite international backing, efforts to remove Maduro have stalled and he retains the support of the powerful armed forces, as well as that of allies China, Russia and Cuba.

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2020-01-22 04:20:00Z
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Wuhan coronavirus found in 4 countries other than China, including US - CNN

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2020-01-22 09:20:54Z
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Things have changed for Venezuela. But they're not what Juan Guaido hoped for - CNN

That's the question dogging Juan Guaido as he embarks on another global tour, an uncomfortable mirror of the near-triumphant voyage he took last February in the weeks after declaring himself the rightful interim president of Venezuela.

Back then, he escaped a travel ban and slipped into Colombia to attend a rock concert hosted by British billionaire Richard Branson. He shook eager presidential hands both there and around South America before launching a daring bid to return to Venezuela, flummoxing his opponents by sneaking back into Caracas' main airport in plain sight on a commercial jet.

He was the star in his own meteoric tale, bolstered by the Trump administration and Venezuela's neighbors: that he was the only legitimate leader of his country, and that Nicolas Maduro was done.

As he makes another foreign trip this week, the star power and magnetism -- and the hope -- has mostly evaporated. Guaido met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a counter-narcotics conference in Colombia on Monday, before heading off to Europe, where he may miss President Donald Trump if he gets as far as Davos in Switzerland.

Change is likely not coming in Guaido's wake -- and his air miles are more a bid to resuscitate himself on the international stage than a chance for foreign capitals to hyperventilate about his transitional presidency.

So what has changed, if Guaido brought none?

First was Trump. While the fuel for Guaido's rise was the smoldering and inexorable collapse of Venezuela, the spark was a White House convinced that an easy win was possible. Sacked US national security adviser John Bolton, who told Maduro he should look into beachfront property for retirement, may himself be crafting his explosive memoirs overlooking some gentle sands. Trump's officials still bang the drum of sanctions, but Venezuela is rarely on his lips now. Unless Trump thinks a revived campaign to oust Maduro may help his reelection chances -- perhaps in Florida -- it's unlikely he'll escalate anytime soon. And given how entrenched the Maduro government is, the US would need to consider using force.

Second, Guaido failed. His team was new to cutthroat politics, charmingly dazzled by their sudden overnight ascendance, and alternated between being startlingly adept and shockingly naive. The failed attempt to overthrow Maduro on April 30 was a decisive moment when Guaido and his emboldened supporters, including even soldiers in the streets of the capital in blue armbands, failed to turn the tide. Guaido failed at the one thing everyone knew he needed to break: the security forces and their hold on the guns, drugs, money and borders.

Which leads to the third change -- in Maduro himself. He has been pragmatic, but also ruthless. A recent interview with The Washington Post saw him offer direct talks with the Trump administration and even business opportunities to American oil giants. Offering Trump business deals while the White House is busy instead pillorying you with sanctions borders on ridicule and is not something you do unless you are pretty relaxed.

Maduro has also turned nast(ier). Whereas a year ago, the security forces seemed at times reticent to resort to violence -- and perhaps even feared greater popular anger if they drew Venezuelan blood -- now, the gloves are off. An extensive torture campaign has been documented by human rights workers, intended to rub out any sense of disloyalty from the military. Cuban operatives stalk detention centers where systematic violence and rape is alleged. Civilian opponents have been executed by special police units, human rights workers and the UN say. The Maduro government has rejected these allegations.

Even Guaido's fellow opposition legislators -- together with journalists and bystanders -- were physically attacked outside the National Assembly this month by Maduro loyalists. There's always been thuggery, but the torture has become systematic and the targets on the street are broader now.

Maduro has also been smart enough to allow tiny reforms. The seat of power -- Caracas -- is strangely calm. A friend there tells me dollars are informally permitted to pay for goods, removing one grievance behind the protests and reducing the impact of hyperinflation on the local bolivar. If you have dollars you can eat, even if the city is even less secure. Wholesale decline has continued in rural areas, where barter is now common and food scarce. But if the capital is muddling through, Maduro's grip on its levers of power can stay tight.

It is hard not to see the hand of Moscow in some of these choices. Tiny economic reforms and targeted brutality are straight from the Kremlin's playbook. Russian state oil firm Rosneft is also accused of trading Venezuelan oil with India and China to get around sanctions. (Russia and its companies have denied any wrongdoing or involvement in deals alleged to break international law.) Again, while the White House's attention span for revolution demands overnight results, Moscow sits in with its allies for the long haul.

Yet none of Guaido's failure alters the underlying crisis at the heart of Venezuela: that its kleptocracy and mismanagement are still bleeding it dry, with hundreds of thousands still refugees around the region. But it marks yet another opposition leader's rise and then deceleration.

Guaido may not be done yet. Maduro's new penchant for strong-arm tactics could see his rival arrested. That could spark internal fury, or meaningful external action. Military defectors in exile may muster enough foreign support to affect some sort of change. The Trump administration may have a backup plan.

But the most startling observation -- a year since Guaido stood before a crowd of thousands of supporters in Caracas and declared he was the legitimate president of the entire nation -- is how smoothly Maduro has sailed out of the storm.

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2020-01-22 02:54:00Z
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CDC expected to announce first US case of Wuhan coronavirus - CNN

The source is involved in the matter and was made aware of a CDC media briefing scheduled for later today.

The novel virus, which was first identified last month in Wuhan, China, has so far infected more than 300 people and killed six, in an outbreak that has been reported in five countries -- now including the United States.

It is unclear if this person recently traveled to China, where and how they became infected, and if this person has transmitted the virus to anyone else in the United States.

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2020-01-21 18:28:00Z
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As Trump lashes out at ‘prophets of doom’ in Davos, Greta Thunberg calls for climate action - The Washington Post

Even though Trump said he was a “big believer in the environment” and did not explicitly name climate change as he lashed out at “alarmists,” his remarks stood in stark contrast to the 17-year old Thunberg’s renewed call to “start listening to the science” on climate change. The world, she said on Tuesday, needs to “treat this crisis with the importance it deserves.”

Thunberg’s remarks echoed her prior warning in Davos last year, when she told world leaders: “I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”

The Swedish teenager’s activism helped inspire a global climate action movement, which earned her Time Magazine’s Person of the Year title in December.

“Without treating it as a real crisis, we cannot solve it,” Thunberg said at the annual conference, which brings together political and economic leaders from around the world.

Thunberg is also set to give a second speech Tuesday afternoon. “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. We are still telling you to panic, and to act as if you loved your children above all else,” Thunberg is set to say, according to a transcript of her planned remarks, shared with the New York Times.

While she and Trump did not mention each other directly in their speeches, their remarks represented a head-on collision of worldviews. In his remarks, according to reports, he referred to today’s activists as “the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers.”

Robert Habeck, leader of the German Greens, said he “hadn’t expected much, but [Trump’s] speech was a disaster for the conference, for the idea of the conference, for the idea of multilateralism.”

Ishaan Tharoor, Anne Gearan and Toluse Olorunnipa in Davos contributed to this report.

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2020-01-21 13:31:00Z
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Death toll rises from mystery coronavirus in China - New York Post

The death toll from the new coronavirus in China climbed to six Tuesday as new cases of the mysterious flu-like illness surged beyond 300, raising concerns of a major outbreak during the Lunar New Year travel rush.

Anxiety grew both at home and abroad after Zhong Nanshan, chief of the National Health Commission, confirmed fears late Monday that the virus can spread from human to human.

Officials have confirmed more than 300 cases in China, mostly in the central city of Wuhan, a major transportation hub, where the virus may have originated at a seafood market.

There have been six deaths in that city, Mayor Zhou Xianwang told Chinese state media Tuesday.

But the virus has been spreading around other parts of China, including more than 20 cases in the capital of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong province in the south and Zhejiang in the east. Fifteen medical workers are among those infected.

Abroad, Thailand has reported two cases and South Korea one, all involving Chinese travelers from Wuhan. Japan and Taiwan also confirmed one case each, both nationals who had been to that city.

“Information about newly reported infections suggest there may now be sustained human-to-human transmission,” said Takeshi Kasai, the World Health Organization’s regional director for the western Pacific, Reuters reported.

So far, the WHO has not recommended trade or travel restrictions but such measures could be addressed during a meeting Wednesday.

In the US, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are taking temperatures of passengers at New York’s JFK and the Los Angeles and San Francisco international airports who arrive from Wuhan.

Medical staff transfer a patient from an ambulance at the Jinyintan hospital.Reuters

Airports in Australia, Japan and South Korea also have begun screening passengers from the city, where officials have been using infrared thermometers to screen passengers since Jan. 14.

Images of long lines of people lining up to buy face masks were circulating widely on Chinese social media during the Lunar New Year, a major holiday for Chinese, many of whom travel to join family or have a foreign holiday.

The Chinese government has estimated people will make about 3 billion trips during the travel season, but some social media users have said they may stay home amid concern about the virus.

Some online vendors were limiting sales of masks and hand sanitizers as demand skyrocketed. Several online retailers were sold out of masks, which were being sold for more than 10 times their original price.

Users of the popular Weibo social media platform urged people to wash their hands and stay home. Initial symptoms of the new coronavirus include fever, cough, chest tightness and shortness of breath.

The coronavirus has caused alarm because of its genetic similarities to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which first infected people in southern China in late 2002 and spread to dozens of countries, killing nearly 800.

The Chinese government announced it was classifying the new outbreak in the same category as SARS, meaning mandatory isolation for those diagnosed with the disease and the potential to implement quarantine measures on travel.

China initially tried to conceal the severity of the SARS epidemic, but its cover-up was exposed by a high-ranking physician.

With Post wires

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2020-01-21 13:52:00Z
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