Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Jordanian prince in 1st public appearance after house arrest
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s Prince Hamzah on Sunday made his first public appearance since he was placed under house arrest last week, reciting Quranic verses together with King Abdullah II at the graves of their forefathers. The gesture appeared to be an attempted show of unity on a major Jordanian holiday.
Abdullah has tried to signal in recent days that the situation is under control. But Sunday’s staged event left it unclear whether the king and his popular half brother have put aside their differences. The conflict had escalated into the most serious public rift in the ruling family in decades, although Hamzah has denied any wrongdoing.
Hamzah joined members of the Jordanian royal family marking the centenary of the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate that preceded the kingdom. The royal palace released a photo and video with Abdullah and Hamzah joining other dignitaries at the grave of their father and grandfather.
It was the first time that Hamzah was seen in public since he was placed under a form of house arrest April 3 following accusations that he was involved in a “malicious plot” to destabilize the kingdom. Hamzah denied the accusations and accused the country’s government of corruption and incompetence.
Abdullah subsequently said authorities had thwarted an attempt at sedition involving his half brother and some 18 suspects, while saying he was angry and in shock. Abdullah also suggested there was continued control over Hamzah’s movements, saying the prince was “with his family at his palace, under my care.”
Authorities have imposed a sweeping gag order on any coverage of the royal dispute in a sign of how sensitive they are to how it is perceived.
Sunday’s appearance by Hamzah indicated that he was safe, but it remained unclear whether he had come voluntarily or been released from the restrictions on his movement. Hamzah, wearing a suit, traditional headdress and blue surgical mask, did not comment in public. His whereabouts after the ceremony were not immediately known.
Britain easing lockdown:
Millions of people in Britain will get their first chance in months for haircuts, casual shopping and restaurant meals on Monday, as the government takes the next step on its lockdown-lifting road map.
Nationwide restrictions have been in place in England since early January, and similar rules in the other parts of the U.K., to suppress a surge in coronavirus infections that swept the country late last year, linked to a more transmissible new variant first identified in southeast England.
Britain has had Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with more than 127,000 confirmed deaths.
Infections, hospitalizations and deaths have all fallen thanks to the lockdown and a mass vaccination program that has given at least one dose to more than 60% of the adult population.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson and epidemiologists have urged caution, saying many people remain unvaccinated and relaxing social distancing rules or allowing foreign holidays this summer could bring a new spike in infections.
Remembering Buchenwald: Germany’s president on Sunday marked the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp by reminding his compatriots of the inconceivable atrocities the Nazis committed there during the Third Reich.
Holocaust survivors and their families weren’t allowed to gather for anniversary observances this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Survivors from different parts of the world attended the memorial ceremony online. Largescale commemorations for last year’s 75th anniversary were put on hold due to social distancing requirements.
The Buchenwald concentration camp was established in 1937. More than 56,000 of the 280,000 inmates held at Buchenwald and its satellite camps were killed by the Nazis or died of hunger, illness or medical experiments before the camp’s liberation in 1945.
Hostilities rise in Ukraine:
The Ukrainian military said a soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russiabacked separatist rebels Sunday, as hostilities rise sharply in the country’s east.
As of the reported attack, Ukraine says 27 soldiers have been killed in the east this year, more than half the number who died in all of 2020.
Russia denies Western claims that it has sent troops into eastern Ukraine to help the rebels, but officials say the army could intervene if Ukraine tries to retake the area by force.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sunday that “if Russia acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences.”
Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists have been fighting in eastern Ukraine since shortly after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Ex-student sentenced: A court on Sunday convicted a former student at an elite university of attempted rape and drug possession, sentencing him to eight years imprisonment on top a previous punishment for other sexual misconduct convictions.
It was the second verdict against disgraced former American University in Cairo student Ahmed Bassam Zaki in a case that has rattled Egypt’s conservative society and fueled the #MeToo movement in the Arab world’s most populous country.
Zaki was sentenced to seven years in prison for the attempted rapes of three women, and a year for possession of hashish, according to victims’ lawyer Ahmed Ragheb.
In December, Zaki was convicted of blackmailing and sexually harassing two other women, receiving three years in prison.
Volcano rumbling: Conditions worsened Sunday at a volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as loud rumbling, lightning and heavy ash fall were observed and residents reported power cuts.
The eruption Friday of La Soufriere forced many residents to evacuate their homes, though some remained in place. The rumbling was heard in the capital of Kingstown, about 20 miles south.
The eruption could continue for some time, said Professor Richard Robertson, lead scientist at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center.
About 16,000 people have had to flee their ash-covered communities. There have been no reports of anyone killed or injured by the initial blast or those that followed.