Abducted journalists believed killed
BRITAIN: The Duke of Edinburgh is ‘‘on good form’’ as he recovers in hospital from a hip replacement, the princess royal said yesterday.
The duke, 96, has been recuperating at the King Edward VII Hospital in London since the surgery on Wednesday last week. Princess Anne is believed to have been the first member of the royal family to visit him, and her trip to his bedside suggests that he is likely to remain there for at least a few more days.
Buckingham Palace said the duke was in good spirits and ‘‘progressing satisfactorily’’ after the operation. He will need extensive rehabilitation, and will have to use crutches for the next four to six weeks.
His next public appearance is likely to be the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 19.
Markle has been criticised by her half-sister, Samantha Grant, for ‘‘inviting complete strangers to the royal wedding, and not her family’’.
Grant, 53, made the remarks after the couple’s decision to invite more than 2600 members of the public into the grounds of Windsor Castle to see the wedding procession.
Grant, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, tweeted on Thursday: ‘‘The Markle family is looking forward to our wedding invites. No one has one yet. Still waiting. I hope London is wheelchair friendly. Excited!’’
She later made pointed reference to the decision to allow selected members of the public into the castle grounds.
‘‘At issue is not a matter of closeness as more than 1000 complete strangers are invited,’’ she said. ‘‘Family is family. I have an uncle I have only seen once but I would never say he is not family because we are not close. Humanitarians move forward with love and kindness especially to family.
‘‘Smoke and mirrors cannot hide the elephant in the room. Out of respect, tradition and humanitarianism, the #Markles should be invited if 2000 complete strangers are invited. Our uncle who got her the internship, brother, me, best friend of 30 years Nikki [Ninaki] Priddy, nephews. Fact.’’
Neither British Prime Minister Theresa May nor former US president Barack Obama will attend the wedding. Kensington Palace says there will be no official guests. All 600 of those invited have a direct relationship with Harry or Markle. However, 2640 members of the public will be invited into the castle grounds, including 1200 people who have demonstrated strong leadership in their communities. ECUADOR: Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno returned home early from a regional summit yesterday amid unconfirmed reports that three press workers kidnapped along the increasingly combative border with Colombia have been slain.
Colombia’s RCN network said it had handed over to authorities gruesome photos purporting to show the bodies of the three men. Neither government has confirmed the photos’ authenticity, but Moreno said he felt he should be in Ecuador.
‘‘I’ve decided to return immediately to Ecuador due to the critical situation we are facing,’’ he said in a message posted on Twitter.
Two journalists and a driver from Ecuadorean newspaper
were taken hostage three weeks ago while investigating a rise in drug-fuelled violence along Ecuador’s northern border, which had resulted in several surprise attacks on military targets.
Moreno said he was returning to Ecuador with loved ones of the three men.
The families had travelled to Peru, where the Summit of Americas is taking place, to pressure Moreno and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, to do more to obtain their loved ones’ freedom.
Earlier this week, authorities dismissed as fake a statement from a group claiming to be a holdout faction of the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that said the news workers were killed during a military raid co-ordinated by the two governments.
In a proof-of-life video released earlier this month, the three men identified their captors as members of the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a group of a few dozen combatants that authorities say is led by a former FARC rebel known by the alias Guacho. The group is believed to have been behind recent attacks in Ecuador.
Several press organisations have accused the two governments of taking the kidnappings too lightly.
Since the men were taken hostage, Ecuador’s government has appealed to media outlets not to sensationalise the kidnapping, while Santos’s government has repeatedly denied that the men are being held inside Colombia.
‘‘We condemn the actions of the Colombian and Ecuadorean governments and their lack of seriousness in protecting the reporters’ lives,’’ Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom said in a statement yesterday that urged authorities to act more swiftly to confirm the photos’ veracity.
It also said the governments should have sought the mediation of the Roman Catholic Church and other potential humanitarian mediators.
Moreno announced last month that he was sending 12,000 soldiers and police to combat drug gangs and boost security along the border. That represents about 10 per cent of the small nation’s police officers and troops.