Lines Stretch for Miles as Queen Elizabeth Lies in State



News Desk, Barta24.com
Lines Stretch for Miles as Queen Elizabeth Lies in State

Lines Stretch for Miles as Queen Elizabeth Lies in State

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Borne on a gun carriage and accompanied by the boom of artillery cannons and the tolling of Big Ben’s bell, the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was transported on Wednesday (August 14) from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where the queen’s body will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.

The first members of the public were admitted to Westminster Hall at 5 p.m local time (12 p.m. Eastern) to pay their respects. Many had waited for hours in a line that was stretching for miles around London.

Earlier, at 2:22 p.m. (9:22 a.m. Eastern), the coffin, draped in the imperial standard and bearing the imperial state crown on a velvet pillow, rolled slowly out of the front gate of Buckingham Palace. That precise time was chosen because it allowed the procession to reach the doors of Westminster Hall 3 p.m., when it was met by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

King Charles III, in full dress uniform and carrying a field marshal’s baton, walked behind the coffin, joined by his sister, Princess Anne, and their two brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. His elder son and heir, Prince William, newly named as the Prince of Wales, walked behind him, next to his brother, Prince Harry.

The procession, one of the most solemn of the public rituals marking the death of the British monarch, was meant to have less fanfare than other ceremonies. Even the skies above the route were cleared of commercial aircraft, with Heathrow Airport disrupting the schedules of flights to eliminate the distant roar of planes.

The cortege passed by the most familiar symbols of royal London, from Buckingham Palace to the wide, tree-lined vista of the Mall, then past government institutions on Whitehall and Downing Street, before arriving at Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Parliamentary estate.

With the queen departing the palace for the last time, her 38-minute journey symbolized the transfer of responsibility for the sovereign’s body from the royal family, which has been mourning a beloved matriarch, to the British nation, which will now mourn a revered head of state.

There were familiar emblems of the queen’s military status: Her gun carriage was guarded by the Household Mounted Cavalry Regiment, followed by bands of Grenadiers and Scots guards. Members of the queen’s household, including her private secretary and keeper of the privy purse, walked in front of the coffin.

In walking behind the coffin, the members of the royal family took up the same positions they had during a procession on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile on Monday. Their choice of dress reflected their sometimes turbulent personal circumstances.

Prince Andrew, who served in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War, wore a morning suit rather than a uniform, reflecting his banishment from royal duties because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sexual predator.

Prince Harry, who withdrew from his royal duties and moved to the United States in 2020 with his American-born wife, Meghan, also wore a morning suit. Andrew will wear his uniform for a final salute to his mother later in the week. A spokesman for Harry said he was content to wear civilian dress.

The other female members of the family — Queen Camilla; Catherine, the Princess of Wales; and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex — rode to Westminster Hall in advance.

Once inside the centuries-old hall, the coffin was placed on a catafalque, and Archbishop Welby and other clerics conducted a brief service. The hall was then readied for round-the-clock public viewing, a ritual that was expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people. The police estimate that the wait could last for hours and that the line could eventually stretch for up to 10 miles.

Westminster Hall, which sits in the shadow of Big Ben, is one of the most hallowed places in British public life. Erected by King William II in 1097, it is where King Richard I had his coronation banquet in 1189, Thomas More was tried for treason in 1535 and Winston Churchill’s body lay in state in 1965.

   

We are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh: Pakistan PM



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif praised the economic progress of Bangladesh and said that they are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh.

According to a report by Pakistan-based media Dawn on Thursday (April 25), Shahbaz Sharif said this in a view exchange meeting with business representatives at the Sindh Chief Minister's residence in Karachi on Wednesday (April 24).

He said that before independence, Bangladesh i.e. East Pakistan at that time was considered a burden to the country. But they have made tremendous progress in the growth of industrialization.

Shahbaz Sharif said, I was very young when...we were told that it was a burden on our shoulders. Today you all know where that burden has reached (in terms of economic growth). And now when we look at them, we feel ashamed.

Currently, Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in almost all indicators of the socio-economic sector.

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Mass arrests could not stop anti-Israel protests at American universities



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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US universities have erupted in protest over Israel's military operation in the Palestinian-besieged Gaza. This pro-Palestinian movement is being suppressed even after mass arrests. Rather, as the days go by, the protests are spreading.

The news agency Reuters reported that police made mass arrests at Atlanta's Emory University amid protests. A graduation ceremony at the University of Southern California was canceled due to the protests.

Emory University officials said protesters not affiliated with the college entered campus grounds early Thursday morning. When they refused to leave, the police used chemical spray to disperse them.

According to CBS News, about 108 people were arrested at Emerson College in the city on Wednesday night local time. Earlier in the evening, 93 people were taken into police custody from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

Anti-Israel protests have spread to dozens of US universities within a week of starting at New York's Columbia University.

Meanwhile, a clash between protesters and police took place at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. Later, authorities said that 34 people were arrested from there. These new arrests came after massive arrests of protesters at Columbia, Yale and New York universities.

Students gathered Wednesday (April 24) to protest at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park. At this time they were stopped by the riot police. Protesters were told to leave within 10 minutes by an announcement from a police helicopter. However, the students who remained at the scene were arrested for trespassing.

The protests at the University of Southern California were reportedly peaceful at first. Later the tension spread with the presence of the police. Protesters threw water bottles at the police when they tried to arrest a woman. At this time, they kept shouting slogans - 'Let him go'. Besides, they surrounded the police officers and shouted slogans like 'I want the liberation of Palestine'.

It should be noted that on October 7, the Palestinian independence organization Hamas entered Israeli territory and carried out an ambush. 1200 people were killed. Because of this, since that day, the Israeli forces continue to attack Gaza indiscriminately. 34 thousand 305 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip in the attack that lasted for more than six months. Apart from this, there is a severe humanitarian crisis due to lack of food, water and medical equipment.

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Iran is cracking down on women who don't wear Hijab



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Iran is cracking down on women and girls who don't wear Hijab. The country has started a new campaign named 'Noor' from last April 13. Since then, the implementation of the Hijab law has started to become stricter.

Iran has strict laws on wearing the Hijab. Strict action is taken against those who break this law.

Some videos of women being assaulted have gone viral on social media. In them, it is seen that women who go out without Hijab are forcibly picked up in cars by the members of the 'Morality Police'.

A video shows a mother and daughter walking through Tehran's busiest square in the capital. At that time, they were surrounded by five female and two male members of the police. When they tried to evade arrest, they were violently beaten and taken into a car.

Dina Ghalibaf, a female student at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, wrote on the micro-blogging site X that she was barred from boarding the metro. When she insisted, she was taken to a room. She claimed that she was beaten and sexually harassed there.

The student was arrested a day after making such a post and taken to Evin prison.

British newspaper The Guardian spoke to some of those arrested. One of them told the media that eight members of the police surrounded her last Saturday. At that time, she was called "prostitute", "naked American prostitute" and insulted her. Apart from this, the young woman claimed that men also touched her during the arrest.



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Boeing incurs huge losses after door open incident



Special Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Boeing lost a huge amount of money due to the opening of the doors of the Boeing aircraft of Alaska Airlines in mid-air. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a loss of US dollar 343 million in the first quarter of this year (January-March).

An unused door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing Max 9 collapsed moments after takeoff from Portland, Oregon last January. Although the Alaska Airlines plane was able to land safely in this incident, questions about Boeing's safety have been raised around the world.

As a result, Boeing reduced the production of the aircraft according to their target. As a result, Boeing is forced to pay huge losses in the first quarter of this year.

After the Alaska Airlines incident, the United States Aviation Agency ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing Max 737 aircraft. In the wake of the incident, Boeing's chief immediately admitted the mistake and promised to fix the problem with 100% transparency. But even this did not save the end. Boeing's CEO was eventually forced to resign.

In order not to cut the heat of this incident, a former Boeing engineer recently talked about the manufacturing defects of the Dreamliner 787. He recommended grounding all Dreamliner aircraft worldwide. In this incident, the safety of Boeing was questioned again.

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