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U.S ACTRESS, MEGHAN, ALL SET AS PRINCE HARRY ANNOUNCES HIS ENGAGEMENT TO HER… The engagement was announced of Prince Henry of Wales, aged 33, and the Los Angeles-born Meghan Markle, an actress aged 36 . T hey are to marry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in May. Ms Markle scotched rumors  that she might be a Catholic, declaring herself a Protestant preparing to be baptized  into the Church of England and receive Confirmation before the wedding. Though Ms Markle is divorced, she has been allowed to marry in a church service. The couple told the broadcaster Mishal Husain in a televised interview that they were attempting to cook a chicken one day last month when the prince went down on one knee to propose. During the interview , Prince Harry said: ‘The corgis took to you straight away.’ https://www. semperdiamondlodge.com/

IN SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, MUSLIM POPULATION COULD TRIPLE, SAYS REPORT… The Muslim population in some European countries could triple by 2050 while it will barely change in others, according to new projections released by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.  Europe’s Growing Muslim Population, shows a stark west-east divide. The Muslim share of Germany’s population could grow from 6.1% in 2016 to 19.7% in 2050 if high migration continues, whereas over the border Poland’s share would change from 0.1% to 0.2% in the same scenario. Even if all current 28 EU members , plus Norway and Switzerland, closed their borders to migrants, the Muslim population share in the west would continue to grow owing to a younger age profile and higher fertility rates, but remain very low in the east. According to Pew’s data, Muslims made up 4.9% of Europe’s population in 2016, with an estimated 25.8 million people across 30 countries, up from 19.5 million people in 2010. The numbe...

U.S PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP CALLS NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG Un ‘A SICK PUPPY’ President Trump took another dig Wednesday at North Korean leader Kim JongUn , calling him "a sick puppy. Trump, in St. Charles, Mo., was in the middle of calling the Republican tax plan "rocket fuel" for the U.S. economy, when he digressed and took an impromptu shot at "little rocket man."     Earlier, Trump threatened new sanctions against North Korea a day after the isolated nation launched its longest-ranging intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile flew about 600 miles in a high trajectory, but would have had a range of 8,100 miles had it flown in a flat trajectory, according to calculations by David Wright, an expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. That would make it capable of reaching Washington, D.C. The personal slug fest  between Trump and Kim has no precedent.     Since he became president, T...

ITV NEWS HEARS OF THE HORRIFIC VIOLENCE IN MYANMAR WHICH ROHINGYA ORPHANS UNDERWENT… Child Rohingya refugees have described horrific scenes of killing and violence which forced them to flee their homes in Myanmar. Young Rohinya Muslims who were orphaned when family members were killed in front of them. An estimated 620,000 men, women and children have now escaped to neighboring Bangladesh due to persecution from the Burmese military in their native state of Rakhine. More than half of those are believed to be minors. Many said they had made the long and dangerous journey to Bangladesh alone. It comes as the UK pledged an extra £12 million tohelp displaced Rohingya Muslims. The alleged violence by the Burmese military against the minority has received international condemnation. De-facto leader Aung San Suu Ky i has been singled out for failing to condemn the violence.     Jane Alum told ITV News he fled Myanmar after a helicopter fired on his house, l...

ELIZABETH WARREN REFERRED TO AS ‘POCAHONTAS’ BY U.S PRESIDENT DURING MEETING WITH NATIVE AMERICANS… President Trump has been criticized for using a racial slur during an event honoring Native American veterans. The US president was welcoming three Navajo code talkers from the Second World War to the Oval Office on Monday afternoon when he referred to Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator, as "Pocahontas".      D uring remarks praising their service, he said: "You were here long before any of us were here.  Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what, I like you." Two Second World War Navajo "code talkers" stood at the podium, with a third seated in a wheelchair as Mr Trump made the remarks, which were greeted with awkward silence. They were among 29 young volunteers from the Navajo tribe who joined the Marines in 1942 and created a secret code for the m...

AFTER MASSACRE KILLING OF 305 PEOPLE, IMAM VOWS TO RETURN AND FINISH SERMON: EGYPT MOSQUE ATTACK… 26-year-old Mohammed Abdel Fattah , a junior imam, hopes to return home from hospital in time for this week’s Friday prayers  A young iman who survived the horrific attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Pe ninsula has vowed he will return to the site and finish his sermon once he has recovered.       Mohammed Abdel Fattah , 26, was giving the Friday sermon in the village of Bir al-Abed last week when up to 30 armed gunmen carrying  Isis  flags entered the building, detonating a suicide bomb. Survivors said that those who were not killed in the blast and tried to run away were gunned down and the militants set vehicles on fire to block access to the mosque for the security services.  Mr Abdel Fattah is currently recovering in a hospital in the Nile Delta town of Al-Husayniya and coming to terms with the tragedy inflicted on his c...

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP SPIED ON BY UK GOVERNMENT AND NOW, THEY ARE TAKING IT TO COURT… After human rights groups challenged the government for its mass surveillance infrastructure, they were themselves illegally spied on. Illegal state spying jeopardizes all our freedoms, and must be stopped.     We’ve known that governments have been spying on all of us since whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the scale of mass online surveillance in 2013. At the start of November, Liberty and an international coalition of human rights campaigners challenged the programmes he uncovered in court. The Snowden documents revealed how UK government ministers allowed GCHQ to collect and store a backup of every communication entering and leaving the UK so they could trawl through them later. The Snowden documents showed us that those in power have access to our innermost thoughts. They can pore over the ideas we share, track our travel plans, listen in on our meetings...

ALL CREW MEMBERS FEARED DEAD ON A MISSING ARGENTINIAN SUBMARINE… All 44 crew members on a missing Argentinian submarine are feared dead after the navy announced a sound thought to be an explosion had been detected. Relatives of the crew burst into tears, and some said they had lost all hope of rescue, after the briefing from the navy. Spokesman Enrique Balbi said the search will continue until there is full certainty about the fate of the ARA San Juan. He said evidence showed “an anomalous event that was singular, short, violent and non-nuclear that was consistent with an explosion”. “According to this report, there was an explosion,” Mr Balbi told reporters. “We don’t know what caused an explosion of these characteristics at this site on this date.” U.S and specialist agencies said the “hydro-acoustic anomaly” was produced just hours after the navy lost contact with the submarine on November 15. The sub was originally scheduled to arrive on Monday at the Mar delPlata Navy ...

ROBERT MUGABE WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY WITH HIS WIFE… Robert Mugabe , the longtime leader of Zimbabwe who was ousted in a military intervention last week, will continue to live in the country with his wife, Grace, after a new president takes over, says his spokesman... Mr. Mugabe, 93, who has not spoken or appeared in public since resigning as president on Tuesday, does not wish to live anywhere else, his spokesman,George Charamba, said an interview. “He’s Zimbabwean,” Mr. Charamba said. “Where else would he live?” Mr. Mugabe, who had led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, fell from power after firing Emmerson Mnangagwa, his vice president, early this month and then trying to arrest the nation’s top military commander. With the military’s backing, Mr. Mnangagwa replaced Mr. Mugabe as leader of the governing ZANU-PF party, and he is to be sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday. Last week, Zimbabwe’s military commanders placed Mr. Mugabe an...

ON A VISIT TO LONDON, SAUDI ARABIAN RECEIVES  CRITICS FROM QATAR’S FOREIGN MINISTER…   Qatar's foreign minister has used a visit to London to issue a scathing criticism of Saudi Arabia's interference in other countries. The intervention comes amid mounting international concern about  Riyadh's meddling in Lebanon. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his post while visiting the Saudi capital - under what is thought to have been pressure from its government - in a move seen as direct interference in the delicately balanced politics of his volatile country. Mohammed Al Thani said, There was a misjudgment. Lebanon has a unique nature, it has its own social contract to bring the Government together, all these policies we see the results are negative.The foreign minister also lambasted the Saudi government for what he called a "humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen". The political process," he lamented, "is at a stalemate and w...

MYANMAR SOLDIERS RAPED AND TORTURED ME SAYS YOUNG ROHINGYA REFUGEE… A 16-year-old refugee who fled Rohingya says she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Myanmars armed  forces. UNICEF said that it had documented cases of rape, torture and abuse among the 621,000 Rohingya refugees who have left Myanmar for Bangladesh since August. https://www. semperdiamondlodge.com/

Mel Tillis has passed on, aged 85 Mr. Tillis wrote hits such as 'I Ain't Never' and 'Good Woman Blues' Mel Tillis, an American country music legend who wrote more than 1,000 songs, has died at age 85. Mr. Tillis, who has struggled with intestinal issues since 2016, died at the Munroe Regional Medical Centre in Florida after a “lengthy struggle to regain his health,” his publicist said. The suspected cause of death was respiratory failure. Mr. Tillis recorded more than 60 albums over his six-decade career, including six No. 1 hit singles. He is perhaps best known for 1970s hits such as “I Ain't Never", "Good Woman Blues" , and "Coca-Cola Cowboy" . In 1976, he won the the Country Music Association’s most coveted prize: Entertainer of the Year. The singer-songwriter also penned hundreds of songs that were covered by fellow stars like Kenny Rogers, George Strait, and Ricky Skaggs. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the Co...

Flood death toll in Greece rises to 20 with discovery of body Authorities in Greece say that the body of an 83-year-old man has been found in the Athens suburb of Mandra that was struck by flash flooding, raising the overall death toll to 20. The body was dug out from debris on Sunday several kilometers from where the man was last seen. He had gone hunting when the deadly flash flood struck Wednesday. Two people are still missing. The government has declared an emergency in areas in central and northern Greece hit by heavy rains last week. There were no casualties in those areas. More heavy rain fell Sunday across Greece and the bad weather is expected to continue Monday. https://www.semperdiamondlodge.com

Saudi and Arab allies under one accord against Iran, Hezbollah prying Saudi Arabia and other Arab foreign ministers criticized Iran and its Lebanese Shi‘ite ally Hezbollah at an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday, calling for a united front to counter Iranian interference. Regional tensions have risen in recent weeks between Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia and Shi‘ite Islamist Iran over Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s surprise resignation, and an escalation in Yemen’s conflict. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned on Nov. 4 from Riyadh, accusing Iran and Hezbollah of spreading strife. But Lebanese President Michel Aoun and other politicians accused Saudi Arabia of holding Hariri hostage and said he had been coerced into resigning. Saudi Arabia and Hariri both deny that. Hezbollah, both a military force involved in Syria’s war and a political movement, is part of a Lebanese government made up of rival factions, and an ally of Aoun. Saudi Arabia also accuses Hezboll...