5, May 2022
US: Karine Jean-Pierre named as first Black woman White House press secretary 0
US President Joe Biden on Thursday named Karine Jean-Pierre as the next White House press secretary, the first Black woman to hold the high-profile post.
Jean-Pierre, who will also be the first openly LGBTQ+ person in the role, will replace Jen Psaki, under whom she served as deputy, from May 13, according to a White House statement.
Biden praised Jean-Pierre’s “experience, talent and integrity” in the statement, saying he was “proud” to announce her appointment.
“She will be the first black woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as the White House Press Secretary,” Psaki tweeted after the announcement.
“Representation matters and she will give a voice to many, but also make many dream big about what is truly possible,” added Psaki, who is due to join MSNBC after her departure, according to US media reports.
Jean-Pierre, 44, worked on both of former president Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012 and then on Biden’s campaign in 2020 before joining Biden’s team at the White House.
She also served under Biden during his tenure as Obama’s vice president.
Jean-Pierre was previously Chief Public Affairs Officer for liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org and worked as a political analyst with NBC and MSNBC, the White House statement said.
Raised in New York, she was born in Martinique to Haitian parents who emigrated to the United States.
A graduate of the prestigious Columbia University, Jean-Pierre has often said her family’s background, emblematic of the “American dream,” was a determining factor in her career.
She has a daughter with her partner, a journalist with CNN.
Source: AFP
9, May 2022
Prince Charles to stand in for Queen at UK parliament opening 0
Prince Charles will replace his 96-year-old mother Queen Elizabeth II at Tuesday’s ceremonial opening of the UK parliament, Buckingham Palace said Monday, citing the monarch’s ongoing mobility issues.
“The Queen continues to experience episodic mobility problems, and in consultation with her doctors has reluctantly decided that she will not attend the State Opening of Parliament,” the palace said in a statement on the eve of the pomp-filled event.
“At Her Majesty’s request, and with the agreement of the relevant authorities, The Prince of Wales will read the Queen’s Speech on Her Majesty’s behalf,” it added, referring to her eldest son and heir to the throne, Charles.
The palace added that the Queen’s eldest grandson, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and next in the line of succession, would also attend the elaborate State Opening of Parliament ceremony.
As head of state, the Queen usually presides over the annual event, reading out her government’s legislative programme in an address from a gilded throne in the House of Lords.
But Buckingham Palace had not confirmed her attendance in the run-up to this year’s spectacle, which culminates in the so-called Queen’s Speech at around 11:30 am (1030 GMT) on Tuesday.
The monarch has rarely been seen in public since spending an unscheduled night in hospital in October last year, and has complained of difficulties standing and working, as well as a bout of Covid.
She has missed only two state openings during her record-breaking 70-year reign, in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and then Prince Edward.
She has cut back on numerous public appearances in recent months, and last week the palace announced she will not attend this summer’s royal garden parties, usually a regular feature in her yearly diary.
The monarch recently returned to Windsor Castle after a week-long break on her Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England, where she marked her 96th birthday in private on April 21.
Royal tradition since the 18th century has also seen the monarch have a second, official birthday, typically celebrated in warmer weather in June.
This year’s official birthday coincides with her Platinum Jubilee, and four days of public events from June 2 to 5 to mark her record-breaking 70th year on the throne.
Source: AFP