United News of Bangladesh

The overall number of global Covid-19 cases is gradually nearing 688 million. According to the latest global data, the total Covid-19 case count is 687,803,066, while the death toll reached 6,871,031 this morning. The US has reported 106,768,296 Covid-19 cases so far, while 1,162,431 people have died from the virus in the country — both highest counts globally. India on Sunday logged 2,380 new cases of Covid-19, bringing down the active cases to 27,212 from 30,041 a day before. READ: WHO downgrades COVID pandemic, says it's no longer emergency According to the global data, the Covid-19 case tally was recorded at 44,969,630. France and Germany have registered 40,021,190 and 38,411,062 Covid-19 cases so far, occupying the third and fourth positions in the world number-wise, and 166,811 and 173,375 people have died in the European countries, as per Worldometer. READ: WHO fires scientist who led COVID search over sex misconduct Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer a global health emergency. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, made the announcement while addressing a media briefing on Covid-19 and global health issues. Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh reported 23 more Covid-19 cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning. With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,038,338 according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,446 as no new fatalities were reported.          

The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog is expressing growing anxiety about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after the governor of the Russia-occupied area ordered the evacuation of a town where most plant staff live amid ongoing attacks in the area. The plant is near the front lines of fighting, and Ukrainian authorities on Sunday said that a 72-year-old woman was killed and three others were wounded when Russian forces fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held town neighboring the plant. “The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said in a warning that came Saturday before the latest report of attacks. “I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.” Grossi’s comments were prompted by an announcement Friday by Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of the partially-occupied Zaporizhzhia province, that he had ordered the evacuation of civilians from 18 settlements in the area, including Enerhodar, which is located next to the power plant, which is Europe's largest. The settlements affected are about 50 to 70 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) from the front line of fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Balitsky said that Ukraine had intensified attacks on the area in the past several days. The region is also widely seen as a likely area where Ukraine may focus its anticipated spring counteroffensive. The Ukrainian General Staff said Sunday that the evacuation of Enerhodar had already begun. According to an update posted on Facebook, the General Staff said the first residents evacuated were those who took Russian citizenship following the capture of the town by Moscow early in the war. They were being taken to the Russia-occupied Azov Sea coast, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the southeast. Grossi said that operating staff of the nuclear power plant, whose six reactors are currently all in shutdown mode, hadn't been evacuated as of Saturday but that most live in Enerhodar and the situation has contributed to “increasingly tense, stressful and challenging conditions for personnel and their families.” He added that IAEA experts at the nuclear site “are continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis.” “We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequence for the population and the environment,” Grossi said. “This major nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to press for a commitment by all sides to achieve this vital objective.” Elsewhere, Russian shelling on Saturday and overnight killed six civilians and wounded four others in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to a Telegram update published Sunday by the local administration. Five civilians were wounded in the eastern Donetsk region, the epicenter of the fighting in recent months, local Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces overnight attacked the largest port in the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula with drones, a Kremlin-installed local official said on Telegram early Sunday. According to the post by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, 10 Ukrainian drones targeted the city, three of which were shot down by air defense systems. Razvozhayev said that there had been no damage.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, came alone for his father's coronation ceremony as his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children stayed back at home in California. The king's younger son, who quit as a working royal in 2020 and later relocated to the United States, has not been seen in public with the royals since the publication of his memoir "Spare" earlier this year, in which he was harshly critical of his father, stepmother Queen Camilla, and brother, the Prince of Wales, reports The Guardian. Relations between family members are thought to be exceedingly strained, and there was considerable discussion about whether Prince Harry would even attend the coronation. According to sources, Meghan's choice to stay absent was influenced by the fact that the coronation happened on their son Prince Archie's fourth birthday, it said. The prince, who arrived in the UK on Friday, entered Westminster alone, surrounded by younger royals and sporting medals pinned to his suit jacket. He was placed two rows behind his elder brother and directly between Jack Brooksbank, the husband of the Duke of York's daughter Princess Eugenie, and Princess Alexandra, Elizabeth II's 86-year-old first cousin. Read: Charles III crowned in ancient rite at Westminster Abbey The first row was designated for the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children. Last September, Harry sat in the second row of Westminster Abbey, right behind Charles, for the Queen's funeral, it also said. During the ceremony, when the crowd paid their respects to the king, Harry was spotted, along with the other royals there, saying, “God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever.” Despite the fact that he is no longer a working royal, Harry is still fifth in line to the throne, behind the Prince of Wales and his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, Harry and Meghan's children, are sixth and seventh in line, the report also mentioned. Harry and the king's brother, the Duke of York, who is also no longer a working royal, will be missing from the parade behind the gold state carriage transporting the newly crowned king and queen from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace following the ceremony. Harry is likely to attend only the abbey ceremony before travelling to the United States, the report concluded.    

King Charles III's coronation Saturday will mix a thousand-year tradition with the streaming age. The pomp and ceremony will be unmissable for U.K. residents, but what about royal watchers across the Atlantic? There are plenty of options to watch the regalia-heavy event that serves as a formal confirmation of King Charles' dual role as head of state and titular leader of the Church of England — for those willing to wake up early enough. While it might seem odd that Americans might want to tune in, there have been large audiences for previous royal milestones, such as the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 and the weddings of their children, William and Harry. The longevity of the king's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, means that many people alive have never seen a coronation. Also read: King’s coronation draws apathy, criticism in former colonies WHAT TIME DOES THE CORONATION START? Well, first King Charles and his wife Camilla have to get to the ceremony. That begins with a procession to Westminster Abbey, which will get started at about 5 a.m. EDT, 2 a.m. for West Coasters. The Associated Press will livestream the procession beginning at 5 a.m. Eastern and provide ongoing coverage throughout the day on www.apnews.com. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC as well as cable channels CNN and Fox News all plan live coverage starting at 5 a.m. EDT. The outlets will also feature coverage on their digital platforms and streaming like Hulu+ Live TV. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW AHEAD OF TIME? The day will be filled with pageantry — the handing over of a rod, sceptre and orb, all medieval symbols of power — and loads of other traditions. Despite that, Charles has slimmed down the event, shortening the procession route and the Westminster Abbey ceremony. More than 100 heads of state will be in the audience, but President Joe Biden will keep with U.S. tradition and not attend. Instead, first lady Jill Biden will be there. The celebration continues on Sunday with the Coronation Concert, but U.S. audiences won't be able to watch headliners Lionel Richie and Katy Perry. That will be shown on BBC's iPlayer, which isn't available outside the U.K.  

South Sudan is facing violent clashes and increasing disillusionment and frustration as it struggles to implement the most challenging provisions of a fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement, U.N. experts say in a new report. The world's newest nation is struggling to integrate rival military forces, draft a new constitution and prepare for its first election as an independent country in December 2024, the experts monitoring sanctions against the world’s newest nation said in a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The country's stability “will likely turn on the government’s ability to reward the patience of those who remain committed to peace, rather than those who have sought to reshape it through violence," the report says. There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions when forces loyal to the current president, Salva Kiir, battled those loyal to the current vice president, Riek Machar. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the war, which ended with the 2018 peace agreement, bringing Kiir and Machar together in a government of national unity. Under the agreement, elections were supposed to be held in February 2023, but last August they were postponed until December 2024. Kiir said he wanted to avoid creating conditions for more bloodshed. He issued a statement outlining the government’s achievements and stressing that it would be “business as usual” before the elections. Also read: 675 Bangladeshis reach Port Sudan to leave crisis-hit Sudan: Shahriar Alam The U.N. experts said the message was aimed at allaying two concerns — that the extension would be used to undermine the fragile power-sharing structures and would mean further delays, “not the progress that peace once promised.” On the plus side, the panel said in the 37-page report that the unity government has survived, a series of laws have started to pave the way for the drafting of a new constitution, and a first batch of approximately 55,000 unified troops has graduated, even though most haven’t been deployed. On the negative side, the experts said, most troops that graduated remain around their training centers, “though poor conditions have led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of desertions.” Many graduates don’t receive regular salaries, and most work in local communities to make money, the experts said. Those that have been deployed appear to have joined pre-existing military units rather than becoming part of a new national force, they said. While the parties agreed last year to unify the top command structure, they have not been able to reach a similar agreement for the lower ranks. South Sudan is also facing its highest level of displacement since the peace agreement, and more than two-thirds of the population needs humanitarian assistance, the panel said. The experts said most South Sudanese have not seen “tangible progress” since the 2018 agreement was signed. The deteriorating humanitarian situation is partly the result of violence and serious clashes in most parts of the country between well-armed rival forces, leading to deaths, people fleeing their homes, serious human rights violations, including sexual attacks, and difficulties delivering aid, the panel said. Much of the violence results from efforts to weaken opponents, but increasingly “from growing dissatisfaction with the political process in Juba," the capital. Oil accounts for more than 90% of the government’s revenue and almost all its exports, and as a result of the high oil price the government is likely to exceed its budget target of $1.6 billion in gross oil revenues for the current fiscal year, the experts said, but the money has largely failed to reach institutions that could help stabilize the country. “The misappropriation and diversion of public resources not only continues to fuel political competition but also deprives the treasury of the resources needed to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis, fund the implementation of the peace agreement, and stabilize the country through regular salary payments and development,” the panel said.  

The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed at least 7 million people worldwide. WHO first declared COVID-19 to be an emergency more than three years ago. The U.N. health agency's officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn't come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. WHO says that thousands of people are dying from the virus every week, and millions of others report that they are still suffering from debilitating, long-term effects from the disease. “It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “That does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat,” he said, adding he wouldn't hesitate to reconvene experts to reassess the situation should COVID-19 “put our world in peril.” Tedros said the pandemic had been on a downward trend for more than a year, acknowledging that most countries have already returned to life before COVID-19. He bemoaned the damage that COVID-19 had done to the global community, saying the pandemic had shattered businesses, exacerbated political divisions, led to the spread of misinformation and plunged millions into poverty. Tedros also noted that there were likely at least 20 million COVID-19 deaths, far more than the officially reported 7 million.“COVID has changed our world and it has changed us,” he said, warning that the risk of new variants still remained. Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's emergencies chief, said it was incumbent on heads of states and other leaders to decide on how future health threats should be faced, given the numerous problems that crippled the world's response to COVID-19. Countries are negotiating a pandemic treaty that some hope may spell out how future disease threats will be faced — but it's unlikely any such treaty would be legally binding. When the U.N. health agency first declared the coronavirus to be an international crisis on Jan. 30, 2020, it hadn't yet been named COVID-19 and there were no major outbreaks beyond China. More than three years later, the virus has caused an estimated 764 million cases globally and about 5 billion people have received at least one dose of vaccine. In the U.S., the public health emergency declaration made regarding COVID-19 is set to expire on May 11, when wide-ranging measures to support the pandemic response, including vaccine mandates, will end. Many other countries, including Germany, France and Britain, dropped many of their provisions against the pandemic last year. When Tedros declared COVID-19 to be an emergency in 2020, he said his greatest fear was the virus’ potential to spread in countries with weak health systems. In fact, some of the countries that suffered the worst COVID-19 death tolls were previously judged to be the best-prepared for a pandemic, including the U.S. and Britain. According to WHO data, the number of deaths reported in Africa account for just 3% of the global total. WHO doesn't “declare” pandemics, but first used the term to describe the outbreak in March 2020, when the virus had spread to every continent except Antarctica, long after many other scientists had said a pandemic was already underway. WHO is the only agency mandated to coordinate the world’s response to acute health threats, but the organization faltered repeatedly as the coronavirus unfolded. In January 2020, WHO publicly applauded China for its supposed speedy and transparent response, even though recordings of private meetings obtained by The Associated Press showed top officials were frustrated at the country’s lack of cooperation. WHO also recommended against mask-wearing for the public for months, a mistake many health officials say cost lives. Numerous scientists also slammed WHO’s reluctance to acknowledge that COVID-19 was frequently spread in the air and by people without symptoms, criticizing the agency’s lack of strong guidance to prevent such exposure. Tedros was a vociferous critic of rich countries who hoarded the limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, warning that the world was on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” by failing to share shots with poor countries. Most recently, WHO has been struggling to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, a challenging scientific endeavour that has also become politically fraught. After a weeks-long visit to China, WHO released a report in 2021 concluding that COVID-19 most likely jumped into humans from animals, dismissing the possibility that it originated in a lab as “extremely unlikely.” But the U.N. agency backtracked the following year, saying “key pieces of data” were still missing and that it was premature to rule out that COVID-19 might have ties to a lab. Tedros lamented that the catastrophic toll of COVID-19 could have been avoided. "We have the tools and the technologies to prepare for pandemics better, to detect them earlier, to respond to them faster,” Tedros said, without citing missteps by WHO specifically. “A lack of (global) solidarity meant that those tools were not used as effectively as they could have been,” he said. “Lives were lost that should not have been. We must promise ourselves and our children and grandchildren that we will never make those mistakes again.”

Foreign ministers from a group of nations led by China and Russia met Friday in the Indian coastal resort state of Goa, where they were expected to discuss regional security, combating terrorism and deepening economic and cultural ties. India's Foreign Minister Subhramanyam Jaishankar in opening remarks to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a group that includes China, Russia and several other Asian countries — criticized global institutions' response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to resolve geopolitical upheaval, saying that alternative forums like the SCO have an opportunity to help address such challenges. He said the developments have disrupted global supply chains, especially in energy, food and fertilizer, and hit developing nations the hardest. “These crises have also exposed a credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and efficient manner,” he said. “With more than 40% of the world's population within the SCO, our collective decisions will surely have a global impact." Jaishankar did not mention Russia's war in Ukraine in his remarks, and analysts say Moscow is unlikely to face backlash over its invasion among the grouping and will instead use the meeting to flex its influence in the region. The SCO was founded in 2001 by China and Russia, and included the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan. Iran is expected to join the organization later this year. Jaishankar on Friday also stressed the need to fight terrorism, noting the group is particularly concerned about the security situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban swept to power after America's chaotic departure last year. He said cross-border terrorism must be stopped, a veiled dig at archrival Pakistan, which sent its foreign minister to Goa in the first visit to India by a high-ranking official in nearly a decade. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgent groups fighting for the independence of Indian-controlled Kashmir or its integration into Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies. “Let's not get caught up in weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in his opening remarks. A flurry of bilateral talks were held Thursday ahead of the meeting, as Jaishankar met with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The meeting between the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers came amid a tense situation along their disputed border, where a three-year standoff has involved thousands of soldiers stationed in the eastern Ladakh region. Qin said the border situation was “stable overall” and that both sides should abide by existing agreements to “promote the further cooling and easing of the border situation and maintain sustainable peace and tranquility in the border area,” according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry. India did not release a statement after the meeting, but Jaishankar tweeted afterwards to say the focus remained on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace along the border. Qin also met with Lavrov on Thursday. China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas exports, pumping billions of dollars into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s treasury and helping the Kremlin resist Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Beijing is also trying to assert itself as a global diplomatic force, and has said it would like to serve as a mediator in the war. Qin said China would continue to promote peace talks on Ukraine and maintain communication with Russia to make “tangible contributions to a political settlement of the crisis,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said. Last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Beijing would send an envoy to Ukraine to discuss a possible political settlement. China has blamed the U.S. and NATO for provoking Russia and refused to criticize Moscow’s actions. However, it has refrained from issuing a full-throated endorsement of the invasion and is not known to have provided arms or other material assistance to the Russian military effort.

Canada’s foreign minister said Thursday the country is considering the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an intelligence agency report saying one of them plotted to intimidate the Hong Kong relatives of a Canadian lawmaker. Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her department was summoning China’s ambassador to a meeting to underline that Canada won’t tolerate such interference. She said the intelligence agency report indicated that opposition Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong and his Hong Kong relatives were targeted after Chong criticized Beijing’s human rights record. “We’re assessing different options including the expulsion of diplomats,” Joly said before a Parliament committee. Canada’s spy agency has not released details publicly. Chong has said the report identifies a Toronto-based diplomat as being part of the plot. Chong has been critical of Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. “I cannot imagine the shock and concern of learning that your loved ones have been targeted in this way,” Joly said to Chong at the committee hearing. “There will be consequences.” Chong said the diplomat should be on the first plane out of Canada. “It is inexplicable that this diplomat hasn’t been told to leave the country already,” he said. “If we do not take this course of action we are basically putting up a giant billboard for all authoritarian states around world that says we are open to foreign interference targeting Canadian citizens. That’s why this individual needs to be sent packing.” Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu denied interference in a statement and warned against expelling its diplomats. “Once again, China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately stop this self-directed political farce, and not go further down the wrong and dangerous path. Should the Canadian side continue to make provocations, China will play along every step of the way until the very end,” Cong said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that he did not learn of the spy agency report until a Globe and Mail article Monday, citing top-secret documents, said the spy agency had the intelligence. But Chong told Parliament that Canada's national security adviser informed him the 2021 report went to various points in government, including to the national-security adviser at the time. Trudeau has ordered Canada’s intelligence agencies to immediately inform lawmakers of any threats against them, regardless of whether those threats are considered credible. Canada’s spy agency didn't tell Chong about the targeting of his family until this week. Many governments, the United Nations, and human rights groups accuse China of sweeping a million or more people from its Uyghur community and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups into detention camps, where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. China denies the accusations, which are based on evidence including interviews with survivors and photos and satellite images from Uyghur’s home province of Xinjiang, a major hub for factories and farms in far western China. Last month, Trudeau named a former governor general as a special investigator to look into allegations of Chinese interference in Canada’s last two elections. David Johnston will decide if a public inquiry is needed and Trudeau has said he will abide by recommendations. The Globe and Mail, citing unidentified intelligence sources, has reported that China preferred to see Trudeau’s Liberals re-elected in the 2021 election and worked to defeat Conservative politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing.

When King Charles III is crowned on Saturday, soldiers carrying flags from the Bahamas, South Africa, Tuvalu and beyond will march alongside British troops in a spectacular military procession in honor of the monarch. For some, the scene will affirm the ties that bind Britain and its former colonies. But for many others in the Commonwealth, a group of nations mostly made up of places once claimed by the British Empire, Charles’ coronation is seen with apathy at best. In those countries, the first crowning of a British monarch in 70 years is an occasion to reflect on oppression and colonialism’s bloody past. The displays of pageantry in London will jar especially with growing calls in the Caribbean to sever all ties with the monarchy. “Interest in British royalty has waned since more Jamaicans are waking to the reality that the survivors of colonialism and the holocaust of slavery are yet to receive reparatory justice,” the Rev. Sean Major-Campbell, an Anglican priest in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, said. Also Read: PM Hasina arrives in London to attend coronation of UK’s King Charles III The coronation is “only relevant in so far as it kicks us in the face with the reality that our head of state is simply so by virtue of biology,” Major-Campbell added. As British sovereign, Charles is also head of state of 14 other countries, though the role is largely ceremonial. These realms, which include Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, represent a minority of the Commonwealth nations: most of the 56 members are republics, even if some still sport the Union Jack on their flags. Barbados was the most recent Commonwealth country to remove the British monarch as its head of state, replacing Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, with an elected president in 2021. The decision spurred similar republican movements in neighboring Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize. Last year, when Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness welcomed Prince William and his wife, Kate, during a royal tour of the Caribbean, he announced that his country intends to become fully independent. It made for an awkward photo with the royal couple, who were also confronted with protests calling for Britain to pay slavery reparations. Also Read: UK’s diverse communities ambivalent about king’s coronation William, the heir to the throne, observed later in the same trip that the relationship between the monarchy and the Caribbean has evolved. The royal family will “support with pride and respect your decisions about your future,” he told a reception in the Bahamas. Rosalea Hamilton, an advocate for changing Jamaica’s Constitution to get rid of the royals, said she was organizing a coronation day forum to engage more Jamaicans in the process of political reform. The timing of the event is meant to “signal to the head of state that the priority is to move away from his leadership, rather than focus on his coronation,” Hamilton said. Two days ahead of Charles’ crowning, campaigners from 12 Commonwealth countries wrote to the monarch urging him to apologize for the legacies of British colonialism. Among the signatories was Lidia Thorpe, an Australian senator, who said Thursday that Charles should “begin a process of repairing the damage of colonization, including returning the stolen wealth that has been taken from our people.” Buckingham Palace said last month that Charles supported research into the historical links between Britain’s monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade. The king takes the issue “profoundly seriously,” and academics will be given access to the royal collection and archives, the palace said. In India, once the jewel of the British Empire, there’s scant media attention and very little interest in the coronation. Some people living in the country’s vast rural hinterlands may not have even heard of King Charles III. Also Read: With coronation approaching, Charles and Buckingham Palace working at top speed to show new king at work “India has moved on,” and most Indians “have no emotional ties with the royal family,” Pavan K. Varma, a writer and former diplomat, said. Instead, the royals are seen more like amusing celebrities, he said. And while the country still values its economic and cultural ties with the European country, Varma pointed out that India’s economy has overtaken the U.K.’s. “Britain has shrunk globally into a medium-sized power,” he said. “This notion needs to be removed, that here is a former colony riveted to the television watching the coronation of Prince Charles. I don’t think this is happening in India.” Since gaining independence in 1947, India has moved to shed the vestiges of British imperialism. The statue of King George V that used to stand near the India Gate monument in New Delhi was moved in the 1960s to Coronation Park. Once the scene of celebrations honoring Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and George V, the park is now a repository for representations of former monarchs and officials of the British Raj in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led a renewed push to reclaim India’s past and erase “symbols of slavery” from the country’s time under the British crown. His government has scrubbed away colonial-era street names, some laws and even flag symbols. “I don’t think we should care much about (the royals),” Milind Akhade, a photographer in New Delhi, said. “They enslaved us for so many years.” In Nairobi, Kenya, motorcycle taxi driver Grahmat Luvisia was similarly dismissive of the idea of following the coronation on TV. “I will not be interested in watching the news or whatever is happening over there because we have been mistreated back then by those colonizers,” he said. Herman Manyora, a political analyst and journalism professor at the University of Nairobi, said memories of Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s are still raw. Many Kenyans will not watch the coronation “because of the torture during colonialism, because of the oppression, because of detentions, because of killings, because of the alienation of our land,” Manyora said. Not everyone is as critical. In Uganda, political analyst Asuman Bisiika says British culture continues to have a strong influence on young people in the East African country, especially those who follow English soccer. There is also a lot of goodwill for Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne. “It’s not about caring for the British monarchy,” Bisiika said. “It’s about relating.” In the South African city of Durban, expat British communities have planned a live screening of the coronation ceremony, complete with trumpeters to announce the moment the Archbishop of Canterbury crowns Charles. On Sunday, there will be a special church service followed by a picnic or a “braai,” a traditional South African barbecue. “I think people want to be part of an important moment in history,” Illa Thompson, one of the organizers of the festivities, said. Experts say that despite its flaws, historical baggage and fraying edges, the Commonwealth still holds appeal, especially for poorer nations. Gabon and Togo, which are former French colonies with no colonial links to Britain, became the association’s newest members last year. Most observers believe countries like Jamaica that want an elected head of state are likely to retain their memberships. “Countries, whether they benefit or not, feel like they need to have this closeness to Britain as an economic entity,” said Kehinde Andrews, a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University. “As much as there will be still be some dissent — (Charles) is not as popular as his mother — it’s all about the economics.”   

Britain's free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia will come into force by the end of this month, the leaders from the three nations said Friday. The announcement came while the prime ministers from the two Southern Hemisphere nations are in London for the coronation of King Charles III. The deals are part of Britain's efforts to expand its economic ties after it left the European Union. Both deals were first agreed to in 2021. New Zealand officials say its deal will help boost sales of products like wine, butter, beef and honey, and will increase the size of its economy by up to 1 billion New Zealand dollars ($629 million). New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said it was a gold-standard agreement. "The market access outcomes are among the very best New Zealand has secured in any trade deal,” Hipkins said in a statement. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal with New Zealand reflected the close relationship between the nations. “This deal will unlock new opportunities for businesses and investors across New Zealand and the United Kingdom, drive growth, boost jobs, and, most importantly, build a more prosperous future for the next generation,” Sunak said in a statement. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would mean more market access for its exporters. “So for beef, for our sheep products, for our seafood, for our other products it will mean much greater access to the British market,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview. Albanese said it would also mean greater access for younger Australians to work in Britain and vice versa after the terms of a working holiday arrangement were expanded. A similar scheme between New Zealand and Britain has also been expanded, increasing the length of working visas from two years to three years and the maximum eligible age from 30 to 35.