Celebrity
Royal baby: Internet goes wild over Prince William's joke as he leaves hospital with new son

Thrice worry now!

Prince William is garnering praise on Twitter for a funny little quip he made while loading his newborn son into his Range Rover outside of the Lindo Wing in London on Monday.

Wife Kate Middleton gave birth to the couple's third child on Monday morning at 11:01 am, and hours later the royals drove back to Kensington Palace after debuting their son to the world — a remarkably quick turnaround!

While buckling his new son's car seat into the car, William had a short interaction with the adoring media and crowd outside of the hospital, where he held up three fingers and joked, "Thrice worry now!"

"Delighted. Very happy," he also said. "We didn't keep you waiting too long this time."

    Leaving the hospital the William and Kate way. Three kids, “thrice worry now,” William said. @peoplepic.twitter.com/LtyJVQKYqh

    — Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) April 23, 2018

The queen is on board with Harry and Markle’s marriage. |
Paul Grover – Pool/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth clearly approves of Markle. And it’s a good thing she does, because the actress couldn’t marry into the royal family without it.

In March 2018, the queen provided her official consent of Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry:

Together, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be worth about $30 million

— and none of that money belongs to the crown

Royal Couple Wars: Why Prince Charles and Camilla Are Threatened by Prince William and Kate Middleton

• Emma Bleznak

• April 28, 2018

A revealing book on the royal family focused on one particularly popular relationship: Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, with their (step)son, Prince William, and his wife Kate Middleton. Charles, who is heir-apparent to the British throne, allegedly feels threatened by his son’s presence — in more ways than one.
We discovered the secrets behind the royal couples’ war, as well as some interesting facts about Tom Bower, the man behind the book (page 7).

Charles and Camilla don’t spend much time with William and Kate’s children. |
Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Charles and Camilla reportedly feel that Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, get significantly more time with the grandchildren than they do. Tom Bower, a British investigative journalist, claimed that Prince Charles felt “usurped” by the Middletons and “isolated” from his grandchildren.
Will and Kate chose to spend Christmas with the Middletons in Bucklebury rather than with the other royals at Sandringham in Norfolk. A royal insider told PEOPLE that Charles was more receptive than he was bitter. “He is pragmatic about it … He is accepting that a daughter gravitates toward her own family.”

Is Charles jealous of his son? |
Getty Images

Charles reportedly became worried after an isolated incident (next) that Will and Kate were becoming much more popular than he and Camilla. “Charles saw Kate and William as the new stars and feared he’d be in trouble,” the chief executive of Charles’ charity foundation in America told Tom Bower.
Camilla didn’t share the same fear, it seems. The public began to debate Kate becoming the first ‘commoner queen,’ to which Camilla corrected them, “That’ll be me.”

William and Kate were invited to tour the Canadian government before Charles and Camilla

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge disembark HMCS Montreal in Champlain Harbour on July 3, 2011 in Quebec, Canada. | Mark Large-Pool/Getty Images

The biography reported Charles’ great fear came true when the Canadian government asked that he and Camilla postpone their tour of the country so that William and Kate could visit instead. He was reportedly left “disappointed” and became increasingly worried about where the public’s attention lay.

Kate, Will, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte visited Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2016. Charles may have found it disconcerting, however, Kate and Will’s spokesman called it the “perfect opportunity” to show their children the major Commonwealth realm before they had to start school.

Charles believes Diana ‘poisoned’ the boys’ minds

Charles allegedly blames Diana for his relationship with his sons. |
John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images

Bower claimed that Princes William and Harry would go to great lengths to avoid Camilla early own, even entering the house “through the servants’ quarters” in order to avoid her and their father. Bower called Charles’ relationship with the boys strained during the divorce. He also reported that Charles believed “Diana had poisoned the boys’ minds towards their father.”

He wrote that Camilla’s presence was a “constant reminder of their mother’s torment” as well as Diana’s struggles with mental illness and adulterous behavior on both her and Charles’ part.

Charles had others ‘snub’ Kate’s mother

The queen allaegedly had to step in and fix the drama Charles created with the Middletons. |
David Crump – WPA Pool/Getty Images

After the Christmas debacle, Prince Charles reportedly felt hurt about how much time his grandchildren spent with the Middletons. Courtiers who remained loyal to the prince reportedly began to “snub” Carole Middleton during family events. An “infuriated” William sought advice from the queen.

Queen Elizabeth responded by allegedly hiring cameramen to film her and Carole Middleton driving around Balmoral estate together to appease William.

Prince Charles tried to work on his relationship with Kate

Charles has tried to build a better relationship with Kate. |
Justin Tallis/Getty Images

The book makes one claim that gives Charles’ fans hope: he reportedly tried to bond with Kate Middleton. He invited her to her first opera in the Royal Box at Covent Garden, however, the seats weren’t enough to strengthen his relationship with his daughter-in-law.

According to Bower, the night was an utter failure. Charles had hoped to show Kate why he loves classical music, but the production they saw was “awful.” The Telegraph reported otherwise in 2011: “The Prince is a firm supporter of the Opera House and the Duchess also seems to hugely enjoy her visits to Covent Garden. Both have been very enthusiastic about the productions they have seen together, “a Royal Opera House source said.

The book offers an outrageous look into Charles’ personal life. |
Hugo Burnand/Pool/Getty Images

Tom Bower’s unauthorized biography on Charles and its claims are reminiscent of Michael Wolff’s alleged “tell-all” about Donald Trump and his administration. While the claims may be rooted in fact, the book certainly doesn’t have the royal family’s seal of approval.

Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles compile interviews with 120 sources about Prince Charles’ long wait to ascend the throne. “He’s a pampered, petulant prince and a man who, while he wants to do good and does do good, does not realize that he’s actually doing some harm as well,” Bower told HuffPost UK. The author is facing “multi-pound lawsuits” over other books he’s published.

She’s collected

Kate knows how to keep her cool. |
Paul Lewis/AFP/Getty Images

Multiple friends of Middleton have all come to the same conclusion: In a high-pressure situation, the duchess keeps her cool. “She’s very measured, very controlled,” Richard Dennen, a magazine editor and friend of Middleton’s, told CNN. He recalled a nightclub that the duchess used to go to, Boujis, where she would frequently check her hair and makeup in the bathroom before facing the photographers outside.

School friend Jules Knight had a similar anecdote about her long-time friend. “I haven’t seen her lose her temper with a photographer or lash out. In a way she’s the perfect consort for Prince William because she’s not a risky choice: she’s smart and she’s level-headed and she’s well behaved.”

She plays it safe

Being a fashion icon is not on Kate’s list. |
Jack Tallis/iStock/Getty Images

Large hats aside, Middleton’s friends find that the duchess plays it safe in fashion and friendship alike. “She specifically doesn’t want to be a fashion icon,” Dennen told CNN. “I think she’s probably concerned with looking absurd.”

The royal family wants to be known for its hard work rather than an eccentric style. Royals also pick and choose their confidants with a careful hand, according to Dennen. “I think they’re extremely careful about the people they hang out with. They really trust their friends. I would say they don’t actually have that many friends … understandably.”

She’s down to earth

Who knew a duchess could be normal? |
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

The royal couple’s normalcy has made them a lovable, inspirational team. Multiple friends of Middleton’s call her, among other compliments, simply “normal.”

John Haley, the owner of a pub near Bucklebury, where Middleton grew up, has known Kate and her family for years. “To the people in this village they’re just a normal couple who come in here and are liked and loved by loads of people,” he told CNN.

She’s very close with her sister

The Middleton sisters have a great relationship. |
Ian Gavan/Getty Images

Kate’s rise to royalty put a spotlight on her sister, Pippa Middleton, as well. On The Today Show, Pippa told host Matt Lauer, “We’re very close. … We spend a lot of time together. We still do a lot together as a family. And I think that’s really the heart for all of us is having a really close family that we can sort of be normal with each other, treat each other normally. And that’s sort of kept us all, you know, affixed to the ground.”

Kate and Pippa lived in Chelsea during Kate and William’s short-lived 2007 split. According to a biography about Kate, the sisters were very close. “The two girls would have spray tans and blow-dries together, and decide which social events to attend,” read an excerpt of the biography in Parade.

As a kid, she hung a picture of Prince William on her wall

This love was a long time coming. |
Toby Melville/Getty Images

According to Middleton’s childhood friend Jessica Hay, her marriage to Prince William was a long time coming. Vogue reports in the book William & Catherine: Their Story, Hay described Middleton’s crush on the prince. “We would sit around talking about all the boys at school we fancied, but Catherine would always say: ‘I don’t like any of them,’ and then joke, ‘There’s no one quite like Prince William.'”

According to Vogue, Kate hung a picture of William on her bedroom wall growing up. But unlike the other plethora of girls to do so, Middleton won the heart of the prince in the end.

She was a dedicated student

School was at the top of her mind. |
Richard Pohle/AFP/Getty Images

School friend Jules Knight remembers Middleton as an extremely dedicated student, according to CNN. She met her early on at St. Andrews University. “She studied Art History and she was a clever girl. … She was a hard worker and committed and she obviously really applied herself to the academic side of university.”

Malcolm Sotherland, an expedition leader on Middleton’s 10-week trip to Chile during her gap year, had similar praise. “She wasn’t lazy, she was a hard worker and got on well with everyone no matter where they were from,” he told CNN. Sotherland also said Middleton was a very mature girl for her age. “She knew what she was about, she knew how to look after herself.”

She was an athlete

Kate and Pippa Middleton can give you a run for your money with field hockey. |
Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Both Kate and Pippa played on the field hockey team at their boarding school. Kate also ran cross country, swam, and played tennis while in school.

Kate is still athletic, reportedly swimming, running, and doing yoga in her free time. Middleton has been photographed training with the Sisterhood Cross Channel rowing team and rowed until it became a concern due to paparazzi. She and Prince William frequent the ski slopes, as well.

World
Kim Jong-un: North Korea to allow foreign experts to witness nuclear site closure in May
The Telegraph Jamie Fullerton,The Telegraph Sun, Apr 29

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un
has said that he will dismantle his country’s main nuclear testing site in May, and that South Korean and US experts and journalists will be allowed to view the process.

The dictator’s pledge was made to Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s prime minister,  during their historic talks on Friday, according to Mr Moon’s spokesman, Yoon Young-chan. As well as promising to close the Punggye-ri bomb testing site Kim said he would change North Korea’s time zone by half an hour, reverting it to match South Korea’s.

Kim and Mr Moon, meeting in a ‘truce village’ between their countries’ borders on Friday, pledged to work towards the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsular. The meeting, which some analysts have criticised for not producing firm plans for denuclearisation, came ahead of Kim’s scheduled talk with Donald Trump, expected within the next few weeks.

According to a team of Chinese geologists the Punggye-ri site may not be usable anyway, having reportedly suffered a land collapse following North Korea’s sixth nuclear bomb test in September last year. However, according to Mr Yoon, Kim said the site has new tunnels that are bigger than its earlier-built facilities.

On Sunday Mr Yoon quoted Kim as saying: “Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States … If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would ee need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?”

Rocket man: How Kim Jong-un emerged from his father's shadow to silence the doubters

Analysts have cast doubt over the meaningfulness of Kim’s pledge. Before Friday’s talks Jeffrey Lewis, director East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said that Kim did not need the Punggye-ri site and could “shift big tests to neighbouring mountains”.

Mr Yoon suggested that Kim’s decision to alter North Korea’s time zone was made when he saw two wall clocks in a summit room showing different times for the two countries, finding it “heartbreaking”.

Korean detente How did we get here?

In August 2015 North Korea announced a new ‘Pyongyang time’ zone for the country, which was half an hour before Japan and South Korea’s time zone. The move was made to symbolically distance North Korea from Japan, which occupied the country from 1910 until 1945.

Professor Tong Zhu, fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at Beijing’s Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told The Telegraph that such gestures would not make North Korea’s full denuclearisation more likely. “There is no way that North Korea is going to give up its nuclear deterrent capability,” he said.

He added: “North Korea worked so hard to obtain that capability in the first place. Its primary objective is to keep its nuclear capabilities, then the next priority is to address all the negative consequences resulting from its nuclear development. And then to develop a normal relationship with the rest of the international community.”

Former first lady Michelle Obama
smiles while speaking at College Signing Day, an event honoring Philadelphia students for their pursuit of a college education or career in the military, Wednesday, May 2, 2018, at Temple University in Philadelphia.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Michelle Obama told college-bound Philadelphia high school seniors Wednesday about when she applied to universities. Her counselor advised her not to set her sights too high and warned that some of the schools on her list were out of her reach, the former first lady said.

"There are always haters out there telling you what you can't do," Obama told the students celebrating College Signing Day.

She did not heed her counselor's words. Instead, she attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Decades later, she accompanied her husband to the White House for two terms.

"I know that you are me," Obama told the crowd. "And if I can be standing here as your forever first lady, then you can do anything you put your mind to." The label, "forever first lady," came from actor Nick Cannon, who along with other A-listers joined Obama at the fifth annual celebration, the first in Philadelphia.

The event, held at Temple University, was not always, or often, solemn and serious. After Obama shared her thoughts, she broke out her dance moves alongside actors Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Zendaya and Rebel Wilson as they all advocated for higher education.

Obama pioneered the tradition in 2014 to congratulate young people who have chosen to further their education through a professional training program, community college, four-year institution or the military.

She closed the festivities, but a long list of known names preceded her. Karlie Kloss, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ciara, Camila Cabello, Malcolm Jenkins and other major entertainers and athletes lent their support to the college-bound students.

Johnathan Phan, a first-generation college student headed to Temple, said he's excited about the experience that wasn't afforded to his parents and other relatives. He also seemed enthusiastic before Obama's speech.

"I had a little crush on her when I was little," Phan said.

Obama previously has hosted College Signing Day events in New York City, Detroit and San Antonio.

Across the United States, 2,000 other College Signing Day events celebrated high school seniors continuing their educations after graduation.

Prince Louis' VIP Visitors Keep Coming! Grandpa Prince Charles Pops in to Visit the Newborn

It was a double celebration on Wednesday when grandpa Prince Charles came to visit son Prince William and his family.

Charles was at Kensington Palace to meet William and wife Kate Middleton‘s little newborn Prince Louis for the first time — and help make Princess Charlotte’s third birthday special.

The 69-year-old had not been able to see Louis since he was born on April 23, as he was at his Scottish Highlands retreat of Birkhall and then had to head to France for the commemoration of the New Zealand and Australian war on Anzac Day, April 25. Prince Charles then returned to Scotland.

The Adorable Thing Kate and William Always Do When They Talk to George and Charlotte

Image Source: Getty

Kate Middleton and Prince William have always had a soft spot for kids. Even before they became a family of five, it wasn't rare to see them interact with some of their youngest fans during official visits and royal tours, and they've since been able to put those skills to good use.

While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge do get helped by a nanny, it doesn't stop them from being hands on parents to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. In fact, Kate and William seem to be approaching parenthood in a way that few other royals have: whatever the occasion, the young parents can often be seen kneeling down when they talk to their adorable children.

By using this technique, Kate and William don't try to assert their authority over George or Charlotte; instead, they are able to look into their eyes, encouraging them to communicate even more and showing them that what they're saying really matters. Of course, this has resulted in William being hilariously scolded by the Queen, but we can't help but love this small gesture.

The Canadian Press
Hawking's last physics paper argues for a 'simpler' cosmos

Hawking's last physics paper argues for a 'simpler' cosmos

NEW YORK — Weeks after his death, physicist Stephen Hawking has delivered his last thoughts about the nature of the cosmos, and he says it may be simpler than often believed.

Well, simpler if you understand theoretical physics, anyway. It remains incomprehensible for the rest of us.

A paper that outlines his view, written with Thomas Hertog of the University of Leuven in Belgium before Hawking's death in March, has been published by the Journal of High Energy Physics. Hertog had announced the new theory last year at a conference celebrating Hawking's 75th birthday.

The University of Cambridge, where Hawking worked, announced the publication on Wednesday.

Here's a very simplified version of what it says. First, some background.

Scientists believe our universe sprang into existence with the Big Bang, followed by an unimaginably rapid expansion known as inflation. Within our observable universe, inflation ended long ago.

But some ideas of inflation say it never stops, persisting in other regions of the cosmos forever. This eternal inflation produces a "multiverse," a collection of pocket universes of which our own universe is just one.

There may be an infinite number of these pocket universes. If they're all very different, then how typical is the universe we live in, where scientists make their observations?

That's a key question for understanding the fundamental laws of nature, and finding a way to estimate what types of universes are probable is a big challenge, said physics professor David Kaiser of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Many people have tried to tackle that question, but Hawking approached it from a point of view shaped by his long study of the intersection of quantum theory and gravity, he said.

Hawking's paper suggests that there may be a much smaller range of possibilities for universe types than previous estimates had suggested. So "the behaviour of our own, observable universe might not be a rare outlier, but perhaps (be) relatively typical," Kaiser said in an email.

"Naturally," Kaiser said, "this is all rather speculative."

Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics called it "a stimulating, but not revolutionary paper."

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Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter . His recent work can be found here .

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Malcolm Ritter, The Associated Press

Celebrity
Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte Are the Sweetest Duo in His First Portraits!

Prince Louis's first official portraits have arrived! Just a week after his exciting debut on April 23, new mom Kate Middleton shared more sweet photos of her baby boy taken on Princess Charlotte's third birthday at Kensington Palace. In one snap, big sister Charlotte plants a kiss on her brother's forehead, and yes, our hearts are melting. In the other photo, Louis stares off into the distance with a serious look on his face, closely resembling his proud father, Prince William.

Continuing with tradition, Kate was behind the lens to capture the adorable moment between the new royal and his sibling. The portraits mark the first time Kate and William's children have been seen together.