Ariana Grande Shares Sweet Message To Manchester Victims On One-Year Anniversary

It has been a year since the tragic event took place and Manchester is honoring the victims and their families.

Recommended Stories

  • Meghan Markle Says Royals Were Concerned Over How ‘Dark’ Archie’s Skin Would Be

    Joe Pugliese/CBSMeghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that Kate Middleton had made her cry before her wedding day, turning on its head the story that she had made Kate cry over a dispute about Princess Charlotte's wedding dress.The revelations were only just beginning, with Meghan claiming had been silenced and that there had been “concerns” over the possible darkness of baby Archie’s skin. She and Harry also married in secret three days before her public wedding ceremony.Meghan told Oprah: “It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected but that they (the royal family) were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.”Kate Middleton May Give Evidence in Meghan Bullying Inquiry as Royals Retaliate Before Oprah InterviewMeghan said that she was told Archie would not receive official royal protection when he was born, and that Archie would not be titled in equal terms to other members of the family. “Why?” Meghan said. She never received a response.Meghan said there were "concerns" over how dark Archie's skin might be when he was born, and what that would mean and what it would look like. She declined to say who in the royal household had had these conversations, because it would be "damaging" to them.On the issue with Kate, Meghan said Kate apologized and sent her flowers, and she did not believe Kate would have wanted a false version of the story put out.Meghan was responding to a question by Oprah about a report which emerged six months after the wedding, which said Meghan had left Kate “in tears” over an argument.Meghan was asked by Oprah: “Did you make Kate cry?” Meghan replied, “No.” Oprah then asked: “Was there a situation where she might have cried? Or she could have cried?” Meghan responded, “No, no. The reverse happened. And I don't say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologized. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologizing. And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it. What was shocking was—what was that, six, seven months after our wedding…that the reverse of that would be out in the world?” Meghan added: “I would have never wanted that to come out about her ever, even though it had happened. I protected that from ever being out in the world.” Oprah pressed the matter, asking: “So, when you say the reverse happened, explain to us what you mean by that?”Meghan said: “A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining—yes, the issue was correct—about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings.”Meghan also said the royal family had “silenced” her, and that she felt lonely—there was very little I was allowed to do,” especially coming from a life of professional freedom. Meghan then said there had been “concerns” over the possible darkness of Archie's skin.The interview comes after a fevered few days of claim and counter-claim, as Buckingham Palace and royal aides sought to fight back against the inference of clips released by CBS in advance of Sunday’s broadcast, and what they anticipated would be a thorough trashing by Meghan and Harry.Kate Middleton May Give Evidence in Meghan Bullying Inquiry as Royals Retaliate Before Oprah InterviewThe palace has launched an investigation into claims Meghan bullied palace staffers, first reported by The Times of London. About a dozen staffers are reportedly “queuing up” to contribute testimony to the investigation. It was reported Sunday that Kate Middleton, Prince William’s wife, may be asked to give evidence as she had witnessed staff being “berated” by Meghan. The Times reported that Meghan’s treatment of staff had left some in tears or traumatized, and others driven from their posts.Meghan and Harry have denied the bullying claims, and said they were part of a “calculated smear campaign” in advance of Sunday’s highly anticipated broadcast. Their many supporters see Meghan as a victim of racism, and a wilful lack of understanding from an antic palace old-guard administration. A senior royal source told the U.K. Sunday Times that the royal family had “bent over backwards to be inclusive. It is absolutely wrong to say the Palace is institutionally racist. It really isn’t.”Just before the interview aired, a source close to Prince Harry told the Telegraph that he was “determined to stand shoulder to shoulder” with brother Prince William at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Princess Diana on July 1, “whatever the fallout from his interview... in an attempt to move past their rift.”Having wanted to explain why they left the royal family, Harry and Meghan Harry and Meghan “want to move on” from the Oprah interview and “consider the matter closed,” sources told the Telegraph.One friend said: “It was something they felt they wanted and needed to do but now they have done it, they feel a line has been drawn under that chapter of their lives and they want to move on.”Hours before the interview, the Queen, in a BBC special program to celebrate Commonwealth Day, emphasized “friendship and a spirit of unity” in her address, praising examples of “courage, commitment, and selfless dedication to duty” in Commonwealth nations and territories, notably by those working on the frontline, whether in healthcare or other public services. “The testing times experienced by so many have led to a deeper appreciation of the mutual support and spiritual sustenance we enjoy by being connected to others,” the queen said in the gentle program, which was in marked dramatic contrast to the Harry and Meghan interview. Post-pandemic, she looked towards “a common future that is sustainable and more secure.”The broadcast—a showcase of top royals, excluding Meghan and Harry—also featured Prince Charles talking about the importance of fighting to preserve the natural world; his wife Camilla speaking about child literacy, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex (Prince Edward’s wife) and Prince William and his wife Kate talking to Commonwealth activists and campaigners about their work.The question is, how quickly and honestly can the royals and Sussexes move on from any bad feeling and tensions. In one advance clip of the Oprah interview, Meghan accused “the Firm”—a colloquial name for the royal family—of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and Harry, after Oprah asked her, “How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?” Markle responded, “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us. And if that comes with risk of losing things, there is a lot that has been lost already.”In another clip, Harry said he had decided to step back from the British royal family because he was fearful of “history repeating itself,” apparently referring to the tragic story of his mother, Diana. “I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side,” Harry said. “Because I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her [Diana], going through this process by herself all those years ago. It’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other.”In another clip, Oprah said to Meghan that no subject was off-limits and told the couple, “You have said some pretty shocking things here.” Oprah also asks Meghan if she was “silent or silenced.” Winfrey appeared to reference a comment made by Meghan when she said that the trolling she received was “almost unsurvivable.”Hours before the interview, the British press on Sunday unleashed a dizzying array of stories, mostly aimed at further discrediting Harry and Meghan before the interview was broadcast. The Sunday Mirror reported that Kate Middleton and Camilla Parker Bowles could be called to give evidence in the palace investigation into Meghan’s alleged bullying of staff.The Sun on Sunday reported that palace aides were concerned Meghan would talk about her rift with Kate Middleton, and the infamous story that they had an argument, pre-Harry and Meghan’s wedding, over the fit of Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress.However, the New York Post said that CBS insiders indicated Harry and Meghan would have only “kind words” for Kate and William in the interview. If that remains true, it corresponds with the Sunday Telegraph reporting that William and Kate privately remain “hopeful of a reconciliation” with Harry and Meghan—whatever they say in the documentary tonight. A friend of Meghan’s told the Sunday Times that she would accuse courtiers in the Oprah interview of not noticing she was suffering from poor mental health. Given this—while accepting Meghan was difficult to work for—it was “incredibly dangerous” of the palace to attack Meghan, the friend said.The Sunday Times also reported that Meghan had “gone mental” at an assistant over a shade of red of some blankets ordered as gifts for friends. Before the couple’s wedding, “half of the staff threatened to quit,” a former aide to one of the most senior members of the royal family claimed. Another Palace source said, “the entire household was on the verge of quitting ... it was drama, drama, drama with those two.”According to the Telegraph, staff began to call Harry “The Hostage” before the wedding, after the infamous, much-written-about clash over the tiara the queen loaned Meghan, which Meghan wanted to wear for a pre-wedding hair appointment. This request was refused as it was made on short notice, leading Harry to allegedly shout, “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.”The Sunday Times reported that the queen would not stay up to watch the interview, which courtiers have called a “circus.” “I don’t think anyone should expect Her Majesty to stay up and watch the interview. She won’t,” an aide said. “The mood in the family is: can everyone just shut the hell up, and can we get on with the day job?” one aide said—an ironic attempt at lofty contempt given the amount of effort aides had put into trashing Harry and Meghan in the media on the day of the interview itself.Harry had previously told James Corden in an interview for The Late, Late Show that the British press created a “difficult environment” that was destroying his mental health, but insisted he “didn’t walk away” from the royal family. “It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”“I did what any husband, what any father would do,” Harry told Corden. “It’s like, ‘I need to get my family out of here.’ But we never walked away.” He added, “I will never walk away. I will always be contributing.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • French billionaire politician killed in helicopter crash

    Olivier Dassault was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, a police source said, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to the 69-year old conservative politician.

  • McConnell planning an 'escape hatch' in case he leaves Senate before term expires, report says

    The Intercept reported that McConnell's political protégé, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, is at the top of a list of possible successors.

  • A Trump appointee who was arrested after participating in the Capitol riot asked a judge if he could be transferred to a cell with no cockroaches

    Federico Klein is believed to the first Trump appointee arrested in connection with the Capitol riot.

  • A GOP senator who opposed impeachment defends Cheney, Murkowski after Trump amps up attacks

    At his speech at CPAC last week, Trump said the GOP should "get rid" of Cheney and other Republicans who didn't support him during his impeachment.

  • Princess Diana's chief of staff says Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal rift echoes the past - and responsibility for reconciliation lies with 'senior palace management'

    Ahead of bombshell Oprah interview, Patrick Jephson told CNN that previous tell-all interviews with the royal family "in all cases" has "backfired."

  • Thousands of people who visited a COVID-19 vaccination site in California received the wrong dosage, report says

    An estimated 4,300 people at the Oakland Coliseum received a suboptimal dosage of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on March 1, KTVU reported.

  • Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi oil heartland with drones, missiles

    Yemen's Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. Announcing the attacks, the Houthis, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition for six years, also said they attacked military targets in the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan.

  • Queen will ramp up engagements to 'show where the focus is' following Sussexes' Oprah interview

    The Queen will increase her official engagements this week as the Royal family responds to the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Oprah Winfrey interview with a clear message about where the “focus” lies. Her Majesty, 94, is expected to be seen at least once this week as she carries out official duties via Zoom from Windsor Castle. All other senior members of the Royal family will also be highly visible as they conduct a raft of engagements, including marking International Women’s Day. A senior Buckingham Palace aide said: “We will see them getting on with the day job. “There are several engagements in the diary – they’ve been there for a while.” The volley of royal engagements will leave the public in no doubt about “where the focus is,” one source said. No members of the Royal family were expected to stay up into the early hours of this morning to watch the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ explosive Oprah Winfrey interview. But they were each expected to receive a detailed breakfast briefing from aides, highlighting the main allegations and topics of discussion. A palace aide said they would not “rush to respond” to the issues raised by the Sussexes and reserved the right not to comment at all. One source told a newspaper that the couple were “playing with fire”, adding: “It's very high stakes because there's a lot that could come out in the wash that hasn't been told." While they were braced for damaging revelations about racism and the perceived failure to protect and guide the Sussexes, they were also hoping not to be drawn into the fray. Aides said the mood at Buckingham Palace ahead of the interview was calm, as courtiers maintained the view that “this, too, will pass.” One signalled the belief that the Sussexes were unlikely to win the PR battle as they said: “History teaches us that only the interviewer wins from these programmes.” The Palace has repeatedly insisted that the focus should be on children’s return to school and the vaccination programme, rather than the “media circus” surrounding the Sussexes. The family also remains concerned about the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, who has spent almost three weeks in hospital and remains at the King Edward VII hospital in central London, where he is recovering from a heart procedure. The Cambridges are understood to have been focused on Prince George and Princess Charlotte's return to school this week and have relocated from Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, where they spent lockdown, to Kensington Palace. Prince Louis, who turns three in April, is also expected to start nursery soon. The contrast between the Sussexes’ litany of complaints and the Queen’s own attitude to self-sacrifice was highlighted on Sunday as the monarch released her annual Commonwealth Day message just hours ahead of the Oprah interview. In it, she has stressed the importance of keeping in touch with family to “transcend boundaries or division,” focusing on a message of unity.

  • U.S. Senator Manchin says filibusters could be made more 'painful'

    Centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a pivotal vote in the U.S. Senate, on Sunday advocated making the procedural maneuver called the filibuster more "painful" to do, with Democrats concerned about Republicans obstructing President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. Some Democrats have advocated eliminating the filibuster to prevent Republicans from blocking Biden's initiatives. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield made clear on Sunday that the president is not calling for ending the filibuster.

  • McManus: McConnell wants to use the filibuster to block Biden's agenda. Here's how Biden can outfox him

    As the Senate has become increasingly polarized, the filibuster has become a weapon enabling the minority party to obstruct rather than compromise. But a couple of reforms could fix that.

  • Lobbyist says Myanmar junta wants to improve relations with the West, spurn China

    An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar's junta said on Saturday that the generals are keen to leave politics after their coup and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence official who has previously represented Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Sudan's military rulers, said Myanmar's generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations says more than 50 demonstrators have been killed since the Feb. 1 coup when the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won polls in November by a landslide.

  • Embiid, Simmons to miss All-Star Game; Zion to start instead

    Philadelphia 76ers teammates Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were ruled out of Sunday's NBA All-Star Game after being flagged by coronavirus contact tracing, prompting some players to question again why the exhibition was being played during a pandemic. The 76ers and the NBA learned of the situation with Embiid and Simmons — which stemmed from getting haircuts — on Saturday night and made the decision Sunday morning that neither could play about nine hours before the scheduled tipoff. The game in Atlanta is going forward as scheduled.

  • Britney Spears' boyfriend Sam Asghari said he's ready for a family and wants to be a 'young dad'

    Sam Asghari told Forbes he's ready for the "next step" in his more than four-year relationship with Britney Spears.

  • Kim Kardashian will reportedly stay in family's $60 million mansion as part of divorce from Kanye West

    Kim Kardashian West will stay in the minimalist, beige-filled Hidden Hills, California, home she and Kanye West bought in 2014, TMZ reported.

  • Sunshine State dims for Dems amid election losses, cash woes

    Democrats may delight in their brightening prospects in Arizona and Georgia, and may even harbor glimmers of hope in Texas, but their angst is growing in Florida, which has a reputation as a swing state but now favors Republicans and could be shifting further out of reach for Democrats. As the jockeying begins to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, Democrats' disadvantage against Republicans is deeper than ever, as they try to develop a cohesive strategy and rebuild a statewide party deep in debt and disarray. Former President Donald Trump’s brand of populism has helped power a GOP surge in Florida, where Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden by more than 3 percentage points last fall — more than doubling the lead he had against Hillary Clinton.

  • Rights groups call for investigation into killings of Philippine activists

    Human rights groups called on the Philippine government to investigate what they said was the use of "lethal force" during police raids on Sunday that left at least nine activists dead. The raids in four provinces south of Manila resulted in the death of an environmental activist as well as a coordinator of left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, among others, and resulted in the arrest of four others, activist groups said. "These raids appear to be part of a coordinated plan by the authorities to raid, arrest, and even kill activists in their homes and offices," Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said in a statement.

  • Trump appointee arrested over Capitol riots complains to judge about sleeping arrangement in jail

    ‘I really haven’t slept all that much, your honour’

  • South Korea to boost funding for U.S. troops under new accord: State Department

    South Korea will increase its contribution to the cost of U.S. forces stationed in the country under an agreement reached with the United States, the State Department said on Sunday, easing an irritant in ties between the two allies. The agreement reflects the Biden administration’s "commitment to reinvigorating and modernizing our democratic alliances around the word to advance our shared security and prosperity," a State Department spokeswoman said. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as deterrence against North Korea.

  • Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham have been together for nearly 35 years. Here's a timeline of their relationship.

    Winfrey has said if she'd married Graham, their relationship would not have lasted.