LONDON  –  This year’s Christmas message from King Charles will be delivered from a former hospital chapel, in a year in which the King has been undergoing cancer treatment.

The location for the traditional Christmas Day broadcast is the Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, which once served as the chapel of the Middlesex Hospital.

It’s the first time in more than a decade that the Christmas speech has been recorded from a place that isn’t in a royal palace or estate – and it’s understood that the King wanted a location with a healthcare connection.

The ornately-decorated 19th Century former chapel building is now used for exhibitions and community events for people of any faiths and none.

As well as a link to the health services, the building also ties in with the King’s interest in trying to build bridges between different beliefs, backgrounds and religions.

The traditional speech from the monarch, recorded earlier this month, will be broadcast as usual on television and radio at 15:00 on Christmas Day.

The Christmas message comes at the end of a year in which the King faced a cancer diagnosis.

His regular sessions of treatment are continuing, as they have for much of this year, but as a sign of a positive response, he has plans for a busy schedule of engagements and overseas trips in 2025.

Setting the speech in this former hospital chapel, which was renovated and reopened in 2016, will be a reminder of those working in the health services and medical research.

The King has been filmed beside a Christmas tree, which has since been donated to a hospice in Clapham.

The small chapel, decorated in the Gothic Revival style with shimmering mosaics and Byzantine influences, is tucked away in Pearson Square, in a quiet corner of London’s West End.

It was built in the courtyard of what was the Middlesex Hospital, serving its staff and patients. When the hospital was demolished the chapel was retained and restored, with a new development built around it.

It’s no longer regularly used for services, but is used for community events and concerts and is open to visitors wanting some quiet contemplation.

The monarch’s Christmas message has often been recorded in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle.

But there have been exceptions, most recently in 2010 when it was filmed at Hampton Court Palace, and before that in 2006 at Southwark Cathedral. In 2003 the speech was recorded at an army barracks in Windsor.

The run-up to Christmas has seen the King attending a series of seasonal events, including a Christmas market in Battersea, a service remembering those persecuted because of their religion and an event in Walthamstow celebrating the diversity of the local community.

The King’s speech on Christmas Day follows a tradition dating back to 1932, when George V made the first Christmas broadcast.

That first speech was scripted by Rudyard Kipling, who lay in state in the Fitzrovia Chapel before his funeral in Westminster Abbey. (BBC)

WASHINGTON  –  US President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, switching their penalty to life in prison without parole.

The three excluded from the measure include the Boston Marathon bomber and the man who killed Jewish worshippers in 2018.

In a statement, Biden said he was “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level”. His measure does not include more than 2,000 people convicted to death by State authorities.

Biden’s decision comes before the return of President-elect Donald Trump in January, who resumed federal executions when he was in office.

Among those reprieved by Biden are nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden added.

Disgraced former New Orleans police officer Len Davis, who operated a drug ring involving other officers and arranged a woman’s murder, is among those who have been shown clemency.

The three remaining on death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof who shot and killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshippers during a mass shooting in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.

Biden has campaigned as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at federal level after he became president.

During his first term in office, Trump oversaw 13 deaths by lethal injection during his final six months in power.

There had been no federal inmates put to death in the US since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.

During his re-election campaign, Trump indicated he would expand the use of capital punishment to include human and drug traffickers, as well as migrants who kill American citizens.

Biden appeared to make reference to Trump’s intentions in his statement by saying he could not “in good conscience – stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted”.

In US law, these clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor.

Biden’s decision will not impact people sentenced to death in state courts, which is around around 2,250 inmates according to the Death Penalty Information Centre. More than 70 state executions have been carried out during Biden’s presidency.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. Six other states, including Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, have moratoriums in place.

Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes.

He also pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases. He had pleaded guilty to tax charges earlier in September, and was found guilty of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun in June – becoming the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime.

The US Constitution decrees that a president has the broad “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment”. (BBC)

BELGRADE – Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Belgrade on Sunday to protest against President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), whom they blame for a railway station roof collapse last month that killed 15 people.

The concrete awning of the recently renovated roof of Novi Sad station caved in on Nov. 1, killing 14 and injuring three. One of the injured died later. Opposition leaders and the public have taken to the streets repeatedly, blaming the accident on shoddy construction resulting from government corruption and nepotism.

The ruling coalition denies those charges, and Vucic has said those responsible must be held to account. The protesters on Sunday evening switched on the lights of their mobile phones and stood in silence for 15 minutes to commemorate the victims. Some shouted “Vucic, thief!”. Others held up banners reading “You have blood on your hands”. “We came here to say ‘Stop’ to everything that has been happening since 2012 [when Vucic’s party took power],” said Aleksa, 30, an IT expert from Novi Sad. “We want to see an end to corruption and nepotism.”

Students at state universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Nis have been protesting for weeks to demand the release of all documents relevant to the renovation of the station, as well as criminal prosecution of officials responsible for the disaster. Every day they block traffic in front of their faculties for 15 minutes to commemorate the 15 victims. (Reuters)

PARAMARIBO – Education, Science and Culture Minister Henry Ori recently issued a warning to principals and teachers, who are thinking about keeping the schools closed on January 6th. He made it clear that “appropriate measures will be taken against those who refuse to report for duty”. Minister Ori explained that the quality of education starts with properly trained principals and that principals are therefore evaluated on a regular basis. Education officials concluded that 21 principals must be reassigned in response to complaints that were filed by parents. These principals also perform poorly. 14 of the 21 principals agreed to be reassigned while the others expressed their objections.

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