Buckingham Palace says that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not reveal the names of the godparents of their son Archie when he is christened this weekend.
The palace said in a statement that the christening at Windsor Castle tomorrow will be private and that “the godparents, in keeping with their wishes, will remain private.”
The decision sparked controversy in Britain’s media yesterday, in part because the royal couple’s home was renovated with 2.4 million pounds of taxpayer money. Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic questioned why so much money was spent at a time when public services are under financial pressure.
Critics suggest that occasions like christenings should be public, but Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have repeatedly signaled that they’re entitled to privacy.
British singer Joss Stone says she was deported from Iran
British soul singer Joss Stone says she was deported from Iran after arriving in the Islamic Republic as part of a worldwide concert tour, even though she didn’t plan to perform there.
Posting on Instagram, Stone appears in a video wearing a white headscarf saying: “Well, we got to Iran, we got detained and then we got deported.” She said she knew solo performances by women were illegal, but she still wanted to see Iran.
She wrote that Iranian authorities placed her on a “black list” because they believed she might try to perform a public show. She described the authorities that met her on arrival at Iran’s Kish Island as professional throughout their interaction.
“These people are genuinely nice kind people that felt bad that they couldn’t override the system,” she wrote in a caption.
Under Iranian law, women cannot perform solo concerts, though women do play in ensemble bands and orchestras.
Even poop is cute at Japanese museum that encourages play
Japan’s culture of cute makes no exceptions for poop. It gets a pop twist at the Unko Museum in Yokohama near Tokyo.
Here, the poop is artificial, nothing like what would be in a toilet, and comes in twisty ice cream and cupcake shapes, in all colors and sizes.
“The poops are colorful and come out nicely in photos,” said Haruka Okubo, a student visiting part of the museum devoted to all-important selfies. “The shape is so round and cute.”
In Japan, little poop-shaped erasers with faces and other small items have long been popular items collected by children, and sometimes older folks. As elsewhere, scatological jokes are popular and bodily functions discussed openly: a recent morning variety show by public broadcaster NHK featured tips on how to deal with farts.
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