LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday is being marked Saturday with a smaller ceremony than usual, as the annual Trooping the Color parade is canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The extravagant display of pomp and pageantry, a highlight of the royal calendar that typically attracts thousands of tourists to line the streets of central London, has only been canceled once before during almost 70 years of the queen’s reign — in 1955, during a national rail strike.
This year, a small number of soldiers and military musicians will pay tribute to the monarch at Windsor Castle. The queen will receive a royal salute, which will be followed by military drills. Soldiers will march on the castle grounds in accordance with social distancing rules.
The queen celebrated her 94th birthday on April 21, but her “official” birthday has always been marked with the Trooping the Color parade in June. The ‘colors’ refer to the flags representing the different regiments of the British Army.
The event usually features hundreds of parading soldiers and horses, a carriage procession by the royal family, and a Royal Air Force flypast over Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday marked with smaller ceremony
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Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday marked with smaller ceremony
- This year, a small number of soldiers and military musicians will pay tribute to the monarch at Windsor Castle
- The queen will receive a royal salute, which will be followed by military drills
Afghan Taliban says Pakistan bombs Kabul in fresh escalation
KABUL: The Afghan government said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out fresh strikes on Kabul and several other provinces.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas, were targeted.
Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” until Kabul desists from supporting militants.
