RoyaltyUK: Wedding: Britain's Prince William and Duchess Catherine

Congratulations to the newlyweds:  The Prince and the Duchess, perhaps future King and Queen of Great Britain.  As far as I know, Prince William has no official standing in Canada yet.  And he will not, until some day he is crowned as the British monarch, at which time he will also become King of his dominion, Canada.  Duchess Catherine (aka Kate Middleton) will then accede as part of the package deal that Canada gets by way of maintaining the fiction of monarchy here.  Whether here or there,

we wish the royal couple and all their House the blessings of God, and a good fortune in the course of events they will face.

-- refWrite

-- posted by Politicarp for the publisher, general editor, and staff

Iran: Mediation: A deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey fails, 'Big Powers' sanction Ayatollahland

Brazil brokers a swap deal between Iran and Turkey regarding enriched uranium (nuclear grade) for use in a key Turkish medical project, but meantime the slow grind of Big-Power diplomacy reaches agreement on draft resolution to be presented for a vote at the UN Security Council. Reuters via Yahoo! News offers this May18,2k10 dispatch, "Big powers agree on Iran sanctions draft":

The United States handed the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution on Tuesday that would expand U.N. sanctions against Iran by hitting its banking and other industries for refusing to halt nuclear enrichment.

The 10-page draft, agreed by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia after months of negotiations, also calls for international inspection of vessels suspected of carrying cargo related to Iran's nuclear or missile programs.

The Security Council draft restricts Iran's international expansion of banking for nuclear-war purposes, and it specifically names the Revolutionary Guard's activities, alerting the world to the latter's insidious if clandestine manoeverings.