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Princess Kate and Prince William “are extremely moved” by public response to her cancer diagnosis, palace says
Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince William, “are extremely moved” by the global response to her cancer diagnosis, Kensington Palace said in a statement on behalf of the couple, and reiterated their plea for privacy right now.
The princess, also known as Kate Middleton, announced last week that she had been diagnosed after the abdominal surgery in January that prompted her highly-scrutinized disappearance from public life.
“The Prince and Princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the U.K., across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message,” said a spokesperson for the palace on Saturday night. “They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”
The palace will not be releasing additional updates about Princess Kate this weekend, the statement added.
“We are of course happy to take technical questions but noting the need to give the family space and privacy at this time,” the spokesperson said.
Public figures across the globe have spoken out to voice support for the princess in the wake of the announcement. So have various members of the royal family, including King Charles III, who said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace that he was “so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did,” and has remained in the “closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law” in recent weeks, the Associated Press reported. The king and Queen Camilla “will continue to offer their love and support to the whole family through this difficult time,” the palace said in that statement, according to the AP.
Prince Harry and Meghan also shared a statement responding to Kate’s diagnosis.
“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace,” the statement said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement Kate had the “love and support of the whole country,” and Kate’s video post on Instagram has nearly 5 million likes.
Social media and tabloid headlines had been awash in rumors and conspiracy theories about Kate’s whereabouts since the palace announced in January that she would be absent from royal duties, including public appearances, for several months while she recovered from a planned abdominal surgery.
The news that King Charles was undergoing cancer treatment exacerbated an already swirling online frenzy about the princess’ health when it came to light in early February, but the rumors reached a fever pitch last week, when an image of Kate with her three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, was found to have been digitally altered before being released on Mother’s Day in the U.K. Kate later apologized and said she had edited the photo after the palace had refused to release an original.
Seemingly answering to the controversies and increasingly imaginative speculation over her well-being, it was Kate herself who announced her cancer diagnosis in a video message recorded last Wednesday at her family’s home in Windsor and released two days later. Like the king, the princess did not specify which form of cancer she has, but she said when the video was recorded that she had recently begun a preventative course of chemotherapy.
Kate said she had undergone major abdominal surgery earlier this year for a condition initially thought to be non-cancerous. She said the surgery was a success, but said that subsequent testing revealed “cancer had been present.”
“This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” she said in the video message. “As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”
The trial of the man accused of murdering two girls in Delphi, Indiana, continued for its second day on Saturday with testimony from a former local police chief and two people who searched for Abby Williams and Libby German in 2017.
Saturday’s testimony dug deeper into the initial reports that the two teenage girls were missing and the immediate response to try to find them.
Richard Allen, the pharmacy technician accused of killing the girls, stands charged with murder.
In 2017, the girls went for a hike and never returned. Their bodies were found the next day.
Allen was arrested and charged in 2022.
Two members of the search party for the girls testified.
Jake Johns remembered someone seeing footprints down the hill to the riverbank. A description that fits the prosecutor’s theory that the person who killed forced them to walk down the hill to the side of the creek.
Later, the same witness saw what ended up being German’s tie-dye shirt floating in the water.
Pat Brown, another witness, told the jury he was the one who found the girls’ bodies. He remembered calling out “We found ’em!” and added “I thought they were mannequins.” He voice cracked as he testified.
During Friday’s opening statements, the jury heard the girls’ cause of death: someone had cut their throats.
Prosecutors said German was found without clothes the day after she and Williams were reported missing. Williams was wearing her friend’s clothes.
Allen maintained he is innocent.
The trial will pick up again on Monday. The judge told jurors that they can expect proceedings to be quite lengthy.
The jury will likely hear from law enforcement as they got to the scene and started their investigation.
At least seven people were killed Saturday after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, authorities said.
Multiple people were taken to hospitals, and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, the McIntosh County Fire Department, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others were searching the water, according to spokesperson Tyler Jones of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the dock.
Jones said a gangway at the dock collapsed and sent people plunging into the water. It happened as crowds gathered on the island for a celebration of its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.
“There have been seven fatalities confirmed,” Jones said. “There have been multiple people transported to area hospitals, and we are continuing to search the water for individuals.”
Jones said he did not know what caused the gangway to collapse, but officials believe there were at least 20 people on it at the time. The gangway connected an outer dock where people board the ferry to another dock onshore.
Among the dead was a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Jones said.
Sapelo Island is about 60 miles south of Savannah and is reachable from the mainland by boat.
Cultural Day is an annual fall event spotlighting the island’s tiny community of Hogg Hummock, which is home to a few dozen Black residents. The community of dirt roads and modest homes was founded by former slaves from the cotton plantation of Thomas Spalding.
Small communities descended from enslaved island populations in the South — known as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia — are scattered along the coast from North Carolina to Florida. Scholars say their separation from the mainland caused residents to retain much of their African heritage, from their unique dialect to skills and crafts such as cast-net fishing and weaving baskets.
A man accused of drugging and sexually assaulting nine women at his homes in Los Angeles County, allegedly killing one of the victims as she died from being drugged, is facing more than a dozen felony charges, prosecutors said Friday.
Michael DiGiorgio, 50, allegedly committed the assaults between May 2019 and November 2021 at his homes in Redondo and Hermosa Beach, according to the LA County District Attorney’s Office. He has been charged with 18 felony counts including murder, forcible rape and rape of an unconscious person, prosecutors said, and faces up to life in state prison if convicted of all charges.
Prosecutors have also filed a special allegation that he caused great bodily injury to a victim during the furnishing of a controlled substance, which carries a sentencing enhancement under California Penal Code Section 12022.7.
DiGiorgio was scheduled to be arraigned at a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. CBS News Los Angeles has reached out to the DA’s office for information on how he pleaded.
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
No other details about the alleged crimes or the investigation were released by the DA’s office in a statement.
“I extend my deepest sympathy to the victims, whose lives have been irrevocably changed and the life lost by the alleged brutal acts of the offender,” District Attorney George Gascón said in the statement. “I encourage anyone with information related to these incidents or any other incidents regarding Mr. DiGiorgio to report it to the Redondo Beach Police Department.”
Prosecutors released a photo of DiGiorgio as investigators believe there could be more victims out there.
The charges filed against him include:
- one count of murder
- one felony count of forcible rape
- two felony counts of forcible sexual penetration
- three felony counts of rape by use of a drug
- two felony counts of sodomy by use of a drug
- five felony counts of sexual penetration by use of a drug
- one felony count of oral copulation by use of a drug
- one felony count of rape of an unconscious person
- two felony counts of furnishing a controlled substance
The Sex Crimes Division of the DA’s office and Redondo Beach Police Department are investigating the case. Anyone who may be a victim or has other information is asked to reach Redondo Beach police at 714-863-2859.
