Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims in his soon-to-be released memoir that Queen Elizabeth II was diagnosed with bone cancer before her death in September 2022 at the age of 96. His assertion represents a significant break with royal protocol between the prime minister’s office and Buckingham Palace, under which the U.K.’s elected leaders generally keep the royal family’s private matter to themselves. 

Johnson makes the claim in his upcoming memoir, “Unleashed,” which is scheduled for release later in October. An excerpt from the book, with the purported detail about the late queen’s health, was published this week in Johnson’s regular column for the Daily Mail newspaper.

No senior British government official or member of the royal family has previously disclosed any detail about the late queen’s cause of death. An official death certificate published a week after Queen Elizabeth died listed the cause of death as “old age.” 

“I had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer, and her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline,” Johnson says in his book. “She seemed pale and more stooped, and she had dark ­bruising on her hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections.'”

Although he said the queen seemed to be ailing, Johnson said she was still sharp in his final meeting with her. 

“Her mind… was completely unimpaired,” he writes. “She still flashed that great white smile in its sudden mood-lifting beauty.”

Johnson who served as the U.K. prime minister between 2019 and 2022, met with Elizabeth just days before she died at her Scottish residence, Balmoral Castle, to hand her his formal resignation as the country’s leader. 

Buckingham Palace declined to comment when asked by CBS News about Johnson’s claim. The palace typically does not comment on claims about the private lives of royal family members in books or print.  

While Johnson’s remarks break with the long-time tradition of U.K. prime ministers not commenting publicly on what’s said during private meetings with royal family members, they are not entirely unprecedented. 

In 2014, then-Prime Minister David Cameron apologized to Queen Elizabeth for disclosing details of a private conversation with her about the results of a referendum in which Scots rejected the idea of Scotland’s secession from the United Kingdom to become an independent state. 

Cameron had been overheard telling former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg the monarch appeared relieved that the Scots had voted in favor of remaining in the U.K., suggesting the late queen had “purred down the line” after the final results.

Former British leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have also given some detail of conversations and interactions they had with Queen Elizabeth in books about their time in office. 

Elizabeth’s first son, who became King Charles III upon her death, broke with the long-standing precedent of not revealing personal royal health news earlier this year, when Buckingham Palace revealed that he was being treated for cancer, though the palace has not reveal what type of cancer he’s being treated for.

A month after the revelation about the monarch’s health trouble, his daughter-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, revealed her own cancer diagnosis. Princess Kate said in September that she had completed her treatment, but that her “path to healing” would be long.

An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said.

Land and Transport Ministry officials said there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan.

Officials said an investigation by the Self-Defense Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound U.S. bomb and there was no further danger. They were determining what caused its sudden detonation.

A video recorded by a nearby aviation school showed the blast spewing pieces of asphalt into the air like a fountain. Videos broadcast on Japanese television showed a crater in the taxiway reportedly about 7 yards in diameter and 3 feet deep.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights had been canceled at the airport, which hopes to resume operations on Thursday morning.

“There is no threat of a second explosion, and police and firefighters are currently examining the scene,” Hayashi said.

A fire department “received a call from the airport at 7:59 am that there was an incident involving smoke,” its spokesman told AFP.

Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy flight training field from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide attack missions.

A number of unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. military during World War II have been unearthed in the area, Defense Ministry officials said.

Other unexploded ordinance dropped by the United States was reportedly found at a nearby construction site in 2009 and 2011.

Hundreds of tons of unexploded bombs from the war remain buried around Japan and are sometimes dug up at construction sites.

A total of 2,348 bombs weighing 41 tons were disposed of during fiscal year 2023, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Self-Defense Force.

Last year, a World War II bomb that was found in England exploded in what authorities are calling an “unplanned” detonation.

AFP contributed to this report.

The 12-month grace period for student loan borrowers ended on Sept. 30. The “on-ramp” period helped borrowers who are struggling to make payments avoid the risk of defaulting and hurting their credit score.

“The end of the on-ramp period means the beginning of the potentially harsh consequences for student loan borrowers who are not able to make payments,” said Persis Yu, Deputy Executive Director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. Around eight million of those borrowers had enrolled in the SAVE plan, the newest income-driven repayment plan that extended the eligibility for borrowers to have affordable monthly student loan payments. However, this plan is currently on hold due to legal challenges.

With the on-ramp period and a separate program known as Fresh Start ending and the SAVE plan on hold, student loan borrowers who are struggling to afford their monthly payments have fewer options, added Yu. Student loan borrowers who haven’t been able to afford their monthly payments must consider their options to avoid going into default.

What you need to know if you have student loans

The Education Department implemented this grace period to ease the borrower’s transition to make payments after a three-year payment pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this year-long period, borrowers were encouraged to keep making payments since interest continued to accumulate.

“Normally, loans will default if you fall about nine months behind on making payments, but during this on-ramp period, missed payments would not move people towards defaulting and then being subject to forced collections. However, if you missed payments, you still would be falling behind, ultimately, on repaying your loans,” said Abby Shaforth, director of National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

Since this grace period has ended, student loan borrowers who don’t make payments will go delinquent or, if their loans aren’t paid for nine months, go into default.

Borrowers who can’t afford to make payments can apply for deferment or forbearance, which pause payments, though interest continues to accrue.

Consequences of failing to pay  

Borrowers who can’t or don’t pay risk delinquency and eventually default. That can badly hurt your credit rating and make you ineligible for additional aid and government benefits.

If a borrower missed one month’s payment, they will start receiving email notifications, said Shaforth. Once the loan hasn’t been paid for three months, loan servicers notify to the credit reporting agencies that the loan is delinquent, affecting your credit history. Once the borrower hasn’t paid the loan for nine months, the loan goes into default.

If you’re struggling to pay, advisers first encourage you to check if you qualify for an income-driven repayment plan, which determines your payments by looking at your expenses. You can see whether you qualify by visiting the Federal Student Aid website. If you’ve worked for a government agency or a non-profit organization, you could also be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives student debt after 10 years.

When you fall behind on a loan by 270 days – roughly 9 months – the loan appears on your credit report as being in default.

Once a loan is in default, it goes into collections. This means the government can garnish wages (without a court order) to go toward paying back the loan, intercept tax refunds, and seize portions of Social Security checks and other benefit payments.

If your budget doesn’t enable you to resume payments, it’s important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid.

If you’re in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance – allowing you to temporarily suspend payment.

To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, you can contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also impact potential loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension.

The U.S. Education Department offers several plans for repaying federal student loans. Under the standard plan, borrowers are charged a fixed monthly amount that ensures all their debt will be repaid after 10 years. But if borrowers have difficulty paying that amount, they can enroll in one of several plans that offer lower monthly payments based on income and family size. Those are known as income-driven repayment plans.

Income-driven options have been offered for years and generally cap monthly payments at 10% of a borrower’s discretionary income. If a borrower’s earnings are low enough, their bill is reduced to $0. And after 20 or 25 years, any remaining debt gets erased.

In August, the Supreme Court kept on hold the SAVE plan, the income-driven repayment plan that would have lowered payments for millions of borrowers, while lawsuits make their way through lower courts.

Eight million borrowers who had already enrolled in the SAVE plan don’t have to pay their monthly student loan bills until the court case is resolved. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected.

The next court hearing about this case will be held on Oct. 15.

The Fresh Start program, which gave benefits to borrowers who were delinquent prior to the pandemic payment pause, also closed on Sept. 30. During this limited program, student loan borrowers who were in default prior to the pandemic were given the opportunity to remove their loans from default, allowing them to enroll in income-driven payment plans or apply for deferment, among other benefits.