The full-time position is based at Kensington Palace, where William and Kate live with their three young children.
The personal assistant role would provide an up-close look at William and Kate’s lives. The role is responsible for managing the royals’ schedules, arranging meetings, drafting letters and emails and assisting with events and travel, according to the listing.
“Excellent organization and communication skills are essential, as is attention to detail and a willingness to undertake a wide variety of tasks,” the listing reads. “The ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion at all times is essential.”
The job listing does not include a salary for the role.
The personal assistant would join what the listing describes as a “busy team” supporting William and Kate, the future king and queen.
In just the last two days alone, William and Kate have attended a global movie premiere and traveled to Ireland.
The Cambridges walked the red carpet Tuesday night alongside William’s father, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the premiere of the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die.
The next morning, William and Kate traveled to Northern Ireland.
In their first-ever visit to Derry-Londonderry, the royals met with nursing and medical students at a local university and visited a rugby club that is working to bridge divides among people of different religious backgrounds.
After welcoming her second child, a baby boy, earlier this month, Cardi B has made her first public appearance.
The “WAP” rapper attended Paris Fashion Week and hit up the Musée des Arts Décoratifs for its “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime” exhibition. Cardi B stunned in a crimson sequined and ruby-encrusted gown with plunging neckline, accentuated by a long train and a halo of red feathers. She accessorized the look by wearing long matching sequined gloves, a ruby choker adorned with large red, pink and orange gemstones, and red rhinestone eyebrows.
It should be noted that Cardi’s dress is a piece of fashion history, as it was first introduced in 1995 when Czech supermodel Eva Herzigová strut the catwalk in it for Paris Fashion Week, according to Vogue.
This isn’t the first time Cardi wore a vintage Thierry Mugler dress to a public function. For the 2019 Grammy Awards, she wore another number from his 1995 fall line, a stunning pink and black gown that pays homage to the famous Sandro Botticelli painting “The Birth of Venus.”
The “Up” rapper didn’t stay in her crimson masterpiece for the entire night and opted to slip into a sheer black dress with a tight corset, sleeves and small black feathers.
“Thank you @manfredthierrymugler for including me in such a historical night, the opening of your exhibit in Paris! Truly one of my favorite creative minds in the WORLD,” the 28-year-old wrote on Instagram. “I’m mind blown looking at your collections from over the years. A true Genius!”
Florida police took Bam Margera to a rehab facility after the Jackass star was found “acting out of control” at a Tampa Bay-area hotel on Sunday, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office tells The New York Post.
Police responded to a report of an “emotionally disturbed person” at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete Beach, according to a police department spokesperson.
The exact nature of Margera’s disturbance was not revealed, but he was reportedly taken into custody after officers discovered the 41-year-old reality star had a legal order against him, which required that he be taken to rehab.
“They received a call that something was going wrong there,” the sheriff’s department spokesperson tells the newspaper. “When deputies arrived, they were informed that Mr. Margera had an ex parte order, which is a judge’s order for court-ordered rehabilitation. Those are taken out by a third party on behalf of the person,” the spokesperson continued.
It’s unclear who requested that a judge order Margera to seek treatment, nor is it known where he was taken.
Sunday’s transfer was not considered an arrest, says the spokesperson, who also said Margera is “not going to face any criminal charges.”
(WASHINGTON) — It’s been nearly one month since the U.S. withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan on President Joe Biden’s order to leave by Aug. 31, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized the capital Kabul.
Top Pentagon leaders are appearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday amid bipartisan criticism of the chaotic withdrawal and on the failure to anticipate the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country.
In their appearance before Congress on Tuesday — their first since the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan — the leaders candidly admitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee that they had recommended to Biden that the U.S. should keep a troop presence there, appearing to contradict his assertions to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Sep 29, 11:21 am
GOP links failed drone strike to ‘over-the-horizon’ capabilities
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, raising the August U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, took direct issue with the U.S. military’s ability to conduct “over the horizon” drone strike capabilities in Afghanistan.
“What we know from your prior statements is that you did not know who it was, who was in the car, whose house it was,” Turner said. “This greatly concerns me as we look to the over horizon claims that the administration has of its ability for counterterrorism.”
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told House lawmakers he took “full responsibility” for the strike.
“That strike was a mistake and I take full responsibility for that strike. I was under no pressure from any quarter to conduct the strike,” McKenzie said.
“While in many cases we were right with our intelligence and forestalled ISIS- K attacks, in this case we were wrong, tragically wrong,” he added.
“Over-the-horizon” capabilities are a cornerstone of the U.S. military’s counterterrorism strategy in Afghanistan. The top Pentagon commanders said the U.S. will continue to investigate the intelligence that led to the August strike and will be transparent with their findings.
Sep 29, 10:47 am
Milley praises Afghanistan War veterans, defends calls to China
Echoing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in his opening testimony that lawmakers can debate the decisions surrounding the Afghanistan withdrawal but that the courage of U.S. service members is not up for debate.
“Over the course of four presidents, 12 secretaries of defense, seven chairmen, 10 CENTCOM commanders, 20 commanders in Afghanistan, hundreds of congressional delegation visits, and 20 years of congressional oversight, there are many lessons to be learned,” Milley said.
“One lesson we can never forget: every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine who served there for 20 years, protected our country against attack by terrorists, and for that we all should be forever grateful, and they should be forever proud,” he said.
Milley again took the chance to push back on recent characterizations of phone calls to China’s top military official in the final days of former President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“At no time was I attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority, or insert myself into the chain of command. But I am expected to give my advice and ensure that the president was fully informed on military affairs,” he said.
Sep 29, 10:18 am
Defense secretary delivers opening testimony for House lawmakers
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, facing a House panel on Wednesday, repeated his opening testimony given to Senate lawmakers at Wednesday’s hearing, in which Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, appeared to contradict Biden by saying they recommended keeping a residual force of 2,500 troops behind in Afghanistan.
Austin again defended leaving Bagram Airfield, saying it would have required at least 5,000 troops and would have “contributed little” to the mission of protecting the embassy in Kabul, which ultimately fell to Taliban control.
“Staying in Baghram even for counterterrorism purposes meant staying at war in Afghanistan, something that the president made clear that he would not do,” Austin said.
He again walked through some “uncomfortable truths” about the two-decade U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, of which he is a veteran.
“We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation. The fact that the Afghan army that we and our partners trained simply melted away, in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise,” he said.
Sep 29, 10:12 am
Heated House hearing underway with residual force in focus
House Armed Services Chair Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., opened Wednesday’s hearing on Afghanistan with a defense of Biden for ending America’s longest war — and with a preemptive strike on the panel’s Republicans, who he said would spend the day trying to get the military leaders to contradict the commander in chief.
“The option of keeping 2,500 troops in Afghanistan in a peaceful and stable environment did not exist,” Smith said, opening the hearing.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, face a second day of questions from congressional lawmakers on the U.S. military’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan.
Ranking Republican member Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said he “could not disagree more” with Smith and called Biden “delusional” before the leaders gave their opening testimonies.
Sep 29, 9:22 am
Top military leaders face more questions in House hearing
The nation’s top military leaders are back on Capitol Hill at 9:30 a.m. before the House Armed Services Committee — where Republicans are expected to seize on their comments from Tuesday that they recommended Biden keep a residual force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, appearing to contradict the president’s comments to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, candidly admitted in a Senate hearing on Tuesday — their first appearance before lawmakers since the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan — that they had recommended the U.S. keep a small troop presence there, with Milley openly advising presidents not to assign complete withdrawal dates without conditions.
In the six-hour hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Milley also characterized that the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan as “a strategic failure” and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that it was time to acknowledged some “uncomfortable truths” about the two-decade U.S. military mission there. House lawmakers are expected to follow up on the revelations on Wednesday.
Sep 28, 3:53 pm
1st Senate hearing with top commanders on Afghanistan adjourns
After nearly six hours of testimonies and tough questions, the Senate Armed Services Committee has adjourned its hearing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command — their first since the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Senators sunk into Milley and McKenzie saying they had recommended leaving 2,500 troops behind as a residual force in Afghanistan ahead of the chaotic evacuation effort. Several GOP senators called on the leaders to resign, to which Milley offered a powerful rebuttal.
“It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken,” Milley said. “My dad didn’t get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, during the hearing, defended Biden’s interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in which the president said the views of his advisers were “split,” saying, “There was no one who said, ‘Five years from now, we could have 2,500 troops, and that would be sustainable.’”
“That was not a decision the president was going to make,” Psaki added. “Ultimately, it’s up to the commander in chief to make a decision. He made a decision it was time to end a 20-year war.”
It’s been nearly one month since Biden withdrew all U.S. troops, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized the capital Kabul.
(NEW YORK) — With schools back in session again, many parents around the country on edge — dreading the news of a positive coronavirus case in their children’s classes.
Coronavirus outbreaks have led to hundreds temporary school closures across the country, with tens of thousands of students forced to quarantine, just within the first weeks of school year.
With more than 48 million children under the age of 12 still ineligible to be vaccinated, and another 14 million eligible adolescents still unvaccinated, the quarantine process has left many families and educators frustrated at the prospect of another school year spent partially online, disruptions to work schedules and additional childcare expenses.
While many school districts are following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recommends that those who are unvaccinated and had close contact with an infected individual quarantine for 14 days, some are adopting a different approach called “Test to Stay.”
Under that protocol, being adopted by school districts from Utah to Massachusetts, asymptomatic students who are identified as close contacts of an infected student or staffer are allowed to remain in school, provided they take a daily rapid test for seven days, and adhere to other mitigations, such as mask wearing. If the student tests negative, they are cleared to be at school for the day.
It’s a protocol that has yet to be endorsed by the CDC, which is awaiting more data, but has the support of some parents, educators and medical experts.
Here’s what we know:
Test to Stay lauded by educators and experts
The new program has been supported by several studies, including recent findings out of the United Kingdom, which suggests that daily contact testing, following exposure at school, is “a safe alternative to home isolation.” According to the study, the rates of infection in school-based contacts were quite low.
The new protocol is currently used statewide in Massachusetts, and at The Park School, in Brookline, where weekly pool tests are administered for students and staff and the Test to Stay program is used when there is a case.
“We’ve actually had a number of cases, as we’ve come back into the school year,” Scott Young, the head of school at Park, told ABC News.
Outside the school building, socially distanced students, who may have been in contact with a COVID-19 positive person at school, are given rapid antigen tests. It takes 15 minutes for the test to register, and if it comes back negative, students are allowed in class.
In Utah, state law mandates that schools initiate Test to Stay when schools with 1,500 or more students have 2% of their students test positive for COVID-19, and when schools with fewer than 1,500 students have 30 students test positive for COVID-19, within a 14-day period.
Earlier this month, one high school in Tooele, Utah was forced to hold a Test to Stay event after a number of students tested positive. District school officials considered the program a “success” after it detected 30 cases among students when the testing session at Tooele High School.
“Last year, we had so many days where we had kids out of classes. And we see that in our data, we had numbers drop this year. A lot of this comes from our governor saying, our focus is education. We really want our students to be in class. We want our teachers teaching,” Marie Denson, a representative for the Tooele County School District told ABC News.
Such daily rapid testing has been shown to be an effective tool in prioritizing in-person learning, while seeking to maintain a safe learning environment, particularly when layered with additional measures, like masking and good ventilation, according to John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
“While rapid tests aren’t perfect, they do provide a robust measure of viral shedding which is a key measure of concern when trying to limit spread in a school,” Brownstein said. “If the goal is to keep kids in schools while reducing transmission, rapid tests actually may provide more value. And when you add the issue of improved timeliness and reduced costs, the utility of rapid tests becomes even more obvious.”
In addition, the seven consecutive days of testing diminishes the danger stemming from potential false negatives, Brownstein added.
Quarantines are highly disruptive, some say
Jami Wolf-Dolan, a psychologist and parent of two young children currently attending an elementary school in Brooklyn, New York, knows firsthand how incredibly disruptive quarantining can be for the entire family, explaining that she is “beyond slammed, right now,” after her son was abruptly shifted to remote schooling, when a classmate became infected in the first weeks of school.
“I have no childcare, I work from home and I have another kid in Pre-K. The impact of this reverberates,” she said.
Across the country, with pediatric coronavirus cases surging, thousands of children are being forced back into quarantine.
While over 21,000 K-12 students have tested positive since the onset of the school year in South Carolina, another 86,000 had to quarantine because of close contact with an infected individual, according to state data. And in Texas, more than 183,000 students have tested positive for the virus, since the onset of the academic year, impacting tens of thousands of other families.
Removing COVID-19 negative students from in-person learning for prolonged periods of time can affect a student’s educational, social and mental well-being, according to educational experts.
“The optimal place for students to learn is in school, because they are social beings, and that human connection is one of the things that is at the foundation, one of the most important components of effective instruction,” said Young. “When students are remote, they lose out on that human connection, on the opportunity to collaborate, the opportunity to work with their teacher closely, for the teacher to really be able to observe them closely.”
Lydia Alvarez, another parent in Brookyln, New York, concurred, explaining that her 7-year old son was forced to quarantine after attending school for only four days. The quarantine was an unwelcome reminder of last year, when remote learning forced her to quit her job to help her son with school.
“He absorbed nothing,” Alvarez told ABC News in regard to the last school year. “The greatest negative impact of homeschooling was a real resistance to learning. There was no joy associated with learning. I feel now that each time he gets yanked out for five days, that joy of learning gets kind of receded.”
“The best way for families to be supported is for them to know that their children can be in school,” Young said.
Mixed support among officials, but parents applaud the efforts to keep kids in school
Dr. Lee Savio Beers, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has expressed her support for the “Test to Stay” approach.
“I think that it can be a really effective strategy to help make sure children are in school as much as possible. Again it has to be in the context of other important strategies, including vaccination and at least for right now masking, but testing can really help us keep our kids in school,” Beers said, testifying before Congress for a House at a subcommittee hearing on pediatric COVID, earlier this month.
The CDC, on the other hand, is not yet on-board with the Test to Stay protocol, awaiting more evidence before endorsing it.
“At this time, CDC does not recommend or endorse a Test to Stay program. CDC recommends all identified close contacts in the K–12 setting follow current quarantine guidance,” the CDC wrote in a statement to ABC News. “However, to gather more information, CDC is working with multiple jurisdictions who have chosen to use these approaches of more frequent testing to allow close contacts to remain in the classroom.”
But for many parents, the Test to Stay program is an effective way for children to experience the critical continuity and regularity of in-person school.
“The reaction of the community has been incredibly positive,” said Young. Parents, he said, “feel both a sense of safety, which is important, and they really do value the fact that their children can be in school, knowing that it is the best place for them.”
Some of Adele‘s fans think they cracked the code about the powerhouse singer’s long-promised fourth studio album. Rumor has it, new music is coming this week.
Billboardreports that a radio host named Mauler tweeted, then deleted, “New Adele. This week.”
The internet went nuts over the statement, and now some fans are piecing together the clues that they think the British singer has been carefully leaving behind over the past few weeks.
Some took note that Adele has been posting a little more on social media and recently revealed a major life update on her relationship status by going Instagram official with NBA agent Rich Paul.
Fans are also pointing out that, in order to be considered for a 2022 Grammy Award, artists must release their music by this Thursday, September 30, to be eligible. That means any album’s got to drop no later than Thursday.
Billboard notes that when they recently revisited the Grammy winner’s stats by reflecting on the success of her previous two albums, 25 and 21, some fans further took this as a sign that new album was on the way.
The Billboard Charts Twitter account ranked Adele’s albums and EPs on Monday, dubbing her sophomore album, 21, her best performing studio effort. Her third and latest album, 25, was one step behind. It also ranked her songs by naming the best-performing singles on the Hot 100 chart, with “Rolling in the Deep” leading the pack, followed by “Someone Like You,” “Set Fire to the Rain” and “Hello” — all of which went to number one.
Of course, it all comes down to what Adele has up her sleeve — and she hasn’t said a peep about when to expect her new album.
Jennifer Aniston says she’s ready to fall in love again following her divorce from Justin Theroux.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Lunch with Bruce, the Friends alum said she thinks “it’s time” she settles down with someone new.
At the moment, she admits, “No one of importance has hit my radar yet,” but that doesn’t mean she isn’t looking.
“I think it’s time,” Aniston continued. “I think I’m ready to share myself with another… I didn’t want to for a long time”
The Morning Show star revealed she took an extended hiatus from dating following her 2017 divorce because she enjoyed exploring who she was as a single woman.
“I loved really, being my own woman without being a part of a couple. I’ve been a part of a couple since I was 20. So there was something really nice about taking the time,” she said.
So what’s Aniston, 52, is looking for in a romantic partner? “The ease at which the conversation flows the first time, that’s kind of a good indicator,” the Emmy winner divulged. “Confidence, but not a cockiness. Humor… Generous, kind to people. You know, it’s just very few necessities.”
She added that she’ll find her future significant other the “old fashioned way” and not on a dating app.
The conversation comes as Aniston had to dispel rumors that she and fellow Friends alum David Schwimmer were romantically involved. The rumors about the two dating first sparked after the show’s HBO Max reunion, where the two actors admitted they had a mutual crush on one another but never acted upon it.
“That was bizarre. I could not believe that, actually. Like, really? That’s my brother,” Jennifer told Entertainment Tonightearlier this month about their alleged hook-up.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Madame Tussauds New York
Wendy Williams is returning to television screens and she just has one question: How you doing?
In a social media announcement on Tuesday, it was revealed that the new season of The Wendy Williams Show will begin Monday, October 4.
The promotional clip, which was posted to the talk show’s Instagram account, promises “all new Hot Topics” and was captioned, “THE WAIT IS OVER! Season 13 starts MONDAY. You don’t wanna miss it!”
The exciting news comes after the show’s premiere was postponed due to Williams’ numerous health issues, which included testing positive for COVID-19 and reportedly being checked into a mental health facility, according to the The New York Post. However, last week, sources shared that Wendy was ready to get back into the swing of things.
“Wendy is on the mend, and doing well,” the insider said. “There was a meeting this week, and [execs] assured staff the show will return on October 4., and Wendy is ready to get back to work.”
(NEW YORK) — The backup of container ships off the coast of major ports of entry has greatly slowed the nation’s supply chain, prompting new possible workarounds ahead of the busy holiday retail season.
Many shipping companies and retailers have struggled recently with the massive backlog of goods and soon consumers could bear the brunt of higher prices.
The onslaught of manufacturing and cargo disruptions has threatened shipping delays and epic shortages for in-demand products and retail experts have urged consumers to start holiday shopping now.
“We’re witnessing a pandemic-induced buying surge by the American consumer, the likes of which we’ve never seen,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told Good Morning America.
The downward spiral first started when COVID-19-induced shutdowns in Asia drove shipping and production delays. That created shortages in shipping containers and was compounded by limited warehouse space, trucking issues and labor shortages.
“There are shortages across a number of industries, perhaps nowhere more acutely so than in front-line workers such as port workers and truck drivers,” Aaron Terrazas, convy director of economic research, explained to GMA.
Now large retailers like Costco, Walmart and Home Depot have started to take matters into their own hands by renting out their own shipping containers and looking for different ports of entry.
More container freights that would typically enter through Long Beach are being redirected to Oakland, Vancouver, Savannah or Houston, in order to circumvent the delays.
While it could take upwards of a month to continue to untangle the global mess, port officials in Long Beach said they have extended operating hours, including working weekends.
And experts reiterated a now resounding message to start shopping the holiday season early.
Sorry Dolly Parton fans, it looks like the country star hasn’t joined TikTok after all.
On Monday, many rejoiced after it appeared that Dolly joined the growing social media platform, but as it turns out, the account was a hoax.
The inaugural post showed the “9 to 5” singer stepping into the frame and declaring, “Woohoo! Well hello, I guess I’m on TikTok!” before taking a seat on a piano bench and adding, “I just dropped in to say everything’s gonna be OK. You keep the faith.”
Many applauded her introduction to the platform, however, a rep for the 75-year-old icon confirmed on the Today show that the account was fake and encouraged fans to “take a closer look” at the “doctored” footage, which was actually a taken from an old video used to promote her Imagination Library website.
The account amassed over 700,000 followers and five million views before TikTok deleted it for violating community guidelines regarding impersonation.
