No one in the Royal Family wants to be king or queen, Prince Harry has told a US magazine, adding that “we will carry out our duties at the right time”.

“Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don’t think so,” he told Newsweek.

And he said the royals were doing it “for the greater good of the people”.

Prince Harry also spoke about walking in the funeral procession for his mother, Princess Diana, aged 12, saying no child “should be asked to do that”.

In 1997, Harry joined his father, the Prince of Wales, grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, 15-year-old brother, the Duke of Cambridge, and uncle, Earl Spencer, in the procession through the streets of London.

Harry, who recently said he had received counselling to cope with the death of his mother in a car crash in Paris, said: “My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.

“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.”

By Peter Hunt, BBC royal correspondent

This is an interview that will generate some sympathy – a prince still struggling with the death of his mother – and raise some eyebrows.

Such a reaction will be prompted by Harry’s suggestion that the Windsors aren’t exactly falling over each other to fill what his mother once called “the top job”, when it becomes vacant.

The Queen’s heirs, he implies, will take on a position of enormous privilege because they have to, not because they want to.

And despite the prince’s important caveat that the royals do what they do for the greater good and not for themselves, his words have generated the Daily Mail headline, “Harry: No Royal Wants Throne”.

Prince Harry is on marginally safer ground talking about his mother’s funeral even though his comments do contain an implied criticism of his immediate family. They could have decided in 1997 that he was too young to walk, so publicly, behind Diana’s coffin.

There is one other striking aspect to this lengthy article. It contains no comments, by Harry, about his father.

Shopping

Prince Harry told the magazine, which says it was given access to the prince for nearly a year, that he was “involved in modernising the British monarchy”.

“It’s a tricky balancing act. We don’t want to dilute the magic. The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.”

Harry praised Princess Diana for playing a part in showing him an ordinary life, saying people would be “amazed” at how ordinary his and Prince William’s lives were.

“I do my own shopping. Sometimes… I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.

“Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40363063

Ukraine’s president has asked for discussions to begin on an action plan that could eventually lead to membership of Nato.

Petro Poroshenko said the will of the Ukrainian people was to eventually join the Western military alliance.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said any decision on future membership would be up to the 29 alliance members.

Russia has repeatedly criticised Nato’s expansion in eastern Europe and objects to Ukraine becoming a member.

Ukraine faces many obstacles on the road to membership, including the conflict in the east of the country.

Mr Poroshenko was speaking after holding talks with Mr Stoltenberg in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

“Ukraine has clearly defined its political future and future in the sphere of security,” he said.

“Today we clearly stated that we would begin a discussion about a membership action plan and our proposals for such a discussion were accepted with pleasure.”

• Nato sends ‘alive and strong’ message from Estonia
• How much of a threat does Russia pose, and to whom?

Such a plan would set targets on political, economic and defence reforms.

Mr Stoltenberg said he welcomed the fact that Ukraine was moving towards meeting Nato standards, regardless of membership.

In a clear reference to Russia, he said that every nation could decide its own path and no-one else had the right to lean on them or veto the process.

• Formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-War communist expansion as the Soviet Union sought to extend its influence in Europe
• Originally consisting of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US
• The organisation expanded to include Greece and Turkey in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. However, then, as now, the alliance was militarily dominated by the US
• The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became the first former Warsaw Pact countries to gain Nato membership, in 1999
• Montenegro was the latest country to join the alliance, earlier this year. Before that, the most recent recruits were Albania and Croatia in 2009, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, which joined in 2004
• Applicant nations: Georgia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Macedonia

Reacting to Mr Poroshenko’s remarks, a Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “For many years Russia has been worried by Nato’s military infrastructure moving closer to our borders, potentially this could be the next step.

“It will not boost stability and security in the European continent.”

Moscow is widely accused of backing the rebels who now control much of eastern Ukraine after a bloody armed conflict with the government in Kiev.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40557477

Carla del Ponte, 70, who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, told a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Locarno Film Festival that she had already prepared her letter of resignation.

“I am quitting this commission, which is not backed by any political will,” she said, adding that her role was just an “alibi”.

“I have no power as long as the Security Council does nothing,” she said. “We are powerless, there is no justice for Syria.”

Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, joined the three-member Syria inquiry in September 2012, chronicling incidents such as chemical weapons attacks, a genocide against Iraq’s Yazidi population, siege tactics, and the bombing of aid convoys.

She could not immediately be reached for comment and the United Nations did not immediately confirm her plans to quit.

Her departure will leave only two commissioners, Brazilian human rights expert Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, and Karen Koning AbuZayd from the United States.

The commission was set up in August 2011 and has regularly reported on human rights violations, but its pleas to observe international law have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Although the United Nations is setting up a new body to prepare prosecutions, there is no sign of any court being established to try war crimes committed in the six-and-a-half year-old war, nor of any intention by the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Del Ponte’s determination to be independent made her outspoken and occasionally controversial. She shocked Western governments in May 2013 by declaring that the United Nations had “strong suspicions” of Syrian rebels using sarin gas.

Two years later, she said justice would catch up with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even if he remained in power under a negotiated peace settlement.

Earlier this year, when the commission reported on Syrian government aircraft deliberately bombing and strafing a humanitarian convoy, del Ponte hinted at her frustration with the inability to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“What we have seen here in Syria, I never saw that in Rwanda, or in former Yugoslavia, in the Balkans. It is really a big tragedy,” she added. “Unfortunately we have no tribunal.”

http://www.france24.com/en/20170807-un-syria-investigator-del-ponte-quits-over-lack-political-will

After three years of pushing through Flanders, British commander-in-chief Douglas Haig launched a major offensive for control of the village of Passchendaele on the last day of July. The campaign, also known as the ‘Third Battle of Ypres’, proved particularly difficult for the Commonwealth forces as hundreds of thousands of men fought in Dantean conditions.

“I died in hell – they called it Passchendaele”, the British soldier and famed poet Siegfried Sassoonwrote of the carnage that raged over more than three months. A century later, the name Passchendaele still resonates in the British memory. Historian Paul Reed, who specialises in World War I, described how this bloody battle unfolded to FRANCE 24.

FRANCE 24: Why did the British decide to attack Passchendaele?

‘The Second Battle of Ypres’ had ended in May 1915, when the Germans had used poison gas for the first time. They had not achieved a breakthrough at this time but they had captured all the high ground, which surrounded the Belgian city of Ypres. For the next two years the Germans dominated the battlefield in Flanders.

In 1917 the allies decided to attack with an unprecedented amount of artillery and men at Ypres … and break the German lines, pushing them back off the high ground … The Allied forces plan was to advance to the Channel coast and capture the German submarine bases, which were threatening Allied shipping [providing critical supplies].

Ypres was always Britain’s main theatre of operations on the Western Front; even more so than the Somme or Arras. More than 250,000 British and Commonwealth troops died here in WWI, so arguably it was also Britain’s greatest single place of sacrifice.

FRANCE 24: Were the weather conditions particularly terrible for the soldiers? What was the cost of the battle?

On the first day of the battle – July 31, 1917 – the offensive was largely successful in most sectors. But it started to rain that day, and pretty much did not stop, on and off, for much of the rest of the battle. The bombardments destroyed everything, including all the drainage, and in a landscape with a vast array of blue clay beneath it, this meant that heavy rainfall could not drain … and collected at the surface level, turning the battlefield into muddy soup. Passchendaele became a vast lunar landscape of shell holes and mud and muck and slime; men could and did drown in the mud, and everything from horses to tanks disappeared into it. It was arguably the worst battlefield on which British and Commonwealth soldiers fought during the Great War.

Total British and Commonwealth casualties were almost 300,000, with more than 70,000 dead. It was not the costliest battle of the war for Britain, but being fought in such a small area, the losses were not insignificant for the ground gained. The nature of the battlefield, with heavy shelling and liquid mud, meant that many soldiers just disappeared; over 60 percent of the dead at ‘Third Ypres’ have no known grave – a higher than normal proportion.

FRANCE 24: Can we call the battle a success for the Allies?

No breakthrough to the coast was made, but the Germans were pushed back beyond the Passchendaele Ridge. They no longer dominated the ground in Flanders. In that respect, Passchendaele was a victory. Whether that was worth the sacrifice of so many lives in 1917 is something still hotly debated. For the soldiers on the ground, the battle area behind their forward positions at Passchendaele was devastated. It was so difficult to cross that it was said it could take 18 hours to move from the outskirts of Ypres to the front line, some eight miles away at Passchendaele.

FRANCE 24: How will this battle be commemorated in 2017?

There will be a major commemorative service at Tyne Cot Cemetery, in the heart of the Passchendaele battlefield and the largest British and Commonwealth cemetery, on July 31. The night before in Ypres, a sound and light show will illuminate the Cloth Hall building with images of the battle and specially commissioned pieces to reflect on the battle a hundred years ago. Throughout the rest of the year smaller-scale events will take place, and no doubt many will be there on the day a relative died, to remember, a century on.

For us in Britain it’s all very simple: Ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances, and we can never, ever forgot them – whether they marched to Flanders forever or came home to live with the memory of that mud for the rest of their lives.

(Editor’s note: The UK’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge will be among those gathering in Belgium on Monday to mark 100 years since the start of the battle.)

http://www.france24.com/en/20170730-belgium-passchendaele-wwi-battlefield-mud-100-years-british-soldiers-war

Regulator Transport for London (TfL) said Uber’s conduct posed risks to public safety and it would not renew its licence when it expires on Sept. 30. Uber has 21 days to appeal and can continue to operate until the appeal process has finished.

“Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications,” TfL said.

Uber, which accounts for a third of private hire vehicles on London’s streets, said it would contest the decision.

“Transport for London and the Mayor have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice,” said Tom Elvidge, Uber’s general manager in London.

“We intend to immediately challenge this in the courts.”

Uber has been attacked by London’s black cab drivers who say it has undercut safety rules and threatened their livelihoods.

The U.S. firm has also faced criticism from unions and lawmakers and been embroiled in legal battles over workers’ rights.

Uber has endured a tumultuous few months after a string of scandals involving allegations of sexism and bullying at the Silicon Valley start-up that forced out former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick.

The app has been forced to quit several countries including Denmark and Hungary and faced regulatory battles in multiple U.S. states and countries around the world.

One of Uber’s British competitors in London, Addison Lee, is also awaiting a decision from TfL about a longer-term licence. The company declined to comment on Friday.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he backed the decision to reject Uber’s application for a new licence.

“All companies in London must play by the rules and adhere to the high standards we expect – particularly when it comes to the safety of customers,” he said.

“It would be wrong if TfL continued to license Uber if there is any way that this could pose a threat to Londoners’ safety and security.”

http://www.france24.com/en/20170922-uber-lose-licence-operate-london-uk