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Al Hussein, Rajwa Wedding Captivates Jordan and the World

Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al-Saif are greeted as they walk together on the day of their royal wedding, in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2023. (Royal Hashemite Court (RHC)/Handout via Reuters)
Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al-Saif are greeted as they walk together on the day of their royal wedding, in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2023. (Royal Hashemite Court (RHC)/Handout via Reuters)
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Al Hussein, Rajwa Wedding Captivates Jordan and the World

Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al-Saif are greeted as they walk together on the day of their royal wedding, in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2023. (Royal Hashemite Court (RHC)/Handout via Reuters)
Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al-Saif are greeted as they walk together on the day of their royal wedding, in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2023. (Royal Hashemite Court (RHC)/Handout via Reuters)

Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah married Saudi architect Rajwa Al-Saif on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region's newest power couple.

Rajwa is daughter to Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif and Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Sudairi. The wedding drew a star-studded guest list including Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate, US First Lady Jill Biden, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and his wife Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary, King Philippe of Belgium, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Cyprus first lady Philippa Karsera, and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan.

The bride, wearing an elegant white dress by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, arrived at Zahran Palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V custom-made for the crown prince’s late great grandmother. The crown prince arrived earlier in full ceremonial military uniform with a gold-hilted saber.

The families and their guests gathered in an open-air gazebo decked with flowers and surrounded by landscaped gardens for a traditional Muslim wedding. The crowd erupted in applause after the signing of the marriage contract. Al-Saif will henceforth be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein, according to a royal decree.

Several miles away, a jolt went through a packed ancient Roman amphitheater as viewers watched the couple seal their vows and exchange rings on a wide screen. After several minutes of stillness, the crowd of some 18,000 people were on their feet, waving flags and shrieking with excitement at one of several viewing parties held across the nation.

Samara Aqrabawi, a 55-year-old mother watching the livestream with her young daughter, said the ceremony was more impressive than she imagined. “I wish for all mothers and fathers in Jordan and in the world to feel like they’re surely feeling,” she said of the king and queen.

The newlyweds later emerged from the palace in a white custom Range Rover escorted by several bright red Land Rovers, motorcycles and a military marching band — a nod to the traditional horse-mounted processions during the reign of the country's founder, King Abdullah I.

The kingdom declared Thursday a public holiday so crowds of people could gather to wave at the couple’s motorcade amid a heavy security presence across the city. Tens of thousands of well-wishers attended free concerts and cultural events.

On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly colored abayas — filtered through the marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman.

“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” said Noura Al-Sudairi, an aunt of the bride. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”

Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in decades — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets. Shops had competing displays of royal regalia.

“She looks like such a princess that I think she deserves him,” Suhair Afaneh, a 37-year-old businesswoman, said of the bride, lingering in front of a portrait of Hussein in a dark suit.

Jordan’s 11 million residents have watched the young crown prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, Abdullah, in public appearances. Hussein has graduated from Georgetown University, joined the military and gained some global recognition speaking at the UN General Assembly.

The wedding took place a week after Jordan’s 77th birthday. Combining tradition and modernity, the royal family introduced a wedding hashtag (#Celebrating Al Hussein) and omnipresent logo that fuses the couple’s initials into the Arabic words “We rejoice.”

Zahran Palace in Amman, where the marriage ceremony was held, hasn’t seen such pomp and circumstance since 1993, when, on a similarly sunny June day, Abdullah married Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. Decades earlier, Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein, sealed his vows in the same garden with his second wife, the British citizen Antoinette Gardiner.

In addition to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the guest list includes an array of foreign aristocrats and dignitaries, including senior royals from Europe and Asia, Saudi aristocrats, as well as US climate envoy John Kerry.

Both Rajwa and Kate wore gowns by the Lebanese designer Elie Saab, said a spokeswoman for the company, Maryline Mossino.

The motorcade drove through Amman to the Al Husseiniya Palace, a 30-minute drive away, for the reception. There, the newlyweds walked beneath an arch of swords and were welcomed with a traditional zaffeh, a lively musical procession featuring drums, dancing, singing and clapping.

The royals greeted more than 1,700 guests at the reception, which featured live music and a banquet. The celebrations were capped with a fireworks display that could be seen across the capital.

Jordanians from all walks of life shared an infectious excitement about the wedding.

“This is a really important day for my country, and those who are not Jordanian wouldn’t understand,” said Najwa Issamad, a 40-year-old nurse watching her teenage sons dance rowdily to pop wedding music blaring from their phones downtown. “It’s a time for all Jordanians to stop whatever we’re doing and say, let’s celebrate, let’s rejoice.”

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Varieties

China Launches Three-Crew Space Flight as Part of Moon Ambitions

A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft with astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, blasts off to China's Tiangong space station from the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, May 24, 2026. (Reuters)
A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft with astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, blasts off to China's Tiangong space station from the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, May 24, 2026. (Reuters)
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China Launches Three-Crew Space Flight as Part of Moon Ambitions

A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft with astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, blasts off to China's Tiangong space station from the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, May 24, 2026. (Reuters)
A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft with astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, blasts off to China's Tiangong space station from the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, May 24, 2026. (Reuters)

China launched its Shenzhou-23 mission on Sunday, which will see a Chinese astronaut spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing's ambition to send humans to the Moon by 2030.

The Long March 2-F rocket blasted off in a cloud of flames and smoke on time at 11:08 pm (1508 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch center in China's northwestern Gobi Desert, video from state broadcaster CCTV showed.

The mission marks the first spaceflight ever undertaken by an astronaut from Hong Kong: 43-year-old Li Jiaying (Lai Ka-ying in Cantonese), who previously worked for the Hong Kong police.

Other crew members include 39-year-old space engineer Zhu Yangzhu and 39-year-old Zhang Zhiyuan, a former air force pilot, who is travelling into space for the first time.

The crew is set to carry out numerous scientific projects in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and medicine.

A key experiment of Shenzhou-23 will be the full-year stay in orbit by one of the crew in order to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity.

- Year-long experiment -

The experiment is part of China's preparations for future lunar missions, as well as missions to Mars.

The astronaut selected for this one-year mission will be named at a later date, depending on the progress of the Shenzhou-23 mission, a spokesperson for the Chinese space agency (CMSA) said on Saturday.

The main challenges will be long-term effects on humans, including bone density loss, muscle wasting, radiation exposure, sleep disturbances, behavioral and psychological fatigue, said Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist and professor at Macquarie University in Australia.

He also underlined the importance of reliable water and air recycling systems, as well as the ability to manage potential medical emergencies far from Earth.

China is "steadily" building operational experience for "sustained occupation" of its Tiangong space station, and year-long missions are an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep-space ambitions, de Grijs told AFP.

"A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the program's earlier phases," he said.

Crews aboard Tiangong have until now largely remained in orbit for six months before being replaced.

The Shenzhou-23 mission is part of China's goal to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, a race in which the United States is also competing with its Artemis program.

- Pakistani crew members -

China is testing the equipment required for its goal, with an orbital test flight of its new Mengzhou spacecraft set for 2026.

The Mengzhou craft will replace the ageing Shenzhou line, and will carry China's astronauts to the Moon.

Beijing hopes to have built the first phase of a manned scientific base by 2035, known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

China also plans to welcome its first foreign astronaut, from Pakistan, aboard the Tiangong station by the end of this year.

The Asian giant has significantly expanded its space programs over the last 30 years, injecting billions of dollars into the sector in order to catch up with the United States, Russia and Europe.

In 2019, China landed a spacecraft the Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon -- a world first.

Then in 2021, it landed a small rover on Mars.

China has been formally excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing, prompting the Asian giant to develop its own space station project.

Varieties

Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivor Is Keeping Memory of the Surprise Bombing Alive at 106

Freeman K. Johnson, a 106-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, holds up his dog tag, May 6, 2026, in Centerville, Mass. (AP)
Freeman K. Johnson, a 106-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, holds up his dog tag, May 6, 2026, in Centerville, Mass. (AP)
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Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivor Is Keeping Memory of the Surprise Bombing Alive at 106

Freeman K. Johnson, a 106-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, holds up his dog tag, May 6, 2026, in Centerville, Mass. (AP)
Freeman K. Johnson, a 106-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, holds up his dog tag, May 6, 2026, in Centerville, Mass. (AP)

On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, the country's oldest living survivor of the Japanese bombing was far below deck helping repair one the boilers of the USS St. Louis.

Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack. He never heard his shipmates firing antiaircraft guns at the attacking planes — shooting down a torpedo plane. By the time he was topside, the St. Louis, a light cruiser, had evaded midget submarines and safely set out to sea.

"While all the rigamarole was going on topside, I was inside a steam drum. Couldn’t see anything, absolutely nothing," said Johnson, a Centerville, Massachusetts, resident whose living room is filled with mementos and photos of his Navy service, including photos of the St. Louis and him as a young sailor, along with a collection of Navy challenge coins and ribbons representing the places he visited. He still has his military identification tag — popularly known as dog tag.

Even as the St. Louis headed into the Pacific Ocean, Johnson, whose job was known as a fireman on the ship, knew little about the attack.

"We were way out to sea, way out. You couldn’t see any land at all. All you saw was ocean," he said. "I was just a sailor, just a swabbie, I was not an officer. They don’t tell you anything if you don’t need to know. And I didn’t need know it. So they tell you nothing."

When he visited schools, children often asked Johnson whether he was scared that day. "You’re not scared. You’re too busy to be scared," he said, his gravelly voice rising. "Besides, you don’t know what you’re scared of. You can’t see anything. What are you afraid of?

One of only 11 survivors

Johnson became the oldest survivor after World War II Navy veteran Ira "Ike" Schab died in December. He was 105. With Schab's passing, there remain only 11 survivors of the surprise attack, which killed just over 2,400 troops and propelled the United States into the war. The United States mourns the nation’s fallen service members on Memorial Day, which takes place Monday.

Every year, there is a remembrance ceremony at the military base’s waterfront for Pearl Harbor survivors.

About 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary event in 1991. A few dozen have showed in recent decades. In 2024, only two made it. That is out of an estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day. None made the pilgrimage to Hawaii last year.

Growing recognition

For most of his life, Johnson avoided the spotlight and talked little about surviving the bombing. After all, he was one of the tens of thousands sailors who were there on that tragic day. He recalled his wife, Ruth, "thought that was something special" so she called the Navy and "the girl laughed at her."

But as the oldest survivor, he's become a local celebrity and the reluctant face of one of the most important events in World War II. Johnson showed up at his 106th birthday party in a limousine and was mugged by television cameras. He gets letters from all over the world and is routinely called a hero wherever he goes out.

Johnson, who is hard of hearing, needs a walker to get around and suffers from congestive heart failure, can recall his wartime experience down to the smallest detail. A 19-year-old who was unemployed and living at home in Waltham, Johnson said he feared being drafted so he signed up for the Navy — because he felt it would be less physically taxing than the Army.

"As a kid, I walked. If I wanted to go somewhere, I walked or took my bicycle. But I didn't want to walk from France to Germany," he said, sitting in a recliner, dressed in an oversized flannel shirt and waving his hands like an orchestra conductor.

"It's a long way carrying a knapsack with you ... Water for a day, food for a day, a 9-pound Springfield rifle all on your back and walking through the mud," he said. "No thanks. That’s why I joined the Navy."

Witnessing history

Johnson's memories have less to do with battles while on the St. Louis, and later aboard the USS Iowa, than their significant roles in history. He helped commission the Iowa and recalled the battleship's preparations in November 1943 ahead of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The ship was equipped with two elevators and a bathtub. All the ammunition and much of the oil was removed to lighten the ship as it made its way down the Potomac River to pick up Roosevelt. It was reloaded before the ship headed out to sea.

"It was a big meeting," Johnson said, recalling how the crew were photographed with Roosevelt. "I don’t know what they talked about, but I didn’t need to know. We picked him back up, brought him home."

Johnson also witnessed the war's end aboard the Iowa. He was on the Iowa's mast watching the surrender ceremonies about a mile away in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

"I could see the boats coming up with the Marines escorting the Japanese onto ship and sitting around a table," he said. "It was all over. That was the end of the war. A bunch of us got together — the war is over. Let's go home."

Telling the story of Pearl Harbor

These days, his daughter, Diane Johnson, is often by his side. They live together and always take a trip on Dec. 7, often attending Pearl Harbor remembrance events, including the 65th and 80th anniversary in Hawaii. She often poses questions to get her father talking and likes to nag him that he has "a responsibility" to share the story of Pearl Harbor —- especially for children who know little about the bombing.

"It’s kind of overwhelming when you think of it. Well, the 106 is what gets me," she said. "When I think about his history, he’s at the beginning, he’s at middle, he is at the end when he witnessed the surrender. It’s something."

Johnson began getting more attention several ago, when Diane Johnson heard a local television report suggesting the last survivor in the state had died. She called to correct the record and that raised his profile. Johnson also started making regular appearances in the Cape Cod St. Patrick's Parade, often leading from the front.

"I wish more people were like him today. He just gets on and doesn't complain about anything," said Desmond Keogh, the chairman of the parade who has accompanied Johnson. "It's what this country was all about. They were just a different generation. They did what was best for their country."

For all the attention to Pearl Harbor, the gruff Johnson, who is known for his cackling laugh and mischievous smile, doesn't see it as a defining moment in his life.

That would have been getting married after the war to his late wife and having three daughters. He also worked for years in a machinist shop, then in a convenience store and, finally, delivering meals to seniors — all jobs he retired from, the last one at the age of 90.

"Pearl Harbor just happened. I can’t put it any other way," he said.

Varieties

‘Party in the Back’: Competitors Vie for European Mullet Crown

A woman attends the annual European Mullet Cup in Audregnies, southern Belgium, on May 23, 2026. (AFP)
A woman attends the annual European Mullet Cup in Audregnies, southern Belgium, on May 23, 2026. (AFP)
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‘Party in the Back’: Competitors Vie for European Mullet Crown

A woman attends the annual European Mullet Cup in Audregnies, southern Belgium, on May 23, 2026. (AFP)
A woman attends the annual European Mullet Cup in Audregnies, southern Belgium, on May 23, 2026. (AFP)

Hundreds of distinctively coiffured participants gathered this weekend in southern Belgium for the annual European Mullet Championship to celebrate the once-maligned hairstyle.

Best captured by the tagline "business in the front, party in the back", the mullet typically combines a closely cropped fringe and sides with flowing locks down the back of the neck.

Popularized in the 1980s, it fell dramatically out of fashion before making a somewhat subversive comeback in recent years.

This year's European championship is the fourth to be held since a group of enthusiasts in Belgium borrowed the idea from Australia of staging a competition.

Would-be champions for this edition came from as far afield as France, Spain and England.

For many of those involved, the mullet is much more than a hairdo -- it has become a way of life.

"The mullet is open -- to others, to difference, to adventure. It has a wild side," said event spokesman David Hubert, who goes by the pseudonym Edgar Funkel.

In the quest to be crowned with the title of best mullet in Europe, hopefuls first had to fill out a questionnaire explaining more about themselves.

"Of course, we choose a great hairstyle, but what we really want is to choose a wonderful person," said jury member Lolita Demoustiez, 39 -- known as Dalita.

"What matters is that the person carrying the mullet truly embodies values such as tolerance, kindness and the freedom to be oneself."

Belgian competitor Christine, 60, said her striking new haircut had helped her get through a recent difficult period in her life.

"It feels absolutely brilliant, and I still haven't taken any antidepressants," she said, showing off her silver grey do.

"Long live the mullet!"

Around 50 finalists were selected to show off their mullets before the cheering crowds.

Winners were selected in a range of categories, including junior mullet, traditional mullet, unusual mullet and veteran mullet.

Eventually, the overall champions for 2026 were selected: the duo of Berenice, 44, and Samuel, 46 -- better known to their fans as BesaMulet.