King Charles Gives Thanks for Support after Cancer Diagnosis

FILE PHOTO: Britain's King Charles leaves the London Clinic after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate in London, Britain January 29, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's King Charles leaves the London Clinic after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate in London, Britain January 29, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
TT

King Charles Gives Thanks for Support after Cancer Diagnosis

FILE PHOTO: Britain's King Charles leaves the London Clinic after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate in London, Britain January 29, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's King Charles leaves the London Clinic after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate in London, Britain January 29, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

Britain's King Charles has expressed gratitude to well-wishers following his cancer diagnosis, his first public comment since Buckingham Palace announced he would postpone some engagements to undergo treatment.
"I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days," Charles said in a statement on Saturday.
The palace announced on Monday that Charles, 75, had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, less than 18 months into his reign.
"As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement," Charles said.
The king said it was heartening to hear how his diagnosis had helped to shine a light on the organizations that support cancer patients in Britain and elsewhere.
News of his cancer came after Charles spent three nights in hospital last month where he underwent a corrective procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.
Buckingham Palace has not given any details of his condition other than to say it was not prostate cancer, but said the king was remaining "wholly positive" and looking forward to returning to public duty as soon as possible.



Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
TT

Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

With politics set aside, well-wishers gathered to wish the Taipei zoo’s senior panda a happy 20th birthday.
Visitors crowded around Yuanyuan's enclosure to take photos of her with a birthday cake in the shape of the number 20.
Yuanyuan was born in China and arrived in 2008 with her partner Tuantuan. He died in 2022 at age 18 but not before fathering two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, now 11 and 4 respectively and still living at the zoo.
Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student in Taiwan, said she found online clips of the pandas an enjoyable distraction. “And I just find it really funny and cute,” The Associated Press quoted Shu as saying.
Giant pandas are native only to China, and Beijing bestows them as a sign of political amity. Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived in Taiwan during a period of relative calm between the sides, which split amid civil war in 1949. China claims the island its own territory, to be annexed by military force if necessary.
Faced with declining habitat and a notoriously low birthrate, giant panda populations have declined to around 1,900 in the mountains of western China, while 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers in China and around the world.