What’s next for the UK as Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest

What’s next for the UK as Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest

LONDON (AP) — The death of Queen Elizabeth II set in motion a tightly choreographed series of ceremonial and constitutional steps, as Britain undergoes a period of national mourning and enters the reign of King Charles III.

A long-established 10-day plan, code-named Operation London Bridge, covers arrangements for the queen's final journey to London and state funeral. Here is a look at what will happen in the coming days:

Thursday, Sept. 15

— The queen's coffin lies in state in Westminster Hall in London for the first of four full days. Thousands of people joined a huge line to pay their respects to their late monarch. By midday, the queue had grown to 4.4 miles (7 kilometers), winding past Tower Bridge.

Security tightens at downtown library

Users of the downtown Millennium Library will be subject to several new security screening measures, more commonly seen at airports and sporting facilities.

City hall announced Friday that effective Feb. 25, all visitors to the Donald Street library will undergo bag checks and be subjected to a hand-held metal detector sweep for alcohol and prohibited weapons. Visitors who refuse to participate will be barred from entering the library.

“The number of incidents (has) increased in the past four to five years, incidences involving violence, threats, alcohol, substance abuse and it was concerning. We met with police and our security contractor. After discussing, we came up with this course of action,” Ed Cuddy, manager of library services, told reporters. “We feel it’s a big change, but we feel it’s justified based on the kind of incidents we’ve been experiencing recently.”

Cuddy wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the incidents, but did say library workers have not been the victims.

Neo-Nazi group members plotted to kill Free Press reporter

Disturbing details of a plan to kill a Free Press reporter who had infiltrated a white nationalist hate group were revealed for the first time Wednesday.

Trump touts USMCA win in state of the union

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump declared his scorched-earth political style an unmitigated success Tuesday in a fiercely partisan, made-for-TV state of the union speech that made it clear he expects to be back in the White House next year on the strength of the U.S. economy and his trade deals with Canada, Mexico and China.

Trump, addressing a joint session of Congress in the very chamber where House Democrats voted to impeach him less than two months ago, became only the second president in American history — Bill Clinton was the first — to deliver a state of the union while standing trial in the Senate.

Unrepentant, he pointedly refused to shake the offered hand of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the dais before singing the praises of what he billed as "the great American comeback," pointing to strong job growth, a soaring stock market and low unemployment as evidence of his leadership. And when he was done, Pelosi ripped up the speech in full view of the television cameras.

"America's enemies are on the run, America's fortunes are on the rise, and America's future is blazing bright. The years of economic decay are over," Trump declared, taking full credit for the country's "roaring economy," including what he billed as seven million new jobs and the lowest jobless rate in half a century — a "blue-collar boom" that he's counting on to help his re-election chances in November.