Royal engagement announced

Britain's Prince Harry and the American actor Meghan Markle described their joy at the prospect of getting married, hours after their engagement was announced on Monday. Monday's announcement was made by Harry's father, Prince Charles, in a statement released from his office at Clarence House in England. In a brief appearance in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, Harry told reporters about the proposal. Although he declined to elaborate on the specifics, when asked whether it was romantic, he smiled and said, "of course it was." The pair, who became engaged quietly earlier this month, will marry in spring 2018 and live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, where Harry currently lives. Markle will be the first American to marry a British royal since the marriage of Wallis Simpson to King Edward VIII, a union so controversial that he was forced to give up the throne in December 1936 to go through with it. The palace did not say what titles would be conferred upon the couple when they are married, but the prince is likely to be awarded a dukedom, meaning Markle would become a duchess.

In Other News A Virginia parent, Sarah Sims, has a daughter who complained she was being bullied in elementary school. Sims reached out to administrators at Ocean View Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia, where her daughter is in fourth grade, but she said she got no response. In September, she sent her daughter to school with a digital audio recorder in her backpack, hoping to capture audio from the classroom. School officials found out and confiscated the device, which had been in her daughter's desk recording the school day. Now, Sims is in trouble with law. Earlier this month, Norfolk police charged Sims with a felony -- intercepting wire, electronic or oral communications -- and with a misdemeanor -- contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the felony charge. Authorities declined to comment on the case. Virginia is a “one party consent” state (PA is a "two-party consent" state). The President of the United States, during a White House event honoring World War II's Navajo code talkers, made a "Pocahontas" joke about a sitting US senator. The response was intense, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (the target of President Trump's insult), Native American advocacy groups and others slamming the President. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said it wasn't a racial slur. An airport in Indonesia was closed for a second day as fears grew that a volcano on Bali might have another, bigger eruption. Almost 30,000 people have evacuated the area around Mount Agung, and now authorities say 100,000 more people living in the danger zone need to get out. But many of them won't leave, staying behind to protect livestock and gardens. Bali is one of the world's top vacation destinations, so the volcanic eruptions, which started Saturday, have stranded many tourists.