The shared presence on the Buckingham Palace balcony of the Duchess of Cornwall and the engagement ring worn by William’s mother dispels memories of rift and retribution for ever, says Patrick Jephson.

What a day. To see and hear William and Catherine take their vows was a privilege made no less special by sharing it with an extended congregation of a billion or so. As a wedding production, this one surely scored as high marks for technical merit and artistic interpretation as any in Westminster Abbey’s history. With their own eternal beauty, the familiar words reached out to our hearts and in return our hearts reached out to the young couple whom, despite their familiarity, it was as if we now saw anew.

We can see other things anew as well. The enduring strength of the great institutions of Crown and Church, Parliament and the Armed Forces – all now visibly transferring to the care of the rising generation. And who could fail to see anew the debt we owe the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, whose presiding parental role gives a whole new meaning to the idea of growing old gracefully.

Grace was a word and a gift that kept coming to mind, especially when attention moved from the solemnity of the Abbey to the jubilation of the Mall. For the first time in nearly 20 years, Diana, Princess of Wales’s engagement ring returned to the Buckingham Palace balcony. To its lustrous blue eye, the view of cheering crowds must have been reassuringly familiar. Poignant, too, if you recall its first visit to this place. Looking slightly to its right, however, it would have spotted something new and probably – in that location – rather bewildering: the distinctive silhouette of the Duchess of Cornwall, elegant in cream and aqua.

The symbolism is as deafening as the roar of yesterday’s immaculate fly-past. The mother whose name has seldom been heard in polite royal circles for half of William’s lifetime is now back on the approved list. Even more firmly on the approved list, and in a more substantive form, is his stepmother. For those who like their gestures nice and clear, yesterday saw both women publicly reconciled in a way that brings nothing but credit to William and his bride.

A big family occasion is a great opportunity for such healing initiatives. We can guess that few will have been more pleased than the new Duchess of Cambridge. Her experience as a child in a happy family will surely bring sunshine to the sometimes gloomy palace corridors that are now part of her world. The Windsors have a not entirely undeserved reputation for nursing grudges – sometimes even against their in-laws. So if his wife has helped William demonstrate the benefits of reconciliation, then everyone – but mostly he – can be the happier for it.

Of course, reconciliations seldom take root unless the original perceived offence has been purged. An honest acknowledgement of past failings is essential. After all, if bygones really are going to be bygones, it helps to have some agreement about what’s to be sent to life’s great compost heap of expended emotion.

I remember a fraught afternoon in Diana’s cheerfully cluttered, flower-scented sitting room. It was late 1995, more than three years after her formal separation from the Prince of Wales. William and Harry were at boarding school. The matter under discussion was anything but happy.

With a look I had come to dread – partly truculent and partly apprehensive – my boss was waiting for my reaction to the bombshell she had just exploded in my overcrowded brain: she had secretly recorded an interview for Panorama. It was going to clear the air, set the record straight and generally put us on the path to a less complicated future. And I was not to worry.

But I did worry. I also tried to find the right words to persuade her that an olive branch might be a better offering than what I guessed would be a one-sided repetition of past grievances. The moral authority she would have gained from such a self-assured and magnanimous coup would have scored a knock-out in the unedifying contest for public sympathy in which she and her husband seemed permanently trapped.

She was not to be persuaded – or perhaps I just didn’t find the right words. Instead of reconciliation, a conclusive twist was added to the downward spiral of relations with her in-laws. For the remainder of her life, she moved inexorably away from the royal structure which, for all its faults, was always reliably protective.

Protection, we can be sure, is what William wants for his vulnerable new bride. Protection especially from the unhappiness, he must feel, that was so avoidably piled on his mother’s slender shoulders. Since the cornerstone of such protection will be a secure marriage – in which success and failure are experiences to be shared rather than triggers for distrust – much of the responsibility will lie in his hands.

An even-handed and relentlessly polite relationship with the media will be the best protection against the dangerous illusion that the press are an enemy to be bested at every turn. The extent and tone of media coverage of this event should remind us of its power to unite as well as divide.

Protection from physical harm doesn’t need any elaboration, except to remember that Scotland Yard’s finest are better than any alternative – a point well underlined by yesterday’s faultless security operation.

Protection from the loneliness of the royal road and from the corrosive search for “relevance” is best secured through a consistent programme of low-key hard work, with all the job satisfaction that royal status can unlock.

Most important is to find protection from the self-doubt that seems an inevitable by-product of being – even theoretically – always in the right. The adulation that’s just been ramped up 10 notches by the wedding can play havoc with the most seasoned public figure’s sense of proportion. The best protection might often be found in remembering that a moment of royal humility can achieve more than a week of icy royal looks. It really is better to be loved than feared. Without that regular acquaintance with humility, there’s little chance of seizing those all-important reconciliation opportunities.

Even if only in the form of an engagement ring, William’s mother has sealed reconciliation with the woman she had reason to hold responsible for her cruelly dashed marriage expectations. In the words of William and Catherine’s own prayer, there could be little better example of “what is real and important in life” than this evidence of grace. That William has had the courage and wisdom to heal such a wound perhaps promises more for his eventual reign than anything else we saw in the wedding celebrations.

Pakistan, chasing 261 for victory, were dismissed for 231 in the face of a disciplined effort by India under the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium floodlights.

India's 260 for nine, after winning the toss, was built around Sachin Tendulkar's 85.

But they might have made considerably less had not the 'Little Master' been dropped four times in an innings that still left him one short of a hundred international hundreds.

Left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz led Pakistan's attack with career-best figures of five for 46.

India's victory meant they'd won all five of their World Cup matches against arch-rivals Pakistan and kept alive the 37-year-old Tendulkar's dream of lifting the trophy for the first time in his illustrious career.

Brief scores

India 260-9 (Sachin Tendulkar 85; Wahab Riaz 5-46) v Pakistan 231 all out in 49.5 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 56, Mohammad Hafeez 43)

India won by 29 runs

India vs. Sri Lanka world cup 2011 final on Saturday

The start of the India innings after they opted to bat on a pitch showing tinges of green saw Tendulkar overshadowed by the remarkable Sehwag.

With precise clips off his legs and sweetly-struck drives, Sehwag struck five fours in an over from the wayward Umar Gul and had amassed 38 by the end of the fifth over.

But he was lbw trying to turn one from Riaz to leg and as India reached 50, Tendulkar's innings was still in its infancy with eight to his name from only 11 balls faced.

As the thrill in two countries reached fever pitch and the tension rose to near-paralysing levels, Team India turned for inspiration to the man who has never seen defeat in a World Cup game against Pakistan for close to two decades now.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A devastating tsunami triggered by the biggest earthquake on record in Japan looked set to kill at least 1,000 people along the northeastern coast on Friday after a wall of water swept away everything in its path.

Thousands of residents were evacuated from an area around a nuclear plant after radiation levels rose in the reactor, but there was no word on whether there had actually been a leak.

Underscoring grave concerns about the Fukushima plant some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. air force had delivered coolant to avert a rise in the temperature of the facility's nuclear rods.

The unfolding disaster in the wake of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and 10-meter (33-feet) high tsunami prompted offers of help from dozens of countries.

China said rescuers were ready to help with quake relief while President Barack Obama told Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan the United State would assist in any way.

Stunning TV footage showed a muddy torrent of water carrying cars and wrecked homes at high speed across farmland near the coastal city of Sendai, home to one million people and which lies 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had been flung onto a harbor wharf, where they lay helplessly on their side.

Boats, cars and trucks were tossed around like toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed and cars were turning around and speeding away. Japanese politicians pushed for an emergency budget to fund relief efforts after Kan asked them to "save the country," Kyodo news agency reported. Japan is already the most heavily indebted major economy in the world, meaning any funding efforts would be closely scrutinized by financial markets.

Domestic media said the death toll was expected to exceed 1,000, most of whom appeared to have drowned.

The extent of the destruction along a lengthy stretch of coastline suggested the death toll could rise significantly.

Tsunami warnings were issued across the Pacific but were later lifted for some of the most populated countries in the region, including Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Even in a nation accustomed to earthquakes, the devastation was shocking.

"A big area of Sendai city near the coast, is flooded. We are hearing that people who were evacuated are stranded," said Rie Sugimoto, a reporter for NHK television in Sendai.

"About 140 people, including children, were rushed to an elementary school and are on the rooftop but they are surrounded by water and have nowhere else to go."

Japan has prided itself on its speedy tsunami warning system, which has been upgraded several times since its inception in 1952, including after a 7.8 magnitude quake triggered a 30-meter high wave before a warning was given.

The country has also built countless breakwaters and floodgates to protect ports and coastal areas, although experts said they might not have been enough to prevent disasters such as what happened on Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told people to stay in safe places as the cold deepened into the night. "Please help each other and act calmly," he told a news conference.

In Tokyo, residents who had earlier fled swaying buildings jammed the streets trying to make their way home after much of the city's public transportation was halted.

Many subways in Tokyo later resumed operation but trains did not run. People who decided not to walk home slept in office buildings.

"I was unable stay on my feet because of the violent shaking. The aftershocks gave us no reprieve. Then the tsunamis came when we tried to run for cover. It was the strongest quake I experienced," a woman with a baby on her back told television in northern Japan.

FIRES ACROSS THE COAST

The quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping records 140 years ago, sparked at least 80 fires in cities and towns along the coast, Kyodo said.

Other Japanese nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down and one refinery was ablaze. Television footage showed an intense fire in the waterfront area near Sendai.

Auto plants, electronics factories and refineries shut, roads buckled and power to millions of homes and businesses was knocked out. Several airports, including Tokyo's Narita, were closed and rail services halted. All ports were shut.

The central bank said it would cut short a two-day policy review scheduled for next week to one day on Monday and promised to do its utmost to ensure financial market stability.

The disaster occurred as the world's third-largest economy had been showing signs of reviving from an economic contraction in the final quarter of last year. The disaster raised the prospect of major disruptions for many key businesses and a massive repair bill running into tens of billions of dollars.

The tsunami alerts revived memories of the giant waves which struck Asia in 2004.

Warnings were issued for countries to the west of Japan and across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru, but the tsunami dissipated as it sped across the ocean and worst fears in the Americas were not realized.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century.

"The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks," Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo. "It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago."

The quake surpasses the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. (Writing by Dean Yates; Editing by John Chalmers; Singapore +65 6870 3815)