Good News: A messenger from Emperor Akihito...

Good News: A messenger from Emperor Akihito of Japan will call on Kiko Kawashima, 23, at her home on May 11. The messenger will deliver formal notice that Prince Aya, second son of the emperor, plans to marry her on June 29. Aya, 24, is second in line to the throne after his elder brother, Crown Prince Naruhito.

Portnoy in Love: After living together since 1975, author Philip Roth, 57, and British actress Claire Bloom, 59, finally tied the knot last Sunday in Manhattan. “It was about time,” said Bloom. The author of “Portnoy’s Complaint” has been married once before; Bloom has been married twice.

Now See This: The visions that led Joan of Arc to defeat the English in France probably were caused by epileptic seizures, said Lydia Bayne, a neurologist. Joan of Arc’s story, Bayne said, is “quite typical of complex partial seizures” with “visions of angels and voices with a messianic message.” Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 after a heresy and witchcraft trial. Bayne said the martyr was not a “psychopath” but merely “turned her hallucinations into a powerful source of . . . social dedication.”

Up and About: Maverick Soviet politician Boris Yeltsin got up from his hospital bed in Madrid and walked Wednesday for the first time since undergoing disc surgery two days earlier. The 59-year-old opposition figure “is recovering satisfactorily,” said Dr. Josep Llovet Tapies. Yeltsin won a seat in the People’s Congress of Deputies with a reformist program.