Backgrounder: The Dutch royal family

Two people were killed and 12 wounded when a car careered into a crowd of people watching the Dutch royal family riding past in an open-top bus Thursday. The accident occurred during Queen’s Day, a national holiday celebrated every April 30 to mark the queen’s birthday. Queen Beatrix’s, the current monarch, birthday is actually January 31

Share

Father: U.S. journalist holding up in Iranian prison

Roxana Saberi, the American journalist convicted of espionage charges in Iran, has lost weight in prison but is being treated well, her father said Sunday. “She has lost weight and she looks frail and weak,” Reza Saberi said. “She says she’s not treated harshly

Share

Fighting Piracy: Coordinated Action Still Missing

If Europe occasionally winces at accusations that it is not pulling its weight in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, it has been prouder of its take-charge role in combating Somalia’s relentless pirates. However, much like the Afghan war, that effort appears to be floundering in the face of a relentless, quickly adapting and resurgent enemy — despite successes like Sunday’s dramatic rescue of Richard Phillips, the American ship captain held hostage since Wednesday by defiant Somali pirates

Share

Financial crisis dominates G-20 agenda

This week’s London Summit brings together the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economic powers, known as the Group of 20, to discuss the global financial crisis and decide new measures to set the world on a more stable economic footing. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who hosts Thursday’s talks, has set a bold agenda for this year’s summit, calling on governments to sign up to a “global deal” to haul the world out of the crisis triggered by the collapse of the banking system.

Share

The Pope’s Anti-Condom Remarks: Candor Over P.R.

Pope Benedict XVI’s opposition to condoms, even as a weapon to help combat the spread of AIDS, should surprise no one who knows anything about Catholic Church teachings. The 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, penned by Pope Paul VI, explicitly forbids contraception as denying the Creator’s will that humans be fruitful and multiply

Share

FIFA confirm 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidders

FIFA have confirmed which countries have made a bid to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. All 11 candidates had already stated their intention to stage the game’s showpiece event with Tuesday’s announcement confirmation that FIFA had received their bid registration forms

Share

Drowning islands warn of future perils for ‘environmental refugees’

There is one holiday destination that should shake the faith of even the most vehement climate change skeptic: the Carteret Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, located northeast of Bougainville. The palm trees sway gently under a balmy sun, the beaches are perfect, and stretched out as far as the eye can see is the wide blue of the Pacific Ocean.

Share

Family caught in Madoff swindle forced to sell Jewish heirlooms

Elisa Schindler says she is relieved her father, the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, didn’t live to see the destruction caused by Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff. “Here’s a man who dedicated his entire life to making the world a better place and contrast that with a man who didn’t do that,” she says

Share