Swedish Crown Princess Victoria Takes on World Cup

On Saturday, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria will marry her fiancé, a former fitness instructor. The event is expected to be a boon to both the monarchy and that part of the media that thrives on sentimental stories. Princess Victoria is the opposite of Lady Di: She, her love and her fiancé are all authentic.

Even before this much-anticipated spectacle of bell-ringing and protocol, of rustling lace and crimson carpets, it is clear that Swedes are just like the rest of us when it comes to wedding gifts.

After a torturous eight years of waiting, after the objections of her strict father and after overcoming life-threatening illnesses -- in her case bulimia and in his a kidney transplant -- Crown Princess Victoria and her former fitness instructor Daniel Westling are finally about to say "I do" to each other, and what do they get? Practical gifts.

According to Swedish custom, which is also practiced in the royal family, wedding gifts are unpacked and presented before the actual wedding, apparently because the soon-to-be newlyweds can hardly wait to get their hands on their new mixer.

In the case of Sweden's royal wedding pair, those practical gifts consist of several crates of drinking glasses, a cabinet full of bed linens and monogrammed towels, several spa weekends, a year of free electricity for their palace in Haga, a district of Gothenburg, and a green wooden horse.

A green wooden horse? Where was that again in the Ikea catalog? In any event, it's an unusual gift, and it will probably quickly end up in the place where those particularly funny, poetic and bulky wedding gifts always end up and gather dust: The basement. Because Crown Princess Victoria, the daughter of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and his German wife Silvia née Sommerlath, who is from Heidelberg, is everything but unusual.

Georgia, European Union set to simplify visa procedures

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze will sign an agreement on simplified procedures for issuing visas during his visit to Brussels on June 17-18, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

"This agreement will come into force together with the agreement on readmission after being ratified by the European Parliament and the Parliament of Georgia," the ministry said in a statement.

The signatories of the agreement include Georgia and EU member states, except Denmark, Great Britain and Ireland.

According to the agreement, the decision on the issue of a visa must be taken within 10 days from the submission of a request and necessary documents. A visa must be issued within 30 days from the approval date.

Approval requirements will be eased for 22 categories of citizens and the issuance fee will be reduced from 60 euro to 35 euro, or abolished in some cases.

Tbilisi has long been seeking European integration and NATO membership as part of its foreign policy under President Mikheil Saakashvili.

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Hunting Okada riders

The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Marvel Akpoyibo on Tuesday ordered all area commanders, divisional police officers, and area traffic officers to arrest commercial motorcyclists that contravened traffic regulations.

Police spokesman, Frank Mba, stated that the order to arrest such motorcyclists was aimed at improving the traffic situation in the state. Mr. Mba said the manner in which commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada riders, disobeyed traffic rules was becoming worrisome to the police commissioner.

“Commercial motorcyclists do not obey traffic officers and traffic lights,” he said. “They do not respect the rights of other road users. When a traffic light or officer says stop, both vehicles and motorcycles must stop without exception”.

Mr Mba said that the commissioner’s order must be strictly carried out, stressing that any arrested motorcyclist would be prosecuted according to the law. According to him, if motorists and motorcyclists obey traffic rules, there will be less traffic jams in Lagos state. He advised motorists to ensure that they put in place all needed facilities during this rainy season, to help reduce traffic jams resulting from broken down vehicles.

Lakers, Celtics brace for game seven

LOS ANGELES — It was "Showtime" all over again for the Los Angeles Lakers in Tuesday's game six of the 2010 NBA finals.

Facing elimination, the Los Angeles Lakers played like there was no tomorrow, rolling over the Boston Celtics with spectacular fast breaks, brilliant defence and thundering dunks to force Thursday's game seven.

And Los Angeles made it looking easy, routing the Celtics 89-67 with an offensive performance that brought back memories of Magic Johnson's "Showtime" days of the 1980s.

Badly beaten in their last two games in Boston, the Lakers responded at home by holding the Celtics to the second lowest points total in NBA finals history.

"It is really a high tension situation," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "It is not about coaching at this point. They've already got it in them. It is about who comes out and provides the energy on the floor and who plays the kind of game and dictates the kind of game they want to dictate".

After a humbling loss to the Celtics in the 2008 NBA finals, the Lakers are seeking atonement and a 16th championship banner.

Heading into this year's finals, the Celtics and Lakers have met 11 previous times with the Celtics winning nine. Boston has only lost three times in a final, but two of those were in 1985 and 1987 to the Lakers.

"It's Lakers-Celtics, the biggest rivalry in NBA basketball, seven games. It is what it is," said Celtics guard Rajon Rondo.

No Pakistanis remain in Osh: Foreign Office

ISLAMABAD: No Pakistanis remain in and around violence-hit Osh city in Kyrgyzstan, said Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit on Wednesday. Talking to Express 24/7, he said that all Pakistani students in Osh had been evacuated.

On Tuesday, over two hundred Pakistani students studying in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, were flown home on two C-130 military aircraft specially sent to retrieve them. The students were rescued as ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan surged, displacing thousands.

One Pakistani student, Ali Raza, was killed in the ethnic clashes when he was hit by a stray bullet. His body was returned to his family on Tuesday. Commenting on other Pakistanis in Kyrgyzstan, Basit said he estimated that around 100 or more students were currently studying in the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.

“I don’t know the exact number,” he admitted, adding that the embassy was still in the process of compiling data.

Basit said that Pakistani nationals in Bishkek were safe and sound as violence had not spread to the capital.

US government 'should spearhead $300 million plan to tackle Agent Orange'

The US government should spearhead a $300 million (£203 million) plan to tackle the "grim legacy" of Agent Orange sprayed during the Vietnam War, according to new binational report

The ten-year plan aims to clean up 28 "hot spots" that were sprayed with Agent Orange during the conflict and remain contaminated by dioxin-tainted herbicides, widely believed to cause large-scale birth defects, cancer and other illnesses.

Between 1962 and 1971, the US military sprayed nearly 20 million gallons of Agent Orange on around a quarter of the former South Vietnam to destroy crops and jungle cover protecting the communist guerrilla fighters.

Agent Orange decimated about five million acres of forest. It continues to pollute the soil and cause horrific birth defects, according to hundreds of independent studies carried out over the years.

The US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange says the plan, funded by both the US government and other private and public donors would improve relations between the two countries.

Washington has constantly called for more scientific evidence to prove the link between Agent Orange and health problems.

Man seized at Army post had land mine, laser scope

FORT GORDON, Ga. (AP) -- A former national guardsman who wore camouflage fatigues so often that a neighbor thought he was in the military was charged Wednesday with pretending to be a U.S. Army soldier after authorities say he convinced an officer at a military base to give him a sophisticated laser sight.

Anthony Todd Saxon, 34, was charged with impersonating an Army master sergeant and stealing the infrared laser targeting sight after he was caught on the east Georgia base with a land mine, several grenades and night vision devices, prosecutors said.

Saxon did not enter a plea during a preliminary hearing in federal court, and his attorney Danny Durham refused to comment on the case after the hearing. Prosecutors, meanwhile, said they plan to reveal more details at a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

Saxon was wearing a full combat uniform, including rank and insignia, when he was stopped at Fort Gordon by military police and questioned about his activities, according to the complaint. After Saxon gave them consent to search his vehicle, authorities said they found several grenades and the land mine, among other equipment.

According to the complaint, Saxon told investigators he was able to obtain the laser sight by telling a captain in the base's military police office that he was a master sergeant in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and that he needed it to train a soldier.

Anti-G20 activists defend right to rally

Protest group seeks injunction against sound cannons

Organizers of an anti-G20 rally on Wednesday defended their right to protest the upcoming summit in Toronto and denounced the potential use of sound cannons against protesters.

"We've got a legitimate right to be on the streets," Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, told a news conference in Toronto.

"I would just hope that they keep the riot police — with the Darth Vader gear and their sound machines and sound cannons — keep them away from our protest," Ryan said.

The summit will take place at Toronto's Metro Convention Centre on June 26 and 27.

"I've not seen anything like I am seeing here today in terms of police mobilization," he said.

Ryan outlined plans for a rally followed by a march through Toronto's downtown on June 26, the first day of the global gathering. He said his group is expected to be joined by numerous other union organizations, community groups and activists.

Robert Pattinson Won't Let 'Fear' Influence His Career Choices

'Eclipse' star says, for him, wanting to play a part is the key to doing it well

Robert Pattinson has not shied away from admitting how close he came to quitting show business, fed up with endless auditions and persistent unemployment.

"Literally the day before I auditioned [for 'Twilight'], I was going to quit acting 'cause I never got any jobs,"Pattinson said last fall. "So I guess that's not really quitting, when you're not really getting any jobs. It's just surrendering to fate".

Fate, so it seemed, had other plans for the British heartthrob, who went on not only to become the smoldering vampire at the center of the "Twilight" franchise but an executive producer on "Remember Me" and the upcoming co-star of A-listers like Uma Thurman and Reese Witherspoon. But the lessons of those early struggles continue to stay with Pattinson and inform his decision-making process to this day.

Ozzy Osbourne streams 'Scream'

Heavy metal pioneer and multi-platinum solo artist Ozzy Ozbourne is set to release his latest album Scream on June 22. As of June 15, fans can stream the full album online and play songs from Scream (as well as other Osbourne tracks) on Rock Band as part of a new download pack.

Announced June 15 on Osbourne's website, fans can now stream all tracks from Scream on MySpace, including the previously released single "Let Me Hear You Scream" and ten additional tracks. Osbourne joins a host of artists to recently stream albums online before their physical/digital release dates - among them guitarist Slash, indie dance band LCD Soundsystem, and electro duo MGMT - often to preempt increasingly inevitable album leaks.

Shannon Matthews case puts spotlight on incompetent parenting

How can social services intervene to support families where the issue is neglect rather than abuse or harm?

For 12 years, Karen Matthews, mother of seven, wobbled precariously along the line separating adequate parenting and child neglect.

At times her dismal failure to keep those four of her children who lived with her clean, secure and healthy, coupled with her often inappropriate choice of male partner - would bring the family under the spotlight of social services. One or other of her children might be put on the child protection register.

And then, with the support of social workers, would come a period of co-operation and relative stability. The children would attend school or nursery regularly, the chaos would abate, and the children would come off the register, the social workers recede from view. And then it would all start going wrong again.

Until the extraordinary abduction of her daughter Shannon this pattern of incipient, low-level neglect continued, never quite disappearing, but never serious enough to warrant taking the children into care. Indeed there was evidence, today's serious case review report concluded, of "a mutually loving relationship" between Matthews and her offspring - although it adds pointedly that she "was not aways able to translate this into the practical requirement of good parenting".

This kind of undisciplined, incompetent parenting is far from unusual, the review's author, Dr Carole Smith, told a press conference today. "We are looking at a fairly common problem".

Cabinet Office research estimates there are about 140,000 such families in Britain, defined as "experiencing multiple disadvantage." About 250,000 parents have a learning disability (Karen Matthews was diagnosed as having "borderline learning disability") while 154,000 children live with parents with a serious and enduring mental health problem. All need social support.

President Obama Speaks to Troops at NAS Pensacola

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- More than 3,000 Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Soldiers attended a speech given by President Barack Obama at Naval Air Station Pensacola June 15. Obama visited the air station as part of his fourth visit to the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Obama began his speech by thanking local military leaders, including NAS Pensacola's Commanding Officer Capt. Christopher Plummer and Command Master Chief Mike Dollen, along with the governor of Florida and other officials. 

"Here in Pensacola, the beautiful beaches are still open," Obama told the service members. "The sand is white and the water is blue. So folks that are looking for a good vacation, they can still come down to Pensacola. People need to know that Pensacola is still open for business".

After speaking to the fact that the American people are being encompassed in an "unprecedented environmental disaster" Obama acknowledge the hard work that the military members continue to do. 

"That includes mobilizing the key sources of the greatest military in the world. Here at Naval Air Station Pensacola, you've been one of the major staging areas. You've helped to support the response effort. … And all along the Gulf Coast, our men and women in uniform -- active, guard and Reserve -- from across the country are stepping up and helping out. They're Soldiers on the beaches putting out sandbags, building barriers and cleaning up oil. And helping people process their claims for compensation from BP. They're Sailors and Marines offering their ships and theirs skimmers, their helicopters and miles of boom. They're are Airmen overhead, flying the equipment, and spraying the dispersant. And of course there are Coast Guardsmen and women, on the cutters in the air, working around the clock," Obama said.

He added that service members continuously prove themselves indispensable.

"That spirit of resolve and determination and resilience, that's the same spirit we see in all of you, the men and women in uniform, the spirit we will need to meet other challenges of our time. … Our nation is at war, and all of you have stepped forward. You volunteered. You took an oath. You stood tall and said 'I will serve,'" he said.

Obama also restated his commitment to those who serve the nation in uniform.

Köhler defends surprise resignation

Germany honoured former German President Horst Köhler during an official farewell ceremony on Tuesday night, during which he defended his surprise resignation last month.

“I made a decision that I thought was right and still believe this,” Köhler said during the reception at Bellevue Palace, the presidential residence. “I have already spoken about the reasons for my resignation. I have nothing to add”.

On May 31 the 67-year-old announced he would be stepping down just one year into his second term after withering criticism of controversial comments he made connecting Germany's military deployment in Afghanistan with the country's economy. 

Köhler said then that the comments had been “misunderstood” and that the criticism did not show proper respect for his position, an issue he brought up again in his comments on Tuesday. 

“Respect and truthfulness should have a secure place in the political culture of our country,” he said. “It was my honour to serve Germany”.

Köhler was honoured with a military tattoo attended by top German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. 

The former president, as with his resignation speech, was visibly moved during the ceremony, media reported.

2011 Mercedes-Benz R-Class First Impressions

Hoboken, New Jersey — The Mercedes-Benz R-Class is another vehicle aimed at those who need the room of a minivan, but wouldn’t be caught dead in one.

Predictably, the automaker doesn’t call it a minivan, but an SUV. Mercedes also notes that the R Class profile is “coupe-like”.

Whatever it is called, and whatever has influenced styling, when this seven-seater first debuted in 2006, it seemed radical. 

Four years later it looks less so, as more and more daring “anti-SUV” styling treatments are rendered on crossovers and other people movers.