Word: royaler
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...Japanese imperial line is believed to be the oldest royal family in the world, stretching back 2,000 years or more, but today it may have been saved by a brand-new baby boy. At 8:27 this morning, Tokyo time, Japan's Princess Kiko - the wife of Prince Akishino, Emperor Akihito's second son - gave birth to her first boy. Because Crown Princess Masako has borne only a single daughter, and because Japanese law allows only males to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne, Kiko's 7.5 lb. baby will almost certainly be the future Emperor of Japan...
...Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993 and was expected to bring a welcome dose of feminism to the stuffy Japanese imperial family. Instead, Masako was swallowed whole by the all-powerful Imperial Household Agency (IHA), the palace insiders that guard - and, according to some observers, dominate - the lives of the royal family. Unlike the British royals, for instance, the Japanese imperial family's schedule is completely controlled by the IHA. They aren't allowed to have opinions, passports or even last names. Stifled by the IHA, Masako crumbled under the intense pressure to perform her single duty: to bear a male...
...Kiko, the second princess, had produced only daughters as well, and the Japanese royal family seemed in real danger of dying out. With that in mind, last November Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi backed an initiative that would change Japanese law to allow a female - 4-year-old Princess Aiko - to become Empress. Most Japanese were in favor of the new law, thinking that the time had come when a woman could sit on the throne. (In fact, Japan has had several reigning empresses in the past, though none were allowed to pass the throne onto their children.) But the imperial...
...Other wildlife conservation groups and experts were quick to pay tribute to Irwin. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hailed him as a "modern-day Noah." Said RSPCA Queensland chief executive Mark Townend: "His loss will be felt by animal lovers not just in Australia, but all over the world." Queensland Museum director Dr. Ian Galloway described Irwin as "a dedicated naturalist who was actively committed to highlighting the plight of threatened species, and championing the cause of conservation. Steve Irwin was a special person whose energy and enthusiasm encouraged a whole new audience to better...
...carping about Bush's policies, no one has really offered a credible alternative to liberalization as a cure for what ails the region. It hardly seems tenable to go back to the pre-9/11 paradigm of wholeheartedly supporting "friendly" dictators like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and the Saudi royal family. If our support for the Shah of Iran in the 1970s or Yasser Arafat in the '90s has taught us anything, it should be that secular strongmen cannot keep the lid on forever. Either we push for change now or we risk a fundamentalist explosion later...