Willem-Alexander Becomes New Dutch King After Queen Beatrix Abdicates The Throne,, From Amsterdam With Love

From Amsterdam With Love

Willem-Alexander Becomes New Dutch King After Queen Beatrix Abdicates The Throne

AMSTERDAM -- Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than a century Tuesday as his mother, Beatrix, abdicated after 33 years as queen.

The generational change in the House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a moment of celebration, pageantry and brief respite as this trading nation of nearly 17 million struggles through a lengthy recession brought on by the European economic crisis.

Visibly emotional, the much-loved Beatrix ended her reign in a nationally televised signing ceremony as thousands of orange-clad people cheered outside. Millions more were expected to watch on television.

King Willem-Alexander, who became the youngest monarch in Europe, gripped his mother's hand and looked briefly into her eyes after they both signed the abdication document in the Royal Palace on downtown Amsterdam's Dam Square.

Beatrix looked close to tears as she then appeared on a balcony, decked out with tulips, roses and oranges, overlooking some 20,000 of her subjects.

"I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander," she told the cheering crowd, which chanted: "Bea bedankt" ("Thanks Bea.")

Moments later, in a striking symbol of the generational shift, she left the balcony and King Willem-Alexander, his wife and three daughters – the children in matching yellow dresses and headbands – waved to the crowd.

"Dear mother, today you relinquished the throne. 33 moving and inspiring years. We are intensely, intensely grateful to you," the new king said.

The former queen becomes Princess Beatrix and her son becomes the first Dutch king since Willem III died in 1890.

The 46-year-old king's popular Argentine-born wife became Queen Maxima and their eldest of three daughters, Catharina-Amalia, who attended the ceremony wearing a yellow dress, became Princess of Orange and first in line to the throne.

Willem-Alexander has said he wants to be a 21st century king who unites and encourages his people and will not be a "protocol fetishist," but a king who puts his people at ease.

He will do so as unemployment is on the rise in this traditionally strong economy. European Union figures released Tuesday showed Dutch unemployment continuing to trend upward to 6.4 percent – still well below the EU average of 10.9 percent, but higher than it has been for years in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam resident Inge Bosman, 38, said she doubted Willem-Alexander's investiture would give the country much of an employment boost.

"Well, at least one person got a new job," she said.

Els Nederstigt, 38, said she got up at 5:30 a.m. to travel to Amsterdam and sat on a camping stool close to the Royal Palace wearing an orange cowboy hat and tiara.

"It's a special moment. I was a very small girl when Beatrix came to the throne so this is the first change in the monarchy I can really experience," she said. "We were here when Willem-Alexander and Maxima got married and what you remember is that you were there – you forget how early you had to get up and how tired you were."

The square was overwhelmingly orange, but one blue and white Argentine flag being held up in front of the palace was emblazoned with the Dutch language text: "Netherlands thanks for loving and having faith in Maxima."

The day is expected to be a huge party culminating in a boat trip by the new king and queen around the Ij waterway, but security also was tight with thousands of police – uniformed and plain clothes – and an untold number of civil servants assisting in the logistics.

Police arrested two protesters on Dam Square – one of them wearing a white shirt indicating he was a republican – shortly after the abdication for not following officers' orders to leave. But Amsterdam police released both without charge shortly afterward and apologized for detaining them.

The celebrations were peaceful across the city, in stark contrast to Beatrix's investiture in 1980 when squatters protesting a chronic housing shortage fought pitched battles with police and clouds of tear gas drifted through parts of the city.

The airspace above Amsterdam was closed Monday for three days. Dutch police swept Dam square for bombs, with assistance from German agents with sniffer dogs.

Royal guests from 18 countries are attending, including Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. Charles was also in attendance when Beatrix was crowned in 1980.

Observers believe Beatrix remained on the throne for so long in part because she was seen as a stabilizing factor in the country that struggled to assimilate more and more immigrants, mainly Muslims from North Africa, and shifted away from its traditional reputation as one of the world's most tolerant nations.

In recent years, speculation about when she might abdicate had grown, as she endured personal losses that both softened her image and increased her popularity further as the public sympathized.

Her husband Prince Claus died in 2002; and last year her youngest son, Prince Friso, was hit by an avalanche while skiing in Austria and suffered severe brain damage. Friso remains in a near comatose state.

CHRIS BROWN HATES DRAKE But LOVES His Music

Chris Brown might despise Drake with a passion, but even CB can't resist dancing when one of his songs comes on at the club.

Brown and Drake have been beefing for a while now -- peaking last June with a massive club fight, reportedly over Rihanna.

CB was hosting a party at Stage 48 in NYC earlier this month and apparently the DJ had no fear at all ... and played a Drake song, "Started From the Bottom." Rather than react (how do we say this nicely?) poorly ... CB simply got down like it was his favorite jam in the world. 

Clearly he can let bygones be bygones when it comes to music ... or he had no idea it was a Drake song
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Becks red shocker

STUNNED ... David Beckham looks bemused after being sent off

DAVID BECKHAM was sent off for Paris Saint-Germain last night — just eight minutes after coming on.

He was shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge on Evian striker Youssef Adnane.

Incredibly, PSG were already down to 10 men when Beckham, 37, came on after 84 minutes — Marco Verratti was dismissed for a second yellow.

And the fiery Ligue 1 encounter ended in a mass brawl and red cards for PSG keeper Salvatore Sirigu and Evian’s Saber Khlifa.

PSG sporting director Leonardo said: "The red card shown to Beckham, for example, was really unfair.

"The referee lacked lucidity. He made mistakes.

"It was always a very tense match. Nobody wanted to lose - especially not Evian, who are struggling to stay up.

"I also believe that our team is really tired at the end of the season."

PSG can clinch a first French title for 19 years next week, after Javier Pastore gave them a 1-0 win.

FLASH POINT ... David Beckham sent off after challenging Youssef Adnane

But Becks, who is set to become the first Englishman to win titles in four different countries, will miss out on the big day as he starts a three-match ban.

PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti said: “At this part of the season all games are difficult.

“All the teams are playing for something.

“It was quite a heated match, especially at the end.”

source. the sun

JUSTIN BIEBER POT BUST ON TOUR BUS

Our source has spoken with a rep for the Stockholm PD, who told us .... Around 7:10 PM on Wednesday night, an officer smelled weed coming from Justin's bus, which was parked in front of the Grand Hotel. 

Cops say ... when the bus left the hotel and headed toward the Globe Arena, the officer contacted a special narcotics unit, which issued a warrant to search Bieber's bus. 

We're told cops searched the bus in the parking garage of the Globe Arena -- no one was on the bus at the time. 

Cops say they found a small amount of narcotics (they won't say which drug, but local papers say it's weed) -- along with a taser. 

We're told cops have not identified a suspect yet ... and the bus has not been impounded.

Bieber had been seen with his pal Lil Za in the hours before the weed incident ... and FYI, Za is the guy who was seen smoking pot with Bieber at an L.A. home earlier this year.

Cops tell us NO ONE WILL BE CHARGED because they have no idea who was in possession of the drug since the bus was empty.   They found the narcotic on the floor of the bus so they have no clue who brought it on
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Justin Bieber is so rock n' roll -- his tour bus was raided by Swedish police who allegedly found marijuana on board Wednesday night ... according to a Swedish newspaper.   

Police reportedly boarded the bus in Stockholm as the bus pulled up at the arena where Bieber was performing ... and found a "small amount" of what appeared to be pot.

A police spokesman told the Aftonbladet newspaper ... they first detected a "strong smell" of marijuana coming from the bus as they were controlling the huge crowd that had gathered outside Bieber's hotel.

The Swedish report says police also found a stun gun ... which requires a permit.

No arrests were made ... and it's unclear if Justin was on the bus, or if he'd already entered the arena, when the raid went down.

JLS: We are still best friends and always will be... but this is the end Boyband to split after 5 years

JLS: We are still best friends and always will be... but this is the end

Boyband to split after 5 years

Going own ways ... JLS stars Aston Merrygold, Jonathan JB Gill, Marvin Humes and Oritse Williams

DAVE HOGAN / The Sun

X FACTOR chart-toppers JLS are splitting up, The Sun can reveal.

Aston Merrygold, 25, Marvin Humes, 28, Jonathan “JB” Gill and Oritsé Williams, both 26, agonised for months before deciding to bow out with a farewell tour after five years together.

Emotional Aston told The Sun: “It’s just that time. We are still best of friends and always will be — but this is the end.”

The boyband have come a long way since finishing second to Alexandra Burke on 2008’s X Factor.

They have been showered with awards, flogged 1.5MILLION gig tickets, sold more than 10MILLION records and had FIVE No1 singles — more than any other act from a reality TV talent show.

We'll go out in style ... boyband plan farewell tour for their fans

DAVE HOGAN / THE SUN

Marvin, 28, said: “It’s an emotional time. There’s no getting away from that. We have been through so much together.

“But we have to be mature and look at this decision as a celebration of what we managed to achieve.

“We never wanted to overstay our welcome. We never wanted to be that band where people said, ‘Oh, bloody hell. It’s JLS again.’

“We wanted to finish on a high. We’re finishing with an arena tour — our third arena tour — and that is a massive achievement.

“The last five or so years have been nothing short of incredible. It has been an incredible journey.”

Marvin — married to Saturdays singer Rochelle — went on: “I’ve got a baby on the way in four weeks, so it’s another celebration for me. But that was also another sign that we were moving on to the next stage in our lives.

Next step ... Marvin and his Saturdays wife, Rochelle, are expecting their first baby in May

“We are the first X Factor act to finish a five-year recording contract. If we wanted to carry on and sign to another label, it was going to be another three, four or five albums. So we all thought about it for a few months and it sort of made sense to say we were moving on with our lives.”

Aston, 25, added: “The question was asked, ‘Can you do this together for another five or so years? Can you see that happening?’

“Between the four of us, there was no definite ‘Yes’ in the room. We had to dig deep and find the right solution. We haven’t fallen out. We leave with some amazing successes under our belt and we can say goodbye in style.”

The band were put together by a teenage Oritsé. X Factor guru Simon Cowell SNUBBED the chance to sign them — so they went to Epic and became the first act from the show to win a Brit Award.

Oritsé, inspired throughout by his mum, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said their families had grown incredibly close — making the split even harder.

Second best ... JLS were runners-up to Alexandra Burke on X Factor in 2008

He admitted: “I’m not going to deny it, I’m sad. It has been amazing. I remember that moment in my bedroom when JLS was just an idea and I was determined to make this dream a reality.

“They say all good things come to an end and for us it just felt like it was the right time to move forward and pursue different ventures.

“We have all become so close, as have our families, so that has been quite hard to deal with.

“Breaking the news to them was hard, but my mum was proud we did it and we are calling it a day as friends.”

Previous boybands have set up phone helplines to comfort fans when they split. Oritsé, 26, confessed: “I don’t think we are ready for what’s going to happen. It could be mayhem. There have been a lot of fans who have grown up with us and we’re going to represent a key time in their lives.

“We’ve been a big part of their lives — they’ve been a part of ours. So naturally it’s going to be an emotional time for everyone.”

Aston agreed: “It’s like a relationship break-up. There’s no way to prepare for it, we will just have to take what comes.”

The lads will say goodbye with a December farewell tour and a greatest hits album. Oritsé said: “There’s nothing more I love than performing with the rest of the boys. It’s been a massive part of my life and my family’s life, especially with my mum. She treats the boys as if they are her sons.

Two good ... lads won twice at Brits in 2010

“Hopefully, we can make sure it’s going to be the biggest celebration on that last date, especially because it’s going to be the last time that anybody is going to see us together on stage.”

Aston said they would keep that promise despite the ratings success ITV2 has had bringing ’90s pop acts back together for The Big Reunion. He insisted: “For us, this is the end. Of course we don’t know what could happen in five years’ time.

“But I can assure you there’s no plan or secret operation to come back in ten years’ time!”

In their heyday they created Beatlemania-style mayhem.

Sixty people were injured after 30,000 screaming fans stormed a Christmas lights switch-on in Birmingham in 2009. A year earlier five fans were injured when 3,000 descended on another free show in Croydon, South London. One of the band’s proudest achievements is the JLS Foundation, their charity which is funding cancer research and raising awareness about sexual health issues.

Up for a laugh ... JLS took part in Comic Relief skit with Gordon Brown in 2011

JB, 26, said: “The only thing we have committed to, and I suppose it will be the only time you’ll see us together as a group, is with the JLS Foundation.

“We’ve all made a commitment on paper that no matter what we’re doing, wherever we are, whatever happens from here on, we will commit to the Foundation. We’re already in a partnership with Cancer Research UK — we’re committed to them for two years and we want to raise £2million.”

The band are now focusing on their individual plans. Marvin is a DJ on Capital FM and has become a reporter for Daybreak. Oritsé has his own management company, looking after the next generation of pop stars. Aston has just finished filming Sky’s hit show Got To Dance. And JB has bought a deer farm in Scotland.

myView

By GORDON SMART, Showbiz Editor

THE first time I met JLS back in 2008 they told me about a list they had drawn up of 50 things they wanted to achieve in their boyband career.

Within a year, almost everything was ticked off — No 1 single, No 1 album, posh flat and Audi R8s included.

There were a few others I can’t mention in a family newspaper.

JLS ... with Showbiz Editor Gordon Smart

DAVE HOGAN / THE SUN

The end was the one thing they never anticipated, which made the moment they called it quits yesterday quite sad to be a part of.

The decision to bow out now is as shrewd as the master plan Oritse drew up in his bedroom nearly ten years ago.

There is no point in them competing with the One Direction juggernaut. Bowing out when they are at the very top shows just how mature they are — and why they have been so successful.

They were fastidious about every detail of their career — from their simple and clever styling (each member had an assigned colour) all the way through to their attitude and manners.

They made a point of befriending the right people, shaking the right hands, sharing a drink with the right people and appearing in the right places.

But the key to pulling that strategy off was in their authenticity.

They are genuinely friendly, generous and family-loving guys.

They had every right to get an ego — but that never happened.

When things didn’t quite work in the US they didn’t spit their dummies out — they just worked even harder at home.

JLS should be a blueprint for any wannabe pop band eyeing chart glory.

And if they take the same principles into their professional lives beyond the band, success is almost guaranteed.

JLS through the years

2003: Oritsé Williams decides to form a boyband to raise money for MS charities. Meets Marvin Humes and Aston Merrygold through friends.

2004: JB Gill joins band, then called Unique Famous Outrageous (UFO).

2007: UFO win Best Unsigned Act at the Urban Music Awards.

2008: Appear on X Factor as JLS. Finish second to Alexandra Burke.

2009 (January): Sign a record deal with Epic.

July: First single Beat Again is No1.

November: Follow up Everybody In Love also hits No1.

2010: First X Factor band to win a Brit Award — Best Breakthrough Act and Best Single (for Beat Again).

July: The Club Is Alive is No1.

source.sun

Anzor Tsarnaev And Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, Boston Bombing Suspects' Parents, Speaking To U.S. Investigators In Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- U.S. investigators are in contact with the parents of the two Boston bombing suspects in southern Russia and working with Russian security officials to shed light on the deadly attack, a U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday.

The Americans traveled Tuesday from Moscow to the predominantly Muslim province of Dagestan "because the investigation is ongoing, it's not over," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said the U.S. team is working with the Russian security services, the FSB.

"This is a horrible tragedy for our country, but one positive development might be closer cooperation on this set of issues with the Russian government," the embassy official said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of setting off the two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. The elder brother was later killed in a police standoff.

Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who spent six months in Russia's Caucasus in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian security services in the area for years. The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya, but neither spent much time in either place before the family moved to the United States a decade ago.

On Wednesday, their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, was inside the FSB building in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where she was believed to be speaking further to U.S. and Russian investigators.

Heda Saratova, a prominent Chechen rights activist providing support to the distraught mother, said Tsarnaeva first went in for questioning on Tuesday, returning late at night. Saratova said she had no details about the discussions, but Tsarnaeva said they were "cordial."

The father, Anzor Tsarnaev, also was summoned to the FSB headquarters but did not go because he felt ill.

FRENCH EMBASSY BOMBING

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A car bomb targeted the French Embassy in the Libyan capital early Tuesday, wounding two French guards and a Libyan teenager in an attack that President Francois Hollande denounced as an assault not only on France but all countries engaged in the fight against terrorism.

Two years after the country's civil war, Libya is struggling to maintain security, build a unified army and reining in militias, which include rebels who fought to oust the country's longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

It was the first such assault on an embassy in the Libyan capital. On Sept. 11, four Americans — including the U.S. Ambassador in Libya Chris Stevens — were killed when militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission on the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Terrorists with al-Qaida's North Africa branch, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, are believed to have played a key role in the Benghazi attack. But no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli.

Last week, AQIM, threatened to seek revenge against all countries taking part in the French-led war in Mali, warning that no one who "participated in this ferocious attack" will be safe. It called on "all Muslims to target France and its interests and subjects inside and outside France until it withdraws the last soldier from the land of the Muslims and lifts its support of rulers of the region." That threat came as part of a question and answer session on AQIM's new Twitter account.

French officials have expressed concerns about the possibility of greater instability in Libya, where they believe at least some rebel fighters from Mali fled following France's military onslaught to dislodge al-Qaida-linked militants who controlled the vast north of the West African country for months.

Also, in the post-Gadhafi turmoil in Libya, several diplomats, relief agencies and churches have come under attack and scores of Libyan security officials have been assassinated. In most cases, the government fails to nail down culprits or make arrests, either because of fear of counterattacks or the lack of capabilities to carry out a proper investigation.