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After 120 years, Netherlands gets king
Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than 120 years on Tuesday as his mother, Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne, ending 33 years as the country's monarch.
The 75-year-old monarch handed over power in a constitutionally ordained ceremony in the Mozes Hall of the royal palace in Amsterdam. The transfer became official as she signed the "instrument of abdication" that means she will now be known as Princess Beatrix.
Cheers erupted from crowds gathered outside the palace who were watching proceedings on a big screen as the queen signed the document. CNN's Max Foster reported that many in the Netherlands had been partying well into the night.
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Armed men seize Libya's Justice Ministry
Armed men in trucks with anti-aircraft guns mounted on them occupied the Libyan Justice Ministry in Tripoli on Tuesday, forcing ministry staff to leave, Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said.
The militants consisted of 20 to 30 armed men in military fatigues, according to al-Marghani, who said he tried to talk to the men before fleeing.
This comes as the nation's Foreign Ministry remains under siege for a third straight day.
The armed protesters have said their main goal was to push the General National Congress to pass a proposed law that would ban Gadhafi-era officials from holding government posts.
FULL STORYBoston probe eyes slain Canadian jihadist, source says
Federal agents are looking into possible links between dead Boston Marathon bomb suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist killed by Russian troops in 2012, a source being briefed on the investigation said Monday.
William Plotnikov and six others died in a firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan in July 2012, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, the source said. The 23-year-old Plotnikov was born in Russia, but his family moved to Canada when he was a teenager.
The source said Plotnikov's body was prepared for burial by a local imam on July 14. Tsarnaev flew out of Dagestan two days later, arriving in New York on July 17. Investigators are looking into the possibility he left because of Plotnikov's death, the source said.
Gotta Watch: Best White House Correspondents' Dinner zingers
All presidents have to put up with a daily barrage of jokes at their expense, but it's not too often that they get to turn the tables. The White House Correspondents' Dinner, unofficially dubbed "nerd prom," offers one of those rare opportunities. President Obama finally got to let loose and make some jabs at a captive room of reporters, politicians, and celebrities. Check out some of our favorite zingers from the president and host Conan O'Brien.
Obama rips on GOP
President Obama looked like he enjoyed turning the tables on his right-wing opponents from the election. Check out his jab at the GOP.
Obama lets his hair down
First lady Michelle Obama's bangs seemed to get more publicity than the president got when she debuted her look in January. See the president hop on the bandwagon.
Hollywood Look-alikes
Correspondents' Dinner host Conan O'Brien describes Washington's movie doppelgangers.
Obama roasts himself
President Obama turns his jokes on himself, saying he's not "the strapping young Muslim socialist" that he used to be.
Conan checks CNN
See Conan O'Brien rip into CNN.
50 more found alive under collapsed building
[Updated at 1:11 p.m. ET] Rescuers tunneling Friday into the rubble of the eight-story building that collapsed Wednesday discovered another 50 people trapped on what remained of its third floor, an official said.
Bangladesh Fire Service Deputy Director Maj. Mizamur Rahman said rescuers were hoping to free them within a few hours.
Also Friday, two women who gave birth under the debris were rescued - along with their infants - a fire service official said, according to BSS.
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House OKs measure to end controller furloughs
[Updated at 12:58 p.m. ET] In rare bipartisan accord, normally quarrelsome U.S. lawmakers passed a measure designed to end budget-related air traffic controller furloughs blamed for widespread flight delays.
The House of Representatives approved the legislation, capping a major congressional initiative as delays snarled traffic at airports. The House vote comes a day after unanimous approval by the U.S. Senate.
The measure - which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama - gives the Transportation Department budget planners new flexibility for dealing with forced spending cuts.
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George Jones dies at 81
George Jones, the country music legend whose graceful, evocative voice gave depth to some of the greatest songs in country music - including "She Thinks I Still Care," "The Grand Tour" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" - has died, according to his public relations firm.
Jones, 81, died Friday at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, the public relations firm said. He had been hospitalized since April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.
FULL STORYBombers in Iraq target Sunni mosques; 4 dead
Bombs blew up at and near Sunni mosques Iraq amid Friday prayers, the latest flurry of attacks in a country seething with Sunni-Shiite tension.
Several explosions occurred in Baghdad, the nation's capital. One explosive planted at the al-Qubeisi mosque in southwestern Baghdad killed four worshipers and wounded 46, police said.
In the capital's northeastern region, four people were injured when a bomb blew up outside the al-Razaq mosque, and six were hurt when a roadside bomb exploded near the Malek al-Ashqar mosque.
FULL STORYBoston suspect moved to detention hospital
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, has been transferred from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to Federal Medical Center Devens, a facility that holds detainees who need medical care in north-central Massachusetts, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Drew Wade said Friday.
FULL STORYSuspects' father delays trip to U.S.
The parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have left their home in Dagestan for another part of Russia, the suspects' mother Zubeidat Tsarnaev told CNN Friday. She said the suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, is delaying his trip to the United States indefinitely.
He was to fly to the United States as soon as Friday to cooperate in the investigation into the attacks. But his wife called an ambulance for him Thursday.
She told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that her husband was delaying the trip for health reasons. She wouldn't elaborate.
Anzor Tsarnaev agreed to fly to the United States after FBI agents and Russian officials spoke with them for hours this week at the family's home.
FULL STORY38 die in Russian psychiatric hospital fire
Thirty-eight people are dead after a fire tore through a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, Russian officials said Friday.
There were 41 people in the building and three escaped the blaze early Friday.
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North Korea shuns Seoul offer for talks
North Korea on Friday shunned a South Korean proposal for talks over the two countries' joint manufacturing zone, where Pyongyang halted activity this month amid tensions.
In a statement on state media, a spokesman for the North's National Defense Commission described Seoul's offer of talks about the Kaesong Industrial Complex as "deceptive."
The complex, which is on the North's side of the border but houses the operations of more than 120 South Korean companies, is seen as the last major symbol of cooperation between the two countries.
FULL STORYSerbia's president apologizes
Serbia's president apologized Thursday for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but declined to characterize the killings as an act of genocide.
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Japan OKs 787s to fly again
Japan has authorized passenger airlines to resume Boeing 787 flights in the country starting Friday, the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism said.
The move follows the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's posting of the Airworthiness Directive for Boeing's 787-8 online Thursday. The directive goes into effect upon publication Friday in the Federal Register.
FULL STORYRecords: Texas plant hadn't told feds about explosive fertilizer
(CNN) - The fertilizer plant that blew up in Texas last week warned state and local officials but not federal agencies that it had 270 tons of highly volatile ammonium nitrate on site, according to regulatory records.
The April 17 fire and explosion at West Fertilizer Co. killed 14 people and devastated the small town of West, Texas. Investigators have said they're not sure how much ammonium nitrate was actually on site at the time of the explosion, however, since plant records were destroyed in the blast.
The company sold ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia, both commonly used as fertilizers. It had notified state and local emergency management officials of its stock of both in its most recent declaration of hazardous chemicals, filed in February.
Former federal employee charged in Cuba spy conspiracy case
(CNN) - A former U.S. federal employee helped recruit Cuban spies, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.
A grand jury indictment alleges that Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, a former legal officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development, received orders from the Cuban Intelligence Service, helped pass documents about U.S. defense to Havana and helped a spy for Cuba obtain a position in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
"Beginning in or about 1983, Velazquez conspired with others to transmit to the Cuban government and its agents documents and information relating to the U.S. national defense, with the intent that they would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of the Cuban government," the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement announcing that the indictment had been unsealed.
U.N. Security Council signs off on 12,600 peacekeepers for Mali
(CNN) - The U.N. Security Council signed off Thursday on a 12,600-member peacekeeping force in Mali that will be authorized "to use all necessary means" to protect civilians and cultural artifacts. "We know it's going to be a fairly volatile environment," Herve Ladsous, the U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations, said.
The resolution was proposed by France, which deployed about 4,000 troops to Mali in January to drive out Islamist militants who attempted to take control of the country.
Texas executes man convicted of 2002 abduction, killing
(CNN) - Texas executed Richard Cobb on Thursday for the 2002 abduction and killing of a man outside of the town of Rusk, southeast of Dallas, the state Department of Criminal Justice said.
Cobb was convicted of kidnapping Kenneth Vandever, 37, during an armed robbery at an convenience store and then shooting him and leaving him for dead in a field.
Cobb was the fourth person to be executed in Texas this year.
2 fuel barges explode; 3 hurt
Authorities kept their distance as a fire raged on board a pair of fuel barges on Thursday morning, hours after exploding at a docking area on Alabama's Mobile Bay.
Steve Huffman with Mobile Fire and Rescue said conditions remain too volatile for fire crews to approach. At least six explosions have been reported and were heard up to 20 miles away.
Just half a mile across the bay, Alan Waugh, the general manager at the Ft. Conde Inn, said he saw and heard the initial explosion when it happened.
FULL STORYObama to attend memorial for victims of Texas plant explosion
In a central Texas town still looking for answers, President Barack Obama will join the community of West on Thursday for a memorial service for the 14 people killed in a fertilizer plant explosion last week.
First lady Michelle Obama will also attend the service at Baylor University in nearby Waco, Texas.
Before leaving Washington, Obama signed a proclamation ordering all flags in the state to be flown at half-staff for the day.
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