The Prince gets a name – The Pope tries to block efforts to legalize marijuana – Confusion over Edward Snowden’s status in Moscow – And the price tag for Japan’s nuclear disaster has gone way beyond initial estimates.

George Alexander Louis:  That’s the name of the newborn Prince, child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and third in line for the throne.  The traditional names harken back to Prince William’s recent ancestry.  And one day out of hospital is rather quick for a royal naming, which usually take a week or longer.

US President Barack Obama is nominating Caroline Kennedy to be Ambassador to Japan; She’s the daughter of President John F. Kennedy.  The influential Kennedy family strongly supported Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.  The 55-year old has led many non-profit organizations and is a lawyer.

Attackers with guns and bombs stormed an office of Pakistan’s security agency in Sukkur, in the southern province of Sindh, injuring at least 30 people and collapsing several buildings in the complex.   There’s no claim of responsibility, but authorities are blaming a series of similar attacks on Islamist groups.

Pope Francis is criticizing plans to legalize marijuana making heir way through the governments of Latin American nations.  Uruguay appears to be close to allowing the legal sale, and others are considering decriminalization.  The Pope, visiting Brazil, toured a drug rehab clinic and blasted the power and money amassed by drug traffickers. Uruguay President Jose Mujica says legalization will combat drug trafficking:  No contraband, no reason for traffickers.

At least 20 members of a drug cartel and 2 Mexican police are dead after a shootout in Michoacan state in Mexico’s west.  The cops swept in after the “Knights Templar” drug gang assassinated five demonstrators at a rally against the cartel’s violence.  Despite villagers forming vigilante militias to protect themselves from shootings and kidnappings, the Knights Templar appear to be strengthening their grip on Michoacan.

Bolivian President Evo Morales is accepting the apologies of European countries that took part in grounding his jet in a fruitless search for the fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden.  Morales says he’s not fully satisfied with the apologies, but wishes to continue “relationships which are complimentary”.

For a moment there, it looked like Ed Snowden was getting out of the transit area of the Moscow airport, but that does not now appear to be the case.  Earlier, airport officials said the government gave Snowden a pass to enter Russia through airport customs.  But his Russian lawyer says Snowden remains hunkered down in the capsule hotel.  Snowden applied for asylum in Russia, but President Vladimir Putin says he can stay only if he stops leaking secrets.

The cost of cleaning up the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster has skyrocketed to A$63 Billion, more than five times what the Japanese government has put into the effort.  The costs include transportation and storage of radiation-contaminated soil over a large area of the affected areas of northern Japan.  Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric is slowly admitting that radioactive water has contaminated the ground water and is now seeping into the sea, and a steam leak has been spotted in one of the wrecked reactor buildings.