This Week: It Happened Overseas

From Australia to the U.K. to the Bahamas, global events shaped the news of the week that was.

The most heart-wrenching moment came out of Australia, when Steve Irwin's 8-year-old daughter, Bindi, spoke with poise before thousands at her father's public memorial service on Sept. 20, held at Irwin's own Australia Zoo in Brisbane.

"My Daddy was my hero - he was always there for me when I needed him. He listened to me and taught me so many things but most of all he was fun," she said, her sweet face smiling with pride.

The little girl's precious words prompted a standing ovation from the emotional crowd. That's certainly not the last we'll see of her.

In jolly old England, Prince William visited the hospital where he was born into royalty. He was there to help inaugurate

The prince chatted while awkwardly holding one of the twins in his arms — single-handedly winning the hearts of every woman on the planet! Kate Middleton, you're one lucky woman.

While the prince sat with cooing babies, his stepmum, Camilla, hit the road — doing her part to fight bone loss by leading a 10-mile walk around Scotland's Balmoral estate Sept. 20. Camilla's mother died from osteoporosis and the event launched a series of walks across the United Kingdom to raise money for research.

In Thailand, a coup disrupted filming of Nicolas Cage's remake of 1999's "Bangkok Dangerous," it was reported this week. When news of the coup reached the crew on set, Cage was sent back to his hotel, according to reports. Sina.com reported that crew members remained on the set to keep an eye on prop guns until Cage persuaded the movie's producer to send everyone home.

Back in the Bahamas, where Anna Nicole Smith has been secluded since the sudden death of her 20-year-old son Daniel on Sept. 10, the former model made headlines with an interesting business transaction.

Before the grieving mother had even received her son's death certificate, she sold snapshots taken right before his death to the tabloid magazine, In Touch, for a reported $600,000.

It seemed an almost unbelievable deal to make at such a difficult time and blogs were buzzing.

Just as Anna Nicole was filling her bank account, Angelina Jolie (a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees) and her beau Brad Pitt couldn't empty theirs fast enough. An adviser to the couple announced Wednesday that they were giving gifts of $1 million each to two humanitarian organizations: Global Action for Children and Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

"In the most troubled parts of the world — places that much of the world has abandoned — MSF is always there," said Jolie in a statement issued to the AP by Trevor Neilson, the couple's philanthropic and political adviser. "I have seen these brave men and women working in war zones and horrific conditions and I deeply admire them."

Tiger Woods was steaming over the cover of the Ireland's Daily Star, a tabloid that ran pictures of his wife, Elin Nordegren, a former bikini model, in a bikini alongside another nude photo of a woman they claimed was also Nordegren – except (doh!) it wasn't. The publisher of the newspaper issued an apology saying the piece was meant to be a satire.

London Fashion Week wrapped up on Friday. The fashion affair was ushered in by controversy over whether ladies on the catwalk have become too dangerously thin. Organizers of the event were urged by the government's culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, to ban waif models, following Madrid's recent decision to do so during its Fashion Week.

Stateside in Hollywood (which might as well be another world), Cameron Diaz filed a police report accusing a paparazzo of assault after he allegedly drove his car toward the actress and her boyfriend, Justin Timberlake.

The incident is still being investigated but shutterbugs beware: California has the toughest law in the nation in regard to paparazzi. A law that took effect in January holds photographers liable for three time the damage they may cause shooting photos.
By Amy Bonawitz