The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

The Times, London –on a World Cup without David Beckham

No England footballer has ever played in four World Cups. It is a distinction that David Beckham looked certain to achieve at this summer's tournament in South Africa. But a cruel Achilles tendon injury, sustained while playing for AC Milan ... has again derailed Beckham's World Cup dreams.

Beckham has always been an easy target for critics. Not content with courting celebrity, he also married one. Style makeovers and fashion shoots have been almost as frequent as his tattoos. But Beckham has proved himself to be anything but a show pony. Now 34, he has been at the top of the game for 16 years. He won more England caps (115) than any other outfielder, captained his country a record 59 times and won the Premiership six times with Manchester United. The foppish floppy-haired prodigy gave way to the hardened veteran. But his discipline and pursuit of excellence remained constant.

The paradox of Beckham's career is that fame caused him to be underrated rather than overrated. The plain-spoken, working-class roots of English football are instinctively suspicious of glamour and the pursuit of fun. But Beckham proved that style and substance can and do coexist. In doing so, he has made a significant contribution to society as well as English football.

His absent right boot presents an immediate problem for the World Cup campaign. One teammate correctly pointed out that a Beckham cross is the equivalent of beating four players. Though he was no longer an automatic selection, he remained our most technically accomplished player. Now England must get used to life without him, we will quickly learn just how good he was.

Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE,–on US/Russian nuclear disarmament

It appears the US and Russia are within striking distance of a new nuclear disarmament treaty. Although this is still not an ideal situation and we are nowhere close to a totally nuke-free world, this may be a huge step forward in that direction. During his trip to Europe last year, President Barack Obama had passionately pitched for his vision of a nuclear weapons free world. His historic speech in Prague at the height of his global popularity was perhaps closest to any US leader ever came to the ideal of total disarmament.

More importantly, Obama managed to persuade the Russians to follow suit and agree to significantly scaling down of their nuclear weapons to a minimal level too. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, with whom the young US president has quickly established an easy rapport, has responded positively to Washington's overtures.

The two leaders have been in constant touch and been reviewing negotiations to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which expired last December, with a new treaty. Officials in Washington and Moscow suggest that broad contours of the proposed agreement have already been hammered out and a draft agreement could be ready for signatures "soon." ...

The US is hosting a nuclear non-proliferation summit in Washington in April and it's likely to push for a new, more effective treaty to check proliferation of nuclear weapons. Almost inevitably, Iran and its contentious nuclear program are going to be in the spotlight once again.

However, no solution is going to work if it leaves out Israel, the real elephant in the room. The goal of "total disarmament for a safer world" will work only when all countries, big and small, embrace it.