Blog Heap of Links for the day 12 April 2009

As much as they could, anyway, America's first family tried to blend in at the 11 a.m. Easter service at the historic St. John's Episcopal Church and take another step toward full-fledged membership in the city they are calling home for at least the next four years. But for the Obamas, even something as simple as going to church can be a political and logistical headache. [Did they ask that the symbols of Christianity be covered up?]

U.S. Navy special forces shot dead three Somali pirates on a lifeboat off Somalia and freed American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday in a dramatic end to a five-day standoff

A leading female Afghan politician was shot dead yesterday after leaving a provincial council meeting in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, which her colleagues had begged her not to attend. Sitara Achakzai was attacked by two gunmen as she arrived at her home in a rickshaw - a vehicle colleagues said she deliberately chose to use to avoid attracting attention.