Obama extends short federal lifeline to GM, Chrysler

President Obama announced Monday that struggling automotive giants General Motors and Chrysler will be given a "limited" period of time to "restructure in a way that would justify an investment of additional taxpayer dollars." The federal government will give GM “adequate working capital” over the next 60 days to work in conjunction with the administration in developing a better recovery plan, he said.

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Iran to send envoy to U.S.-backed Afghanistan summit

Iran will send an envoy to a U.S.-backed international conference on Afghanistan, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will represent the United States at the United Nations meeting Tuesday in The Hague, the State Department said earlier

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Is ‘West Side Story’ Overrated?

One of the perks of being a theater critic, in those dog days of the season when you find yourself struggling to sit through the latest Chekhov revival or pretentious little comedy about tightly wound New York singles, is the Broadway-musical revival. Yes, you can complain — as I often have — about unimaginative commercial producers who keep recycling surefire classics like Gypsy or Guys and Dolls. But there’s good reason they’re recycled so often: they are surefire — unfailingly entertaining, no matter how uninspired the production, the indomitable high points of a genre that is America’s great contribution to world theater.

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