Why Can’t We Treat At-Risk Students Like Athletes?

When the University of Connecticut beat Butler on Monday night to win the NCAA championship, they brought down the curtain on an unusually exciting men’s college basketball tournament. But one aspect of the tournament was entirely predictable: The handwringing about the low-graduation rates for many basketball programs

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Why Air Travel is About to Get Worse

Expect Delays: An Analysis of Air Travel Trends in the United States Adie Tomer and Robert Puentes, Metropolitan Policy Program Brookings Institution; 40 pages The Gist: We all know flying can be a miserable way to travel. Most of us have suffered airport gridlock, interminable flights in cramped seats or vanishing luggage — and those of us who haven’t have surely endured the horror stories second-hand

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President to focus on health care specifics, Biden says

Vice President Joe Biden promised Thursday that President Obama will delve into specifics when he tackles health-care reform in a highly anticipated speech to a joint session of Congress next week. The president will be “laying out in understandable, clear terms” what the administration wants for health care when he addresses Congress on September 9, Biden told an audience at the Brookings Institution.

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Pakistan’s Non-Campaign Against the Taliban

Despite strenuous entreaties by top U.S. officials, Pakistan has abandoned plans to mount a military offensive against the terrorist group responsible for a two-year campaign of suicide bombings across the country. Although the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan , has been in disarray since an Aug.

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Cuba, U.S. to resume talks on migration, mail service

Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the United States over migration and mail service between the two countries, two senior State Department officials said. Geithner left Saturday for meetings in Beijing, where he’ll discuss ways to strengthen relations between China and the United States, according to the Treasury Department. China is one of America’s most important trading partners, and its economy is tightly intertwined with efforts to reverse the global downturn

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Treasury chief to meet with Chinese leaders

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is set to meet with several high-ranking members of the Chinese leadership this week, marking the Obama administration’s first major overture to the powerhouse nation. Geithner left Saturday for meetings in Beijing, where he’ll discuss ways to strengthen relations between China and the United States, according to the Treasury Department. China is one of America’s most important trading partners, and its economy is tightly intertwined with efforts to reverse the global downturn

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How to Defeat an Insurgency: Sri Lanka’s Bad Example

The conflict in Sri Lanka has long provided lessons for militant groups around the world. The Tamil Tigers taught terrorists everywhere the finer points of suicide bombing, the recruitment of child soldiers, arms trafficking, propaganda and the use of a global diaspora to collect resources

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