Hundreds feared dead off coast of Libya

Hundreds of people were feared dead on Tuesday after high winds and heavy seas capsized boats carrying African migrants heading for Europe off the coast of Libya. “A tragedy has happened off the Libyan coast with at least two boats going down ..

Share

Officials: Afghanistan strategy formed with great deliberation

President Obama’s unveiling Friday of a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan was made only after a thorough interagency review of the region with input from several sources, administration officials said. “The president wants to make sure that this mission has a focus and a clear, concise goal,” said Bruce Riedel, who served as chairman of the review.

Share

Global Trade: The Road to Ruin

In Shanghai not long ago, I took a walk from my hotel along Nanjing Road to the Bund, the promenade on the banks of the Huangpu where visitors from China’s hinterland gather to gaze across the river, awestruck, at the ultramodern skyscrapers of Pudong that have transformed the city’s skyline in not much more than a decade. It wasn’t what was on the far side, though, that got my attention: it was the traffic on the river itself, great container ships, chuffing lighters, bulk carriers, every sort of waterborne vessel you could imagine carrying every imaginable cargo, churning up the waters

Share

Lance Armstrong to take recovery ‘day by day’

Cyclist Lance Armstrong said Thursday the surgery to repair his broken collarbone proved to be more complex than doctors originally anticipated and that he will take his recovery "day by day." “I thought everything went very smooth,” he said in a video to his supporters about Wednesday’s three-hour operation. Doctors in Spain, where Armstrong injured himself Monday when he fell during a race, initially thought he had suffered a simple fracture. However, additional X-rays and CT scans in Austin, Texas, where he lives, proved otherwise

Share

Sacked French workers free 3M manager

French workers on Thursday freed the manager of a factory run by U.S. company 3M held hostage for more than 24 hours in a labor dispute over terms for laid-off staff. Luc Rousselet was allowed to leave the plant in Pithiviers, central France, early on Thursday morning after talks between unions and officials from 3M France.

Share

President Obama’s ‘Persistent’ Press Conference: Message Accomplished

The first rule of the political press conference: You don’t really have to answer the question, or at least you don’t have to dwell on it. You can simply say what you came to say. This is even more true when you are a popular President of the United States.

Share