Why Sarah Palin Quit

In bowing out as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin harkened back to her high school basketball days — although there was no sign of the “Barracuda,” as she was nicknamed for her ability to cut through the opposing team’s offenses. In a hastily called press conference on the eve of a three-day holiday, Palin presented herself as a point guard exhausted by the “full court press from the national level.” The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee explained how the metaphorical point guard should respond

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Jackson spectacle likely a world event

Will Michael Jackson stop the world? Thousands are expected to swamp Los Angeles, California, to mourn him Tuesday at the Staples Center, and the accompanying media crush will be enormous. The tribute to the King of Pop at Harlem’s Apollo Theater earlier this week drew coverage from all over the world, along with a public turnout in the thousands.

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Media Morass: Katharine Weymouth and the Great Washington Post Unvite

When times are tough, the old business adage goes, it’s important not to look desperate. And, what with declining readership, loss of ad revenue and an increasingly crowded field of competitors, things are deeply grim for newspapers.

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The Great California Fiscal Earthquake

As 2009 settles in, California isn’t quite the Golden State anymore. School districts are expected to lose billions of dollars in financing for improvements and development, and health-care services for the elderly, infirm and poor will most likely deteriorate. State employees are facing payroll cuts, unpaid leaves and a hiring freeze.

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Jackson’s chimp Bubbles enjoys life out of public eye

Bubbles gained fame over two decades ago as Michael Jackson’s simian companion. Now at age 26, Bubbles has retired to the Center for Great Apes outside Wauchula, Florida. When Bubbles was 5 years old, he and Jackson toured Japan, where the chimp moonwalked for the media.

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French PM issues apology over Bastareau

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has apologized to his opposite number in New Zealand, John Key, over the recent "unacceptable behavior" of France rugby center Mathieu Bastareaud. The 20-year-old Stade Francais player, who is the cousin of Arsenal defender William Gallas, has been hospitalized with psychiatric problems after lying over an alleged assault outside the team hotel in Wellington — following France’s 14-10 defeat against the All Blacks on June 20.

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Straying Governor Mark Sanford

It’s become something of a club, and not a particularly exclusive one at that: promising political figures with presidential aspirations knocked dramatically off course by marital infidelity. The latest member is Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina. In a bracing news conference June 24, the 49-year-old confessed to an affair with an Argentine woman following a bizarre six-day disappearance that grabbed national headlines when his own staff and family claimed ignorance about his whereabouts

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Iran ambassador: Protesters represent a minority

The anti-government protesters who have streamed into streets across Iran to protest this month’s presidential elections as rigged represent a small minority of the nation, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, said Wednesday. “The minority can’t impose their opinion on the majority,” Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri told CNN en Español.

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