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Train Chaos Brings Berlin to a Standstill

Germany’s reputation for efficiency is under serious threat, as work on Berlin’s main suburban train networks has brought the city to a grinding halt. At the height of tourist season and with Berlin playing host to the World Athletics Championships in just a few weeks, the resulting chaos could not have come at a worse time for the cash-strapped capital. For the first time in its 85-year history, Berlin’s S-Bahn system has slashed services after most of its trains were pulled off the tracks for safety checks.

Mob Allegations Turn Rome’s ‘Sweet Life’ Sour

“In all Europe there is no street quite so lively, quite so cosmopolitan or quite so zany as Rome’s Via Venetos” So began a 1959 TIME story trumpeting Café de Paris as the new must-see-and-be-seen spot on the then already famous leafy boulevard. Fifty years later, the sidewalk locale is as luxurious as ever , attracting both well-heeled Italians and tourists looking for a hint of the breezy, post-War sweet life celebrated in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, in which the café was a key location. On Wednesday, Café de Paris was back in the spotlight for different reasons: Even as sharply dressed customers and summer travelers in shorts sipped cappuccino, police seized the premises on suspicion that it had fallen into the hands of the increasingly powerful Calabrian mob

Darkness falls in Asia during total eclipse, luring masses

The longest solar eclipse of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean Wednesday, luring throngs of people outside to watch the celestial spectacle. Day turned into night

Total eclipse envelops Asia in darkness

Darkness fell across parts of China and India on Wednesday morning as a total solar eclipse passed across the world’s most populous countries, bringing throngs of people outside to watch the phenomenon. Total eclipses occur about twice a year as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun on the same plane as Earth’s orbit

Iran’s Campaign Against Foreign Plots, Imagined and Real

The execution of 13 men in Iran on Tuesday highlights a central theme of the regime’s response to the protests that followed the disputed result of the June 12 election.

Charles Taylor: Liberian Warlord Begins War-Crimes Trial

Pulling the microphone toward him, the dapper 61-year-old man in sunglasses creased his forehead, cleared his throat emphatically and introduced himself to the war-crimes court in the Hague: “My name is Dakpenah Dr. Charles Ghankay Taylor, the 21st President of the Republic of Liberia.” Thus began the testimony of Charles Taylor, the reviled warlord and ousted Liberian President, at his landmark trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Why the Uighurs Aren’t Part of China’s Boom

On the streets of the cities and towns of China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang you can hear complaints from the Uighur minority group about restrictions on the Islamic religion they practice, their Turkic language or their culture, which is most closely linked to the lands of Central Asia. But in interviews in Urumqi, the regional capital that exploded with ethnic rioting last week that left 184 dead, the single most common complaint of Uighur residents is that they feel excluded from economic opportunity

Europe Tries to Break Its Russian Gas Habit

For a quarter of a century, Russia has been Europe’s single biggest gas supplier, providing about a third of all the gas the European Union uses each year.

Laid-off French Workers Threaten Factory

In the latest episode of Protesting French Workers Do the Darndest Things, laid-off employees at the New Fabris car-parts factory have come up with a novel method of negotiating their severance pay.

How Health-Care Reform Could Hurt Doctor-Owned Hospitals

Even as Congress struggles with how to pay for health-care reform, the White House keeps doing it its best to accentuate the positive. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden hosted the country’s three largest hospital trade groups as they announced they will accept $155 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years