Entries
Strange Smoke Rises From Reactor
CNN reports: Tokyo (CNN) -- Officials evacuated workers at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Wednesday afternoon as a black plume of smoke billowed above one of the reactors, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The company said it was unclear what was causing the smoke, which …
Tokyo Gives Infants Water Warning
The New York Times reports: TOKYO — Infants in Tokyo and surrounding areas should not drink tap water, a Tokyo official said Wednesday, after radioactive iodine from a crippled nuclear power plant was detected in the capital’s water supply. Ei Yoshida, head of water purification for the …
Qaddafi: I Won't Go
BBC News reports: Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has made his first public appearance in a week to rally his supporters. In a speech apparently from a compound hit by coalition air strikes on Sunday, he urged "all Islamic armies" to join him, saying: "We will be victorious." Fighting …
Obama: War May Go Until Qaddafi's End
Politico reports: SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador —President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that the joint military operation under way in Libya to protect civilians could continue as long Col. Muammar Qadhafi remains in control in Tripoli, but the president also insisted that the U.S. …
Questions Arise About Pilot Rescue
The New York Times reports: WASHINGTON — An American pilot and a weapons officer were safely rescued in Libya on Tuesday after their warplane crashed near Benghazi, but the United States Marine Corps dropped two 500-pound bombs during the recovery and faced questions about whether …
CNN Beats Fox In Cable News Ratings
The New York Times reports: CNN has been the big ratings gainer among the cable news networks during the extensive coverage of events in Japan and Libya in the last two weeks, and that success has come mostly at the expense of MSNBC, which has fallen into third place almost across the board …
Judge Scraps Google Books Deal
The New York Times reports: Google ’s ambition to create the world’s largest digital library and bookstore has run into the reality of a 300-year-old legal concept: copyright. The company’s plan to digitize every book ever published and make them widely available was derailed on Tuesday …
Six Syrians Killed In Mosque
The New York Times reports: DAMASCUS, Syria — At least six people were killed early Wednesday when Syrian security forces attacked protesters who had taken refuge in a mosque in the center of the southern city of Dara’a, Reuters reported. On Tuesday, antigovernment protests had …
Lowry: The Foggy Intervention
Rich Lowry writes in National Review : Everyone knows about the fog of war. In Libya, Pres. Barack Obama has added to the inherent indecipherability of immediate military events the fog of obfuscation. We aren’t leading military operations, even though the operation is led by an …
University Gets Anonymous $100 Million Gift
The Wall Street Journal reports: In a twist on a higher-education mystery, anonymous donors once again have bestowed riches on Kalamazoo, Mich. The city's Western Michigan University said Tuesday that it received $100 million from anonymous donors to establish a medical school. WMU ranked …
Bad Soldiers or Bad Officers?
Der Spiegel has opened a can of worms by printing two photos of American soldiers grinning over the body of a dead Afghan. If it were only photographs of U.S. soldiers posing alongside a dead Afghan civilian, it might be bad taste, even repulsive, but it wouldn’t be that unusual. But …Israel's Low-Profile Security Style
Before arriving in Israel, I imagined I would find a highly militarized state, with checkpoints and guns a common sight. The reality though is quite different. A final thought about Israel: there was certainly a lower level of security in the areas I visited than I would have expected. Before I …Detroit Population Lowest in 100 Years
Reuters reports: Detroit's population dropped 25 percent over the last decade to its lowest level in a century, according to U.S. Census figures released on Tuesday. The city's population fell to 713,777 last year from 951,270 in 2000 when the last census was taken as the region suffered …
SD Law Requires Wait for Abortion
ABC News reports: South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a law Tuesday requiring women to wait three days after meeting with a doctor to have an abortion, the longest waiting period in the nation. Abortion rights groups immediately said they plan to file a lawsuit challenging the …
Libyan Rebels Picked Up U.S. Pilot
Babak Dehghanpisheh writes at The Daily Beast: The American F-15E went down in eastern Libya after midnight Tuesday about 25 miles east of Benghazi, the de-facto rebel capital. Both pilots ejected before the plane crashed and the Pentagon has confirmed that they are safe. But what exactly …
Totten: Arab Revolt Hits Syria
Michael Totten writes at Commentary 's online blog Contentions: When Muammar Qaddafi began to re-conquer Libya it briefly appeared that only the moderate and nominally “pro-American” dictatorships in the Middle East were at risk, but the hard and violent anti-American regimes aren’t yet in …
Fed Turns Record Profit
The Hill reports: The Federal Reserve turned a record $81.7 billion profit in 2010, up 53 percent from 2009, the central bank reported Tuesday. The vast majority of the Fed's profit — $79.3 billion — will be turned over to the Treasury Department, with the rest being paid out to member …
York: The Pointless No-Fly Zone
Byron York writes in the Washington Examiner : Admiral Samuel Locklear III, commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, which is conducting the coalition attacks on Libya, just finished a briefing with reporters from on board the USS Mount Whitney. Locklear said U.S. and coalition forces are …
Mystery Oil Spill Hits Gulf
The Times-Picayune reports: Emulsified oil, oil mousse and tar balls from an unknown source were washing up on beaches from Grand Isle to West Timbalier Island along the Gulf of Mexico, a stretch of about 30 miles, and it was still heading west Monday afternoon, a Louisiana official said. …