NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Obama takes a different approach as commander in chief

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

International Herald Tribune - By Sheryl Gay Stolberg - Mar. 23 (News Analysis) - As he heads toward his next big commander-in-chief moment — a decision on strategy for Afghanistan, possibly this week — Mr. Obama, by necessity and temperament, is wearing the role in ways distinctly different from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Energy secretary tries to adjust to U.S. politics

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

International Herald Tribune - By John M. Broder - Mar. 23 (News Report) - As a physicist, Steven Chu has seen atoms suspended in a powerful laser beam and DNA stretched out in a vacuum chamber. But in his new job as energy secretary, Dr. Chu is observing phenomena he never saw in the science laboratory. At a recent Senate hearing, for example, he witnessed a junior cabinet member (himself) being systematically dissected by a senior senator (John McCain). Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, was unhappy when Dr. Chu affirmed the Obama administration's intention to suspend work at a planned nuclear waste site in Nevada. "What's wrong with Yucca Mountain, Dr. Chu?" he demanded repeatedly as Dr. Chu tried to explain. "I think we can do a better job," Dr. Chu finally replied.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

China blocks Coke's bid for juice company

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

International Herald Tribune - By David Barboza - Mar. 18 (News Report) - China said on Wednesday that it has rejected a bid by the Coca-Cola Company to acquire one of the country's biggest beverage makers for about $2.4 billion. The move blocked what would have been the biggest foreign takeover of a Chinese company and suggested Beijing is still uncomfortable with foreign ownership of big Chinese companies.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Israeli cabinet to weigh cease-fire with Gaza

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Ethan Bronner, Mark Landler - Jan. 17 (News Report) - Israel's security cabinet is expected to meet on Saturday night to declare a cease-fire in Gaza and will keep its forces there in the short term while the next stage of an agreement with Egypt is worked out.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

In improving ties with India, Bush can claim a foreign policy success

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Anand Giridharadas - Jan. 11 (News Analysis) - Manmohan Singh leads the largest democracy on Earth. But the Indian prime minister is gentle of manner and speaks in whispers. One struggles to imagine him professing love without shyness to his own wife. And so it meant something when he recently laid the L-word on a little-loved man: George W. Bush. "This may be my last visit to you during your presidency," Singh told the U.S. president in Washington in September, "and let me say, thank you very much. The people of India deeply love you."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Bonfire of profanities

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By William Safire - Jan. 04 (Review) - Today we are going to deal with the media coverage of profanities, expletives, vulgarisms, obscenities, execrations, and epithets, nouns often lumped together by the Bluenose Generation as coarseness, crudeness, bawdiness, scatology or swearing. But roundheeled readers should stop rubbing their hands because the deliberately shocking subject can be treated with decorum, in plain words, without the titillating examples of "dirty words." If you want to fulminate about such prissiness about prurience in print, feel free to express your outrage with the typographical device to which cartoonists have resorted for generations: !#*&%@%!!!

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A brewing storm in Russia

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Cathy Young - Jan. 03 (Opinion) - Any hopes of a thaw, or a Putin-Medvedev fissure, were crushed when Medvedev's first 100 days ended with the war in Georgia. The surge of "patriotic" sentiment that followed Russia's victory threatened to take the country even further down the authoritarian road. But history works in mysterious ways.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.5 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Afghan corruption: Everything for sale

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Dexter Filkins - Jan. 02 (Special Report) - Kept afloat by billions of dollars in American and other foreign aid, the government of Afghanistan is shot through with corruption and graft.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Building a bridge to a better life

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Charly Wilder - Dec. 26 (Special Report) - Today, Senni's entrepreneurship has equally compelling, though more altruistic, motives. Having founded and run a successful taxi company, ATA France, and made millions, Senni, 32, is rallying other businesspeople to reach into rough neighborhoods like his and help other young people.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

U.S. security

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Peter Bergen - Dec. 15 (Opinion) - ... the American Muslim community has rejected the Qaeda ideological virus. American Muslims have instead overwhelmingly signed up for the American Dream, enjoying higher incomes and educational levels than the average.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pakistan walks delicate line with a radical

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Richard A. Oppel, Salman Masood - Dec. 13 (Special Report) - Under intense pressure to show some resolve against homegrown terrorism, the Pakistani government claims to have arrested the Lashkar official suspected of running the Mumbai attacks, and then on Thursday and Friday it shut down dozens of Jamaat-ud-Dawa offices and said it had detained many of the group's members.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Mumbai, Kashmir and the Pakistan Connection

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - Dec. 08 (Editorial) - Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, must face up to his country's involvement - whether official or nearly so. We know his new civilian government is weak, and he may not be able to accede to New Delhi's demands that all suspects be turned over to India for prosecution.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Indian foreign minister denies "threatening call" to Pakistani leader

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - Dec. 07 (News Report) - The Indian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday morning officially denying that its minister, Pranab Mukherjee, had made a "threatening call" to President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan at the height of the recent attacks on Mumbai, prompting Zardari's government to put the Pakistani Air Force on high alert. "I had made no such telephone call," Mukherjee said in the statement. "It is, however, worrying that a neighboring state might even consider acting on the basis of such a hoax call, try to give it credibility with other states, and confuse the public by releasing the story in part."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama's best pick yet: Jones as national security adviser

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Albert R. Hunt - Dec. 07 (News Report) - Last week, the world was taken by President-elect Barack Obama's new foreign policy team: Hillary Rodham Clinton as U.S. secretary of state and Robert Gates, who is being kept on as head of the Defense Department. Both choices are remarkable. There has not been anything approaching the selection of Clinton since 1980, when Ronald Reagan offered the vice presidency to an old rival, the ex-President Gerald Ford; in contrast, the Clinton appointment is probably a good idea. Only a year ago, a central theme of the Obama insurgency campaign was his opposition to the war in Iraq. Imagine if it was suggested then that he would win the election and keep President George W. Bush's defense chief. This is a testament to both Gates and to the recent U.S. success in Iraq. Yet the most impressive, and perhaps important, choice may have been Obama's tapping General James Jones to be his national security adviser.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Financial crisis already delaying green projects

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - Dec. 01 (News Report) - The global financial crisis already has delayed some green energy projects, stoking fears that a shortage of investment money will lead to cheap and dirty decisions on new power plants, the U.N.'s top climate official said. Instead, investors should see the crisis as "an opportunity for green growth" as they replace up to 40 percent of the world's power generation over the next decade, said Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.8 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Is U.S. research funding badly spent?

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Steve Lohr - Nov. 30 (News Report) - Barack Obama may have to surrender his BlackBerry when he moves into the White House, in the interests of presidential security and confidentiality. But there is every sign that his administration will pursue a pro-technology agenda. In speeches and policy statements, Obama has repeatedly emphasized a need to maintain America's technology leadership in the world and to invest government funds to do so. His campaign platform declared that government policy must "foster home-grown innovation" and "help ensure the competitiveness of United States technology-based businesses." Two of his favorite proposals - roundly endorsed by technology industry leaders and university scientists - are to double federal funding for basic research over the next several years and to train many thousands more scientists and engineers.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Study cites toll of AIDS policy in South Africa

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Celia W. Dugger - Nov. 26 (Special Report) - A new study by Harvard researchers estimates that the South African government would have prevented the premature deaths of 365,000 people earlier this decade if it had provided antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients and widely administered drugs to help prevent pregnant women from infecting their babies.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Sadr City dreams of a working sewer system

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Daniel Williams - Nov. 26 (Special Report) - Almost six years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, sewers in the sprawling Baghdad slum have become the most odorous example of how things do not get done in Iraq.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

France and Germany pledge auto aid

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By The Associated Press - Nov. 24 (News Report) - France and Germany, the twin economic engines of continental Europe, will not let their auto industries flounder amid the financial meltdown and economic crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they agreed during talks that coordinated action was key to addressing the economic downturn, even if different measures were used by Paris or Berlin

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Pakistan test

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Nov. 23 (Opinion) - I've never found Pakistanis so gloomy. Some worry that militants, nurtured by illiteracy and a failed education system, will overrun the country or that the nation will break apart. I'm not quite that pessimistic, but it's very likely that the next major terror attack in the West is being planned by extremists here in Pakistan.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

APEC promises united front on global economic crisis

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - Nov. 23 (News Report) - Leaders of Pacific Rim nations promised to work together on further "urgent and extraordinary" steps to combat the global economic crisis and pledged to refrain from erecting new barriers to trade and investment. President George W. Bush, President Hu Jintao of China, Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan and other leaders of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, or APEC, also called for improved corporate governance and backed efforts to thaw frozen credit markets.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Annan urges rich nations not to drop aid to Africa

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Katrine Bennhold - Nov. 18 (News Report) - Kofi Annan, one of the world's most outspoken activists for Africa, issued a stern warning to rich nations on Monday not to use the current economic turmoil as an excuse to turn their back on his continent.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.1 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Picking Obama's team: Balancing smart retreads with fresh faces

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Albert R. Hunt - Nov. 16 (Opinion) - Barack Obama has had an almost perfect two weeks. He will make mistakes in the transition; everyone does. He especially needs to walk a delicate line as he forms a new government. Since Nov. 4, though, his tone, balance, appointments, priorities and few policy actions have been on key. Small missteps, such as a careless remark abut Nancy Reagan, were rectified immediately. It is striking how well prepared this political newcomer is. What John McCain called his arrogant presumptiveness during his campaign is turning into a valuable strength in the most dicey transition since 1932, one that didn't go well. If Obama taps Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state, it will be a carefully considered choice.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Auditors go easy on military contractors

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - Nov. 09 (News Report) - Instead of seeing red, Pentagon audit managers saw business as usual after being told that a major military contractor failed to open all its books for review. At a meeting of Defense Contract Audit Agency staff in California last May, auditor Acacia Rodriguez used a 24-page PowerPoint briefing to describe how she and her co-workers struggled with the Bechtel Group's "chronic failure" to provide the financial records required to prove tax dollars were being spent properly. "Mtn View, we have a problem!!!" said one of Rodriguez's briefing charts, a shorthand reference to the audit agency's branch office in Mountain View, outside San Francisco.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The bubble keeps on deflating

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

International Herald Tribune - Oct. 20 (Editorial) - By now everyone knows that reckless and even predatory mortgage lending provoked the financial meltdown. But bad lending did not stop there. The easy money also fed a corporate buyout binge, with private equity firms borrowing huge sums to buy up public companies and pay themselves big dividends.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer