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Special Report: The Rise and Fall of China's Sun King

8:35pm EDT

HONG KONG - In a 2010 speech before a packed ballroom of university students in Sydney, Shi Zhengrong, founder of Chinese solar-panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, listed the people who had been important in his rise to fame and riches.

North Korea fires three short-range missiles

8:52pm EDT

SEOUL - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, prompting Western powers to urge Pyongyang to exercise restraint.

Google founder Sergey Brin poses for a portrait wearing Google Glass before the Diane von Furstenberg  Spring/Summer 2013 collection show during New York Fashion Week in this September 9, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Files

Google's wearable gadget: cool or creepy?

SAN FRANCISCO - Google staged four discussions on its "Glass" wearable computer during a developer conference. However, a session on etiquette when using the recording-capable gadget, which some attendees wore even to bathrooms, was missing.  Full Article 

A demonstrator holds up a placard that says 'Stop' during a protest by Italy's metalworkers union Fiom in Rome, May 18, 2013. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Rome protest turns up heat on new PM Letta

ROME - Thousands of people protested in Rome against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession.  Full Article 

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010, file handout image. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Files/Handout

Payout official set for surge in BP spill claims

NEW ORLEANS - The deadline for claims against BP in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is 11 months away, but the man responsible for paying the claims said he is already bracing for a late surge in filings.  Full Article 

A scuba diver jumps in the water at the port of the northern city of Haifa, April 23, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Seaport battle looms in Israel

TEL AVIV - Israel is betting its economic future on high-tech exports but faces a low-tech bottleneck in state-owned seaports subject to work stoppages and slowdowns because of the enormous strength of their unions.  Full Article 

Terry McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and also the former chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President committee, waves at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado in this August 26, 2008, file photo. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/Files

Virginia governor's race to test Tea Party allure

RICHMOND, Virginia - The most nail-biting governor's race this year is centering on whether a Tea Party Republican can win Virginia, the southern state that has twice backed President Barack Obama.  Full Article 

A U.S. Border Patrol agent from the Rio Grande Valley Sector searches the brush and trees at night for a group illegal immigrants who had crossed over the Rio Grande River in Mission, Texas, March 28, 2013. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Along the deadly Southern border

In south Texas, the Rio Grande River separates the U.S. from Mexico, forming a dangerous border between the two countries, where myriad hazards face anyone who tries to cross it.  Full Article 

Bottles of olive oil are lined in a factory in Dos Hermanas near the Andalusian capital of Seville, September 21, 2012. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

EU tells restaurants how to serve olive oil

BRUSSELS - Critics ridiculed European Union bureaucrats for taking time off fighting the euro zone's debt crisis to impose strict new rules on how restaurants serve olive oil.  Full Article 

An electronic street sign displays the current value of the Powerball lottery in New York, May 17, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Powerball jackpot can go over $600 million

AUSTIN, Texas - The Powerball jackpot being drawn on Saturday night could be even higher than the record $600 million advertised, pushing it near or above the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, a Texas Lottery official said.  Full Article 

Female politician killed in Pakistan

May 18 - Anguished relatives and friends react to the news that Zahra Shaid Hussain, a politician in the PTI party was gunned down by unknown assailants. Deborah Gembara reports.

Nicholas Wapshott

Austerity is a moral issue

Europe’s economic turmoil is dragging the world economy down. Despite this destructive display of unnecessary masochism, many Americans still demand that the U.S. sequester be allowed to continue slashing at public spending.  Commentary 

Zachary Karabell

Massive, open, online disruption

Massive, open, online classes are transforming higher education and saving students money. So why are so many administrators and professors scared? Because tech is about to disrupt their industry like it's changed so many others.   Commentary 

Anatole Kaletsky

The radical force of 'Abenomics'

The financial arithmetic of Abenomics means that tolerable stagnation is no longer an option for Japan. Will the radical steps taken by the government be enough to fix the country's economy?  Commentary 

David Rohde

Washington-gate

An increasingly polarized Washington is devouring its own. Ceaseless, take-no-prisoners political warfare, not nefarious White House plots, ravages government.  Commentary 

Jack Shafer

Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated Obama

It wasn't the substance of the AP story that exasperated the government, but that the AP found a source or sources that spilled information about an ongoing intelligence operation and that even grander leaks might surge into the press corps’ rain barrels.  Commentary 

Yousaf Butt

‘Reset’ on Iran now

Evidence that sanctions are not achieving their purpose should give President Obama political breathing room to have negotiators put serious sanctions relief on the table – which could prove to be in America’s national security interest.  Commentary