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IRS chief declines to identify employees involved in scandal

17 May 2013

WASHINGTON - The outgoing head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service angered Republican lawmakers on Friday by resisting their demands that he identify who at the tax-collection agency had inappropriately targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.

Commuter trains collide in Connecticut, injuring up to 60 people

17 May 2013

FAIRFIELD, Connecticut - A commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said.

Hong Kong billionaire Adrian Cheng, the 33-year-old grandson of Hong Kong tycoon Cheng Yu-teng, poses for a photograph before an interview with Reuters at his office in Hong Kong, April 11, 2013. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

A Hong Kong family empire faces transition

HONG KONG - The grandson of Hong Kong billionaire Cheng Yu-tung, who built up the world's largest jewellry retailer, Adrian Cheng is one of a new generation of business leaders in Asia taking over the corporate reins from their aging rags-to-riches forebears.  Full Article 

A man walks with his camels through the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola

Change looms for Ethiopia's ancient salt trade

HAMAD-ILE, Ethiopia - For years Ethiopia's independent miners pulled slabs of salt from the earth and slowly transported them by camel. But a modern paved road could change that tradition -- and, some fear, invite large companies into the fray.  Full Article | Related Story 

Marijuana plants are displayed for sale at Canna Pi medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle, Washington, November 27, 2012. REUTERS/Anthony Bolante

Medical weed could jinx recreational market

OLYMPIA, Washington - Key officials helping to create Washington state's potentially lucrative recreational pot market say its success may hinge on preventing consumers from choosing to get high on readily available medical cannabis.  Full Article 

Northrop Grumman test pilots Bruce McFadden (L) and Dave Lorenz are pictured with their arm-mounted controllers in front of an an X-47B pilot-less drone combat aircraft before it is launched for the first time off an aircraft carrier, the USS George H. W. Bush, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed

A front row seat to aviation history

ATLANTIC OCEAN, COAST OF VIRGINIA - The U.S. Navy made aviation history by catapulting an unmanned jet off an aircraft carrier for the first time, testing a long-range, stealthy, bat-winged plane that represents a jump forward in drone technology.  Full Article 

One dead, dozens wounded in Egypt sectarian clashes

May 18 - A feud between Christians and Muslims in Egypt's second city of Alexandria leaves one dead and dozens wounded as sectarian tensions persist. Lily Grimes 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