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System of Neglect
Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road.
Incursion Crushed, Sudan Reports
NAIROBI, May 10 -- Darfur rebels launched an unprecedented attack on the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday, crossing hundreds of miles of desert in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Omar Bashir, according to Sudanese officials and the rebels.
In W.Va., Clinton's Disciples Persevere
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- They traveled here from New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana last week to stand in the rain on a rural street corner, at a four-way intersection of winding mountain roads. One woman, a doctor, took vacation time from her job to make the trip. Another, a mother of three, hired a...
Growing Deficits Threaten Pensions
The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars.
Union Influence Sways Montgomery Budget Talks
As Montgomery County's elected officials prepare this week to raise taxes and trim services to close a projected $300 million budget shortfall, most are reluctant to roll back raises negotiated by powerful union leaders.
At D.C.'s Phelps High, A Return to the Future
The greenhouse at Phelps High School is a shell of exterior brick walls and exposed steel beams. But by August, when a $63.8 million renovation of the school in Northeast Washington is finished, the space will have computer-controlled window shades and watering systems.
Thefts Rise With Copper Prices
CHICAGO, May 8 -- Dave Fusselman figures he has seen a lot of different items come through his family's third-generation scrap metal business in Moberly, Mo. But an attempted sale last fall broke new ground.
Adviser Barred From Detainee Case Over Bias Concerns
The Pentagon's top legal adviser in the Office of Military Commissions was disqualified late last week from participating in the prosecution of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by a Navy officer who ruled that the adviser exerted improper influence over a team of prosecutors and may have...
The Nation
The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened yesterday in Bath, Maine, with the name of James Stockdale. The late vice admiral spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate.
Jenna Bush Marries at Texas Ranch
CRAWFORD, Tex., May 10 -- President Bush gave away his daughter Jenna in marriage Saturday night, in a private sunset ceremony under hazy skies on his 1,600-acre ranch.
U.S. Jews' Relationship With Israel Evolves
Growing up at Congregation Olam Tikvah, Michelle Pearlstein remembers how Israel was taught at religious school: "Black and white -- you can't trust anyone, and it was a united front in support of Israel." Today, Pearlstein, 35, is the Israel specialist at the Fairfax synagogue, where she teaches...
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Friday that Eight Belles, the euthanized thoroughbred, probably died more humanely than do death row prisoners. Stevens, who said last month that he opposes the death penalty, said Kentucky law forbids killing animals using one of the drugs that it uses...
Memo Shows Frustration With Special Counsel
Last September, career investigators at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel opened a probe into whether partisan politics were a factor in the Justice Department's prosecution of former Democratic Alabama governor Don Siegelman on corruption charges in 2006.
The Talk Shows
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
Bittersweet Reunions Span U.S. Border
TIJUANA, Mexico, May 10 -- You can walk to the U.S. border, Francelia Menchaca's immigration lawyer advised her, but don't put your fingers through its fence. It may hinder her immigration paperwork, the lawyer said.
washingtonpost.com - World
Incursion Crushed, Sudan Reports
NAIROBI, May 10 -- Darfur rebels launched an unprecedented attack on the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday, crossing hundreds of miles of desert in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Omar Bashir, according to Sudanese officials and the rebels.
Lebanon Struggles to Defuse Crisis
BEIRUT, May 10 -- Lebanon appeared torn between the possibilities of civil war and a settlement of its four-day-old crisis Saturday, as violence continued between the opposition and government supporters while efforts intensified to find a political solution.
Olmert Scandal Could Impact U.S.-Backed Peace Process
JERUSALEM, May 11 -- When President Bush travels to Israel this week, he will come knowing that if he wants to broker a Middle East peace agreement, he only has eight months left to do it.
System of Neglect
Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road.
U.S. Jews' Relationship With Israel Evolves
Growing up at Congregation Olam Tikvah, Michelle Pearlstein remembers how Israel was taught at religious school: "Black and white -- you can't trust anyone, and it was a united front in support of Israel." Today, Pearlstein, 35, is the Israel specialist at the Fairfax synagogue, where she teaches...
Bittersweet Reunions Span U.S. Border
TIJUANA, Mexico, May 10 -- You can walk to the U.S. border, Francelia Menchaca's immigration lawyer advised her, but don't put your fingers through its fence. It may hinder her immigration paperwork, the lawyer said.
Opposition Leader Tsvangirai Says He'll Take Part in Zimbabwe Runoff
JOHANNESBURG, May 10 -- Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced Saturday that he will soon return to his country to participate in a presidential runoff election despite a surge in political violence against his supporters.
Purchases Linked N. Korean to Syria
When North Korean businessman Ho Jin Yun first caught the attention of German customs police in 2002, he was on a continental buying spree with a shopping list that seemed as random as it was long.
Mexican Drug Gangs Suspected in Another Police Slaying
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, May 10 -- The No. 2 police officer in a Mexican border city across from Texas was shot dead Saturday, the latest high-ranking official killed in an onslaught of attacks blamed on gangs resisting a crackdown.
U.S. Legal Work Booms in India
GURGAON, India -- When Aashish Sharma graduated from law school two years ago, his father had visions of seeing him argue in an Indian court and eventually become an honorable judge.
washingtonpost.com - National News and Headlines
System of Neglect
Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road.
Growing Deficits Threaten Pensions
The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars.
Over 20 dead in Mo., Okla., Ga. after new round of storms
PICHER, Okla. -- Crews and search dogs hunted Sunday for survivors or bodies in piles of debris after tornadoes and storms rumbled across the region a day earlier and killed at least 21 people in three states.
In W.Va., Clinton's Disciples Persevere
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- They traveled here from New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana last week to stand in the rain on a rural street corner, at a four-way intersection of winding mountain roads. One woman, a doctor, took vacation time from her job to make the trip. Another, a mother of three, hired a...
Thefts Rise With Copper Prices
CHICAGO, May 8 -- Dave Fusselman figures he has seen a lot of different items come through his family's third-generation scrap metal business in Moberly, Mo. But an attempted sale last fall broke new ground.
Adviser Barred From Detainee Case Over Bias Concerns
The Pentagon's top legal adviser in the Office of Military Commissions was disqualified late last week from participating in the prosecution of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by a Navy officer who ruled that the adviser exerted improper influence over a team of prosecutors and may have...
U.S. Jews' Relationship With Israel Evolves
Growing up at Congregation Olam Tikvah, Michelle Pearlstein remembers how Israel was taught at religious school: "Black and white -- you can't trust anyone, and it was a united front in support of Israel." Today, Pearlstein, 35, is the Israel specialist at the Fairfax synagogue, where she teaches...
Bittersweet Reunions Span U.S. Border
TIJUANA, Mexico, May 10 -- You can walk to the U.S. border, Francelia Menchaca's immigration lawyer advised her, but don't put your fingers through its fence. It may hinder her immigration paperwork, the lawyer said.
washingtonpost.com - Editorials
Free the Food
AMONG THE many negative consequences of the recent explosion in food prices is that more than 40 countries have taken steps to discourage grain exports -- or to stop them altogether. For hard-pressed governments in the developing world, this is a politically tempting and, indeed, understandable approach: One's own hungry citizens come first. But it is fatally shortsighted. Over time, the curtailment in trade simply encourages hoarding and discourages production. The result: shrinking supplies and higher prices.
Olympic Gag Order
WHEN BEIJING was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, part of its pitch was that the games would help promote human rights in China, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bought it. But with the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies less than three months away, it looks as if the reverse is the case -- that China's repressive norms are affecting the rest of the world.
Maryland's Shady Operator
AS A CANDIDATE for the Maryland Senate two years ago, Nathaniel Exum, a Prince George's County Democrat, asserted that he was "a proven servant of the people." In fact, he is a proven servant of special interests, often unsavory ones.
Burma's Blockade
A HORRIFIC CRIME is being carried out by the clique of generals that rules Burma, with the world as witness. According to the United Nations, some 1.5 million people near the country's southern coast are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance following Cyclone Nargis last weekend. Tens of thousands are dead, and 1 million or more are homeless. The few reports reaching the outside world from the Irrawaddy Delta region, where 2,000 square miles are underwater, speak of thousands of refugees camped in the open without food, medicine or clean water amid the stench of rotting bodies.
Needed Testimony
NEARLY SEVEN years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, questions remain about the administration's legal and policy responses to the tragedy. Is the president, as Justice Department lawyers have argued, virtually unconstrained in carrying out his commander-in-chief duties during wartime? Do that power and exigent circumstances allow him to sanction interrogation techniques that skirt domestic and international strictures against torture? How much latitude does the executive have in designing and carrying out domestic surveillance programs? These and similar questions will confront the next president, regardless of party affiliation. One man could be particularly important to understanding this administration's choices and the options open to future presidents.
Open Klingle Road
MAYOR ADRIAN M. Fenty (D) has more than proved his mettle in taking on such entrenched interests as the District school system and the city's cabbies. But even he may be no match for the few but powerful opponents of reopening Klingle Road. The setback to his plans to restore and reopen the road is sad testament to how the best interests of the public can be trampled by the wants of a self-interested minority.
Plow It Under
AFTER WEEKS of wheeling and dealing, a House-Senate conference committee has finally produced a farm bill. And what an unlovely creation it is. The nearly $300 billion, five-year legislation brims with subsidies for everything from biofuels to historic-barn preservation. It includes a dubious sugar-to-ethanol program and billions of dollars for a permanent disaster relief fund that essentially pays farmers to grow crops on land too dry to sustain them. And it perpetuates the multibillion-dollar system of direct payments to corn, wheat, rice, cotton and soybean growers, with only minimal limitations on how much of this corporate welfare rich farmers can receive.
Zimbabwe's Terror
AS THE WORLD looks on, Robert Mugabe's campaign of terror against the people of Zimbabwe continues unchecked. On Thursday, The Post's Craig Timberg reported that gangs from Mr. Mugabe's ruling party beat 11 opposition activists to death on Monday in the town of Chiweshe, 90 miles north of the capital of Harare. The same day, at least five people were murdered by the president's thugs in the village of Dakudzwa, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times. Across the country, truckloads of men are pulling into rural villages and towns that voted against Mr. Mugabe in the March 29 elections, rounding up opposition supporters for beatings or worse and burning their homes and crops.
washingtonpost.com - Op-Ed Columns
New Allies In Asia?
TOKYO -- China and Japan have been reliable enemies for a thousand years. Their leaders have always been able to count on each other to stir nationalist anger and distract their followers from other problems by trading insults, threats or at times blows.
The Price of Delay
Three days after last Tuesday's primaries seemingly tilted the Democratic presidential nomination decisively toward Barack Obama, the surprising fact was that almost half the party's senators had not announced a choice between him and Hillary Clinton. Twenty-one of the 49 Democratic senators were publicly silent as the last six primaries approached.
Keeping New Mothers Alive
"Obscene" is still the word that comes to mind when we think of maternal mortality -- and it has been almost 25 years since we first witnessed death in childbirth. In 1983, as students in one of central Haiti's fetid clinics, we prepared to celebrate a birth. Although we'd just met the young woman about to become a mother, her desperate expression as she began to hemorrhage haunts us still. National statistics could have predicted the outcome: A 1985 survey pegged Haitian maternal mortality at 1,400 deaths per 100,000 live births. By comparison, maternal mortality in the United States last year was 14 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Mr. Cool's Intensity
Barack Obama called himself an "imperfect messenger" in his victory speech in North Carolina last Tuesday. That was a refreshing touch of humility, but it was also a fact. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is far from perfect. But he has demonstrated the most mysterious and precious gift in politics, which is grace under pressure.
Mississippi Harbinger
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. -- The 1st Congressional District, the northernmost in the most culturally Southern state, has given the nation William Faulkner and Elvis Presley, and on Tuesday it will have a special congressional election that will test the Republican hope that Barack Obama and his former pastor can be the basis of a Republican strategy to nationalize congressional races to the disadvantage of Democrats. A Senate seat also could be affected by the cascading consequences of Republican Trent Lott's December resignation.
The Myth Of Occupied Gaza
Hamas claims that former president Jimmy Carter's recent meeting with its leader, Khaled Meshal, marks its recognition as a "national liberation movement" -- even though Hamas rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, which Hamas rules as an elected "government," continue to rain down on Israel's civilian population. While Hamas is clearly trying to bolster its legitimacy, the conflict along Israel's southern border has a broader legal dimension -- the question of whether, as a matter of international law, Israel "occupies" Gaza. The answer is pivotal: It governs the legal rights of Israel and Gaza's population and may well set a legal precedent for wars between sovereign states and non-state entities, including terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.
A Building That Speaks to Us
In his recently released book, "Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and Public Servant," retired Army Lt. Gen. Julius W. Becton Jr. delves into his tumultuous tenure as chief executive of D.C. public schools in the late 1990s. Chapter 19, "My Toughest Challenge," should be read by anyone interested in a firsthand account of life in a D.C. school system firestorm.
Quitters Never Win
When I was growing up in the 1960s, I wanted to play basketball. In those days, the rules said girls could dribble only three steps and then had to pass the ball. To make sure we didn't overexert ourselves, we weren't allowed to cross the half-court line. It's a wonder our fans (our mothers) could stay awake when a typical game's final score was 14-10.
