Treasury Dept. changes bailout focus from banks to consumers, whose banks won't lend them money now anyway. With $290 billion of the bailout plan already committed, independent oversight still isn't in place and no monitoring reports have been filed. "Unless some insider got all of
So far, Washington's on the hook for $5 trillion to fight the financial crisis. Favor for Detroit bailout package to swing on demanded conditions. Op: If G.M. needs to be bribed to innovate, at least don't hand over a blank check. Breaking down Guantanamo: easier
Chart for tracking Obama's transition to the White House. What other 1600 Pennsylvania Avenues look like around the country. "We realize we are late, and America has regained the torch of a moral revolution." Obama win prompts Europe to reevaulate its own race relations. For the
Top intelligence officials expect to be replaced early on by Obama, but are counting on the economic crisis to buy some time. As bailout cash flows, lobbyists now pleading their cases find nobody's especially interested. Obama sets rules for lobbyists: No donations to the transition will be accepted,
Veterans Day is celebrated significantly differently across the borders of Europe. Son analyzes the codes his father used in postcards home from World War II. Sudan has offered India a surprising free run of its economy--although there is a quid pro quo attached. Decent hyperlink brief on the French-
The recession will reduce trade, strain U.S. foreign policy--the "axis of diesel" will similarly struggle. The Bush administration has diluted science with toxic legislation--"poisoned communities" need EPA help, not the Defense Dept. This year's Oxford Word of the Year: Hypermiling. Video:
Since 2004, a classified order has permitted the U.S. military to carry out secret attacks in Syria, Pakistan, elsewhere. While Obama visits the White House, his transition team will review how to undo Bush policies: stem-cell limits, drilling expansion, etc. Op: The economic crisis is based in deflation,
"For many of us [this] will be akin to a kind of spiritual pilgrimage." D.C. prepares for a massive inauguration audience. Inspired by Obama, Carla Bruni wants to rid France of racism; after Berlusconi's "joke," she's glad she's French
Op: Washington's new "Death with Dignity" act does make some people somewhat freer, but not enough. South Africa is facing a period of protracted instability, perhaps leading to civil war. Spain faces big changes to avoid "Italy's fate of seemingly remorseless decline."
New accounts suggest Georgia's military attacked separatist capital, that it wasn't acting in defense of Russian aggression. Bernard-Henri Lévy: Anti-Americanism will not suddenly, magically disappear. But it will have a harder time surviving... Colson Whitehead: Not since Sammy Davis Jr. have Skinny Black Guys
