Staying In Shape On The Campaign Trail: Romney Drops A Few Pointers

Stumping in New Hampshire on Wednesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney revealed a bit about his strategies for staying in shape on the campaign trail. “Hey, I heard you pull the cheese off your pizza to stay thin. Is that true?” asked a woman at Village Pizza in Newport, N.H., in the southwestern part of [...]

Glenn Close Finds Chemistry In Role Of Albert Nobbs

Early in her career, Glenn Close was often cast in the “good girl” role: the idyllic muse in The Natural; the understanding friend, wife and mother in The Big Chill. Things took a sharp turn for her when she played an evil manipulator in Dangerous Liaisons and then created one of film’s greatest villains in [...]

Mass. Senate Race A Battle Over Who’s More Populist

Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts made a point of calling Ted Kennedy’s old U.S. Senate seat the “people’s seat,” and he won it in large part by casting himself as the opposite of that glamorous and privileged dynasty. Brown won in a special election in 2010. Now, Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor and [...]

BofA’s Countrywide To Pay $335 Million, Settling Lending Discrimination Case

The Justice Department is calling it the “largest residential fair lending settlement in history:” Bank of America’s Countrywide Financial has agreed to pay $335 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed it discriminated against black and Latino borrowers. The Justice Department alleges that Countrywide charged a higher interest rate on the mortgages of more than [...]

Japan, Before And After The Tsunami

Years before the monster earthquake shook Japan and unleashed a massive tsunami in March, Google had mapped the roads of northeast Japan with its Street View project, as it had done in many parts of the world. Shortly after the disaster, Google sent video teams back to the worst-hit areas to cover 44,000 square miles’ [...]

Tied To Trade, Dutch Economy Falls With The Tide

The debt crisis in Europe got under way in small, heavily indebted countries like Greece and Ireland, but these days it’s also being felt in the wealthy heartland. The Dutch government says the country probably slipped into a recession at the end of this year, and like other countries, it’s having to consider budget cuts. [...]

With Kim’s Death, Defectors See Chance For Change

While North Korean mourners trudged through snow in Pyongyang to pay last respects to their “Dear Leader,” defectors from the North now in South Korea are celebrating the sudden death of Kim Jong Il, who died from a heart attack this past weekend. And as the outside world tries to figure out how much control [...]

Turbulence As Europe Passes Fee On Plane Emissions

A European court ruled Wednesday that airlines flying into and out of European airports will have to pay a price for the carbon dioxide they emit when they burn jet fuel. U.S. airlines, which had been fighting the idea in court, say the European Union is trying to force other countries to reduce carbon emissions. [...]

What Greece Can Learn From South America

As Greece struggles with a financial crisis, there have been violent protests, creditors demanding their money, people losing their jobs and officials hunkering down. A decade ago, that was the scene in South America when Argentina and Uruguay defaulted. The two handled the economic calamity in very different ways. Economists say their approaches — and [...]

Iran And Its Rivals Dig In On Nuclear Dispute

The year began on a note of cautious optimism on the Iran nuclear front. But talks in Geneva and Istanbul proved inconclusive, and the Arab Spring uprisings soon pushed Iran off center stage. And as 2012 approaches, observers see little reason for optimism regarding a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear dispute. Iranian President Mahmoud [...]