Rachael Ray had surgery last week to remove a benign cyst from her vocal cords. Actually, the best news I could have heard all week would have been that the surgeon sneezed during a critical phase of operating and accidentally severed her vocal cords altogether. But, since she hasn’t been rendered speechless, at least she’ll stop sounding...

071Perhaps ‘The Grinning Leader’ would have been a better name for Kim Il-Sung instead of ‘The Great Leader’.072Me in front of the Great Leader’s birthplace at Mangyeongdae, the ‘cradle of the revolution’. Although he apparently spent his childhood here, it’s obviously a replica of the original and you might actually question its authenticity...

As the countdown begins to the "Bright Side", we'll be posting about something "bright" or good that's happening in the world everyday until the launch. To get started, I jumped online and began searching news, pictures, blogs...anywhere I might find a story about something positive happening in the world. I wasn't having any luck at all....

LONDON – Protesters across the world on Saturday called on Iran to end its clampdown on opposition activists, demanding the release of hundreds rounded up during demonstrations against the country's disputed election.Groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are backing a global day of action, with protests planned in...

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, N.Y., suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects in what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power, The New York Times reported.Vice President Dick Cheney and several other Bush advisers at the time strongly urged that the military...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, citing a new White House study suggesting that small businesses pay far more per employee for health insurance than big companies, said Saturday the disparity is "unsustainable — it's unacceptable.""And it's going to change when I sign health insurance reform into law," the president said in his weekly...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged the US to move relations forward by shelving plans for a missile defence shield in Europe.His comments come ahead of a summit between US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dimitry Medvedev.They serve, correspondents say, as a clear sign that the powerful former president will have...

-A rogue trader at a London oil broker caused his employer to lose $10m (£6m) after making unauthorised trades.PVM Oil Futures said it was a "victim of unauthorised trading" on Tuesday, 30 June, and said it was now conducting a full investigation.The rogue trader, believed to be Steve Perkins, has been suspended.PVM said it had informed the...

AROUND 200 Sovanna Shopping Centre vendors were threatened by district police and prevented from boarding buses set to take them to Prime Minister Hun Sen's Kandal province residence on Thursday, where they had planned to protest high rents at the mall."This morning we rented two buses, but district police came to warn the drivers that if...

The Defence Ministry will not discuss the withdrawal of Thai troops from the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple ruins during the Thai delegation's visit to Phnom Penh today.Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon made clear the stance yesterday in response to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's condition that he would discuss the temple...

We are already familiar with Senator Barack Obama's appeal to the crucial bicycle swing vote (between the three remaining candidates, his platform is the only one that even mentions cycling). Now, with the all-important Pennsylvania primary fast approaching (like a train, perhaps?) Senator Obama scrambled for votes on Saturday by taking an...

It's been brought to my attention that I've talked far too much about Sarah Palin's hair lately. So, let's talk about the left side of political hair, and specifically the strategy behind a woman's hair in politics. The current political climate has more women playing pivotal roles than any other time in history. Hilary Clinton, with her...

President Medvedev said the government supports efforts by the MP to foster brotherly ties with countries of the near abroad. The president made this statement as he spoke at the formal installation of Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all Russia. The archbishops attending the ceremony in the Kremlin took part in the recent Church Council...

To say that the Obama administration is all over the place on Iran is an understatement.During the campaign, President Obama assured us that he would work hard to start a dialogue with Iran. His view remains, apparently at least, that engagement is the best way to deal with Tehran, their sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas, and most importantly...

During her first official visit to Europe last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mentioned “a fresh start” with Russia but also pushed for holding NATO’s door open to “European countries such as Georgia and Ukraine.”Attending the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on March 5, she said the alliance must “find ways to manage...