The secrecy around Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s selection of Cathleen P. Black to run the city’s schools highlighted his faith in business leaders and dislike of public debate.
Starting Thursday, Wal-Mart plans to offer free shipping on its Web site, a move that may create an expectation among consumers and a threat to smaller retailers.
AP - Protesters demanding Moammar Gadhafi's ouster came under a hail of bullets Friday when pro-regime militiamen opened fire to stop the first significant anti-government marches in days in the Libyan capital. The Libyan leader, speaking from the ramparts of a historic Tripoli fort, told supporters to prepare to defend the nation.
AP - A local government official says gunmen have attacked Iraq's largest oil refinery, killing one guard and detonating bombs that sparked a fire and forced the facility to shut down.
AP - The Obama administration froze assets of the Libyan government, leader Moammar Gadhafi and four of his children Friday, just hours after it closed the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and evacuated its remaining staff. U.S. officials said announcements of the steps were withheld until Americans wishing to leave the country had departed as they feared Gadhafi might retaliate amid worsening violence in the North African country.
As clashes between government security forces and anti-regime protesters rage on in Libya, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community "to do everything possible" to protect civilians at demonstrable risk.
After witnessing a vacuum of leadership and an apparent fecklessness in dealing with crises abroad during Jimmy Carter's administration, some concluded the presidency was too big for one man.