In her May 25 "class day" speech to graduating seniors at Harvard, comedian Amy Poehler joked that postcollege life is like "a heist that requires good drivers, an explosives expert, a hot girl who doubles as a master of disguise." The line got some chuckles, but it also struck a nerve. For college grads, nabbing a good job in this economy may seem as far-fetched as pulling off a successful bank robbery. A recent study from Rutgers University analyzing data ...

A Liberal Member of Parliament from New Brunswick confessed to his fellow Canadian legislators last week that he had been a smuggler all his life—and intended to keep on being one. Said A. Wesley Stuart, a lean, little-known backbencher for six years: "There is a very unfair difference between the prices paid in the U.S. and. . . in Canada. . . I live on the bank of the St. Croix River and you can throw a stone across to-the ...

President Obama huddled with top military, foreign policy and national security advisers Wednesday as part of an ongoing review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The meeting, the fifth such gathering in recent weeks, came as the administration continued to weigh a call for as many as 40,000 additional troops in Afghanistan from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in that country. McChrystal has said the extra manpower is necessary to implement an effective counterinsurgency strategy. ...

World leaders converge Tuesday in New York to focus on climate change, with the clock ticking down toward a summit this year in Denmark, where a global climate change pact is to be signed. Negotiations for the global pact have stalled, and Tuesday's gathering is aimed at jump-starting those talks. Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Rwandan President Paul Kagame are among ...

Democrats are getting nervous about the way that events have been unfolding this summer. PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Democrats are getting nervous about the way that events have been unfolding this summer. Although few Democratic officials have concluded that it's time to start panicking, there are disturbing political trends developing right at the time that members are starting to think seriously about the midterm elections. The outlines of a significant political problem have emerged: the possibility that ...

As expected, Japan's parliament elected Yukio Hatoyama as the country's new prime minister on Wednesday. The vote by the lower house of the parliament was virtually assured. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a landslide election last month, and controls 308 of the lower chamber's 480 seats. Earlier, defeated prime minister Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned. Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had governed the country for nearly half a century. Handed a sweeping mandate ...

Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister Taro Aso resigned early Wednesday, setting the stage for Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama to take over the reins of government. Last month, Japanese voters swept Aso's party -- which had governed Japan for nearly 50 years -- from power in the wake of Japan's worst recession since World War II. But voters -- skeptical, pessimistic and impatient -- are unlikely to give the DPJ, which has never held office, much time to ...

Police officers and soldiers held captive by the leftist guerrilla group known as FARC pleaded to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to negotiate their release in a series of nine proof-of-life videos released Monday. Pyongyang limited access to the North Korean border city of Kaesong in December as relations worsened between the nations. The decision restricted traffic to and from a jointly run industrial complex there. Kaesong is also a popular tourist destination. The loosening of border controls means workers and ...

Cross-border traffic between North and South Korea returned to normal Tuesday, ending eight months of restrictions imposed by the North, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Pyongyang limited access to the North Korean border city of Kaesong in December as relations worsened between the nations. The decision restricted traffic to and from a jointly run industrial complex there. Kaesong is also a popular tourist destination. The loosening of border controls means workers and raw materials will be able to cross ...

Lines at polling places spilled out into Tokyo streets Sunday as Japanese citizens showed up in droves to vote in a parliamentary election that is expected to yield a historic shift in political power. With fours hours left until polls closed, 41 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots. While the number is slightly lower than the last elections in 2005, absentee ballots were 162 percent higher this time round, officials said. Combined, the overall turnout could reach near-record numbers. ...