When Paula Tuffin and her family moved to Essex Fells, N.J., a village of huge homes and hilly landscapes, they were unbothered by the fact that they were the only black folks for miles around. But soon Tuffin, a divorce mediator, began to worry. Her children Drew, 7, and Sarah, 4, were well accepted by their white friends, but they were barely being exposed to the black community at all. Thus Tuffin got together with 40 other black mothers, many ...

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad used his third televised appearance in the three months since anti-regime protests first erupted to deliver a monotonous, rambling and technocratic speech to a handpicked audience at Damascus University on Monday — and while the autocratic leader promised a national dialogue, the offer is unlikely to damper the violent dissent rocking his country. There was little new in his more than hour-long address. In many ways, it was basically a repeat of his first speech before Parliament on March 30,

President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday the deficit appears on track to hit $1 trillion soon. Speaking to reporters after meeting with top economic aides, Mr. Obama said: "Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on." — Associated Press, Jan. 6 Actually, the deficit is on track to hit $1.2 trillion this year, but what's $200 billion among friends? Seriously, what is it? To the average person, a number ...

In 1944 a 15-year-old boy was taken from his home in Sighet, Hungary, and sent to a Nazi death camp. This spring, after a joint resolution of Congress, President Reagan will present him with a gold medal at the White House "in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and outstanding contributions to world literature and human rights." There can be no longer journey than the one Elie Wiesel, 56, has taken from a cell in Auschwitz to the corridors of Washington. ...

The streets of central Kabul's bustling open-air Mandavi market was cleared of shopkeepers and shoppers early this afternoon after Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a large police station on the area's main street. The three attackers killed five civilians, three policemen and an intelligence officer when they breached the gate of the compound and opened fire, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement, according to Afghan news sources agencies. The insurgents were killed when the police ...

Two weeks after Claudia Losch of West Germany won a 1984 Olympic gold medal with a shot put of 67 ft. 2 1/4 in., Natalia Lisovskaya took that event at the Soviet bloc's boycott-inspired Friendship Games with a throw almost 5 ft. longer. Barred by politics in 1984 from a chance at world sport's most enduring honor, Lisovskaya began training at Moscow's Brothers Znamensky Sports School for Seoul in 1988. In 1980, when Greg Louganis was favored to become the ...

Can the U.N. play a proactive role in the economic crisis we are witnessing right now? Sekari Vaidy SUNNYVALE, CALIF. The goal of the U.N. is to promote harmonious development throughout the world. We welcome industrialized countries' stimulus packages, but at the same time they should never lose sight of the plight of billions of other people, the poorest of the poor. What can individuals do to halt the global climate crisis? Carl Sack, VANCOUVER Climate change is the defining ...

There was little possibility that the frail Syrian woman in her 70s could make the arduous, illegal trek across the steep, mountainous territory separating Syria from Turkey, but she nonetheless stood with a few young men who were hiding on the Syrian side, waiting for a Turkish soldier to move away from an opening in the coiled razor wire before dashing through it. After about a half an hour, she gave up. "My daughter," she told me, "can ...

At 10 past 8 Monday evening, Michele Bachmann decided to separate herself from the six guys next to her on the stage by telling John King of CNN why she had come to St. Anselm College. It was the fifth anniversary of the day a young man from New Hampshire was killed in Afghanistan, but she made no mention of that. "John ... I just want to make an announcement," she said as the first big TV ...

Question: "Under what international law do we have a right to attempt to destabilize the constitutionally elected government of another country?" Answer: "l am not going to pass judgment on whether it is permitted or authorized under international law. It is a recognized fact that historically as well as presently, such actions are taken in the best interest of the countries involved." That blunt response by President Gerald Ford at his press conference last week was either remarkably ...