Feb. 28 was definitely a bad day for JOHN ARBOGAST, a State Department lawyer who specializes in U.N. affairs. Running late, he stuffed a bunch of papers into one of his three bags and hurried to his car. Then he drove off, leaving the bags on the car roof, with predictable results. RONALD T. NELSON, a passing motorist, found Arbogast's briefcase, which held personal items. But Nelson tells TIME that when he returned it, Arbogast said that papers in the ...

Feb. 28 was definitely a bad day for JOHN ARBOGAST, a State Department lawyer who specializes in U.N. affairs. Running late, he stuffed a bunch of papers into one of his three bags and hurried to his car. Then he drove off, leaving the bags on the car roof, with predictable results. RONALD T. NELSON, a passing motorist, found Arbogast's briefcase, which held personal items. But Nelson tells TIME that when he returned it, Arbogast said that papers in the ...

In a much discussed speech at West Point two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that the U.S. should get out of the business of fighting the kinds of open-ended ground wars that it has waged for the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Any future Defense Secretary who advocated sending "a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,'" Gates said, quoting Douglas MacArthur. That ...

It was past midnight when the insurgents crossed into Afghanistan's Dur Baba district on the border with Pakistan and began their descent. In the valley below, relatives of the district governor, Hamisha Gul, a tall, handsome man in his late 40s, had gathered at his compound to celebrate the impending marriage of his cousin Nawshir. The wedding would take place the next day and the plans were festive. Men would dance the traditional Pashtun attan to the ...

"Names make news." Last week the following names made the following news: Frederick Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War for Aviation, received a telegram: "Only Elijah has gone farther and longer than the Question Mark ." Retelegraphed Mr. Davison: "Good. Let's trim Elijah."Arrived in the U. S. is British Photographer Richard N. Speaight. He will lecture and show an exhibit of his photographs and those of 39 famed European photographers. Photographer Speaight has made pictures of Edward of Wales when ...

A second witness in the Donovan probe is murdered In most ways it was a rather standard gangland slaying. The victim was driving his 1977 Lincoln Continental through The Bronx in New York City one evening last week when a passenger in the car suddenly placed a .38-cal. pistol to the back of his head and fired a single shot. The Continental swung out of control and smashed into a parked car. The assassin jumped out and climbed into a ...

On paper, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for United Nations ambassador has much in common with another boundary-breaking, African-American, Stanford-affiliated, female foreign policy expert with the same surname. But the similarities with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice end there. Susan Rice brings to the U.N. job a career devotion to African affairs and eight years of experience in the Clinton administration. Fast Facts: • Age 44, Rice is married to Canadian journalist Ian Cameron, executive producer of ABC's This Week ...

Denmark is not exactly a global power center, but the former leader of the small, tidy nation is about to become a major player on the world's diplomatic stage. Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over as NATO's Secretary-General on Aug. 1 after serving as Denmark's Prime Minister. The popular center-right leader takes the reins as the deteriorating war in Afghanistan poses a serious test for the 60-year-old NATO alliance, which is managing the conflict. Rasmussen, 56, spent eight ...

To hear federal officials tell it, one of the best solutions to America's foster-care crisis often boils down to one word: adoption. New figures released by the Department of Health and Human Services show that 46,000 foster-care children were legally adopted in 1999, a 28% increase from the previous year's total. Money is part of the picture. For every child adopted beyond the number of adoptions in the previous year, the feds pay the states a bonus of $4,000, to ...

Truth, as they say, is the first casualty of war. Yet even by those measures, the three-month Libyan conflict has brought a wealth of rumors. Just five days after the revolt erupted in Benghazi, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters that Gaddafi was headed to Venezuela. His remarks sparked a media frenzy, with journalists converging on Caracas to await Gaddafi's arrival in exile. Three days later, on Feb. 24, commodities traders said that oil and gold prices ...