On a triumphant tour of Europe just days after overseeing the rescue of 33 trapped miners from their 70-day ordeal, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera was shown the London bunker where Winston Churchill directed the fight against Hitler in World War II. He didn't waste the symbolism. "Many people thought the rescue was impossible," said an exuberant Piñera after having shown Churchillian determination during the rescue effort. "But we made a commitment to look for the miners as if they were ...

FIFA controversially awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. But the tiny Gulf state's bid was just another step in its ambitious push to become a global hub. In the capital Doha with only a morning to spare? Here are the essentials. ONE HOUR Hail a taxi and head toward Doha's seafront centerpiece: the Museum of Islamic Art, tel: 4422 4444. This I.M. Pei — designed cluster of cubes houses a collection spanning more than a ...

Will Smith plots his strategy for world domination from the head of the kingly wooden dining table in his sweeping Calabasas, Calif., home. "We call it Global Willing," says Smith of his travel itinerary to warm up the globe for his next film, I Am Legend, in which he plays the only survivor of a man-made plague that has wiped out humanity. "We're going to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Korea ..." It's the morning after Thanksgiving, and Smith, 39, is sleepy-eyed ...

What would you pay to have lunch with the richest man in the world? For me and Mohnish Pabrai — a friend who, like me, runs a U.S.-based investment fund — the answer is $650,100. That's how much we forked out for the privilege of dining with Warren Buffett on June 25. It was worth every dime. Buffett is the most successful investor in history, yet he has reached that pinnacle while also being supremely ethical. As remarkable ...

I gave the President my book. He raised an eyebrow. "Who wrote this for ya, Geldof?" he said without looking up from the cover. Very dry. "Who will you get to read it for you, Mr. President?" I replied. No response. The Most Powerful Man in the World studied the front cover. Geldof in Africa — " 'The international best seller.' You write that bit yourself?" "That's right. It's called marketing. Something you obviously have no clue about or ...

The twin-engine DC-3 lifted from the runway just after 5 p.m. and headed out over the Pacific for Hawaii. Barely an hour out, the World War II-vintage ship developed what sounded like engine trouble, and returned to San Francisco's International Airport for a thorough checkup. No problem was found, and at 11:30 p.m. it set out again. At 3:40 a.m., 525 miles out, there was trouble once more. The pilot radioed a passing airliner that loss of oil was forcing ...

The big reveal has been revealed: Pottermore is ... an interactive thingy. A website, with assorted digital services. Harry Potter fans can enter and be sorted by the Hat and wanded by Ollivander. We can look at new images from the books As for the rest of it ... I'll admit it, it makes me a little melancholy, just as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter made me melancholy. There are two things that separate ...

Scientists have made lots of projections over the past few years about how warming temperatures and a changing climate will affect the planet. Real-world measurements have confirmed at least some of them: sea level is clearly rising, for instance, and the ice that covers the Arctic Ocean is shrinking and thinning — in the latter case, faster than anyone had expected just a few years ago. Other measurements are a lot more difficult, though. It's reasonable to expect, ...

Re "Why they leave France" [April 16]: There is a typically French disease that prompts citizens to overcriticize the country. Those judgments are, most of the time, merciless and exaggerated. I've traveled a lot, and I can tell you that people in the rest of the world are able to be supportive of their own country without being stupidly patriotic. You can certainly find thousands of faults with France, but there are still a million reasons to stay here, one ...

There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." That confession of faith, the shahada, is professed by all Muslims, be they the 700 million Sunnis who dominate the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia or the 90 million Shi'ites who rule Iran and form majorities in Lebanon, Bahrain and Iraq. To the shahada, however, the Shi'ites add, "And Ali is the Friend of God." Those additional words in praise of Ali, whom the Shi'ites passionately ...