Location, in real estate and sometimes in politics, is everything. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lives in a very different geopolitical neighborhood from his erstwhile, but now-ousted counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as the teetering leaders of Libya and Yemen. It's a tumultuous patch of the Middle East, populated by an uneasy mix of religious and ethnic groups, frequently in turmoil. Fear of the chaos and instability his ouster might unleash is Assad's greatest advantage as ...

Not for many years has a Christmas season begun with so many tidings of spreading discomfort and lack of joy about the U.S. economy. Already racked by a devastating double-digit inflation, the nation is now also plunging deeper into a recession that seems sure to be the longest and could be the most severe since World War II. Consumers who a few weeks ago worried mostly about rising prices now fear for their jobs and incomes as well. For many ...

The show runs against The Wonderful World of Disney in the 7:30 slot on Sunday night, and there is something wackily inspired about this amusing little coincidence that the CBS programmers have arranged. Just standing there on her runway, half-clad in one of the twelve to 15 costumes Cher Sarkesian Bono wears out every broadcast hour, she inspires more —and infinitely richer—fantasies than all the plastics of Disneyland. Indeed, it is barely possible that Cher in Cher may —with a ...

Ever since the end of the cold War, the U.S. has been the dominant and unrivaled power in the Middle East. That situation is changing, not because another great power is entering the region but because the Arabs are becoming more independent, unlikely to ally themselves submissively to any outside patron. Egypt's decision to establish relations with Iran and Hamas is one part of this trend. Washington cannot change it, nor should it try. This is the ...

Princess Diana took to the world stage in a blaze of white taffeta, as a 19-year-old bride trailed by two tiny attendants. The trumpets that blared on the morning of her wedding on July 29, 1981 did more than mark her arrival at St. Pauls Cathedral: they signaled her uneasy entry into a limelight she would never escape — and, some say, that ultimately killed her. In the days following her 1997 car crash in Paris, as ...

Belgium has notched up some eclectic world records over the past year. Last April, the heaviest cheese sculpture — made with 2,330 lb. of Gouda — was carved in the coastal resort of Ostend. In July, a barman in the northern town of Hamme spent a record 102 straight hours serving beer in his caf. And in August, in Ostend again, 2,875 people broke the record for group Hula-Hooping. However, this week saw what is probably ...

It's not quite World War III, but tension over Greece's debt crisis has ignited a battle of words between Athens and Berlin, reopening old wounds and raising the specter of Nazism. As Greece struggles to avoid default, and Germans debate whether to bail out their spendthrift neighbor, the question of what, if anything, Germany owes Greece for the past has become a topic of bitter debate and angry mutterings in the southern European nation. The row began ...

Chongqing. Guangzhou. Wuhan. If any business claims to be a global player over the next 20 years but has no eye on these emerging Chinese cities, short its stock. According to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute, "Urban World: Mapping the Economic Power of Cities," nine of the 10 urban areas that will experience the highest GDP growth from 2007 to 2025 are in China. Out of the top 25 growth cities, an astonishing 21 are in the ...

Once there was a house-organ named System. The Shaw-Walker Furniture Co. of Chicago handed it around to the employes. Outsiders liked it so well that Arch Wilkinson Shaw found it would make money. He changed its name to System, The Magazine of Business, broadened its appeal, became Publisher Shaw. Circulalation increased still more. So Publisher Shaw made two magazines of it, called one System, the other The Magazine of Business. Both were monthlies. The first concerned itself with Office Management, ...

As the U.S. Open gets under way Monday in New York City, the state of U.S. tennis couldn't be much worse. Earlier this month, for the first time since computerized world rankings began in 1973, no American man was ranked in the top 10 — though Andy Roddick has since slipped back into the ninth spot, as of Aug. 29. There are only four Americans among the 32 seeded players at the U.S. Open, and the ...