It was impossible to pinpoint the exact moment of the transformation, but by the time Russian President Dmitri Medvedev left the podium after his first big press conference on Wednesday, he had morphed into a lame duck. The problem was not so much that he failed to state his plans for re-election next year, but, as some members of his own circle now admit, the President seemed to be courting a constituency of just one man — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will alone decide whether Medvedev stays or goes
Tag Archives: moment
Malaysia: The Quads
Quintuplets were expected, quadruplets appeared. That was the story in London last week when government and colonial leaders signed the birth certificate of a new British Commonwealth nation.
Behind the scenes with Reese Witherspoon
She refuses to dwell on the past and accepts that she can’t control the future. For Reese Witherspoon, it’s all about living in the moment.
Dad in Japan custody battle thought wife would take kids
On February 12, 2009, Christopher Savoie received an e-mail from his ex-wife that he had feared would come. About a month after their bitter divorce, in which Noriko Savoie promised as part of the agreement she wouldn’t return to Japan with their children to live, she threatened to do just that.
Whip It: Drew Barrymore, Director and Roller Derby Girl
It’s been well established that Drew Barrymore is both adorable and a free spirit. Who else could show up to the Toronto premiere of her first directorial effort, the roller derby-themed film Whip It, with a hair-do that looked like something put together by a bored Jolie-Pitt child during an unsupervised hour at the chateau?
Tiny T. rex fossil discovery startles scientists
A pint-sized version of the Tyrannosaurus rex, with similarly powerful legs, razor-sharp teeth and tiny arms, roamed China some 125 million years ago, said scientists who remain startled by the discovery. The predator, nicknamed Raptorex, lived about 60 million years before the T.
Federer to meet Del Potro in U.S. Open final
Roger Federer has earned another Grand Slam finals appearance after beating Novak Djokovic in the U.S.
Hamilton edges Sutil to snatch pole at Monza
Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren Mercedes pole position in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with a dramatic late lap to beat Force India’s Adrian Sutil by just two-tenths of a second on Saturday. Defending world champion Hamilton took the 15th pole of his career after he clocked a last-gasp time of one minute and 24.066 seconds ahead of Sutil, who was 0.195secs behind.
Pakistan: Taliban spokesman, leader arrested
A Taliban spokesman and leader were arrested in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley, a military official said. Eight years ago, al Qaeda terrorists hijacked airplanes to crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — twin symbols of America’s financial and military might.
Pakistan Military Not Capitalizing on Taliban Disarray
A week after a CIA drone strike is believed to have killed Baitullah Mehsud, you’d think the Pakistan military would be rushing to capitalize on the apparent disarray in the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban as rivals fight to succeed him. But rather than mount an offensive in the strongholds of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in South Waziristan — the sort of campaign promised by President Asif Ali Zardari back in May — Pakistan’s generals seem content to let the CIA’s drones do most of the fighting. Indeed, some officials in Islamabad say Mehsud’s death may open the way for a truce with the TTP, if his successor agrees to stop fighting the Pakistani state and instead turns their weapons on Western forces in Afghanistan