Two-Minute Bio: Erik Prince

Though the reclusive Erik Prince stepped down as CEO of the private security company Blackwater in March, some explosive new headlines have put him back in the spotlight. According to a report in The Nation, an ex-Blackwater employee has alleged in federal testimony that Prince may have been involved in the murder of unnamed individuals assisting a federal investigation into Blackwater’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan

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Football: Real Madrid say spending over

Xabi Alonso completed his medical at Real Madrid on Wednesday as club director general Jorge Valdano said their close season transfer spending spree was over. Liverpool and Real have agreed a fee believed to be in the region of $50 million for the Spanish international, who has also agreed personal terms with the Madrid giants

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Afghan candidate’s bicycle campaign for president

Every morning, Sangin Mohammed Rahmani says goodbye to his wife, gets on his bicycle, and sets out alone on a bumpy, unpaved Kabul road that he hopes will lead him to the presidency. “This is going to be my vehicle to success,” he says, patting his bicycle, as he pushes it down a rutted, garbage-strewn street. “With my bicycle and my mobile phone, I can solve all the problems of the people.” In a crowded field of 41 Afghan men and women running for president in upcoming August 20th elections, Rahmani stands out because of his one-man, bicycle-borne campaign to become commander-in-chief

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Clean Energy: U.S. Still Lags in Research and Development

When Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon 40 years ago, it was a triumph of American scientific skill. It was also the result of the government’s willingness to spend over $125 billion, in today’s dollars, to take the country to the moon. The need to remake our energy economy and to replace fossil fuels with renewables like wind and solar is often referred to as the new Apollo Project, a challenge to our scientists — and to the federal checkbook — that will be even greater than the moon race

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Blair to be called before UK inquiry to Iraq war

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be called before an inquiry into the country’s role in the Iraq war, its chairman said during the opening Thursday. John Chilcot told media he would not “offer a list of witnesses” but that “key decision-makers in the key phases of the Iraq affair” would be called. “You can work out for yourself who some of them will be, but apart from the former prime minister [Tony Blair] — who it’s obvious we must see — I don’t want to give a longer list today.” Blair’s appearance before the inquiry, whenever it happens, will be of huge interest to the British public and media

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TIME’s Exclusive Interview with President Obama

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here’s the full transcript. TIME: I thought I’d talk to you a little bit about just sort of the whole degree to which this is really a test of leadership, health care is, as much as anything

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