Fear and heroism aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 after attempted bombing

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 27, 2009

ANN ARBOR, MICH. — First came an alarming popping sound, followed by silence, and then the unmistakable smell of smoke. Passengers began to shout and scream on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam.
“People were just running, and they were scared,” said Veena Saigal, who turned [...]

Palin on the Rise; Obama is Old News

By Jack Kelly
I’m sure a 6-year-old with a crayon could do something not unlike that,” snarked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Tuesday.
The object of Mr. Gibbs’ scorn was Gallup’s tracking poll for the day before, which showed only 47 percent of respondents approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing, with 46 percent [...]

Five questions for Obama on Afghan war

By Gordon M. Goldstein
New York (CNN) — As a candidate and president, Barack Obama has distinguished himself as one of the most dynamic and enthralling orators in decades of American politics.
On issues ranging from race to health care to engagement with the Muslim world, he has repeatedly applied his rare gifts to both galvanize supporters [...]

U.S. workers can’t hide from competition

Editor’s note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, a nationally syndicated columnist and a regular contributor to CNN.com. Read his column here
San Diego, California (CNN) — When I speak to college students, I always push two messages: If you work hard, take risks, leave your comfort zone [...]

Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage

When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it’s not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.
There were only a few hours left before Air Force One was scheduled to depart [...]

Obama’s Vendetta Against Bush

By Jack Kelly
From the standpoint of politics, this decision makes no sense. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Monday, only 34 percent of Americans support the decision to try the al-Qaida leaders in a federal district court. Sixty-four percent said they should be tried by a military commission, as the Bush administration planned [...]

A bipartisan push is needed to tame ballooning national debt

Editor’s note: Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, is a United States senator and former two-term governor of Indiana.
(CNN) — America’s national debt cannot grow beyond a limit imposed by Congress known as the “debt ceiling.”
In 1919, just after World War I, the limit on U.S. borrowing was $43 billion.
By 2001, it had grown to $5.9 trillion.
Today, [...]

Dad in ‘balloon boy’ case turns himself in

(CNN) — Authorities in Colorado have filed charges against the parents in last month’s notorious “balloon boy” case, and the pair’s lawyers say the two are expected to plead guilty on Friday.
The Larimer County district attorney’s office Thursday said Richard Heene has been charged with one count of attempting to influence a public servant, a [...]

U.S. is losing Afghan war on two fronts

Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst and a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington and at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. His most recent book is “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader.”
(CNN) — We are losing in Afghanistan, on two [...]

2,000 at U.S. University Report Swine Flu Symptoms

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Some 2,000 students at Washington State University have reported symptoms of swine flu, university officials said, in one of the largest reported outbreaks of the virus on a US college campus.
Washington state’s Whitman County, where the school is located said that tests at a state laboratory late last week “confirmed that [...]