Some candid public diplomacy from U.S. defense chief
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that many Europeans were confused about NATO's security mission in Afghanistan and that they did not support the alliance effort.
- U.S. set to press Europe for help in conflict zones

The young Obama: A time of alienation and discovery
In more than three dozen interviews, friends, classmates and mentors from his high school and Occidental College recalled Barack Obama as being grounded, motivated and poised, someone who did not appear to be grappling with any drug problems and seemed only to dabble with marijuana.

Police hold second person in Société Générale scandal
Moussa Bakir was taken into custody around the same time that the police raided the offices of a Société Générale subsidiary.
- Société Générale travails draw attention to scandals elsewhere
- High-stakes trading and the high that follows
- Ex-Société Générale trader faces hearing that could bring pretrial detention

Israel trims Gaza electricity, prompting warning from U.S.
Israel began reducing the electricity flow into the Gaza Strip Thursday night, prompting a warning from the United States not to "worsen the humanitarian situation" of civilians in Gaza. Militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets at Isreal.

Kofi Annan sees progress in Kenya but says no political solution has been reached
Annan has spent the past week trying to nudge Kenya's government and top opposition leaders toward a compromise that could end the turmoil and violence that exploded last month after a disputed election.
- U.S. applies pressure in effort to restore peace in Kenya

Telecom operators move to lower data roaming rates
The move was seen as a pre-emptive measure to avert mandatory reductions by EU regulators, who have taken a harder line on what they call excessive charges.

WestLB to cut 1,500 jobs and receive €5 billion bailout
Under the rescue plan, WestLB's owners agreed to guarantee a new off-balance-sheet unit that will house about €23 billion of risky securities.
- Pining for the good times, finance wizards seek a way back
- IKB said to be examining break-up to speed sale

U.S. Army shifts focus to nation-building
The U.S. Army has drafted a new operations manual that makes the mission of stabilizing war-torn nations equal in importance to defeating adversaries on the battlefield.

G-7 finance leaders to try for global response to market turmoil
Officials arriving in Tokyo on Friday for weekend meetings showed a readiness to begin tackling problems together.
- U.S. urges swift breakthrough in trade talks

Sarkozy pledges aid, and more police, for French suburbs
President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday unveiled a broad plan aimed at tackling the problems besetting the nation's immigrant suburbs, vowing to send in 4,000 more police officers.

Amy Winehouse drama casts shadow on Sunday's Grammys
Amy Winehouse has been denied a visa to enter the United States, but Grammy producers plan to have her appear via satellite during the program.
- Music world braces for a low-wattage Grammy night
- Elections 2008: With shows like these, forget reruns
- John Fogerty earns first Grammy performing slot at age 62
- Jerry Lee Lewis, John Fogerty help Grammys mark 50 years of music's influence on social change
- Some nominees at this year's Grammy Awards might sound familiar — the rules allow it

Waging a tiny rebellion via shortwave radio
Listening to shortwave radio in 2008 is a willfully quixotic undertaking, John Vinocur writes.

Auction sales are booming in the midst of economic angst
Most areas of the market seem to be immune from the anxieties that have been taking hold of the outside world, as witnessed in Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary sales at Sotheby's and Christie's.
- Jasper Johns: Color in shades of gray
- At Old Master sales aesthetic perceptions begin to shift
- 2 very different categories of art attract bullish buyers
- Old Master drawings surge despite market turmoil
- A London gallery show highlights overlooked Old Masters
- Drouot raises Paris's profile in the auction world
- At Christie's Post-War and Contemporary sale, 3 world records, but danger looms

Mexican Robin Hood becomes drug dealers' patron saint
The image of Jesús Malverde, which is thought to offer protection from the law, can be found on items that include T-shirts and household cleaners.