By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years

The Pentagon's top general this week predicted that the U.S. pivot to Asia and increased support for alliances in the region will produce "friction" with China.

There is evidence that Syria's government forces used chemical weapons in several areas around Homs, Aleppo and even Damascus, British and French diplomats told the U.N. on Friday.
Dereck Chisora has regained his British boxing license a year after it was stripped following a brawl with fellow British heavyweight David Haye at a news conference.
It's not quite a "Law & Order" reunion, but S. Epatha Merkerson will be teaming up again with former co-star Jesse L. Martin.
The European Court of Justice is hearing a case that pits Spain's data protection agency against search engine giant Google over the thorny issue of "the right to be forgotten" online.

Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency president Robert Schuler says Schleck was given a 12-month backdated suspension to last year's Tour, where he tested positive for the diuretic Xipamide. He has denied any wrongdoing.

A Dutch finance minister took over Monday as head of the eurogroup, the group of the 17 eurozone finance ministers, giving him one of the top jobs in Europe's battle to end its financial crisis.

Members of the Senate have many reasons to oppose the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense, but criticism from LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) groups pushing their causes is not one of them. Senators should be more troubled by Mr. Hagel's opportunistic apology to his LGBT activist critics.

On Monday, President Obama nominated former Nebraska GOP senator Chuck Hagel to replace Leon Panetta as the next secretary of defense.

A critical confrontation from World War II plays out on Apple's multifunctional computer tablet through a strategy game featuring an interactive history lesson.
Peace is a condition of harmony between nations and their people with no threats of acts of war or terrorism.
A caroling group that for 35 years has performed the Irving Berlin classic "White Christmas" on Christmas Eve outside the New York City home where he lived has cancelled the tradition.

Azra Ajeti's fellow Gypsies have been buffeted by accusations of filing bogus asylum claims in the rich European Union, but she says there's nothing phony about her family's life of misery.
Kate Moore is the kind of woman who can kill, and who has killed, in-between being a mother to her two small sons and a wife to her rather nondescript husband, Dexter. Only one killing seems to haunt her, but she has been well trained to control her emotions.
A new poll finds that the large majority of Germans back the government's decision to phase out nuclear power and switch to renewable energies within a decade, despite rising electricity bills.