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David R. Sands

David R. Sands

dsands@washingtontimes.com

David R. Sands covered numerous beats, including international trade, banking, politics and Capitol Hill, and spent eight years on the foreign desk as senior diplomatic correspondent. He has authored The Times' weekly chess column since 1993.

Articles by David R. Sands

FILE - This Feb. 11, 2011 file photo shows the Comcast logo on one of the company's vehicles, in Pittsburgh. Wall Street appears increasingly convinced Comcast’s $45.2 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable is dead.  telling indicator is the gap between the value Comcast’s all-stock bid assigned to each Time Warner Cable share and Time Warner Cable stock’s current price. That was at its widest point yet Thursday, April 23, 2015, a signal that investors are giving just 20 to 30 percent odds that the deal will go through, said Nomura analyst Adam Ilkowitz. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Comcast calling off mega-merger with Time Warner: report

One of the biggest media mergers of all time appears to be dead as cable giant Comcast Corp. has reportedly pulled the plug on a $45 billion takeover of rival Time Warner Cable Inc. in the face of rising resistance from the Obama administration to approve the deal.

April 23, 2015
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, smiles as he attends a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on April 11, 2013. The reporter has been detained in Iran for more than four months and was formally charged Dec. 6, 2014, after a daylong proceeding in a Tehran courtroom, the newspaper reported. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Iranian deal silent on fate of U.S. prisoners held by Tehran

While President Obama and his aides hailed the nuclear deal struck with Iran as a diplomatic coup, the accord was silent on a major bilateral irritant between Washington and Tehran — the fate of three American prisoners being held in Iranian jails.

April 2, 2015
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office during the President's Daily Economic Briefing on July 30, 2009. (White House)

Efforts to head off China development bank called a failure

U.S. efforts to head off a new China-sponsored development bank for the booming Asia region ended in abject failure this week as organizers announced nearly four dozen countries — including some of America's closest Asian and European allies — have applied to membership, amid growing criticism of how the Obama administration handled the entire episode.

April 1, 2015
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, left, shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Monday, March 30, 2015. Lew said he pressed Chinese leaders Monday over proposed curbs on the use of foreign security products by banks and other restrictions on access to China's technology market. (AP Photo/Parker Song, Pool)

U.S. allies rush to join China’s new bank as deadline looms

The rush to join the China's new development bank for Asia has become a stampede, with even longtime U.S. allies such as Georgia, South Korea, Australia and even Taiwan now saying they are ready to join despite the clear reservations of the Obama administration.

March 30, 2015
Sarkar-Rasmussen after 14…Re8.

DAVID R. SANDS: Busted bracket: U.S. women bounced from chess tournament

If you picked the American women, your bracket is already busted. March madness — the non-trademarked kind — is underway in Sochi, Russia, where FIDE is holding a knockout tournament for 64 of the world's best female players, including three former women's world chess champs.

March 24, 2015