David R. Sands

Iran says Israeli embassies could be targeted after Syria consulate attack

Iran stepped up its threats to avenge a suspected Israeli airstrike last week that killed a number of senior commanders, warning Sunday that Israeli diplomatic posts around the world are now "legitimate" targets for a retaliatory attack.

April 7, 2024

Biden tells Netanyahu humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘unacceptable’

President Biden delivered a blunt message Thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: America's patience with its ally's campaign against Hamas terrorists in Gaza is not infinite.

April 4, 2024

Candidates you can get excited about this election year

There are multiple intriguing storylines to pursue as the FIDE Candidates and Women's Candidates tournaments start their clocks this week in Toronto -- the first time the events staged to pick the next challenger for the open and women's world titles will be held in North America.

April 2, 2024

Singapore sends team to help probe Baltimore bridge disaster; crew dropped anchor just before impact

Singapore maritime officials have dispatched investigators to Baltimore to assist in the probe of a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that lost power and crashed into the port's Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a statement.

March 26, 2024

Lisa Lane, trailblazer for U.S. women’s chess and Sports Illustrated cover girl, dies at 90

Her career was as impressive as it was improbable. Lisa Lane, who passed away Feb. 28 at the age of 90, was a fierce competitor at the chessboard, a two-time U.S. women's champion in 1959 and 1966 and a media sensation in an age when her sex, her drive to succeed and even her attractiveness sometimes seemed to work against her in a way that never burdened her male rivals.

March 26, 2024

Netanyahu recalls delegation to Washington after U.S. lets U.N. cease-fire measure pass

The rift between Israel and the United States widened dramatically Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off a trip by a top-level delegation to Washington to protest the U.S. failure to block a new U.N. Security Resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war.

March 25, 2024

OK, it’s a ‘war’: Russia upgrades ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine

The Kremlin is conceding for the first time that its invasion of Ukraine launched more than two years ago and which has generated hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides is, in fact, a "war."

March 22, 2024

A divided world makes for a divided chess landscape

The good news: The Aeroflot Open, long one of the world's best and strongest annual Swiss tournaments, was held again in Moscow this month after a four-year, COVID-linked hiatus. The less-good news: The field for the 2024 tournament reflected the growing global divisions elsewhere, as a kind of Iron Curtain-lite descends upon the chess world.

March 19, 2024

Putin claims landslide win in election West dismisses as unfair, undemocratic

In an election without suspense and without genuine competition, Vladimir Putin cruised Sunday to another six-year term as president of Russia, scoring an overwhelming victory after his most serious rivals were either sidelined, exiled or dead.

March 17, 2024

Netanyahu denounces Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s call for elections as rift deepens with Dems

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several key Democrats traded broadsides Sunday in a rhetorical battle over the course of the war in Gaza.

March 17, 2024

Key U.S. base in question as Niger’s junta repudiates military ties

One of the Pentagon's key surveillance bases in sub-Saharan Africa faces an uncertain future after Niger's military junta said this weekend that the American military presence is no longer welcome.

March 17, 2024

Protesters adopt tactic of late Navalny to register protest to Putin reelection

Late opposition leader Alexei Navalny is playing a role Sunday as Russians complete three days of voting.

March 17, 2024

Chess: ‘Pragg’ impresses in Prague ahead of Candidates’ battles

The men's and women's Candidates tournaments -- after a few dicey visa issues for the Russian and Indian entrants -- are set to begin less than a month from today in Toronto. At stake when the clocks start April 3 are the rights to challenge Chinese world champion Ding Liren and Chinese women's world champ Ju Wenjun later this year.

March 12, 2024

Gligoric Trophy winners display the sporting side of chess

FIDE, the international chess federation, has created the Svetozar Gligoric Prize in honor of the late, great Yugoslavian grandmaster, awarded annually to the player who "who displays exemplary behavior promoting the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess." It's a useful corrective to the stereotype that chess is a game played by unhinged personalities who would sell their mother for a promising kingside attack.

March 5, 2024

Cuba accuses U.S. of inventing spy threat with ex-envoy’s guilty plea

Cuba's foreign minister is accusing the U.S. government of manufacturing an espionage threat in order to justify higher intelligence budgets and "new aggressive steps" against other countries -- just hours after a retired U.S. diplomat agreed to plead guilty of spying for Havana over a long career in public and private service.

March 1, 2024

Hamas, Israel say Biden out of touch with premature cease-fire talk

President Biden has finally managed to unite Israel and Hamas on one point -- both sides say Mr. Biden's prediction of an imminent cease-fire and prisoner-swap deal is wildly optimistic and out of touch with the realities on the ground.

February 27, 2024

In the world of team chess, the East is a beast

As the politicians will tell you this election year, support is nice, but it's turnout that's critical. By that score, this year's U.S. Amateur Team East championship, held again in its familiar Parsippany, New Jersey, home, surpassed even its own high standards.

February 27, 2024