David R. Sands

12-term Democrat faces tough fight in Pennsylvania

Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski is bucking the national trend this year - not exactly welcome news for his campaign.

September 9, 2008

Democrats tentatively back mortgage bailout

Key Democratic lawmakers cautiously welcomed the Bush administration's takeover plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but made it clear Monday that the move was meant to save the two mortgage giants, not bury them.

September 8, 2008

GOP fares best without lawyers

When the Republican Party formally nominates its presidential and vice-presidential candidates Thursday, it will achieve something the Democrats have managed to do only twice since the two parties began contesting elections in 1856 - keep a lawyer off the ticket.

September 4, 2008

Global prices unfazed by milder Gustav

World oil prices fell Monday as energy traders concluded that Hurricane Gustav is unlikely to pack anything like the one-two punch to the nation's oil and gas infrastructure delivered by Katrina and Rita in 2005.

September 2, 2008

Palin’s rise a model for maverick politicians

Right from the start of her political career, Sarah Palin has shown a willingness to take on the powers that be in her home state of Alaska.

August 30, 2008

Times appoints digital editor

Jeffrey Birnbaum, a veteran Washington journalist, TV commentator and award-winning author, has been named managing editor of The Washington Times' digital media operations, Executive Editor John Solomon announced.

August 25, 2008

Obama says he’s picked his VP

It's for him to know and us to find out.

August 22, 2008

McCain erases Obama’s edge with swing voters

Sen. John McCain is having a very good summer, as a trio of new polls show the Republican presidential candidate pulling even with or slightly ahead of rival Sen. Barack Obama and erasing what had been the Democrat's clear edge on appealing to swing voters and dealing with the economy.

August 21, 2008

Democrats eye Dole’s seat as foe cuts gap to 6 points

Time was, Democrats in Southern states such as North Carolina were tied to the national party the way a boat is tied to its anchor, holding them back when it wasn't halting their progress completely.

August 19, 2008

Caucasus ally hears mixed U.S. signals

Georgia is routinely described as Washington's friend in the Caucasus region, but Georgia and the United States have found it hard to coordinate policies and public statements as regional tensions grew and led to the outbreak of hostilities nearly a week ago.

August 14, 2008

Blocked network blames U.S.

The federal agency that oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Asia shares at least some of the blame for the problems preventing a private Chinese-language television network from broadcasting into mainland China, officials from the New York-based New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) contend.

August 11, 2008

Border attack draws focus on Uighurs

An attack Monday that Chinese authorities called the deadliest terrorist act in more than a decade focused an international spotlight on China's Muslim Uighur minority.

August 5, 2008

Colombian DM basks in hostage release

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos offered a first-hand account Friday of the stunning operation earlier this month that freed three Americans and 12 other hostages held for years by left-wing guerrillas.

July 26, 2008

Iraq barred from Beijing games

Iraq's Olympic athletes have been barred from the Beijing Summer Games next month after the International Olympic Committee on Thursday upheld a ban on the team's participation, citing political interference from the government in Baghdad.

July 25, 2008

Israel-Syria talks hindered

An Israeli-Syrian peace deal could be signed by the end of this year, but that requires Bush administration involvement that has not been forthcoming, the head of a high-profile Syrian delegation visiting Washington said Thursday.

July 25, 2008

Syrian visitors’ meeting scrapped

In an abrupt about-face, the State Department on Wednesday scrubbed plans to meet with a visiting delegation from Syria, a meeting that could have signaled an easing of tense U.S. relations with Damascus.

July 24, 2008

Serb minority welcomed by government

The government of Kosovo is reaching out to the country's minority Serbian population and will not allow the fledgling nation to break down along ethnic lines, President Fatmir Sejdiu said at the end of a Washington visit Tuesday.

July 23, 2008

Karadzic: Balkan war-crimes suspect captured

Former Bosnian-Serb military leader Radovan Karadzic, accused of genocide in the Balkan wars of the mid-1990s, was captured after more than a dozen years on the run, Serbian officials announced Monday evening.

July 22, 2008

Officials defend Tibet policy, tout new talks

A delegation of top Chinese officials and scholars on Tibet on Thursday defended Beijing's handling of anti-government riots earlier this year and denied charges by followers of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader, that talks to end the crisis have broken down.

July 18, 2008

Irish critic declares EU reform treaty ‘dead’

The European Union's massive reform treaty is "dead" and will not be revived until leaders of the 27-nation bloc learn to trust their own voters, according to Declan Ganley, the businessman widely credited with engineering Ireland's stunning rejection of the treaty in a national vote last month.

July 16, 2008