China executes executive

This is taking termination to a whole new level. I have to believe there will be more to follow. In the meantime, a work improvement plan for other executives should include driving to the store on their tires, eat the contaminated food; and brush their teeth with the tainted toothbrush for 60 days. If they survive that period, they should be sent to work for Cheney as his day workers.

Ageing European Workforce, Working longer

"A healthier elderly population is also one that can be active for longer and make a continuing contribution to economic growth. Thus, the second element of making an ageing Europe work is just that – extending working lives.

For politicians, it will be hard to sell later retirement to a generation that has watched parents put their feet up for good at 50. But, together with significantly more saving before retirement, this is inescapable. To make this possible, so, too, are fundamental changes to the jobs market, workplace culture, and attitudes to older people."

Our British counterparts are facing similar challenges. We all will be working until we are into our 70s. Great.

The veil has fallen from French politics

"Transparency," in this context, is the notion that a person's innermost soul is revealed in each and every one of his or her acts. To believe in that kind of transparency is naïve, the French believe; it's more realistic to recognize that human behavior is murky and messy and, in the case of politicians in particular, often highly compartmentalized. So it's pointless to make sweeping judgments about a person's political valor by his or her private life - and it's none of the public's business, anyway."

I don't know about you, but when it comes to a politician's love life, less is better.

BTW, why is Judith Warner still employed?

On the road with Kristof

Kristof is a real journalist. He is pursing a non-sexy story. Leana Wen and Will Okun provide their views.

Kristof: Congo no simple answers

"The U.N. World Food Program and a tiny number of aid groups are struggling to keep people alive. The effort is led by groups of heroic Catholic nuns and priests, supported by the aid group Caritas.

This war staggers on in part because the suffering here hasn’t registered on the international conscience, and because it has been allowed to fester and continue. Barack Obama and Sam Brownback are among the few prominent American politicians who have focused on the war here.

There’s no simple solution to the conflict, but we can lean on Rwanda to stop supporting its proxy force in eastern Congo, and also to work harder to repatriate Hutus who have destabilized Congo since they fled here after the genocide in 1994. We can push a peace process. We can support the U.N. peacekeepers. We can help with the reform and training of Congo’s security forces. And a six-hour visit by Condi Rice would help put the crisis on the map".