Transport workers shut down most trains Wednesday, testing the patience of Parisians forced to walk, bike or roller skate to work with a strike aimed at derailing President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to strip away labor protections he says hurt France's competitiveness. ...more

November 15, 2007

"He was really the great chronicler of his time, the champion of personal reportage. His vaunted life as a public figure may have actually impeded serious critical attention to much of his work. Presumably, it will be possible now." Author E.L. Doctorow "When you talk of Norman Mailer, right away I see van Gogh's work boots. Norman was a working man. Lord, did he work. From one end of his life to the other, he sat in solemn thought and left so much to read, so many pages with ideas that come at you like sparks spitting from a fire." Jimmy Breslin, author and Mailer's running mate in 1969 New York City mayor's race "He'd go anywhere and try anything. He was a courageous person, a great person, fully confident, with a great sense of optimism." Author Gay Talese "It is a giant of American literature who has disappeared." French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...more

November 11, 2007

"Freedom fries" are so yesterday - replaced now by lobster bisque and lamb at an elegant White House dinner, where President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday night officially opened a cozier chapter in U.S.-French relations. ...more

November 7, 2007

Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84. ...more

September 24, 2007

A Russian boy suffers head injuries after falling from a window while trying to elude police. A North African man slips from a window ledge and fractures his leg while fleeing officers. A Chinese woman lies in a coma after plunging from a window during a police check. ...more

September 23, 2007