Pilgrimage and public relations Pope John Paul's historic visit to Israel is supposed to spread a message of peace, but Israeli and Palestinian spinmeisters are standing by to read in support of their causes. How a government corrupted by special interests is spawning a generation of medicated preschoolers.
Chinese leaders say no to a proposal for peace talks as equals.
For the 50 percent of Americans who own stock, no matter how small their holdings, the gains of the late 1990s have been nothing to sneeze at, and there has been barely a murmur of complaint about exorbitant executive pay. And among the half that has no stock at all, wages for most have been rising faster than inflation. Graef Crystal, for one. The one-time compensation consultant became so disgusted with executive greed that he now regularly hurls broadsides against his former clients. Other Fortune 500 companies feel they must compensate their executives at the peer group average, which gets lifted to obscene heights by the likes of Welch.