David R. Sands

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. Published August 25, 2008

Obama says he’s picked his VP

It's for him to know and us to find out. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published July 16, 2008

Seoul refutes shooting account

South Korean officials are sharply questioning the official account of the killing of a Seoul housewife walking along a beach at a North Korean tourist resort last week, but Pyongyang on Monday continued to block any proposal for a joint investigation of the incident. Published July 15, 2008

G-8 faces setbacks to U.N. goals

As the Group of Eight focuses on the slumping world economy at its summit that kicks off Monday in Hokkaido, Japan, reports say the prospects of achieving the ambitious U.N. Millennium Development Goals to eliminate global poverty by 2015 have dimmed. Published July 7, 2008