Lakia McDuffie was sleeping in her fourth-floor apartment at Wingate Towers & Gardens in Southwest Washington when a light flooding into her bedroom woke her up. Then her windows rattled. She wondered what was going on. It was a plane landing at Reagan National Airport . Since that night in the spring, incoming airliners have regularly flown by her building at late hours, McDuffie said. Read full article > >

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D.C. communities all shook up as Reagan National-bound planes change their landing patterns

RICHMOND — Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) will reveal his plans next week to run for governor in 2013, according to well-placed Republican sources. Cuccinelli, a tea party hero who garnered national attention for suing the federal government over the new health-care law, expects to make a formal announcement after the legislative session in the spring, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could speak freely about his plans. Read full article > >

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Cuccinelli will announce governor’s run within days, GOP sources say

Pippa Middleton is no stranger to parties. Between managing an online magazine to promote her parents’ party planning business, to helping with the wedding reception this spring of her sister, Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, the royal-sister-in-law has had some valuable experience. At least the Penguin Group thinks so. Read full article > >

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Pippa lands $600,000 book deal

This article, written by Mohamed Irani, appeared in Comment Middle East on 08 November 2011 The Arab Spring has challenged the statute of tyranny in numerous countries in the Middle East. Countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have successfully ended years of despotism, while the people of Syria, Yemen and Bahrain are on the path to freedom.

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Arab Spring reignites the Green Movement

Sometime after making a star appearance at Halloween, bats in the Mid-Atlantic region will fly into caves for their annual winter hibernation. And if a disturbing trend holds, most won’t fly back out in the spring. Bats have been nearly wiped out in states including Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont by white-nose syndrome . A survey of six species at 42 sites in those states found that their numbers have declined by almost 90 percent. Read full article > >

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Study links fungus to bat-killing disease

The leader of the Islamist party which won Tunisia’s first free election appealed for calm in the town where the “Arab Spring” began, accusing forces linked to the ousted president of fanning violence there.

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Fresh Post-Vote Clashes in Cradle of Tunisia’s Revolt

Polls open in Tunisia in the first free election of the Arab Spring, nine months after the fall of former President Zinedine el Abidine Ben Ali.

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Landmark Tunisia vote under way

First Arab Spring elections.

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Tunisia Begins Historic Vote

STUART, Va. — For more than four years, Democratic leader Ward Armstrong has clashed with the Republican majority in Virginia’s House of Delegates with passionate floor speeches, pithy sound bites and occasional theatrics. Republicans had enough. They eliminated his largely rural Southside district when they redrew legislative maps in the spring. Read full article > >

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Va. House of Delegates race between Armstrong, Poindexter turns heated and costly

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s capture captivated the Arab world, but images of his bloody corpse were a reminder of the Arab Spring’s many still-unresolved conflicts.

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Qaddafi’s Bloody End Points to Difficulties Ahead

IN CAIRO — Beginning two decades ago, the United States government bankrolled an Egyptian think tank dedicated to economic reform. A different outcome is only now becoming visible in the fallout from Egypt’s Arab Spring . Formed with a $10 million endowment from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies gathered captains of industry in a small circle — with the president’s son Gamal Mubarak at the center. Over time, members of the group would assume top roles in Egypt’s ruling party and government. Read full article > >

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In Egypt, corruption cases had an American root

More than 450,000 school pupils in England persistently missed lessons in the autumn term of 2010 and the spring term of 2011, official statistics show.

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Thousands ‘persistently truant’

A Montgomery County Council resolution asking Congress to spend less on wars and redirect the funds to social programs has drawn the scrutiny of one of the county’s largest employers and other lawmakers — all while Virginia officials gleefully watch from afar. The nonbinding resolution, introduced by County Council President Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring), had gained a 5 to 4 majority on the council and was scheduled for a vote Tuesday. Read full article > >

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Withdrawn Montgomery measure asking Congress to spend less on wars scrutinized

Islamists are poised to do well in elections this month in Tunisia, the first of the Arab Spring countries to choose new representatives. But the nation’s prime minister has a message for the West: Don’t worry. “All Islamist parties are not the same,” Beji Caid Essebsi said in an interview Wednesday. Opinion polls indicate that an Islamist party, Ennahdha, could get the most votes in the Oct. 23 balloting, in which voters will choose an assembly to rewrite Tunisia’s constitution. Read full article > >

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Tunisian leader says Islamists won’t undo secular system

Islamists are poised to do well in elections this month in Tunisia, the first of the “Arab Spring” countries to choose new representatives . But the nation’s prime minister has a message for the West: Fear not. “All Islamist parties are not the same,” Beji Caid Essebsi said in an interview Wednesday. Indeed, American officials are cautiously optimistic about Tunisia’s chances of transitioning to democracy. The election features a dizzying array of over 100 parties, and is being overseen by an independent commission. Read full article > >

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Tunisian leader to the West: Do not fear Islamists