What We’re Reading

Preeti Aroon

• Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition. The official dictionary of the Associated Press, this book is the authoritative source on how to spell words and is a must-have for copy editors such as myself. I purchased my own personal edition this weekend and learned that peekaboo is not hyphenated (don’t ask why I had to look up that word—it’s complicated).

Henry Bowles

• “It’s Iran’s Turn to Make a Move” by Manfred Ertel and Gerhard Spörl. After eight weeks in office, the U.N.’s new secretary general talks with Der Spiegel about the North Korean nuclear deal, Ahmadinejad’s sincerity, and Security Council reform.

Travis Daub 

• How to Keep America Competitive, by Bill Gates in the Washington Post, February 25. Gates’ answer is not, surprisingly, for everyone to buy Microsoft products.

Blake Hounshell

• Seymour Hersh is back with another big, breathless piece in the March 5 issue of the New Yorker. Hersh’s anonymous sources tell him that the United States, led by the Office of the Vice President, is working covertly with Saudi Arabia to counter Iranian influence, empowering al Qaeda sympathizers in the process.

PAULA BRONSTEIN/AFP/Getty Images

Prerna Mankad

• Bangkok’s template for air-quality turnaround, by Thomas Fuller in the International Herald Tribune. Through tough, innovative policies, Bangkok has cut down air pollution by 47 percent despite a 40 percent increase in registered motor vehicles. Bangkok’s air quality now falls within U.S. limits, and the capital is being heralded as a model for other developing states in Asia.

Carolyn O’Hara

• Why Have So Many U.S. Attorneys Been Fired? It Looks a Lot Like Politics, by Adam Cohen, New York Times, Feb. 26, 2007.

Kate Palmer

• The GOP’s Five-Point Plan to Win Iraq War Debate, by John Bresnahan, Politico.com’s The Crypt blog, Feb. 26, 2007. A breakdown of upcoming Republican talking points meant to deflect Democratic anti-war arguments in Congress.
• Who’s Killing Putin’s Enemies? by Michael Specter, The Observer Magazine, Feb. 25. Twelve of Vladimir Putin’s worst enemies have been murdered since he took office. But they’re not necessarily political assassinations; they’re evidence of Russia’s violent, corrupt reality.