Ravi Somaiya

The Chinese snub of Defense Secretary Robert Gates highlights how recent events—including the sinking of a South Korean ship and U.S. dealings with Taiwan—have increased tensions between the U.S. and China.

It's day 46 of the gulf oil spill. As many as 800,000 gallons a day of crude oil are still filling the Gulf of Mexico. And these new, shocking images of oil-drenched birds in Louisiana are likely to characterize the spill for some time.

A government program that allows concerned citizens to help pay off the national debt with donations now accepts credit-card payments. Is this a good use of your personal MasterCard?

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said she was particularly upset by opponents of the state's controversial immigration law calling her a Nazi because her father had died fighting in World War II. It seems that's not completely true.

The first stage of BP's latest effort to quell the torrent of oil billowing into the gulf has succeeded. An undersea robot cut into the pipe, which will have the paradoxical effect of worsening the spill until a cap can, with luck, be placed. The added gallons may be the least of the company's worries.

There is a long and awkward history of corporate leaders saying the wrong thing when their companies are facing criticism. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein responded to his company's role in contributing to the recent financial crisis by suggesting he was doing "God's work." But BP CEO Tony Hayward has outdone him.

Thirteen workers have committed suicide, or tried, this year—half of that number in May—at a factory that makes shiny products for Apple. But Apple's CEO/talisman told the All Things Digital Conference that all is well because they have "restaurants and movie theaters and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice."

The MV Rachel Corrie, an Irish ship named for a peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, escaped the deadly attacks earlier this week. It is two days from land, and campaigners on board say they are determined to defy Israel once more.