Clinton in Africa
Need to know: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded an 11-day tour across seven African countries: Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.
Good to know: Clinton used the tour to reinforce a message that President Barack Obama brought to Africa earlier this year, a call for leaders to fight corruption, promote democracy and combat civil strife, disease, violence and squalor. But what may be remembered in the United States was her response when a Congolese student appeared to ask what Bill Clinton thought of a financial issue: “My husband is not secretary of state, I am.”
Who knew? Lost in the focus on Clinton’s pique was the question: What does “Mr. Clinton” (the student later said he meant “Mr. Obama”) think about a $9 billion deal with China to develop Congo’s infrastructure in exchange for mineral wealth?
Midair collision
Need to know: Investigators scoured the Hudson riverbed and Federal Aviation Administration data last week for clues to the Aug. 8 air collision that killed three people aboard a small plane and six on the helicopter it struck off lower Manhattan.
Good to know: Early scrutiny focused on the uncontrolled airspace around New York City, which teems with aircraft flying at low altitudes. By the end of the week, attention turned to air-traffic control, amid revelations that the controller who guided the plane’s takeoff was on the phone at the time of the crash and the supervisor had left. Both were suspended.
Who knew? Most midair collisions are in uncontrolled airspace, where pilots pick their own flight path. The FAA plans to require by 2020 all aircraft to be equipped with systems capable of transmitting their positions to other aircraft.
