Tool makers Stanley Works and Black & Decker Corp. are betting that together they can wring out more profit and better position themselves for a housing market recovery than they could apart.

“Barrels of Good Will for Obama, but Few Foreign Policy Benefits,“ read a recent New York Times headline. Polls show that foreigners generally feel better about the U.S. since the change in administration. Obama’s Nobel reinforces the impression. But this has not translated into tangible diplomatic gains. There are two reasons for that. The first: Governments—even democratic ones, and many are not democratic—are not mere mechanisms for translating popular opinion into official action. The second: With few if any exceptions, nations have interests, not friends.

The U.S. Embassy and other American offices in South Africa remain closed for a second day because of unspecified security concerns.

Eleven Iraqi police and military officers are under arrest as part of an investigation into how two trucks loaded with explosives managed to detonate Wednesday outside government offices in Baghdad, killing more than 100 people. Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, said the 11 commanders overseeing security, traffic and intelligence services in the targeted areas have been detained on suspicion of negligence.

When photographer Nancy Ostertag went back to work in April after giving birth to a son, she enrolled him at Lola’s Place, a private preschool tucked among the wide lanes and neat lawns of Sterling.

Lois Easton showed up at Denver International Airport expecting her usual quick trip through airport security. Instead, she was turned away as screening machines were dismantled around her. She is one of about a quarter-million customers who paid up to $199 a year and turned over detailed personal information in exchange for breezing to the gate—until the company that runs the program, known as Clear, abruptly shut down yesterday.

Hackers may have infiltrated computers containing licensing information on doctors, nurses and other professions overseen by the Virginia Department of Health Professions. By yesterday afternoon, all 36 computer servers storing the state agency’s records were shut down after a midday message popped up on some computer screens that implied the system was being hacked.

Virginia licenses. inRich.com, keyword: featured New driver’s licenses to feature secure black-and-white photos
Whether your Virginia’s driver’s license is valid is becoming a black-and-white issue.

Where is the best place to hide cash in your house or apartment? Nowhere, according to Lt. Doug Perry of the Henrico County Police Department. “Don’t stash money in your home—keep it in the bank,“ he said.

A big crowd didn’t seem to mean many big problems at street level during the inauguration of Barack Obama. While there were reports of a variety of problems—from ticketholders being turned away to pedestrian crosswalks being closed—the mood of the crowd seemed more awe-struck than irritated. From the edge of the White House north of the parade route all the way around the far end to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in the hours leading up to Obama’s swearing in, people crowded nearly every space, but it was hard to find many signs or sounds of discontent.

During the primaries and the general election, Barack Obama’s national-security credentials came under fire. Hillary Clinton wanted to know how he would respond when the presidential phone rang at 3 a.m. Joe Biden charged that Obama lacked his perceptive view of the world. John McCain and Sarah Palin reminded voters that the Democratic nominee never had been tested under fire.