Shortly before the deadline established by the federal government passed, Chrysler and union leaders said they had reached an agreement. It once again proves that pressure can accomplish a lot.

The deal includes Fiat, the Italian automaker with which Chrysler was ordered by the government to form an alliance before Thursday.

Neither the United Automobile Workers union nor the company released details of the tentative agreement, which would modify the union’s 2007 contract and reduce the amount of money Chrysler must pay into a new health fund for retirees.

The union plans to have its 26,000 Chrysler workers vote on the deal by Wednesday.

Chrysler said the agreement, reached during marathon negotiations over the weekend, satisfied the requirements laid out by the Obama administration for a deal by an April 30 deadline.

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‘The Department of Defense — on the heels of the firestorm over the release of Bush-era memos on CIA interrogation techniques — said Thursday it plans to make public at least 44 photos depicting potentially abusive treatment of detainees at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan,’ Fox News reports.| MORE ›

Adding to its much coveted resume as “Europe’s bridge to the Middle East”, Turkey has now been officially recognized as the facilitator of talks between Israel and Syria. Whether or not the Israeli media agrees with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s motivations for publicizing the existence of talks, Turkey can at least shine in the warm spotlight of international recognition for a few weeks. (more…)

Writes Robert L. Samuelson:

They’ve left the impression that somehow magical technological breakthroughs will produce clean energy that is also cheap. Perhaps that will happen; it hasn’t yet. They’ve talked so often about the need to control wasteful health spending that they’ve implied they’ve actually found a way of doing so. Perhaps they will, but they haven’t yet.

Jennifer Rubin comments:| MORE ›

The following article by John C.K. Daly in United Press International offers readers a nice overview of Turkey’s latest string of energy dealings with Iran. Daly’s article also considers the American view of these growing energy ties.| MORE ›