In a day of fiery speeches, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also lashed out at the West, condemning the recent assassinations of Iranian scientists.

Shortly after Obama’s election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms.

At a conference of conservative activists last week, there were stacks of Sarah Palin books and Sarah Palin posters. A special screening of a film about Palin was planned. And after skipping the gathering for four years, Palin herself had agreed at last to give the keynote address.

All the hysteria revolves around a steamy photograph that appeared with Joel Achenbach’s Valentine’s Day essay, “Sweet Mystery,” on the many facets of love and what they mean. The story appeared on the cover of Style, and the photo that made a few people hot and bothered appeared inside with the rest of the story on Page C9.

But then the response to McCarren’s reports about underage drinking on WUSA (Channel 9) took a darker, more threatening turn. Specifically, her two teenage children were harassed at school by peers and on Facebook by “friends.”

What else but a death wish could explain the party’s treatment of the fastest-growing voting bloc in the nation? First was the wave of Arizona-style immigration laws. Then came the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the GOP presidential candidates. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans roughed up Adalberto Jose Jordan — because, well, just because they could.

The Federal Reserve is actively considering a new round of asset purchases to boost the economy, according to minutes of the central bank’s January meeting released Monday.

Concerned that economic headwinds would hold back the fledging recovery, a few Fed officials already favor purchases of additional assets this year, and several others are open to the move if the economy deteriorates, according to the minutes.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged greater cooperation with the United States on trade and security issues, what he called a “new type of relationship between major countries.”

Xi, Expected to rise to the presidency of a country emerging as a world economic and political power, spoke in Chinese before an audience of 600 top U.S. corporate and political leaders at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington.

“I’m very pleased that when the world needed the Bank to step up, our shareholders responded  with expanded resources and support for key reforms that made us quicker, more effective and more open,” Zoellick said in a statement.

Ron Jaworski, who signed a five-year contract extension, will move to what the network says will be a “new, expanded multiplatform NFL analyst role.”

The so-called “teachable moment” about combining booze and drugs, it seems to me, misses the point. The more important question is: Why do people medicate themselves to such an extent? And even more compelling, what role does the public (and its drug dealer, the media) play in these unravelings?

The main take-away from the report: “Overall, the federal government paid 16 percent more in total compensation than it would have if average compensation had been comparable with that in the private sector, after accounting for certain observable characteristics of workers.”

Just 12 couples, a podium and a county clerk. And vows, recited across clasped hands. Better or worse. Sickness and health. They promised to endure it all.

In a recent interview, Harper detailed his plans for stardom when he joins the Nationals’ roster, saying he envisions being a man about the District. While stopping short of comparing himself favorably to Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, Harper made it known he aspires to follow Namath’s iconic model.

One report taking the rumor mill by storm comes from the blog iMore’s Rene Ritchie, who says that Apple’s planning its next launch event for March 7. Ritchie cites sources “who have been reliable in the past.”

“Classic but modern” is the usual pairing, a phrase heard from such epic interpreters of American progress as Ralph Lauren or Tom Wolfe or the architect Robert A.M. Stern.