Venezuela's Chavez gives us an island, Microsoft takes a step back

GOOD DAY FOR: Upgrading gifts, after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez formally returned to the U.S. a small, uninhabited island in the Delaware River that Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, purchased in 1990. PDVSA has mostly used Petty Island, in New Jersey, for fuel storage and refining. Chavez announced the move at the Summit of the Americas; Petty Island is widely believed to be more valuable than his other gift to President Obama: a copy of the leftist book “The Open Veins of Latin America.” (BBC News)

BAD DAY FOR: Making company history, after Microsoft reported its first fall in year-over-year quarterly earnings since it became a public company 23 years ago. Microsoft was hit by a contraction in the PC market and a consumer move toward small, portable netbooks, which run cheaper versions of Microsoft’s older operation system Windows XP. The division that makes the Xbox 360 and Zune mp3 player swung to a loss. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up