US Navy – A surface action group departs for the Mediterranean Sea.

• Virginian Pilot: Destroyers leaving for Med duty next week

Background – Foreign Aid – Critics have long derided the U.S. government for stinginess in international giving. But such charges miss the point. Today, it is private funds that make the difference in poor countries, and here the United States leads the pack.

• Foreign Affairs: The Privatization of Foreign Aid: Reassessing National Largesse