But if HMV's executives had looked out from that luxury beach hotel in Marbella, they might just have seen a few dark clouds forming on the horizon.

BBC: HMV: How the top dog lost its bite

In the distance, a plane, a cluster of lights, was sailing noiselessly east through a few rags of clouds.

NEWYORKER: The House Behind a Weeping Cherry

It is far too early to count Boehner out -- and it is possible to see a number of silver linings for him amid the clouds of the past few weeks.

CNN: Don't count Boehner out in debt crisis

And on this dazzling sheet, spread under the blackness of the clouds and emitting a bluish glow, Captain MacWhirr could catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as ebony, the tops of the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of the covered winches, the foot of a mast.

FORBES: Has Sandy Capsized Your Life? Here's One Thing To Be Thankful For

Vast open-pit mines that spew clouds of dust into the air scar a landscape that locals say was largely pristine only a few years ago.

ECONOMIST: Inner Mongolia: Little Hu and the mining of the grasslands | The