NEWS Even as the world makes plans to recapture northern Mali by force, the Islamists who rule the region show no qualms about continuing their harsh application of Shariah law. At least 14 amputations have been performed since the takeover last spring, and Islamists have warned that others “will soon share the same fate.†Adam Nossiter reports from Bamako, Mali.
President Obama planned to meet with Congressional leaders on Friday, and House Republicans summoned lawmakers back for a Sunday session, in a last-ditch effort to avert a fiscal crisis brought on by automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to hit the United States next week. Jonathan Weisman reports from Washin gton.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said Thursday that he would sign into law a ban on adoptions of Russian children by American citizens, retaliating against a new U.S. law that seeks to punish human rights abuses and dealing a serious blow to bilateral relations. David M. Herszenhorn and Erik Eckholm report.
Despite the economic gloom that has enshrouded it, Spain has at least one industrial bright spot: The country and its skilled, if underemployed, work force have again become a beacon for European carmakers. Raphael Minder reports from Madrid.
Conditions in Chinese electronics factories have begun to improve since workers' hardships were exposed to a global audience. The shif ts under way may prove as transformative to global manufacturing as the iPhone was to consumer technology, say company executives, worker advocates and even longtime factory critics. Keith Bradsher and Charles Duhigg report.
ARTS Tory Dobrin, the artistic director of the all-male drag company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (known affectionately as the Trocks), dreamed for years of bringing the Soviet-era ballet “Laurencia†to life. Now he has. And while the Trocks have taken on obscure works before, this one posed special challenges. Valerie Gladstone reports from New York.
SPORTS Sled hockey is a sport played by able-bodied people, but it was d esigned for athletes with mobility limitations caused by injuries or conditions like cerebral palsy. The pace is slower than ice hockey's, but the action can be just as ferocious. Dave Caldwell reports from Newington, Connecticut.
