NEWS The political gridlock in Italy revives a question that hasn’t been heard lately: Is the euro zone crisis really over Judging by the panic that seized financial markets on Monday and carried over into European stock and bond trading on Tuesday, the answer seems to be no. Liz Alderman reports from Rome, and Jack Ewing from Frankfurt.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as defense secretary on Tuesday after he survived a bruising struggle with Republicans. At the same time, President Obama’s nominee to be Treasury secretary moved closer to approval with bipartisan support, suggesting that the Republican blockade against the administration’s second-term nominees was beginning to ease. Jeremy W. Peters reports from Washington.
A Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck in southern Israel early Tuesday, threatening to further escalate tensions that have been mounting since Saturday, when a 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner died in an Israeli jail. Jodi Rudoren reports from Jerusalem.
Talks between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear program will go into a second day, with Western diplomats waiting to get a clear response from Tehran to an offer of step-by-step sanctions relief in return for confidence-building measures from Iran, Western diplomats said on Tuesday. Steven Erlanger reports from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Several high-profile cases may change social attitudes about rape and the handling of rape cases in China and India, two places where victims are often shamed and justice is elusive. Didi Kirsten Tatlow reports from Beijing.
A cramped hilltop town outside Rome is in its final preparations for the arrival on Thursday afternoon of an honored guest: Pope Benedict XVI, who will commence his new life as pope emeritus, one of the titles by which he will be known. Elisabetta Povoledo reports from Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
The music industry, the first media buiness to be consumed by the digital revolution, said on Tuesday that its global sales rose last year for the first time since 1999, raising hopes that a long-sought recovery might have begun. Eric Pfanner reports.
FASHION On Thursday, Alexander Wang will face his baptism by fire. America’s Wonderkind, whose streetwise-meets-couture aesthetic has made him a fashion star in New York at age 29, is bringing his Asian background, his Californian school years and his New York fashion energy to the storied house of Balenciaga. Suzy Menkes reports.
ARTS With the Bayerische Staatsoper’s new production of Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,†the directo! r Calixto! Bieito has not lost his appetite for operatic violence. George Loomis reviews from Munich.
SPORTS Kei Kamara, whose family fled war in Sierra Leone while he was a child, is impressing with Norwich City in the Premier League, while the Barcelona defender Eric Abidal is nearing a return. Rob Hughes reports from London.
