NEWS Reacting with unusual swiftness, the Vatican on Friday rejected any suggestion that Pope Francis of Argentina was implicated in his country’s so-called Dirty War during the 1970s, tackling the issue just two days after the pontiff’s election. On a day when Francis delivered a warm address to his cardinals and continued to project humility, the Vatican seemed intent on quickly putting to rest questions about the pope’s past, dismissing them as opportunistic defamations from anticlerical leftists. Dan Wakin reports from Rome.
Legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. The economic crisis has brought some of them back. During the Celtic Tiger boom, snakes became a popular pet among the Irish nouveau riche. But after the bubble burst, many owners abandoned the pets they could no longer afford, and as a result, many nakes have been abandoned or dispersed into the wild. Amy Chozick reports from Ballivor, Ireland.
In a striking move to purge the Russian Parliament of even the faintest of contrarian voices, legislative leaders on Friday accused an opposition lawmaker of treason and demanded an ethics investigation, saying that the legislator had used a visit to Washington this month to urge the United States to meddle in Russia’s internal affairs. David Herszhenhorn reports from Moscow.
Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director, said he was on the way to a “full recovery†almost two months after he was severely burned during an acid attack in Moscow. At a news conference in Germany, where he has been undergoing treatment, Mr. Filin said ! he would return to his position and played down the intrigues that have engulfed the theater in the weeks since sulfuric acid was flung in his face and eyes. Melissa Eddy reports from Aachen, Germany.
ARTS The European Fine Art Fair, which opened Friday in its 26th edition and runs through March 24, is the last encyclopedic training ground available in a world where art for sale is vanishing. More than 700 stands, spread out in the MECC fair and conference center, cut across space and time. Even if circumscribed to Europe, the broad span is astonishing. Souren Melikian reports from Maastricht, the Netherlands.
SPORTS What first looked to be a thrilling down-to-the-wire finale this weekend in alpine ski racing will mostly be a victory salute for Marcel Hirsche, the 24-year-old Austrian who will receive his second consecutive large crystal globe as overall World Cup champion after the season-ending slalom Sunday. Hirscher entered the weekend technical races at the World Cup finals with a 149-point advantage over his nearest challenger, Aksel Lund Svindal. That margin became insurmountable when the Norwegian announced that he would forgo the slalom after cancellation of downhill and super-G races Wednesday and Thursday because of adverse weather conditions. Brian Pinelli reports from Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
