NEWS As workers around the world observed the international Labor Day holiday with demonstrations and rallies, thousands of Greeks walked off their jobs on Wednesday in the second general strike against government austerity measures this year, shutting down tax offices, leaving state hospitals to operate with emergency employees and disrupting public transportation. The Greek protest came as workers in Asia, including Bangladeshis infuriated by the lethal collapse of a garment factory, demonstrated in cities including the capitals of Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Istanbul, riot police officers sprayed throngs of people with water and tear gas as they gathered for a rally, defying an official ban. Niki Kitsantonis and Alan Cowell report.
The Irish government has proposed legislation to allow abortion in cases where a threat exists to a woman’s life, including from suicide. Douglas Dalby reports from Dublin.
Two Kazakhs were charged on Wednesday with destroying evidence to obstruct the federal inquiry into the Boston Marathon bombings, and an American was charged with lying to impede the investigation. Michael Wines and Katharine Q. Seelye report.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, apparently seeking to counter the impression of a leader in hiding after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station. Hwaida Saad and Rick Gladstone report.
The government of President François Hollande has expressed its objections to plans by Yahoo to buy a controlling stake in the video-sharing site DailyMotion, which is owned by France Télécom, in an effort to keep one of the country’s most successful technology start-ups out of foreign hands. Eric Pfanner reports.
The suspects include a flamboyant pop star, a sharp-tongued comedian, a disc jockey known as “the hairy cornflake†and a quirky Australian-born entertainer. Most are in their 70s or 80s. All have been caught up in one of the more ambitious, and possibly quixotic, law enforcement investigations in Britain in recent years: a nationwide inquiry into sexual offenses that may or may not have been committed decades ago. Sarah Lyall reports from London.
ARTS Called the Mariinsky II and connected to the original, ornate 19th-century Mariinsky Theater by a pedestrian bridge over a canal, the first new Russian opera house to aspire to international significance since the time of the czars opens on Thursday. It has been the object of tremendous scrutiny, particularly after more than 10 years of development, three architects â€" or four, depending on how you count â€" and a government-financed budget that exploded to nearly 10 times the initial estimate. Zachary Woolfe reports from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Teatro alla Scala raised eyebrows in December when it opened its season with “Lohengrin†in observance of Wagner’s bicentennial rather than an opera by Verdi, who was also born in 1813. In the months since, however, the theater has redressed the balance with new productions of four Verdi operas, most recently his very first opera, “Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio.†George Loomis writes from Milan.
SPORTS Real Madrid had the most dazzling individuals over the two legs of its Champions League semifinal with Dortmund, but the German club had the greater will. Rob Hughes on soccer.
Warren Gatland is confident he has selected the right men for the British and Irish Lions to win a series for the first time in 16 years. The challenge now for the head coach will be getting those men from the four countries that make up the Home Unions â€" England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales â€" to gel, and gel quickly. Emma Stoney on rugby.
