Meeting of World Leaders in Belarus Aims to Address Ukraine Conflict
MINSK, Belarus — The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will gather here late Wednesday to try to negotiate a peace agreement for Ukraine, hoping to quiet a year-old…
Author: The New York Times
10 of 49 TransAsia Pilots Fail Emergency Proficiency Test
HONG KONG — Ten of 49 TransAsia Airways pilots failed emergency proficiency tests ordered by the Civil Aeronautics Administration of Taiwan after a deadly plane crash in the capital, Taipei,…
New York Fashion Week’s Under-the-Radar Talents
Whether or not they plan a formal runway show, these under-the-radar talents bear watching. Some create their own fabrics, others work magic with knitting yarns, and still others combine street…
UN: At Least 200 Migrants Dead and Possibly More Off Italy
ROME — Survivors of another deadly Mediterranean crossing reported that at least 200 migrants — and possibly many more — died in frigid temperatures in the open-sea crossing from Libya…
Leader of Radical Belgian Islamist Group Sentenced to 12 Years
ANTWERP, Belgium — A Belgian court sentenced the head of Islamist group Sharia4Belgium to 12 years in prison on Wednesday, ruling that his group was a terrorist organization that convinced…
President Xi Jinping to Visit U.S. in September, Chinese Agency Reports
HONG KONG — The first state visit by President Xi Jinping of China to the United States will take place in September, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday. –…
Britain and France Join U.S. in Closing Embassies in Yemen
SANA, Yemen — In the wake of the closing of the United States Embassy in Sana, the capital of Yemen, on Wednesday, other Western embassies quickly followed suit. – Yemen…
Charlie Hebdo Attack Puts Schools Under Scrutiny
SAINT-OUEN-L’AUMÔNE, France — On a recent morning at the Lycée Edmond Rostand in this largely middle-class suburb of Paris, Céline Cauvin, a history and geography teacher, was leading high school…
In Thailand, the Ghost Business Thrives
BANGKOK — Shortly after midnight, the phone rang in the cramped radio station where Kapol Thongplub hosts a nightly call-in show dedicated to the supernatural. The caller had recently encountered…
Greek Prime Minister Tsipras Wins Confidence Vote Before Talks With Creditors
ATHENS — With Greece preparing for tough talks with creditors in Brussels, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government easily won a confidence vote in Parliament early Wednesday with assurances that it…
Mexican Political Family Has Close PRI Ties, and Homes in the U.S.
In the fall of 2013, one of Mexico’s top housing officials posted an item on Twitter about an advertising campaign promoting mortgages for low-income Mexicans. The campaign’s message was simple:…
Royal and Ancient Golf Club Selects Seven Female Members
On Golf By KAREN CROUSE In 2007, Louise Suggs said she was glad to have lived long enough to see the Women’s British Open played for the first time on…
Australia Holds 2 in Terrorism Case
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s counterterrorism police have arrested two men in a Sydney suburb and thwarted “an imminent attack,” the police said Wednesday. The two men, ages 24 and 25,…
Obama to Seek War Power Bill From Congress, to Fight ISIS
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has informed lawmakers that the president will seek a formal authorization to fight the Islamic State that would prohibit the use of “enduring offensive ground…
Brian Williams Suspended From NBC for 6 Months Without Pay
A compilation of Brian Williams’s television appearances shows how his accounts of a 2003 episode on military helicopters in Iraq gradually became more perilous. Brian Williams, the embattled NBC news…
Brian Williams Suspended by NBC News for Six Months
Brian Williams, the embattled NBC news anchor whose credibility plummeted after he acknowledged exaggerating his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq, was suspended for six months without pay, the…
Jon Stewart Leaving ‘The Daily Show’
Jon Stewart, the comedian who made “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central a nightly home for sharp-edged political satire and up-to-the-moment commentary on the news, said on Tuesday that he…
Tesla's China Business Faces Varied Challenges
BEIJING — For $104,000, Yu Hangmei expected a car that could, at the very least, be driven. What Ms. Yu said she got instead was a new electric Tesla Model…
Halliburton to Lay Off 7% of Its Work Force
HOUSTON — Halliburton announced on Tuesday plans to lay off about 7 percent of its work force, or 5,200 to 6,400 workers, in response to plummeting oil prices. Halliburton and…
Obama to Bring Most Military Personnel Fighting Ebola Home, Officials Say
WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce Wednesday that he is withdrawing almost all the American troops who were sent to West Africa to help contain the spread of the Ebola…
Venezuela Announces Plan to Relax Currency Controls
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan officials on Tuesday announced details of what they said would be a free market in which people and businesses could exchange local currency for dollars —…
Agreement on Ukraine Cease-Fire Deal Is Reported
MOSCOW — Negotiators meeting in Minsk, Belarus, reached a tentative deal for a cease-fire in Ukraine on Tuesday night, setting the stage for a meeting of the leaders of Russia,…
The Kitchen-Counter Chocolatiers
For intrepid hobbyist chocolatiers, making chocolate bars from scratch is a pursuit rooted in proliferation of small-batch food production around the nation.” ATLANTA — Obsessives are common in the world…
Niger Sending Troops to Fight Boko Haram
DAKAR, Senegal — With the regional war against the Boko Haram militant group widening, Niger’s parliament has agreed to send troops across the border to join the fight. The vote…
New DNA Tests Ordered in Argentine Prosecutor’s Death
BUENOS AIRES — The judge overseeing an investigation into the mysterious death of a federal prosecutor here last month has asked forensic experts to identify DNA traces found at his…
English Premier League Sells British TV Rights for $7.8 Billion
LONDON — The English Premier League, the world’s most widely watched soccer league, said on Tuesday that it had sold British television rights for a record 5.1 billion pounds, or…
Battered Ukrainian City of Mariupol Braces for Worst as Rebels Close In Again
MARIUPOL, Ukraine — The morning routine begins promptly at 8:05 at Public School 68, with a round of calisthenics followed immediately by the daily shelling drill. A bell clangs on…
Alabama Gay Marriage Advocates Renew Legal Push for Licenses
Gay rights advocates have asked a federal court to order a local official in Mobile, Ala., to begin issuing marriage licenses on Tuesday to same-sex couples, a day after some…
From Smartphones to Museum Walls
Credit Eliot Elisofon Credit Lauren Fleishman Credit Rommel Bundalian Madrid.rn rn ” – Residents of the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria, survey damage and try to put out a fire…
Kenji Ekuan, Japanese Designer Who Gave Soy Sauce Its Curves, Dies at 85
TOKYO — Kenji Ekuan, the Japanese industrial designer whose instantly recognizable soy sauce bottle — red-capped and elegantly teardrop-shaped — became one of his country’s most ubiquitous postwar exports, died…