Television Review: ‘The Bible’ Mini-Series on the History Channel

Mark Burnett, an impresario of reality television, has surely encountered the question before: How do you make viewers believe what they’re seeing? Did those “Survivor” contestants really eat that stuff? Would any of these seemingly intelligent “Apprentice” candidates actually want to work for Donald Trump? ...

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Chinese TV Special on Executions Stirs Debate

In a live television broadcast that was part morality play, part propaganda tour de force, the Chinese government on Friday displayed four foreign drug traffickers, convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors two years ago, being led to their executions. Although the two-hour TV special came to an end shortly before the men were put to death by lethal injection, the program became an instantly...

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South African Police Drag Man, Who Later Dies

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — His hands are tied to the rear of a police van while his body lay behind it, on the ground. The van speeds off, dragging the slender man along the pavement as a crowd of onlookers shouts in dismay and at least one videotapes the scene. He is later found dead in a police cell. It's a gut-wrenching video, made all the more disturbing by the fact that the men who carried...

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Several Dead in Switzerland Shooting, Police Say

BERLIN (AP) — A shooting at a wood-processing company in central Switzerland on Wednesday left three people dead and seven wounded, some of them seriously, prosecutors said. The shooting occurred shortly after 9 a.m. at the premises of Kronospan, a company in the small town of Menznau, west of Lucerne. Three people were killed, among them the suspected assailant, police in Lucerne...

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DealBook: Banks Fear Court Ruling in Argentina Bond Debt

A fierce battle between the government of Argentina and hedge funds and other investors led by a group of hedge funds has already led to the seizure of a naval ship and dragged in the United States Treasury. Now a federal appeals court is hearing the dispute, and how it rules could have a major impact on world debt markets.The investors — including the hedge fund tycoon Paul E. Singer — sued Argentina...

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DealBook: Barnes & Noble Founder Leonard Riggio to Bid for Bookstore's Retail Business

The founder of Barnes & Noble plans to bid for the retail business of the bookstore chain he started 40 years ago, as the company struggles to deal with the changing competitive landscape.On Monday, Leonard Riggio told the company’s board that he will make an offer for Barnes & Noble Booksellers, barnesandnoble.com and other retail assets. The proposal would not include the e-book division,...

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Insurgents Launch 4 Attacks in Afghanistan

KABUL — Afghan intelligence agents on Sunday shot and killed a man in a sport utility vehicle that officials said had been packed with explosives, foiling what they described as an attempt to set off a massive explosion in a neighborhood of narrow streets lined with foreign embassies. At about the same time, Taliban suicide attackers set off three separate car bombs in two provinces near...

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Iraq President’s Health Is Improving, Doctor Says

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is now able to talk, his doctor said, adding he was hopeful the Kurdish statesman would soon be fit to return to Iraq from Germany, where he has been receiving medical treatment for a stroke. A peace-maker who often mediated among Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions, 79-year-old Talabani was flown abroad in December in critical...

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IHT Rendezvous: North Korea Widens Access to Internet, but Just for Visitors

HONG KONG — North Korea will finally allow people to search the Internet from their mobile devices and laptops within the country’s borders. But if you’re a North Korean, you’re out of luck — only foreigners will be given the privilege.Cracking the door open ever so slightly to wider Internet use, the government has allowed a company called Koryolink to give foreigners access to 3G mobile Internet...

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Car Bomb in Damascus Kills Dozens, Opposition Says

Sana/European Pressphoto AgencyAn injured man was carried near the site of a car bomb explosion in Damascus on Thursday. In renewed violence reaching the center of the Syrian capital, a car bomb exploded in Damascus on Thursday near the headquarters of President Bashar al-Assad’s ruling party, killing more than two dozen people, mainly civilians and but also including security forces, according to...

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Vladimir Pekhtin Resigns From Russian Parliament

MOSCOW — A senior lawmaker from Russia’s ruling party, who is also the chairman of Parliament’s ethics committee, resigned from the legislature on Wednesday after opposition bloggers revealed that he owned more than $1.3 million worth of luxury real estate in Florida, which he did not list on required disclosure forms. The lawmaker, Vladimir A. Pekhtin, said that he did not want the scandal...

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Activists Say Syrian Missile Strike Kills 8

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian missile strike leveled a stretch of buildings and killed at least eight people in the city of Aleppo, anti-regime activists said Tuesday. Videos posted online showed scores of men searching the destroyed buildings in the Jabal Badro neighborhood for the dead and wounded. One man swung a sledgehammer to break through concrete while a bulldozer hauled off rubble. In another...

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Chávez Returns to Venezuela After Cancer Surgery in Cuba

Jorge Silva/ReutersSupporters of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, outside a military hospital where he was taken following his return to Caracas on Monday. CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez made a surprise return to Venezuela on Monday, 10 weeks after leaving for cancer surgery in Cuba, sparking celebration among his supporters. VTV, the government television station, said that...

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Blasts Across Baghdad Kill at Least 15 People

A wave of attacks targeting Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Sunday killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 50, a security source confirmed. Four car bombs exploded in Sadr City, targeting civilians in a market, at a bus station and on a major road, killing seven civilians and wounding more than 30 others, according to officials and a security source. Car bombs also struck...

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Wrestling Group’s President Quits After Olympic Omission

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) — The president of the international wrestling federation has quit in the wake of the IOC's decision to remove the sport from the 2020 Olympics. Raphael Martinetti's resignation was announced Saturday at the FILA executive committee meeting in Phuket. The Swiss had been in the position since 2002. On Tuesday, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee...

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DealBook: Confidence on Upswing, Mergers Make Comeback

The mega-merger is back.For the corporate takeover business, the last half-decade was a fallow period. Wall Street deal makers and chief executives, brought low by the global financial crisis, lacked the confidence to strike the audacious multibillion-dollar acquisitions that had defined previous market booms.Cycles, however, turn, and in the opening weeks of 2013, merger activity has suddenly roared...

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DealBook: American and US Airways Announce Merger Agreement

6:35 a.m. | Updated Ending a yearlong courtship by US Airways, American Airlines agreed to merge with the smaller carrier, paving the way for the creation of the nation’s largest airline.The boards of the companies have unanimously approved the deal, valued at $11 billion, according to a news release on Thursday morning. A merger would bolster American’s domestic footprint, strengthen its presence...

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Pope Makes First Public Appearance Since Decision to Resign

Stefano Rellandini/ReutersPope Benedict XVI arrived to lead a general audience on Wednesday at the Vatican. VATICAN CITY — In his first public appearance since the stunning announcement of his resignation two days ago, Pope Benedict XVI said on Wednesday he had made his decision “in full liberty for the good of the church” because he no longer had the strength needed to carry out the duties of the...

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Iran Converts Enriched Uranium to Reactor Fuel, Reports Say

PARIS — As it prepares for two sets of negotiations with outsiders on its disputed nuclear program, Iran said on Tuesday that it was converting some of its enriched uranium into reactor fuel, the state news agency IRNA reported, potentially limiting the expansion of stockpiles that the West fears could be used for weapons. Iranian officials are to meet on Wednesday in Tehran with Herman Nackaerts,...

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Pope Benedict XVI Says He Will Resign

Samantha Zucchi Insidefoto/European Pressphoto AgencyPope Benedict XVI blessing members of the Order of the Knights of Malta at the Vatican on Saturday. ROME — Citing advanced years and infirmity, Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, stunned the Roman Catholic world on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to...

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