The Lede: Video of Pope Benedict’s Public Farewell

During his final farewell address, Pope Benedict XVI describes the joys and challenges of his papacy via CNN on YouTube. As our colleagues, Rachel Donadio and Alan Cowell report, Pope Benedict XVI held his final general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, a day before he withdraws from the public for a cloistered life of prayer and meditation.Before tens of thousands of people gathered in...

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Personal Health: Too Many Pills in Pregnancy

The thalidomide disaster of the early 1960s left thousands of babies with deformed limbs because their mothers innocently took a sleeping pill thought to be safe during pregnancy,In its well-publicized wake, countless pregnant women avoided all medications, fearing that any drug they took could jeopardize their babies’ development.I was terrified in December 1968 when, during the first weeks of my...

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Shell Suspends Arctic Drilling for 2013

WASHINGTON — Royal Dutch Shell, after a series of costly and embarrassing accidents in its efforts to drill exploratory wells off the north coast of Alaska last year, announced on Wednesday that it would not return to the Arctic in 2013. The company’s two drill ships suffered serious accidents as they were leaving drilling sites in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas last fall and winter and are...

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Immigrants Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts

In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country, an effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday. The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however. The detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases...

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McIlroy, Woods play own version of match play

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy faced off Sunday in match play, just like so many golf fans wanted to see.Only hardly anyone saw them. And it didn't even count.After both were eliminated in the first round of the Match Play Championship, No. 1 and No. 2 in the world played two rounds Sunday morning at The Medalist."We thought we'd play our own Match Play final," McIlroy...

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Recipes for Health: Roasted Carrots and Scallions — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesI bought incredibly sweet, thick red scallions and multicolored bunches of carrots from a farmer at my market and roasted them with fresh thyme. Then I sprinkled on some crushed toasted hazelnuts, which contributed a nice crunchy texture and nutty finish to the dish. If you have a bottle of hazelnut oil or walnut oil on hand, a small drizzle just before serving...

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News Analysis: Italian Deadlock Rekindles Anxiety About Euro Zone

ROME — 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 Tuesday, the answer seems to be no. After months of calm, investors are jittery not only because Italy, once again, seems to have once again...

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Lens Blog: The Largely Unknown Photography of Lola Álvarez Bravo

The year 2007 was a pretty good one for rediscovering long-forgotten images in Mexico. Most people already know about Robert Capa’s Mexican suitcase, a trove of his work from the Spanish Civil War. But that same year an unknown archive of vintage prints by Mexico’s greatest photographers was also discovered, left behind in the longtime home of Lola Álvarez Bravo.The find, known as the Gonzalez-Rendon...

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Really?: Really? Annoying Songs Get Stuck in Your Head More

Really?Anahad O’Connor tackles health myths.THE FACTSVirtually everyone experiences them, and rarely are they thought of fondly. They are earworms, the tunes that burrow into our consciousness and play on repeat.In a recent study involving hundreds of people, Ira Hyman Jr. of Western Washington University and colleagues looked at what made songs most likely to stick, exposing unsuspecting subjects...

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Herald Tribune to Be Renamed The International New York Times

The New York Times Company said on Monday that it was planning to rename The International Herald Tribune, its 125-year-old newspaper based in Paris, and would also unveil a new Web site for international audiences. Starting this fall, under the plan, the paper will be rechristened The International New York Times, reflecting the company’s intention to focus on its core New York Times...

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