Varied Views of a Border

In some spots along the Mexican-American border, a well-fortified fence extends as far as the eye can see, while in others a wall ends abruptly in the ocean. Beyond these images of the United States’ southern border, we are interested in your photos. An aerial view of the border fence in Tijuana, Mexico, where it meets the Pacific Ocean.Kirsten...

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IHT Rendezvous: Muslims Seek Dialogue With Next Pope

LONDON — As the Catholic Church’s cardinal electors gather at the Vatican to choose a new pope, Muslim leaders are urging a revival of the often troubled dialogue between the two faiths.During the papacy of Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions were overshadowed by remarks he made in 2006 that were widely condemned as an attack on Islam.In a speech at Regensburg University...

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Malaysia Said to Open Fire on Armed Filipinos

MANILA — Shots have been fired in a tense standoff between a group of armed Filipinos and Malaysian police officer who have them surrounded in a remote northeast area of Malaysia, a Philippine presidential spokesman said Friday. The group, which is occupying an isolated village in attempt to revive a historical claim to the area, tried early Friday morning to breach the perimeter established...

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India Ink: India’s Slowing Economy Forces Budget Decisions

NEW DELHI — Not too long ago, when India’s economy was roaring amid predictions of high growth rates for years to come, the finance minister could be forgiven for strutting during budget week. He got to march into India’s Parliament with the ceremonial briefcase bearing a budget stuffed with goodies. But on Thursday, when the current finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, arrives in Parliament,...

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India Ink: A Difficult Budget Balancing Act for India

India’s fiscal budget will be announced on Thursday amid slowing economic growth, soaring inflation, a growing fiscal deficit and flagging investor confidence. But with national elections only a year away, analysts fear that instead of cutting the deficit, the government will buckle under political pressure and increase spending on social programs.“As the country is going into an election period,...

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IHT Rendezvous: Thank you, Xiexie, Namaste: a Movie Undercuts Old Rivalries

BEIJING — After the Taiwan-born film director Ang Lee won big at the Oscars on Sunday evening in Los Angeles, including scooping Best Director for “Life of Pi,” he effusively thanked his place of birth. But his thanks didn’t make it into China, at least not via the official media.Why? At almost the same time as Mr. Lee’s speech there was a meeting in Beijing between Xi Jinping, the head of China’s...

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India Ink: Forces of Creation Moving in Unison

Presenting non-Western dances to Western audiences can be a difficult business. If an artist adjusts too much, a deep tradition can flatten into pandering tourist fare. If an artist adjusts too little, fidelity can get in the way of communication; a living art form can come across as a relic. Andrea Mohin/The New York TimesBijayini Satpathy, left, and Pavithra Reddy of the Nrityagram...

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2 Palestinians Shot in Clashes With Israeli Settlers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Clashes erupted Saturday in the West Bank, with Jewish settlers shooting two Palestinian demonstrators in the northern village of Kusra, an Israeli military official and Palestinian residents said. The unrest reflected mounting friction in the West Bank, where Palestinians have faced off against Israeli troops in recent weeks in a series of large demonstrations protesting...

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IHT Rendezvous: IHT Quick Read: Feb. 23

NEWS Since the days of the Medici family in Florence, the banking house of Monte dei Paschi has rained wealth on the people of Siena, Italy. For 541 years, it has endured war, plague and panic, and it stands today as the world’s oldest operating bank. But inside the stately offices of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a thoroughly modern fiasco has done what the centuries could not. Monte dei Paschi, founded...

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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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IHT Rendezvous: What of the Ringleaders, Chinese Ask About Cultural Revolution Case

BEIJING — It’s reminiscent, perhaps, of the trials of people accused of Nazi-era crimes, a John Demjanjuk, or a Samuel K.: in China this week, a man was tried for murdering a doctor during the Cultural Revolution, the China News Service reported.A rare episode of justice for a neglected era? Judging by a discussion on China’s biggest microblog, Sina Weibo, ordinary people don’t necessarily see it...

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India Ink: A Personal Nightmare of Assault in India

In a hotel in southern India, in the midst of a dreamless sleep, I awoke inside a nightmare. I heard someone screaming. I’m not sure how much time passed before I realized that it was my scream.I had traveled to India on behalf of a U.S.-based organization to film a documentary about political street theatre and how art is used as a tool for social change. It was the continuation of field research...

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India Ink: Kalyan Anand, the Sadhu From Madhya Pradesh

Why do millions of Indians, sometimes entire villages, brave the crowds to attend the Kumbh Mela? India Ink interviewed some of the estimated 100 million pilgrims who traveled to this year’s Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, a 55-day pilgrimage during which Hindus take a holy dip in the Ganges River to wash away their sins.Kalyan Anand, 46, a sadhu from Chitrakoot town of Madhya Pradesh was...

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India Ink: Modern in Mumbai

Cecilia Morelli Parikh is still a woman on a mission. Nearly two years ago, with Julie Leymarie and Aurélie de Limelette, she opened Le Mill, a multibrand fashion and home store, in a converted warehouse in a gritty section of Mumbai, India, which brought a contemporary Western aesthetic to an affluent Indian shopper. Last November, Morelli Parikh and her co-founders (Leymarie is a former L’Oréal...

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Dismissed as Doomsayers, Advocates for Meteor Detection Feel Vindicated

For decades, scientists have been on the lookout for killer objects from outer space that could devastate the planet. But warnings that they lacked the tools to detect the most serious threats were largely ignored, even as skeptics mocked the worriers as Chicken Littles. Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDr. Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut and Google executive, has warned...

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U.S. Embassy Denies Intervening in Mexico Cabinet Choice

The United States Embassy in Mexico on Friday issued a statement denying an article in The New York Times that reported that Ambassador Anthony Wayne had met with senior Mexican officials to discuss American concerns about the possible appointment of Gen. Moisés García Ochoa of Mexico as that country’s defense secretary. “Despite significant reporting in the Mexican press during the presidential...

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India Ink: Powering an Enclave With Dosas

Brian Harkin for The New York TimesKrish Doshi, left, with his brother Karan Doshi, both 8, at Usha Foods in Floral Park, Queens. More Photos »After much debate, it was decided: masala dosas all around. The retirees clustered in front of the counter at Usha Foods, then got down to business: Who was paying? Seven credit cards appeared and seven hands waved them at the cashier, until one gray-haired...

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India Ink: Falling Far Short of the Whole Truth

She had been called to the bar in a formal ceremony at Middle Temple Hall, a grand room where little has changed since 1602, when the first known performance of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” was staged there. With her dark hair covered by a barrister’s foppish white wig, she signed the registry of barristers who had stood in the same spot across the centuries, including John Rutledge, a signer of...

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Thai Soldiers Repel Attack in Major Blow to Insurgents

BANGKOK — Thai soldiers repelled an attack on a military outpost early Wednesday, killing at least 16 gunmen in what appeared to be a significant setback for ethnic insurgent groups leading a bloody uprising now in its ninth year. Col. Pramote Promin, the spokesman of the army’s southern command, said the army had been expecting the attack after being tipped off by villagers and “former insurgents...

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North Korea Is Suspected of Conducting 3rd Nuclear Test

Lee Jin-Man/Associated PressA South Korean watched news reporting about a possible nuclear test conducted by North Korea on a TV screen in Seoul on Tuesday. WASHINGTON — North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test, according to the official KCNA news service, posing a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from...

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