Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May, according to two well-placed law enforcement o

SEOUL, South Korea — Tensions escalated sharply Monday on the Korean peninsula, as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said that his nation would cut nearly all trade with North Korea, deny North Korean merchant ships use of South Korean sea lanes and ask the United Nations Security Council to punish the North for what he called the deliberate sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago. The

A Chinese worker at a dorm near the Haiphong Thermal Power Plant construction site in Trung Son, Vietnam.Credit...Shiho Fukada for The New York Times TRUNG SON, Vietnam � It seemed as if this village in northern Vietnam had struck gold when a Chinese and a Japanese company arrived to jointly build a coal-fired power plant. Thousands of jobs would start flowing in, or so the residents hoped. Four y

BRUSSELS � The NATO secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, strongly defended on Wednesday the alliance’s decision to begin “a conditional and graduated reengagement” with Moscow, saying that “Russia is such an important factor in geopolitical terms, that there is no alternative for NATO than to engage Russia.” But Mr. de Hoop Scheffer, speaking in an interview after the conclusion of a two-day

The embattled investment bank Morgan Stanley announced Monday morning that it had closed its deal to sell a 21 percent stake to a large Japanese bank, securing a $9 billion lifeline. The deal had fallen into question last week as Morgan Stanley’s stock lost about 59 percent of its value. It completion was considered a crucial step in the federal government’s strategy for revitalizing the financial

A woman crossed herself in July before a portrait of Nicholas II, at a church honoring his family.Credit...Alexei Vladykin/Associated Press MOSCOW � Russia’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of full rehabilitation for Russia’s last czar and his family on Wednesday, officially recognizing the Romanovs as victims of “unfounded repression” 90 years after they were executed. The ruling is the latest step

The planning and execution of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are a continuing topic of conversation all over Cairo.Credit...Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times, 2007 CAIRO � Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involve