Cash-strapped state and local governments are seeking help from the federal government to make their bonds look safer in a difficult credit market.

Localities Want U.S. to Support Muni Bonds

By some measures, the New York City principals who have come through the city’s celebrated Leadership Academy lag behind veterans who did not.

Principals Younger and Freer, but Raise Doubts in the Schools

As Europe refuses to reduce the ranks of its auto workers, its carmakers risk falling behind in the current wave of global consolidation that is transforming the industry.

Europe Feels the Strain of Protecting Workers and Plants

Ruth Padel resigned after admitting that she helped publicize charges that her rival for Oxford’s chair in poetry had sexually harassed a former student.

Poetic Justice: Briton Says She Helped Taint Rival

If confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor would probably not change the court’s broad philosophical balance.

Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring’

“The Goode Family,” a new series from Mike Judge beginning Wednesday on ABC, takes jabs at political correctness.

A Clan So Virtuous Even Its Dog Is Vegan

The ruling ratified a decision made by voters last year, but allowed existing gay marriages to stand.

California High Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban

Digital Sky Technologies invested $200 million in the social networking company in return for a 1.96 percent stake.

Russians Spend Big for a Piece of Facebook

The United Automobile Workers would hold up to 20 percent of General Motors through its retiree health care fund, and shareholders would be virtually wiped out.

U.S. Expected to Own 70% of Restructured G.M.

The New York Philharmonic’s annual Memorial Day concerts, conducted by David Robertson, brought the holiday’s spirit back into focus.

Stately Works Befitting the Fallen

The public on Tuesday got its first peek at some of the art that will fill the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Gets a Sampler of World Art

With demand for gasoline, and the ethanol that goes into it, expected to rise, oil companies are trying to benefit.

Big Oil Warms to Ethanol and Biofuel Companies

Star-trekking and soul-baring are juxtaposed with bizarre, oddly beguiling bravado in the latest and last installment in Cynthia Hopkins’s trilogy of mixed-media performance works.

Phasers Aimed at Life’s Truths

Given the number of people who are profiting from the suddenly family-unfriendly TLC show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” a more fitting title would be “Jon & Kate Plus 80.”

As a Family Faces Stresses, Its Cable Audience Grows

Cutbacks in loan forgiveness programs could result in fewer students going into fields like teaching and nursing.

Recession Imperils Loan Forgiveness Programs

The recent revival of canning fits neatly into the modern renaissance of handcrafted food, heirloom agriculture, and using food in its season.

Preserving Time in a Bottle (or a Jar)

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence, but reveal no larger vision.

Nominee’s Rulings Are Exhaustive but Often Narrow

Husbands, wives, children and dinner guests who would never be so rude as to talk on a phone at the family table seem to think it’s perfectly fine to text while eating.

Play With Your Food, Just Don’t Text!

Despite the dismal data, an analyst in Germany predicted that the global economy would start growing again next year.

Leading Economies Report a Period of Record Decline

Several world indexes showed modest gains as United States markets were closed for Memorial Day.

Shares Rise in Brazil, Canada and Europe

Reforms meant to control Wall Street bonuses have set off a round of salary increases.

Getting Around Smaller Bonuses

An article on Thursday about the trial of Steven D. Green, an American soldier accused of raping a girl in Iraq and killing her and members of her family, misstated the title of a lawyer who told the jury that Mr. Green was not a victim. The lawyer, Brian Skaret, is a trial attorney in the Domestic Security Section of the Department of Justice, not an assistant United States attorney.

Corrections

UBS, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Depfa Bank have dropped an appeal against the seizure of $482 million of their assets amid an investigation of fraud.

Four Big Banks Drop Appeal in Milan Case

Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about testimony in the trial of Anthony D. Marshall, the son of Brooke Astor, and a lawyer for Mrs. Astor — who are both accused of manipulating Mrs. Astor to gain control of her fortune — misstated, in some editions, the year that Henry A. Kissinger, one of the witnesses, became national security adviser. As he testified, it was 1969, not 1968.

The chairman of India's Tata Motors, Ratan Tata, had 500 engineers work for four years designing the world's lowest-cost car, convinced that cost-conscious Indian drivers could live without air-conditioning and cup holders. But only 20 percent of Tata's initial 203,000 orders for the car — the Nano — were for the no-frills $2,600 model. Instead, customers booked models at the higher end some costing as much as 40 percent more, or about $3,680. The higher prices mean bigger margins for Tata and less chance of a profit-sapping price war with rival carmakers like Maruti Suzuki India, analysts said. (BLOOMBERG NEWS)

Most Tata Buyers Choose Costlier Model

Mihalis Papayiannakis was a Greek politician. He was born in Kalamata; his father was executed by the Nazis during World War II. He died on 26 May 2009 after a long battle with cancer.

Mihalis Papagiannakis, Greek journalist and politician (born 1941)

Mihalis_Papagiannakis

Peter Zezel was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 1999.

May 26, 2009

Headlines from May 26, 2009

Localities Want U.S. to Support Muni Bonds

Principals Younger and Freer, but Raise Doubts in the Schools

Europe Feels the Strain of Protecting Workers and Plants

Poetic Justice: Briton Says She Helped Taint Rival

Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring’

Billboard 200

Epiphany

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Fantasy Ride

Unstoppable

Together Through Life

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for May 26, 2009