For a grab-bag of reasons — economic, philosophical and purely pragmatic — a new wave of gallerists are turning their homes into art galleries.

Is It Art or Their Shoes?

The recession and cuts to programs for aging Americans have made growing old in isolated areas even tougher.

For Elderly in Rural Areas, Times Are Distinctly Harder

By striking a deal with their landlord, a Brooklyn couple not only got permission to renovate according to their taste, but also negotiated a significant rent reduction.

Renovating a Rental as if It Were Their Own

By crashing a White House state dinner, Michaele and Tareq Salahi trampled countless protocols of official Washington.

Dinner Crashers Walked All Over Social Code

Are athletes more efficient in the morning, doing the same work but with less effort, as measured by a lower heart rate?

Ready to Exercise? Check Your Watch

China is finding it harder to cast itself as a friendly alternative to an imperious American superpower.

China’s Economic Power Unsettles the Neighbors

Persuading the government that it can stand on its own would be a milestone in the nation’s financial recovery. But it is not clear that Citi will be able to do so.

Citi Is Eager to Pay Back Bailout Aid

A.I.G. is once again the top seller of fixed annuities to bank customers, although the contracts are being offered under the names of two subsidiaries.

A.I.G. Units Omit Name and Excel

A tax seen as the most direct attack on bank bonuses in the world is part of Britain’s effort to shore up its finances.

Britain to Levy a One-Time Tax on Banker Bonuses

President Obama and Congressional Republican leaders met on Wednesday to discuss how to create more jobs and air philosophical differences on stimulus measures.

A Testy Exchange at White House Over Jobs Proposals

Five young Muslim American men who had disappeared were detained in Pakistan in a raid linked to a militant group.

Pakistan Detains Five Americans in Raid Tied to Militants

Senate Democrats voiced guarded optimism that a deal over disputes would help them pass health care legislation.

Senate Democrats See Hope on Health Bill

Mr. Hoving transformed the Metropolitan Museum of Art during his tumultuous decade-long tenure as director.

Thomas Hoving, Remaker of the Met, Dies at 78

They said their legislation would protect consumers in their dealings with financial institutions while holding executives rather than taxpayers accountable.

Democrats Defend Bill to Rein In Wall Street

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, shines the spotlight on a new film, “The Young Victoria.”

Not Quite a Royal, but Still in Need of Those Royalties

The numerous gadgets in the new hybrid Lexus often distract from, rather than add to, the driver’s pleasure and comfort.

Bells, Whistles and Joystick; Batteries Are Included, Too

Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus,” a rousing true story of athletic triumph, is also that director’s latest exploration of revenge, the defining theme of his career.

Final Score: Future 1, Past 0

Beloved sacred and secular holiday stories are being bisected, dissected and disrespected all over town.

Come On, Santa, Put Your Clothes Back On

It is a classic start-up story: entrepreneurs with a hot idea generate excitement, then run into problems making and delivering their product.

Hamstrung by Delays, Fitbit Explains and Tries to Deliver

The Shakespeare’s Globe production of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” reveals that this word-infatuated frolic may well be the first and best example of a college comedy.

Pledge Week at That Elizabethan Animal House

Recent automotive books of note focus on Paul Newman’s racing career, every Porsche model ever made and a muscle-car builder on Long Island.

Revving Up Your Reading for the Off-Season

At the Popup Design Clinic in SoHo, a half-dozen hotshot designers are offering their services free.

A New Pop-Up Concept: Design, Free, in SoHo

The tax answers calls for social justice but will merely reinforce the impression that British tax policy is driven by short-term political whims.

Britain’s Bank Windfall Tax Is Ill-Conceived

A Reporter’s Notebook article on Tuesday about the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen misidentified, in some copies, the Canadian official who said the “hype” surrounding the event would not pressure Canada into bolstering its greenhouse gas emissions targets. The remark was by Jim Prentice, Canada’s environment minister  not Stephen Harper, the prime minister.

Corrections

An article on Tuesday about an appeal to Congress to extend emergency jobless benefits misstated eligibility for federal subsidies for Cobra payments for up to nine months. They are available to workers who become unemployed up to Dec. 31; they have not expired.

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Teplyakov was a Russian experimental physicist known for his work on particle accelerators. Together with I.M. Kapchinsky, he invented the principle of the radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), which revolutionized the acceleration of low-energy charged particle beams.

December 10, 2009

Headlines from December 10, 2009

Is It Art or Their Shoes?

For Elderly in Rural Areas, Times Are Distinctly Harder

Renovating a Rental as if It Were Their Own

Dinner Crashers Walked All Over Social Code

Ready to Exercise? Check Your Watch

Billboard 200

I Dreamed A Dream

My Christmas

For Your Entertainment

Rated R

The Fame Monster (EP)

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for December 10, 2009