VATICAN CITY — The world economy needs “new rules” to overcome the current financial crisis and to ensure that “all can lead a dignified life,” Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican diplomats on Monday (Jan. 9). Benedict’s New Year’s address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See traditionally presents the Vatican’s views on global affairs. The Holy See has diplomatic relations with 179 countries, and is a permanent observer at the United Nations. Read full article > >

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Pope tells diplomats that economy needs ‘new rules’

Have you ever seen a glummer or grouchier bunch of presidential aspirants than the current GOP crop? You’d be working those frown lines, too, I guess, if you thought, as Rick Santorum does, that this year’s race will decide “ whether we will be a free people .” Or believed, as Michele Bachmann told Sean Hannity on Monday, that Iran might go nuclear before Inauguration Day. Read full article > >

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Republican candidates are glum and glummer

People who crave a cause often have selective hearing, and this is particularly true in the current debate about global warming, writes Lisa Jardine.

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Climate change and craving a cause

Four quarterbacks are challenging Dan Marino’s single-season passing record of 5,084 yards, which says as much about his 1984 season as it does about the current N.F.L.

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N.F.L. Fast Forward: Quarterbacks Bear Down on Marino’s 1984 Record

A committee of MPs is demanding changes to the way their expenses are handled saying the current independently run system is “damaging” parliament .

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MPs attack ‘untenable’ expenses

With thousands on the streets of Moscow and a new billionaire challenger emerging against President Vladimir Putin, it looks like Russia's on the brink of a democratic uprising. But not so fast, says Paul Starobin at The New Republic . “Russian liberalism—which identifies itself with Western-style democracy—has a tepid mass following, its ranks consistently overestimated over the last twenty years by ever-hopeful Western governments, analysts, and journalists. And the current groundswell of protest, while promising on the surface, looks more like a popular rejection of a strongman who has overstayed his welcome—not like a rejection of the model of strongman rule.”

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Post-Putin Russia Won’t Be Democratic

President Obama has decided that he is more likely to win if the election is about big things rather than small ones. He hopes to turn the 2012 campaign from a plebiscite about the current state of the economy into a referendum about the broader progressive tradition that made us a middle-class nation. For the second time, he intends to stake his fate on a battle for the future. Read full article > >

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Obama’s New Square Deal

The Republican presidential primary contest isn’t over, but in the race to line up the richest donors, it’s Mitt Romney vs. President Obama. Romney has drawn the most support from billionaires, with at least 42 donating to his campaign. Obama is not far behind, with at least 30 billionaire supporters. Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman Jr. follow, with 20 and 12 respectively, according to donor rolls and the current Forbes magazine list of 412 American billionaires. Read full article > >

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In race for campaign funds from billionaires, Romney outpaces Obama

Celtic manager Neil Lennon will look to offer Daniel Majstorovic a new contract if the defender continues his current form.

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Lennon planning Majstorovic deal

When designer Chacho Puebla was a little boy, his grandmothers would lecture him to be careful with his money, to not get involved with a certain type of girl, to get a haircut. But when the current generation becomes grandparents, it’s likely that their advice to the younger generations will take a different tone. Read full article > >

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Savvy grandmas explain the rules for social media

WASHINGTON — The House voted Tuesday to end per-country caps on worker-based immigration visas, a move that should benefit skilled Indian and Chinese residents seeking to stay in the United States and the high-tech companies who hire them. The legislation, which passed 389-15, was a rare example of bipartisan accord on immigration, an issue that largely has been avoided during the current session of Congress because of the political sensitivities involved. Read full article > >

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House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

Exhibitors at the Business Start-up fair at London’s Earl’s Court give their tips on how a small company can grow, in the current financial climate.

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VIDEO: Top tips for new start-ups

Drew Robinson is the pitmaster at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q. He previously wrote about serving up gratitude in trouble times and why barbecue matters . There is something magical about fall. You begin to feel a chill in the air, notice the blue hue of the sky deepening and leaves of grass growing greener. The experience is different for everyone, but what we all know is that football season is here. The feeling never hits me the same way twice, but I can always count on it happening as game day approaches and the ritual of the tailgate can be seen spilling onto the streets outside the stadium. Team colors catching my eye, the smell of a good stadium dog, an assured sense of victory are each bits of nostalgia and emotion that bring me back time and again to take part in the madness that is game day . All of us at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q are football fans; there is no question about that, and we love football fans far and wide. We feel the fervor of football and feed off the passion of other fans. The question is, “why?” Many descriptors come to mind – obsessed, passionate, maniacal – but, to be true, we should stay with the root: fan or fanatic. Fans are fanatic and fanatics are, by definition, excessive in their enthusiasm and uncritical in their devotion. We will spend all week preparing for a few hours and an entire year preparing for a few months (Cue Buddy Holly: “My love is bigger than a Cadillac”). Still we are left with, “why?” Centuries ago people filled the Coliseum and demanded blood, nothing was sacred in that air but victory! We now know that letting a man be consumed by an animal for pure pleasure is wrong – at least by our current code of ethics – however, one man can still defeat another for the sake of institutional honor adorned with colors, shoulder pads and eye black that would make the gladiators of old proud. In the current tradition, we have our Heisman trophy winners, our national champions, our heroes. These are the men who “left it all on the field.” So, what do we do? What can we do? The tribe must come together. My brothers and sisters, who are college football enthusiasts, all know that Saturday signals “the gathering.” We dress for the occasion in things reserved only for that day – it’s often better that way. We drink, cheer, make bets, and philosophize deeply in ways no credible philosopher would descend to do, but would certainly relish the thought of. And, of course, we cook. All of this is labeled as “the tailgate,” a ritual born off the back-of-truck tailgates where common folk would gather to escape the pressures of the world and revel in their team for a period of time. In our native South, the scent of charcoal and scorched wood guides folks to the best of tailgate spots. We are barbecue people. Pig is the meat of choice and the noblest feast of all is the whole hog. Sure, we may eat hot dogs and seven layer dip as hors d’ oeuvres but our true feast is the pig. There may be a Jell-O shot randomly interspersed with a bite of nachos and in those moments, we feast with the indignant pride of a people gorging themselves on the future victory of their team. Those moments are perfect unto themselves, but when the pig is done, we each take a moment of reverence, learned from Sundays in the South , before descending into a frenzy that would inspire William Golding to devour what (for all practical purposes) is the pre-game sacrificial lamb. The people you find at a tailgate come from all walks of life. It’s a time when our place in the social order doesn’t really matter because, just for today, we all eat as kings as we cheer for our gladiators. Once we lick the grease from our fingers and hoist a final toast, it’s time to go cheer on the champions – in the South, this frequently begins with putting a flask in our bootleg. Then, we begin our trek from tailgate to the stadium. We will cheer and recoil in anguish throughout the event doing our best to provide emotional support to the warriors on the gridiron. Ghosts of the past who have built these times and places will fuel the fire of our passion while we pray for victory. But regardless of victory or defeat when it is all over, the tribe will make its way back to where it came from. And, when we do, he who finds the last bits of outside meat still clinging to the coal-stained grates will eat once more and revel in the dream that his team, his gladiators and heroes will march toward victory once again. Food says so much about where you’ve come from, where you’ve decided to go, and the lessons you’ve learned. It’s geography, politics, tradition, belief and so much more and these next two weeks, we invite you to dig in and discover the rich, ever-evolving taste of America in 2011. Catch up on past coverage and read the live blog from our Secret Supper in Chicago on Wednesday night.

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Win or lose, you’ll always have the tailgate

The Obama administration will reassess the proposed route through Nebraska for a major pipeline that would carry oil from Canada to Texas, the State Department announced Thursday afternoon, a move that will delay a final decision beyond the 2012 election. In a statement, the State Department said it has determined it “needs to undertake an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes in Nebraska … given the concentration of concerns regarding the environmental sensitivities of the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska.” Read full article > >

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Keystone pipeline route in Nebraska to be reassessed

F orget hope and change. President Obama’s reelection campaign is going to be based on fear and loathing: fear of what a Republican takeover would mean, and loathing of whomever the Republican nominee turns out to be. Of course the Obama campaign will attempt to present the affirmative case for his reelection, citing legislative achievements, foreign policy successes and the current flurry of executive actions. But his strategists have clearly concluded that selling the president will not be enough, and the contours of the ugly months ahead are becoming increasingly apparent. Read full article > >

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Campaign 2012: Welcome to the slugfest