Warned About Abuse, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

The Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, with hands together, at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Wisconsin in 1960.

Top Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not defrock an American priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even after warnings from several bishops, church files show.

Abuse Scandal’s Ripples Spread Across Europe

Gen. Ray Odierno, left, the top American commander in Iraq, recently met with soldiers at a base in Baghdad. He is reviewing plans for a troop withdrawal.

General Works to Salvage Legacy of Iraq War

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and THOM SHANKER 10:19 PM ET

Gen. Ray Odierno has served the administration that started the Iraq war and now the one whose president campaigned to end it.

The Bank of Greece in Athens. Greece must roll over $27 billion in debt soon, and an additional $44 billion later in the year.

Europe Looks Uneasily at I.M.F. as Greece Struggles

By STEVEN ERLANGER 9:38 PM ET

While an International Monetary Fund bailout would be one possible solution to the Greek debt problem, European pride and politics stand in the way.

Russia and U.S. Report Breakthrough on Arms Pact

By PETER BAKER and ELLEN BARRY

Russia and the U.S. have broken through a logjam and expect to sign a new treaty next month that would slash nuclear arsenals, officials from both nations said Wednesday.

China and Russia Pressed Iran to Accept U.N. Deal

By ELLEN BARRY and ANDREW KRAMER 9:37 PM ET

Russia said its envoys and Chinese envoys pressured Iran to accept a plan on uranium enrichment but Iran refused.

After Arrests, Taliban Promote a Fighter

By DEXTER FILKINS and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH

A new Taliban deputy, known as a politically unskilled fighter, is a former detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who is unlikely to back negotiations.

U.S. Presses Israel on Housing as Dispute Widens

By HELENE COOPER and ISABEL KERSHNER 23 minutes ago

Negotiators huddled for a second day after failing to end an impasse over construction in East Jerusalem.

Israel Confirms New Building in East Jerusalem

Memo From Tokyo

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, center, thanked the upper house of Parliament for passing the budget Wednesday.

Rooting Out Career Bureaucrats to Plant a New Economic Formula

By MARTIN FACKLER 17 minutes ago

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan is working to end more than a century of bureaucratic control of the country’s central ministries.

Bone May Reveal a New Human Group

By NICHOLAS WADE 9:44 PM ET

The discovery stemmed from work on a child’s bone buried between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago in Siberia.

E.U. Weighs Its Own System to Track Cash for Terrorism

By JAMES KANTER

The European Commission said such a system would require the United States to contribute information on American citizens' transactions.

British Government Delivers Pre-Election Budget

By LANDON THOMAS Jr. 11:29 AM ET

The chancellor of the Exchequer promised to halve the deficit in four years but defended the spending that has pushed Britain’s deficit to a historic highs.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with staff of Network Rail’s Thameslink project in London on Wednesday.

Britons Cling to Services, Despite Debt

By LANDON THOMAS Jr. 22 minutes ago

Government outlays eat up half the nation’s economic output, but voters are having second thoughts about the Tories’ call to shrink the budget.

British Government Delivers Pre-Election Budget

In First, Private Guards Kill Somali Pirate

By ALAN COWELL 10:20 PM ET

Private security guards aboard a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa fired on and killed a Somali pirate after a group attacked their vessel, the E.U. said.

Rio Tinto Trial Ends in China, but Verdict Awaits

By DAVID BARBOZA 12:37 PM ET

The four employees of the British-Australian mining giant face five to 15 years in prison in a ruling that is being closely watched by foreign companies operating in China.

Seeking Lower Fuel Costs, Ukraine May Sell Pipelines

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Ukraine’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovich, opened talks with Russia to sell control over the operation of natural gas pipelines in Ukraine to a consortium that included the Russian company Gazprom.