Chaos

Rich Lam/Getty Images By Jack Pickell, Boston.com Staff A bizarre and intriguing photograph has emerged from the violent scenes of downtown Vancouver that played out in the hours after the Boston Bruins defeated the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. The photo shows a young couple lying down together on the street engaged in a passionate kiss, as riot police in the foreground and background of the photo try to control the chaos....

The shockwaves from Greece's failure to form a coalition government continued to reverberate around markets on Wednesday, with investors concerned that the country was heading for the euro exit door, thereby fracturing Europe's single currency. Greece is headed for another general election next month after nine days of unsuccessful talks since the May 6 poll yielded a split vote with no one party able to govern on its own. The next election could well become a referendum over Greece's place in the euro — which could mean the established Greek political parties that took a hammering...

Parker, an English artist in her 50s, salvaged these charred and desiccated pieces of wood from the scene of a suspicious fire at a woodshop on the outskirts of London. Burnt and brittle, they're evidence of disaster, wrong-doing, undoing. In the natural order of things we'd be seeing them collapsed in an abject pile on the ground, surrounded by rubble, awaiting the final chapter of their fate: dust, decay, dissolution. But Parker proposes a different fate. From chaos, she creates order.

Asian stock markets fell Wednesday, spooked by disappointing U.S. corporate earnings and fears that political turmoil in debt-crippled Greece is pushing it closer to financial disaster. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.5 percent to hit a three-month intraday low of 9,021.20 as traders pulled away from big exporters whose fortunes are partly linked to demand from Europe. The same went for shares in other export-driven economies such as China and South Korea. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1 percent to 20,284.66 and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent to 1,950.68.

Madness was afoot at the season-opening concert of the talented and intrepid chamber orchestra A Far Cry. Titled “The Lunatic,’’ the program’s four works touched in varying degrees on the idea that beneath placid surfaces lurk dark forces, ready to erupt without warning. They led off with Heinrich Biber’s “Battalia á 10,’’ a musical dramatization of warfare. About half the time it acts like a proper Baroque concerto; the other half contains effects that make it sound amazingly modern.

CAMBRIDGE -- The Hold Steady had only played one song Monday at the Middle East when guitarist Tad Kubler announced that the end of the tour is when everything falls apart. He wasn't kidding. At the time, bassist Galen Polivka was trying to locate an instrument that worked, forcing vocalist Craig Finn and keyboardist Franz Nicolay to veer from the setlist to play the two-man "Certain Songs" to keep things moving. It was one of a number of mishaps that befell the Hold Steady on its last show after a monthlong leg of dates.

Mayor Tom Menino hung out with Fox 25's Maria Stephanos at the Boston Flower & Garden Show's preview party on Tuesday. Yes, this shot was taken before the transformer fire that threw Back Bay into chaos. The Flower & Garden show runs through Sunday at the Seaport World Trade Center.

Be sure to chat by our always-filling Friday chat, during which we'll discuss the Patriots' pivotal matchup with the Jets, potential free agent (and managerial) targets for the Red Sox, the Penn State chaos, and the usual media matters. Bring along a Krabby Patty and check in below to join the fun. Chat sports and media with Chad Finn at noon

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff If any Red Sox fans happened to be in Port Charlotte today for the Orioles-Rays game, they must have winced. When Robert Andino came up for the first time, the Rays players gave him a standing ovation in the dugout according to our buddy Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Andino, of course, had the game-winning hit against the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 162 in Baltimore last season. Minutes later, the Rays beat the Yankees to make the playoffs.

CAMBRIDGE - It's easy to understand what stirred the dramatic imagination of playwright Anne Washburn as she contemplated the history, both recent and ancient, of Romania. What's more difficult to grasp, at least on a first viewing, is where her imagination has taken her. Washburn completed the play, "The Communist Dracula Pageant," in 1999, 10 years after the revolution that ended the bloody, surreal reign of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. Now, almost a decade further on, the American Repertory Theatre is giving the play its world premiere at the Zero Arrow Theatre, in a...

London's mayor warned Monday that long delays for passengers arriving at the city's largest airport risk damaging Britain's reputation in the run-up to this summer's Olympic Games. Boris Johnson wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May amid increasing concerns over lengthy lines at border control desks for those arriving at Heathrow Airport. Passengers have complained of frustrating delays, on some occasions of more than an hour, because of lengthy passport and visa checks and an apparent lack of border staff.

Parker, an English artist in her 50s, salvaged these charred and desiccated pieces of wood from the scene of a suspicious fire at a woodshop on the outskirts of London. Burnt and brittle, they're evidence of disaster, wrong-doing, undoing. In the natural order of things we'd be seeing them collapsed in an abject pile on the ground, surrounded by rubble, awaiting the final chapter of their fate: dust, decay, dissolution. But Parker proposes a different fate. From chaos, she creates order.

By Alan Berger A superficial first glance would make it seem that the disqualification of three leading presidential candidates by an election commission in Egypt is akin to a racing commission in Kentucky suspiciously scratching three top contenders from the the Derby just weeks before the big race. And in Egypt, where a paranoid assumption of conspiracy is often the first explanation for all political events, the abrupt discarding of the former regime's intelligence chief, a prime leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a more radical Salafist candidate certainly makes...

Mayor Tom Menino hung out with Fox 25's Maria Stephanos at the Boston Flower & Garden Show's preview party on Tuesday. Yes, this shot was taken before the transformer fire that threw Back Bay into chaos. The Flower & Garden show runs through Sunday at the Seaport World Trade Center.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff If any Red Sox fans happened to be in Port Charlotte today for the Orioles-Rays game, they must have winced. When Robert Andino came up for the first time, the Rays players gave him a standing ovation in the dugout according to our buddy Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Andino, of course, had the game-winning hit against the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 162 in Baltimore last season. Minutes later, the Rays beat the Yankees to make the playoffs.

ATHENS, Greece — Greece's future in the eurozone came under renewed threat Friday as popular protests again turned violent and dissent grew among its lawmakers after European leaders demanded deeper spending cuts. The country's beleaguered coalition government promised to push through the tough new austerity measures and rescue a crucial €130 billion ($170 billion) bailout deal after six members of the Cabinet resigned. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos promised to ‘‘do everything necessary" to ensure parliament passes the new austerity...

The contemporary artist Matthew Barney’s “Cremaster Cycle’’ is part of a “$25,000 Pyramid’’-worthy list of things that are classically long. “War and Peace.’’ Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy’s marriage. Last year’s Wimbledon men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Gene Simmons’s tongue. But only “Cremaster’’ has spurred dissertation about the space of the possible and the ontological nature of the corporeal (sorry, Gene!). It’s also impossible to see in its entirety.

A gunman who jumped from a Jaguar and barricaded himself inside a landmark restaurant Thursday surrendered peacefully after a three-hour standoff that shut down part of Savannah's 18th-century historic district. A SWAT team in helmets and flak jackets arrested the man inside the upscale Olde Pink House restaurant. Investigators were still trying to sort out what led to the standoff, but initial details pointed to a botched kidnapping. The chaos began just after 8 a.m. when a plainclothes officer outside a coffee shop saw the silver Jaguar jump the curb...

ATHENS - Greece's place in Europe once again hung in the balance yesterday, as the fragile interim coalition of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was plunged into turmoil and European leaders expressed doubts about the country's commitment to remaking its economy and achieving solvency. Following a wave of defections from his Cabinet, and as street protests turned violent in Athens amid a general strike, Papademos told lawmakers that they must approve the measures - including a 22 percent cut in the benchmark minimum wage and public sector layoffs - or the country would suffer a disorderly default...