Sympathy

For a welcome, President Barack Obama acknowledged his Group of 8 guests with a joke, a pleasantry or sympathy for the weight of the world. Ever the host, Obama stood under a canopy of oaks and poplars at dusk outside Camp David's Laurel Lodge to greet his G-8 guests. "Nice weather, huh," he said, acknowledging the photographers and reporters awaiting the arrival on a balmy spring evening. "Perfect, perfect. " Each dinner guest approached him separately and Obama greeted them by their first names To Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a bright blue jacket: "Dmitry,...

For a welcome, President Barack Obama acknowledged his Group of 8 guests with a joke, a pleasantry or sympathy for the weight of the world. Ever the host, Obama stood under a canopy of oaks and poplars at dusk outside Camp David's Laurel Lodge to greet his G-8 guests. "Nice weather, huh," he said, acknowledging the photographers and reporters awaiting the arrival on a balmy spring evening. "Perfect, perfect. " Each dinner guest approached him separately and Obama greeted them by their first names To Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a bright blue jacket: "Dmitry,...

IF RUTH Madoff is really playing for national sympathy, her turn on "60 Minutes" Sunday night didn't help. She was monotone, barely emotional, and half-amnesiatic as she reflected on the last three years of her life, since her husband confessed to running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. And any plea for privacy was offset by the reason she was talking: to promote an authorized family biography, which came out yesterday. Proceeds from the book, CBS said, will not technically benefit Madoff or her son, Andrew — but in a nifty paperwork trick, her son's fiancée will be able to cash in. On principle, then,...

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — Convicted war criminal and former Liberian president Charles Taylor said during his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he sympathizes with victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone he helped foment, and he asked judges to render their sentence against him in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution. " However, he stopped short of admitting any wrongdoing, apologizing for his actions, or expressing remorse. In a landmark ruling in April, judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against...

The State Department says it is trying to determine if any U.S. citizens were killed or injured in the Oslo bombings and has no confirmed reports of American casualties. Spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton said in a statement Friday that the United States has expressed its sympathy to the Norwegian government and offered aid, but so far Norway hasn't requested help. She said the U.S. condemns the "despicable acts of violence" in Oslo. Bronke Fulton said the department was advising American travellers to avoid downtown Oslo and follow local media reports.

So seamlessly do speech, song, and dance mesh in the work of San Francisco choreographer Joe Goode that you wonder why all dancers don't talk onstage. A lot of them do: Goode is hardly alone in his interdisciplinary approach, but he's a master of it. His program this weekend at Northeastern is made up of two works, 45 minutes each. In both, his company of six multi-talented performers develop characters that enlist your sympathy. Sympathy is the backbone of "What the Body Knows," which stars Elizabeth Burritt as a woman who has been brought up to be considerate of others.

Globe Staff File Photo/David L. Ryan Chef Barry Maiden led 2011 Munch Madness champion Hungry Mother to a victory again in 2012. It was another all-Cambridge battle, this time pitting Hungry Mother against Craigie on Main, and it was a tough choice to be sure: sophisticated yet homey Southern fare, or devoutly nose-to-tail creativity? Voters ordered the shrimp and grits, giving the 2011 champions another Munch Madness victory. Hungry Mother sent a lovely sympathy bouquet to Craigie on Main.

‘I believe in the possibility of unendurable suffering," writes Sarah Manguso in the early pages of "The Guardians. " The affirmation establishes Manguso's credibility as an author capable of real empathy, rather than plain old sympathy - she allows herself a sort of practical acceptance alongside her mourning. The book is an elegy to her late friend Harris, a composer who bore intermittent bouts of "florid psychosis" before jumping in front of a subway car. As she recalls her friend (a summer in Cambridge between college semesters; standing side-by-side at the bank of...

Classy. That’s how this year’s Munch Madness tournament began, and that’s how it ended. There were no curses cast, no pig’s heads delivered, as in previous years. Cambridge restaurants (and past champions) East Coast Grill and Hungry Mother calmly faced off, with Hungry Mother ultimately trumping East Coast Grill and moving on to beat Highland Kitchen. On the other side of the bracket, Craigie on Main and Eastern Standard jousted. Eastern Standard created a video set to brunch-worthy jazz, politely asking viewers for their votes.

Friday Night Lights 9 p.m., Channel 7 Actually, please don't watch this show. Stay away. It's sincere, and you're so ironic. It's moving, and you've got a suit of armor around your heart. It's a straight-up melodrama and you have quotes around everything you say and do. Even though Jason Street (above) is returning to the story line tonight, tune it out. Seriously. And no, I wouldn't stoop to reverse psychology. The Last Seduction 8 p.m., Flix There was a moment in 1994 when this movie turned Linda Fiorentino (above)

Classy. That's how this year's Munch Madness tournament began, and that's how it ended. There were no curses cast, no pig's heads delivered, as in previous years. Cambridge restaurants (and past champions) East Coast Grill and Hungry Mother calmly faced off, with Hungry Mother ultimately trumping East Coast Grill and moving on to beat Highland Kitchen. On the other side of the bracket, Craigie on Main and Eastern Standard jousted. Eastern Standard created a video set to brunch-worthy jazz, politely asking viewers for their votes.

Classy. That’s how this year’s Munch Madness tournament began, and that’s how it ended. There were no curses cast, no pig’s heads delivered, as in previous years. Cambridge restaurants (and past champions) East Coast Grill and Hungry Mother calmly faced off, with Hungry Mother ultimately trumping East Coast Grill and moving on to beat Highland Kitchen. On the other side of the bracket, Craigie on Main and Eastern Standard jousted. Eastern Standard created a video set to brunch-worthy jazz, politely asking viewers for their votes.

‘I believe in the possibility of unendurable suffering," writes Sarah Manguso in the early pages of "The Guardians. " The affirmation establishes Manguso's credibility as an author capable of real empathy, rather than plain old sympathy - she allows herself a sort of practical acceptance alongside her mourning. The book is an elegy to her late friend Harris, a composer who bore intermittent bouts of "florid psychosis" before jumping in front of a subway car. As she recalls her friend (a summer in Cambridge between college semesters; standing side-by-side at the bank of...

IF RUTH Madoff is really playing for national sympathy, her turn on "60 Minutes" Sunday night didn't help. She was monotone, barely emotional, and half-amnesiatic as she reflected on the last three years of her life, since her husband confessed to running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. And any plea for privacy was offset by the reason she was talking: to promote an authorized family biography, which came out yesterday. Proceeds from the book, CBS said, will not technically benefit Madoff or her son, Andrew — but in a nifty paperwork trick, her son's fiancée will be able to cash in. On...

The State Department says it is trying to determine if any U.S. citizens were killed or injured in the Oslo bombings and has no confirmed reports of American casualties. Spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton said in a statement Friday that the United States has expressed its sympathy to the Norwegian government and offered aid, but so far Norway hasn't requested help. She said the U.S. condemns the "despicable acts of violence" in Oslo. Bronke Fulton said the department was advising American travellers to avoid downtown Oslo and follow local media reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 16-year-old who was arrested and accused of killing a St. Petersburg police officer made his first court appearance yesterday and was ordered held without bail. Officer David Crawford was shot multiple times Monday night while investigating a report of a prowler in a neighborhood near Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. Crawford was the third St. Petersburg officer to die in the line of duty in the past month. Police identified the suspect as Nicholas Lindsey.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 16-year-old who was arrested and accused of killing a St. Petersburg police officer made his first court appearance yesterday and was ordered held without bail. Officer David Crawford was shot multiple times Monday night while investigating a report of a prowler in a neighborhood near Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. Crawford was the third St. Petersburg officer to die in the line of duty in the past month. Police identified the suspect as Nicholas Lindsey.

Madison Smartt Bell has given himself an almost insurmountable challenge. A fictional protagonist should be someone readers can identify with. Though Bell pulls out all the literary stops, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest never quite becomes a character we sympathize with. After all, the real-life Forrest was a slave trader known for his violent temper and vulgar verbal explosions, a man who fought passionately to defend the Confederacy and would later help found the Ku Klux Klan.