Homeless Pay the Price of Progress in Lagos, Nigeria

Samuel James for The New York TimesChildren scavenge through the remains of a demolition site in Lagos in search of scrap wood to sell. LAGOS, Nigeria — The young man with the crowbar stood on a heap of rubble — planks, pallets, remains of pots, bits of cardboard, wisps of clothing, chunks of concrete — indistinguishable from every other pile in a field of debris stretching far into the distance....

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W.H.O. Sees Low Health Risks From Fukushima Accident

TOKYO — A study published on Thursday by the World Health Organization on the health risks associated with the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suggested that the risk for certain types of cancers had increased slightly among children exposed to the highest doses of radioactivity, but that there would most likely be no observable increase in cancer rates in the wider Japanese...

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The Lede: Syrians Describes Apparent Missile Strikes on Aleppo

A Human Rights Watch video report on the aftermath of apparent missile strikes in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo.Human Rights Watch investigators who visited Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, have concluded that the Syrian government fired at least four ballistic missiles into civilian neighborhoods there last week, killing more than 141 people, including 71 children. As my colleague Anne Barnard explained,...

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Rocket From Gaza Hits Israel, Breaking Cease-Fire

Tsafrir Abayov/Associated PressIsraeli explosives experts gathered near a rocket believed to have been fired from the Gaza Strip, landing near Ashkelon, on Tuesday. JERUSALEM — A Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck in southern Israel early Tuesday, threatening to further escalate tensions that have been mounting since Saturday, when a 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner died in an Israeli jail....

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Skepticism Surrounds Resumption of Nuclear Talks With Iran

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Talks between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear program resume here on Tuesday after a break of eight months, but there is a general atmosphere of gloom about their prospects for success, even if narrowly defined. Since talks in Moscow last June, Iran has continued to increase its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity, has begun to install a new...

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World Briefing | Middle East: Iran: News Agency Clarifies Drone Report

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had conducted tests aimed at bringing down a “hypothetical” foreign surveillance drone during a military exercise, the official Fars news agency said late Saturday, and did not actually shoot down or capture a foreign drone. The Islamic Republic News Agency, another official news agency, also reported on the exercise, but omitted the word hypothetical,...

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Papal Conclave Accompanied by Reports of Scandals and Intrigue

Osservatore Romano/ReutersPope Benedict XVI, right, spoke to cardinals at the Vatican on Saturday. VATICAN CITY — As cardinals from around the world begin arriving in Rome for a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, new shadows have fallen over the delicate transition, which the Vatican fears might influence the vote and with it the direction of the Roman Catholic Church. In...

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In Niger, U.S. Troops Set Up Drone Base

WASHINGTON — Opening a new front in the drone wars against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, President Obama announced on Friday that about 100 American troops had been sent to Niger in West Africa to help set up a new base from which unarmed Predator aircraft would conduct surveillance in the region. The new drone base, located for now in the capital, Niamey, is an indication of the priority...

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15 G.O.P. Senators Ask Obama to Withdraw Hagel Nomination

WASHINGTON — A group of 15 Republican senators insisted on Thursday that President Obama withdraw the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, the latest move in a contentious battle to block the confirmation of their former colleague. But even as Republican senators tried to throw up another obstacle, Senate Democrats said they were pushing ahead with plans to hold a final...

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The Lede: Palestinian Filmmaker Describes Detention at Los Angeles Airport

The trailer for “5 Broken Cameras,” Emad Burnat’s autobiographical film on life in the West Bank.The Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat, who had a hard time convincing immigration officers at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday that his invitation to this weekend’s Academy Awards was real, described his brief detention in a statement on Wednesday. Last night, on my way from Turkey to Los Angeles,...

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Brazen Jewel Robbery at Brussels Airport Nets $50 Million in Diamonds

BRUSSELS — They arrived at Brussels Airport armed with automatic weapons and dressed in police uniforms aboard two vehicles equipped with blue police lights. But their most important weapon was information: the eight hooded gangsters who on Monday evening seized diamonds worth tens of millions of dollars from a passenger plane preparing to depart for Switzerland knew exactly when to strike — just...

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As Assad Holds Firm, Obama Could Revisit Arms Policy

ReutersA member of the Free Syrian Army inside a weapons factory in Aleppo on Monday. President Obama has decided against providing arms to rebels in the past. WASHINGTON — When President Obama rebuffed four of his top national security officials who wanted to arm the rebels in Syria last fall, it put an end to a months-long debate over how aggressively Washington should respond to the strife there...

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Death Toll Grows in Pakistan Explosion

Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA bomb killed scores of people on Saturday at a market in Quetta, Pakistan, in a Shiite minority neighborhood. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Hundreds of Shiite women staged a sit-in in the western city of Quetta on Sunday evening to mourn the 84 people who were killed in an explosion a day earlier in a crowded market there, and they demanded that the government arrest the...

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Karzai to Forbid His Forces to Request Foreign Airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree forbidding his military forces from turning to NATO or American forces to conduct airstrikes, and he condemned the use of torture on detainees by his security forces. He made his comments in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul. It was the first time he had dwelt at such length and...

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Meteor Fragments Rain Down on Siberia; Hundreds of Injuries Reported

MOSCOW — Gym class came to a halt inside the Chelyabinsk Railway Institute, and students gathered around the window, gazing at the fat white contrail that arced its way across the morning sky. A missile? A comet? A few quiet moments passed. And then, with incredible force, the windows blew in. The scenes from Chelyabinsk, rocked by an intense shock wave when a meteor hit the Earth’s atmosphere...

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Benedict Says He Will Be ‘Hidden to the World’ in Retirement

VATICAN CITY — Saying he would soon be “hidden to the world,” Pope Benedict XVI took his leave of parish priests and clergy of the Diocese of Rome on Thursday as he offered personal, and incisive, recollections of the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops 50 years ago that set the Roman Catholic Church’s course for the future. Benedict, who announced his resignation on Monday in...

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IHT Special: Tunisia Sinks Back Into Turmoil

TUNIS — Following the murder of a leading opposition politician, Tunisians are asking whether the Arab Spring, which began in their country, has accomplished much of anything. They are disenchanted with the fits and starts of the transition from dictatorship to something else. “Nobody likes the situation and this government has to change,” said Rabbeh Souly, 28, who sped up her steps on the...

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The Lede: Latest Updates on the Pope’s Resignation

The Lede is providing updates on Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to do so in six centuries. (Turn off auto-refresh to watch videos.)4:17 P.M. |Subtitled Video of Pope’s Resignation StatementThe Telegraph has added English subtitles to video of the pope’s resignation statement, made in Latin...

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