NEWS A mortar strike at Damascus University, which the government blamed on insurgents, subverted the aura of normalcy that President Bashar al-Assad has sought to cultivate. Anne Barnard reports from Damascus.
Tight limits on cash withdrawals and other transactions were in effect when Cypriot banks, closed since March 16, reopened around midday on Thursday. Andrew Higgins reports from Akaki, Cyprus, and Liz Alderman from Nicosia.
The grab for influence and power in Karachi shows that the Taliban have been able to extend their reach across Pakistan, and not just in the frontier regions. Declan Walsh and Zia ur-Rehman report from Karachi.
President Thein Sein of Myanmar said Thursday that he was prepared to use force to quell the religious rioting that has shaken his country, answering calls even from longtime democracy advocates for more forceful security measures. Thomas Fuller reports from Bangkok.
The disturbing details of Adam Lanza’s possessions were disclosed on Thursday for the first time since he carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. N.R. Kleinfield, Ray Rivera and Serge F. Kovaleski report.
A decade after severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, swept through Hong Kong and then around the world, the city is among the first to become worried about the emergence and spread of another, genetically related virus in the Middle East. Keith Bradsher reports from Hong Kong.
The leader of Italy’s center-left coalition acknowledged on Thursday that he had been unable to cobble together a governing majority in nearly a week of “dramatic†and difficult talks with representatives of the political parties in Parliament. Elisabetta Povoledo reports from Rome.
New research posits that the reddish barren spots, known as fairy circles, that dot a narrow belt of African desert could be the work of industrious sand termites. John Noble Wilford reports.
BP and three other oil giants said Thursday that they would begin a new round of drilling in a remote area about 75 kilometers west of the Shetland Islands, an archipelago north of Scotland. Stanley Reed reports from London.
ARTS In London, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench have opened in new West End plays within three weeks of each other. Matt Wolf writes from London.
SPORTS Only 12 ultrarunners have completed the 100-mile Barkley Marathons, and those connected to this ultrasecret race hope a coming documentary does not alter its counterculture charm. Dave Seminara reports from Wartburg, Tennessee.
