NEWS President Barack Obama on Thursday said he would impose a higher standard on the use of drone strikes, and he sought to renew his effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Peter Baker reports from Washington.
European Union officials, having won concessions from the bloc members Luxembourg and Austria over banking rules, are expected to turn their focus to Switzerland. Raphael Minder reports from Geneva.
The reaction was loud, swift and fierce this week to a proposed law that would require French universities to teach more of their courses in English, a measure that a well-known scholar had called a “suicidal project†that would lead to France's sacrificing its language to “Americanization disguised as globalization.†Maïa de la Baume reports from Paris.
With the European economy reeling from austerity and joblessness, the European Union took time last week to focus on something rather smaller in scale: it approved a measure that would ban restaurants from serving olive oil in cruets or dipping bowls. On Thursday, the European Commission announced in a hastily called news conference that the measure, meant to take effect on Jan. 1, would be rescinded. James Kanter reports from Brussels.
In the town where George Orwell wrote his first novel, “Burmese Days,†a group of locals are encouraging the authorities to restore his house and its unkempt garden. Jane Perlez reports from Katha, Myanmar.
ARTS By Thursday afternoon at the Cannes film festival, the battle lines had been firmly drawn and the Palme d'Or hypothetically awarded. The winner, amateur prognosticators huddling in the festival headquarters confidently or cautiously predicted, surely would be “Inside Llewyn Davis†or “The Great Beauty†or “Blue Is the Warmest Color†or “Nebraska.†Never mind that it was only Day 9 and that the actual awards don't take place until Sunday evening. Manohla Dargis writes from Cannes.
SPORTS Mahesh Bhupathi, the 38-year-old Indian doubles star with a strong head for business, believes Asia is underserved by high-level tennis. And though it might seem that the last thing that tennis needs is another event, on Friday in Paris he and his partners plan to introduce to the public the International Premier Tennis League, with the intention of starting play in late 2014. Christopher Clarey reports from Paris.
The Champions League anthem, an operatic choral piece that is one of the most recognizable songs in sports, was composed by Tony Britten to “class up†the soccer league. Two decades later, it is everywhere. Sam Borden writes from London.
