On Eve of Vote, Fragile Valley in Kenya Faces New Divisions

KIAMBAA, Kenya — After another long day, Joseph Kairuri Mwangi walked back to his farmhouse shack, the late afternoon sun slanting behind him, his strides slow, his shoes muddy with rich, freshly turned earth. It has been five years since his right hand was nearly cut off, but it still hurts. “Right here,” he said, gingerly touching the scars. “I still feel pain right here.” ...

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World Briefing | Africa: South Africa: 8 Officers Charged in Dragging Case

Eight South African police officers were charged with murder on Friday in connection with the death of a taxi driver dragged by a police vehicle, an episode that was captured on videotape. South Africa’s police chief, Gen. Riah Phiyega, said that she shared “the extreme shock and outrage” over the video evidence of abuse of the man, Mido Macia, left, by police officers and that his rights had been...

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Jean-Claude Duvalier Faces Questions in Court About His Reign in Haiti

Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated PressSupporters of Jean-Claude Duvalier held a picture of him, right, and his father outside court. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former dictator known as Baby Doc accused of bearing responsibility for the deaths, torture and the disappearance of hundreds of people, walked into a muggy, packed courtroom here on Thursday, sat down next to shocked victims...

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As Castro Era Drifts to Close, a New Face Steps In at No. 2

Franklin Reyes/Associated PressMiguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, right, during the closing session of the Cuban National Assembly in Havana on Sunday. MEXICO CITY — He may have just taken on the toughest job in Cuba. Rivals at home will try to take him down. Enemies abroad will discredit him. Almost anyone with an interest in Cuba — including American spies and Cuban intelligence officers — will dig through...

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New Report Details Syrian Missile Attack

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian government fired at least four ballistic missiles last week that hit civilian neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, killing more than 141 people, including 71 children, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Tuesday. Syrian antigovernment activists had reported the missile strikes last week, corroborated by video of the aftermath posted...

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Ikea Recalls Its Meatballs Horse Meat Is Detected

LONDON — The furniture giant Ikea joined a growing list of brands that have been touched by Europe’s food scandal on Monday and withdrew its signature Swedish meatballs from its markets and cafeterias across most of Europe after one batch was found to contain traces of horse meat. Ikea’s decision — which followed a recall by the Swiss food maker Nestlé last week — demonstrated that even closely...

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News Analysis: U.S. Confronts Cyber-Cold War With China

WASHINGTON — When the Obama administration circulated to the nation’s Internet providers last week a lengthy confidential list of computer addresses linked to a hacking group that has stolen terabytes of data from American corporations, it left out one crucial fact: that nearly every one of the digital addresses could be traced to the neighborhood in Shanghai that is headquarters to the Chinese military’s...

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Iranians Claim to Capture Drone

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday that they had captured a foreign unmanned aircraft during a military exercise in southern Iran. Gen. Hamid Sarkheili, a spokesman for the military exercise, said the guards’ electronic warfare unit spotted signals indicating that foreign drones were trying to enter Iranian airspace. General Sarkheili said experts took control of one...

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BBC Portrayed as Top-Heavy, Bickering and Dysfunctional

LONDON — A senior press officer for the British Broadcasting Corporation darkly volunteers to “drip poison” to discredit a BBC reporter he suspects of having leaked embarrassing information. The woman in charge of the corporation’s news divisions accuses Newsnight, a public-affairs program she oversees, of being out of touch and “sneery” toward rival BBC shows. And, as investigators seek...

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Embezzlement Scandal Threatens Spain’s Royal Family

Josep Lago/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe Duke of Palma, a former Olympic handball player named Iñaki Urdangarin, is scheduled to testify on Saturday before an investigating judge over allegations that he embezzled millions of euros. MADRID — The Web site of the Spanish royal family features pictures of the king, Juan Carlos I, in a blue sash, his bejeweled wife, Queen Sofía, and the couple’s...

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Egypts Floods Smuggling Tunnels to Gaza With Sewage

Hatem Moussa/Associated PressA Palestinian clearing a tunnel of sewage in Rafah, between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. GAZA —The Egyptian military is resorting to a pungent new tactic to shut down the smuggling tunnels connecting Sinai and Gaza: flooding them with sewage. Along with the stink, the approach is raising new questions about relations between Egypt’s new Islamist leaders and their...

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Oslo Journal: In Norway, TV Program on Firewood Elicits Passions

Kyrre Lien for The New York TimesLars Mytting at his home in Elverum, Norway. His best-selling book, “Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood — and the Soul of Wood-Burning” inspired a TV program about cutting, stacking and burning firewood. OSLO — The TV program, on the topic of firewood, consisted mostly of people in parkas chatting and chopping in the woods and then eight hours...

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Seeking Direction in Yemen

Yemenis gathered in Change Square in the capital, Sana, this month. Two years after the start of the country’s uprising, the square is almost empty of protesters. Yemen, having pulled back from the brink of war in 2011, is slowly embarking on a national dialogue aimed at reconciling its rancorous political factions, under the watchful eyes of Arab and Western monito...

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The Lede: Answering Readers’ Questions About the Meteorite Strike in Russia

You asked us great meteor questions, readers, ones that went beyond the mere fact of the seriously cool video coming from all over Russia. But we wanted to give you a deeper look at the science behind bombardments from space, so we called in a respected source to help.Clark R. Chapman is a senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and a pioneer in the field of asteroid threat...

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A Ticket, a Lie and a British Official’s Downfall

LONDON — It began mundanely enough with a speeding violation 10 years ago. But it escalated, through the tangled, explosive passions of a failed marriage and one partner’s new love affair, into one of the most tawdry political scandals Britain has seen in years. And it has claimed the political career of an ambitious cabinet minister, Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat who resigned his...

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U.S. Troops Leave Afghan Outposts, Still Facing Fire

Bryan Denton for The New York TimesAfghanistan Army soldiers, left, and their American counterparts on Thursday destroyed a Taliban firing position in a village in Kandahar Province. More Photos »STRONG POINT HAJI RAHMUDDIN II, Afghanistan — When the last American soldiers to occupy this squat, lonely outpost in southern Afghanistan pulled out this week, they left the same way earlier units had arrived:...

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World Briefing | Europe: Norway: Rwandan Convicted for His Role in 1994 Genocide

A Norwegian court on Thursday convicted a Rwandan man living in Norway for participating in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and sentenced him to 21 years in prison. The Oslo District Court found the man, Sadi Bugingo, 47, guilty of complicity in the premeditated killings of at least 2,000 people belonging mainly to the Tutsi ethnic group. Mr. Bugingo, who denied all the charges, said he would appeal....

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Israel Museum’s Herod Show Draws Anger Over Use of West Bank Objects

Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto AgencyThe exhibition “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey” includes a reconstruction of his tomb, with his sarcophagus, center. JERUSALEM — In one room sits a sarcophagus of reddish-pink limestone believed to have held the body of King Herod, painstakingly reconstructed after having been smashed to bits centuries ago. In another, there are frescoes from Herod’s...

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Taking Guns to Holy Ground in Mexico City

Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York TimesMexican soldiers evaluated guns last month in Mexico City. The city has largely been spared the violence of other areas. MEXICO CITY — A young woman cradling a large crucifix left Mexico’s holiest shrine, the Basilica of St. Mary of Guadalupe, on a recent afternoon and stopped at a tent outside, where soldiers were piling up pistols and rifles on a table,...

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Militant Threats Test Pentagon’s Role in Africa

Pool photo byGen. William E. Ward, left, departed as Africa Command leader under a cloud, succeeded by Gen. Carter F. Ham in 2011. NIAMEY, Niger — Created five years ago to focus on training the armed forces of dozens of African nations and strengthening social, political and economic programs, the Pentagon’s Africa Command now finds itself on a more urgent mission: confronting a new generation of...

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