WORLD NEWS

Will Biden Be an Activist President on the World Stage?

Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Dr. Jill Biden arriving at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday. There’s reason to believe Mr. Biden will be more visible on the global stage than some expect.

Keystone Rejection Tests Trudeau’s Balancing Act on Climate and Energy

A depot used to store pipes for the Keystone XL in 2017 in Gascoyne, N.D.

Covid-19 Live Updates: Fauci Throws U.S. Support Behind W.H.O.

‘Cannabis Factory’ Is Found in London’s Deserted Financial District

The apparently complex operation was “no doubt being set up in response to fewer people being out and about during the pandemic who might have noticed any unusual activity,” a detective said.

In a Slight to E.U., U.K. Says Not All Ambassadors Are Equal

The E.U. ambassador to London, João Vale de Almeida, is one of the bloc’s most experienced. He previously served as ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations.

Locked Up in a Hotel for a Year, Then a Sudden Taste of Freedom

A refugee shook hands with an Australian Border Force officer after leaving the Park Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday.

Suicide Bombing in Crowded Baghdad Market Kills at Least 32

The site of a twin suicide bombing in a busy market in Baghdad on Thursday.

Ex-Coach Sentenced to 10 Years for Raping Star Skater

Suriname Could Be Latest Big Oil Find as Industry Cuts Costs

The docks of an abandoned mine in Moengotapoe, Suriname. The nation’s emergence as a potential oil-producing star could help a new government trying to remake the country.

Iraq Flouts Coronavirus Precautions Amid Herd Immunity Belief

Customers at Dawa restaurant’s Sky Lounge ignoring internationally accepted anti-virus protocols.

With New Museums, a Once Disgraced Socialite Looks to Burnish His Legacy

Roberto Polo standing amid “Red Roosenary” (2008) by Maria Roosen, at the Center for Modern and Contemporary Art of Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, Spain, on Jan. 18. The museum shows pieces from Polo’s personal collection.

Madrid Explosion Leaves at Least 3 Dead

The aftermath of an explosion that tore through a building in central Madrid on Wednesday.

A Chinese Celebrity Scandal Puts Surrogate Births on Trial

Zheng Shuang, the Chinese actress at the center of the online furor, and her then partner, Zhang Heng, in Shanghai in 2019.

Report Aims at ‘Reconciling’ France and Algeria, Its Former Colony

French soldiers marching with Algerian prisoners in 1956. The French colonial past in Algeria is a trauma that continues to shape modern France.

In U.K. Hospitals, a Desperate Battle Against a Threat Many Saw Coming

Transporting a patient outside the Royal London Hospital this month. Britain now has nearly 40,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, almost double last year’s peak.

Biden’s First Day

Joe Biden was sworn in as President just before noon.

Traveling With a Purpose: For Some, It’s a 2021 Resolution

Biden restores ties with the World Health Organization that were cut by Trump.

Experts from China and the World Health Organization at a hospital in Wuhan last week. A W.H.O. team is in China investigating how the virus jumped from animals to people.

Your Thursday Briefing

A fist bump between President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the Capitol in Washington.

Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines

Health workers tended to a Covid-19 patient at Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in November.

Your Thursday Briefing

Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on January 20, 2020.

Trump’s Last-Minute Moves Against China Complicate Biden’s Agenda

The former president addressing supporters on Wednesday. His administration’s final acts toward China created challenges for the next phase of U.S. foreign policy.

The Netherlands will ban many flights and impose a nationwide curfew.

In Amsterdam on Monday. Cafes, restuarants and most shops are already closed across the Netherlands.

American Woman Deported From Bali After Calling It ‘Queer Friendly’

Kristen Gray, an American living in Bali, was criticized over Twitter posts in which she praised the Indonesian island as “queer friendly” and offered to help foreigners evade travel restrictions to move there.

Italy says it will sue Pfizer over delays in vaccine delivery.

Preparing a dose of coronavirus vaccine in Rome on Monday. On Friday, Pfizer announced a reduction in planned deliveries to E.U. countries this week.

Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Dies From Covid-19

Zimbabwe’s minister of foreign affairs and international trade, Sibusiso Busi Moyo, in 2019. 

A Capital Under Siege

FDR spoke from the South Portico of the White House during his final inauguration in 1945.

The departing C.D.C. director discusses his time at the agency.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is leaving his post on Wednesday.

Stinky strips of paper could, in theory, help drive down virus transmission.

A health worker performing a smell test in La Plata, Argentina, last summer.

Barbara Shelley, England’s leading lady of horror movies, dies at 88.

The actress Barbara Shelley in London in 1957.

Here are steps you can take to protect yourself from the new coronavirus variant.

A bus in Oklahoma City carried a message about coronavirus safety last week.

The Times's 24-Hour Global Relay: New York to Hong Kong and Seoul to London

The London newsroom, shown last year, collaborates with operations in New York and Asia.

U.S. Declaration of China’s ‘Genocide’ in Xinjiang, Explained

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on a screen in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang region, in 2018.

Your Wednesday Briefing

President Donald Trump greets the crow as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC., for a trip to Alamo, Texas to

Teenager’s Snow Cave Enters Canadian Survival Lore

Biden at Ceremony for Coronavirus Victims Says 'To Heal, we Must Remember'

Lights shine around the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

In Saudi Arabia, Quiet Changes May Ease Tensions With Biden

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has called for a broad reassessment of the American-Saudi relationship.

Could a Small Test Screen People for Covid-19?

A health worker in Altos de San Lorenzo, a neighborhood outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, administered a smell test last year.

As Political Crisis Meets Pandemic, Italians Wonder, Why?

The leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, in the backstage of a television show on Sunday. The government began to teeter last week, when he withdrew two ministers.

Canadian officials say changes to Pfizer’s production schedule will not delay vaccinations.

A dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine being prepared at the Michener Institute in Toronto earlier this month.

Navalny, From Jail, Issues Report Describing an Opulent Putin ‘Palace’

Supporters of the opposition leader Alexei A. Navalny outside a Moscow police station  on Monday.

Coronavirus Death Toll in the U.S. Passes 400,000

A woman whose parents died of Covid-19 placed flowers on their grave near Fort Yates, N.D., last month.

Your Wednesday Briefing

A field of flags was planted on the National Mall to represent the thousands of Americans who would normally attend the inauguration.

Vegan Restaurant ONA Gets Michelin Star in France, a First

Claire Vallée, the chef at ONA, which opened five years ago in southwest France.

Trump Bequeaths Biden an Upended World

President Trump with other G7 leaders in Canada in 2018. His “America First” positions galvanized other nations to put themselves first, too.

Violence in Sudan’s Darfur Region Dims Hopes of a Long-Sought Peace

Members of the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission at a protest against the mission’s withdrawal, in a displaced people’s camp in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, in late 2020.

U.S. Says China’s Repression of Uighurs Is ‘Genocide’

A facility in 2019 that is believed to be a re-education camp in Xinjiang.

Russia Mulls 'Covid-19 Passports' to Let People with Some Immunity Travel More Easily

People wait in line to receive the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at the State Department Store GUM in Moscow.

Skylar Mack Apologizes for Breaking Quarantine in Cayman Islands

India Celebrates as Cricket Team Humbles Australia on Its Own Turf

India’s cricket team celebrating victory against Australia in Brisbane on Tuesday. The Indian team had to play without many of its biggest names.

Theaters aid Britain’s pandemic-struck courts, and not everyone is applauding.

The Birmingham Repertory Theater, closed by Britain’s pandemic restrictions, is serving as a makeshift courthouse.

A Child of China’s Gilded Elite Strikes a Nerve Over Wealth and Privilege

Annabel Yao, the daughter of a Chinese billionaire, received widespread criticism after releasing a music video.

Families of Indonesia Plane Crash Victims Begin Their Anguished Goodbyes

Iriyaningsih, center, the mother of the flight attendant Isti Yudha Prastika, cries during her daughter’s funeral in Jakarta, on Saturday.

Inside the Capitol Attack

Trump supporters broke through a police barrier outside the Capitol.

Medical tourism is drawing patients, even in a pandemic.

The U.S. border between Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. Even during the pandemic there has been an increase in travel for medical tourism.

Pandemic teacher shortages imperil in-person schooling.

A longstanding teacher shortage in the United States has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

As the pandemic’s toll mounts and his inauguration approaches, Biden takes charge.

A field of flags from U.S. states planted on the National Mall on Monday to represent the thousands of Americans who would normally attend the inauguration.

One day in the pandemic: Portraits of lives cut short.

Jose H. Garcia is one of 2,048 people who died of the coronavirus on Jan. 4. He was a longtime police chief in Roma, Texas.

On Arab Spring Anniversary, Tunisia, Its Birthplace, Erupts

Protesters marching through Tunis last week on the 10th anniversary of the revolution.

Why Medical Tourism Is Drawing Patients, Even in a Pandemic

Despite rising Covid cases, patients are still opting to travel for affordable medical treatment in destinations such as Mexicali, a border city in northern Mexico, above.  

Court in Thailand Sentences Woman to 43 Years for Criticizing Monarchy

The former Thai civil servant identified as Anchan P. arrived at court in Bangkok on Tuesday before her sentencing on lèse-majesté charges.

Your Tuesday Briefing

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivers a speech at the Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021.

U.S. to Impose Sanctions on Ship Involved in Russian Gas Pipeline

The Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna.