The other night in Beirut, notebook in hand, I slowed to watch an old man part his curtains. Inside a building scarred by bullet holes, he worried his hands, standing beside yellow walls and a water-stained desk. I fumbled in my bag, trying to find a pen. A dog
* Obama caught by stray microphone telling Medvedev he'll have more flexibility post-election. * Romney calls Russia America's number-one geopolitical foe. * Japan shuts down another nuclear plant, leaving it with just one reactor. * Map and plans for Napoleon theme park to rival Disneyland Paris. * Man who
* Round-up of lesser-known ways you may be affected by Obama's health care reform. * Interview with Czech economist Tomas Sedlacek. * Broke Irish man lives inside apartment built from 1.4 billion euros. * Earth becomes art through satellite imagery. * Today in #TheRooster: Different characters read Proust for different
* Supreme Court to begin discussion of Obama's health care law, the longest argument in more than 40 years. * David Sedaris visits French doctors. * Soldiers leaving for Afghanistan fear genital wounds most. * Six lies corrected about Jerusalem and Washington. * One of Jerusalem's biggest-ever ethnic clashes sees
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, jungle growth was obscuring New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward, while the white saviour industrial complex wanted a growth now, no matter the costs. Like
* Obama nominates Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank. * Kagan: America must prepare for, not deny, its decline as dominator of Earth. * French Muslims wait for France to react to learning that a Muslim was behind the Jewish school shootings. * Relationship between stress and immunity not fully
* EU slaps travel ban and assets freeze on Assad's wife, though she can still visit London. * America's strategic oil reserve should be kept for a real emergency, not squandered for politics. * Former New York Times restaurant critic Bruni diagnosed with gout. * Brief accounting of the lives
As “Mad Men” enters its much-anticipated fifth season, the New York psychotherapist who consulted on the show’s development explains why its characters and storylines feel so ineffably real.
* President of the European Central Bank says worst of the eurozone crisis is over. * Q&A on habit, small wins, and why removing kebob stands prevents riots. * "Why I Want to Build Nine Freedom Towers in Tiananmen Square." * People holding guns tend to think other people are
The United States is much too big for the nightly news to cover thoroughly. Continuing our series of randomly telephoning people around the country—from Santa Claus, Ind., to Brilliant, Ala.—to find out what’s really going on.
