Lead Poisoning in China: The Hidden Scourge

By SHARON LaFRANIERE

Sim Chi Yin for the New York Times

Han Tiantian, 3, of Mengxi Village, China, has more than four times China's allowable blood lead level. Her mother, Wen Yuni, and father, Han Zongyuan, have both worked in a battery factory.

Over the past two and a half years, thousands of workers, villagers and children have been found to be suffering from toxic levels of lead exposure, mostly caused by pollution from battery factories.

Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid

By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI

Pakistan’s detention of five C.I.A. informants, including a Pakistani Army major, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan.

Times Topics: Pakistan

Region in Revolt

A Syrian refugee in a school in Ain al-Baida, Syria, on Tuesday. The school has sheltered about 100 Syrians who have fled the violence in their towns.

Fleeing Syrians Take Refuge Along Border With Turkey

By SEBNEM ARSU and ANTHONY SHADID

Hundreds of Syrians displaced by a ferocious military crackdown fled to the border by tractor, truck and foot, residents said.

C.I.A. Building Base for Strikes in Yemen

By MARK MAZZETTI

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is the target of a secret facility under construction somewhere in the Middle East, an American official confirmed.

More World News

Mitt Romney campaigning in Derry, N.H., on Tuesday. In the Republican presidential debate on Monday night, he said it was

Candidates Show G.O.P. Less United on Goals of War

By JEFF ZELENY

Some presidential candidates are shifting from the hawkish consensus on national security that has dominated Republican foreign policy for a decade.

Bachmann Widens Her Appeal

An e-mail message from the Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid on a computer screen.

One Voice or Many for the Taliban, but Pegged to a Single Name

By ROD NORDLAND

Zabiullah Mujahid, mouthpiece of the Taliban in Afghanistan, may be one man or many but in either case the insurgents are effective at spreading their message.

Oleg Orlov, a Russian human rights activist, spoke to journalists after hearing the verdict in his case at court in Moscow on Tuesday.

Russian Rights Activist Cleared of Defamation

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ

A Moscow court ruled that Oleg P. Orlov had committed no crime when he accused Chechnya’s leader of complicity in the murder of his colleague.

Protesters faced off with police near the Greek Parliament in Athens on Wednesday.

Greeks Walk Off the Job in Austerity Protest

By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS 13 minutes ago

Thousands joined this year’s third and largest general strike , to protest a round of austerity measure the government is expected to vote on later this month.

Violent Crime Soars in Athens

Iraqi Militants Kill 7 at Provincial Offices

By JACK HEALY

A small team of gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the provincial council offices in northeastern Iraq, the latest in a string of brazen assaults against authorities.

Milan Journal

Onna, Italy, the day after a deadly earthquake in April 2009. A national panel is accused of playing down the quake risk.

Indictments Over 2009 Quake Cause Quite a Furor

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

A panel was charged with not adequately informing residents of the potential danger posed by seismic activity that began shaking a region months before a deadly earthquake.

Russia Seizes Animal Parts

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

A dog alerted border guards to elk lips, bear paws and mammoth tusks hidden in a truck.

A Chinese naval honor guard. China's navy has grown more assertive in recent years, rattling the nerves of maritime neighbors.

China Navy Reaches Far, Unsettling the Region

By EDWARD WONG

In recent weeks, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan have all voiced concerns or made formal complaints about Chinese nautical movements.

China Steps Up Campaign to Fight Inflation

U.N. Charts High Jobless Rate in Gaza, Despite Israel’s Easing of Blockade

By ETHAN BRONNER

A report shows unemployment in Gaza standing at 45.2 percent for the second half of 2010, one of the highest rates in the world.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, left, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Tuesday at a hospital in London.

Cameron Revises Overhaul Plan for British Health Care

By SARAH LYALL

Prime Minister David Cameron released a new, watered-down version of the plan designed to be more palatable to interest groups and to Parliament.

The village of Thiakoulle, Guinea, where the hotel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault grew up.

From African Village to Center of Ordeal

By ANNE BARNARD, ADAM NOSSITER and KIRK SEMPLE

Interviews with people who know Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s accuser portray her as quiet and unassuming.

A metal workshop in Mumbai. India's industrial output growth dipped in April as credit costs and inflation braked the economy.

As India’s Growth Slows, Leaders Face Political Headwinds

By HEATHER TIMMONS and LYDIA POLGREEN

Government decision-making has been paralyzed by corruption scandals just as economists say a strong hand is needed to curb rising inflation and slowing growth.

Myanmar Government Troops Battle Rebels Near China Border

By THOMAS FULLER 6:23 AM ET

Fighting spread between a large rebel army and government troops, a rebel spokesman said, the latest flare-up in a simmering conflict between ethnic groups and Myanmar’s central government.

Ex-Mayor Of Tijuana Investigated In Killing

By ELISABETH MALKIN

State prosecutors immediately had Jorge Hank Rhon taken back into custody in connection with a murder investigation after he was cleared of weapons charges earlier the same day.

From the Lens Blog

Lens Blog

Chasing Stigma in Indonesia

By KERRI MACDONALD

Andrea Star Reese is looking for images of mental illness in Indonesia. But what she's really chasing is stigma.

Syria's Ruling Alawite Sect

June 14, 2011 5:16 PM ET

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Multimedia

Photographs

Battle for Libya

The latest images after Western intervention in Libya.

Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era.

Vets Say Agent Orange Study Helps Case

June 14, 2011 9:39 AM ET

As Local Militias Expand in Northern Afghanistan, Tales of Abuse Follow

June 13, 2011

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The End of the Mission

By JAMES DAO

For some soldiers, returning after their yearlong deployment to Afghanistan was the beginning of new difficulties.

Interactive Feature: A Year at War

Multimedia: Bin Laden

WikiLeaks Documents

The Guantánamo Files

Classified military documents provide accounts of the men who have done time at the prison and the evidence against the 172 men still locked up there.

Interactive Feature

The Guantánamo Docket

Documents related to the 779 people who have been sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison since 2002.

Crisis in Japan

Interactive Feature

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Multimedia

Videos, photographs and interactive features documenting the destruction in Japan after a powerful earthquake and tsunami devastated the country on March 11.

Letters From

Insecure at the Top in China

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

The Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 90th birthday on July 1, outwardly confident it deserves to rule for "the next 90 years." But inwardly, it is haunted by a sense that it is not truly loved.