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 | The Americas: Argentina: U.S. Court Orders Debt Repayment Plan

A United States court of appeals gave Argentina until March 29 to submit a plan for the repayment of $1.33 billion in debt that the country defaulted on 11 years ago. N.M.L. Capital, a subsidiary of the New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management, is leading a lawsuit among bondholders who refused Argentina’s 2005 and 2010 debt swaps. Ninety-three percent of creditors agreed to the restructuring...

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World Briefing | Europe: Ireland: Suspect in Terrorism Case Faces Extradition to U.S.

The United States government has petitioned the Irish High Court to extradite an Algerian man living in Ireland on terrorism charges relating to a plot to assassinate a Swedish artist, officials said Thursday. The United States alleges that the man, Ali Charaf Damache, planned to set up terrorist training camps and kill several Europeans, including a Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, whose sketch of the...

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IHT Rendezvous: Eve Best Returns to the Globe, This Time as a Director

LONDON — The recent press conference announcing the 2013 season at Shakespeare’s Globe on one level seemed like variations on an ongoing theme.A onetime Falstaff at this address, Roger Allam, is returning to open the season as Prospero in “The Tempest,” directed by Jeremy Herrin, while the perennial favorite, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” will be seen in May in a new staging, this time from the Globe’s...

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News Analysis: Now Gathering in Rome, a Conclave of Fallible Cardinals

Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated PressSt. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday. Roman Catholic cardinals were gathering at the Vatican amid scandal to choose a new pope. The sudden resignation of the most senior Roman Catholic cardinal in Britain, who stepped aside on Monday in the face of accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward priests years ago, showed that the taint of scandal could force a cardinal...

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Video Shows French Family’s Kidnappers Are Nigerian Extremists

LAGOS, Nigeria — A French family kidnapped last week on the Cameroon-Nigeria border appeared on a video posted Monday on YouTube, with one of the hostages and a gunman saying that the family is being held by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. The family members — three adults and four children — are shown sitting on the ground inside a sort of tent made from prayer mats, in...

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Nazaré Journal: On Portugal Beach, Riding a Wave That Hits Like a Quake

Rafael Marchante/ReutersGarett McNamara preparing to surf at Praia do Norte beach. “Praia do Norte is the best secret in the world,” Mr. McNamara said by telephone from Hawaii. NAZARÉ, Portugal — The big ones typically come only once a year, in the winter. Whipped up by powerful storms in the North Atlantic, they roll for days toward Europe, rising to seemingly impossible heights before crashing on...

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2 Palestinians Shot in Clashes With Israeli Settlers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Clashes erupted Saturday in the West Bank, with Jewish settlers shooting two Palestinian demonstrators in the northern village of Kusra, an Israeli military official and Palestinian residents said. The unrest reflected mounting friction in the West Bank, where Palestinians have faced off against Israeli troops in recent weeks in a series of large demonstrations protesting...

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Russians Demand Return of Brother of Dead Adopted Boy in Texas

MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers on Friday demanded the return of a 2-year-old boy whose 3-year-old brother, adopted by the same family in Texas, died under murky circumstances in January, prompting allegations of abuse and an investigation. The younger boy, Kristopher Shatto, who was born Kirill Kuzmin in Russia, remains in the custody of his adoptive parents, Alan and Laura Shatto, in Gardendale,...

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Montevideo Journal: Uruguay’s Video Game Start-Ups Garner Attention

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — For a start-up that has a hit video game for the iPhone, the new loft-style offices of Ironhide Game Studio are exactly what one would expect — a newly hired staff labors feverishly on software updates not far from a pinball machine and custom-built monster arcade cabinet intended for letting off steam. But the company, a success in the fiercely competitive field of...

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World Briefing | Africa: Nigeria: Security Service Says It Halted Group Watching Israeli and U.S. Targets

Nigeria’s State Security Service said Wednesday that it broke up what it characterized as a terrorist group, backed by “Iranian handlers,” that wanted to gather intelligence about locations frequented by Americans and Israelis. The service said it arrested three suspects, but one remained at large. A spokeswoman, Marilyn Ogar, who was reading from a statement, identified the head of the group as...

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Pistorius Denies Murdering Girlfriend

Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersOscar Pistorius wept at a hearing on Tuesday seeking bail. PRETORIA, South Africa — Early on Feb. 14, Oscar Pistorius says, he heard a strange noise coming from inside his bathroom, climbed out of bed, grabbed his 9-millimeter pistol, hobbled on his stumps to the door and fired four shots. “I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated,”...

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China’s Army Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.

This 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai is the headquarters of Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army. China’s defense ministry has denied that it is responsible for initiating digital attacks. On the outskirts of Shanghai, in a run-down neighborhood dominated by a 12-story white office tower, sits a People’s Liberation Army base for China’s growing corps of cyberwarriors. ...

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Graham and McCain Say They Will End Bid to Block Hagel

Two of the most outspoken Republican critics of Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense indicated Sunday that they would no longer hold up his Senate confirmation. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News Sunday that he would stand aside because Mr. Hagel had disavowed comments that he was said to have made during a talk at Rutgers University in 2007...

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Dismissed as Doomsayers, Advocates for Meteor Detection Feel Vindicated

For decades, scientists have been on the lookout for killer objects from outer space that could devastate the planet. But warnings that they lacked the tools to detect the most serious threats were largely ignored, even as skeptics mocked the worriers as Chicken Littles. Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDr. Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut and Google executive, has warned...

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Ecuadoreans Are Apprehensive Over Likely Re-Election of President Correa

Guillermo Granja/ReutersA supporter of President Rafael Correa held a poster, “We already have a president, we have Rafael,” in Ambato, Ecuador. CARACAS, Venezuela — In the final analysis, Edwin Tatés supports President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and wants him to be re-elected. He just does not want it to be too easy. So for the election on Sunday, Mr. Tatés, a 39-year-old father of two, plans...

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Loi Journal: In Vietnam, Some Chose to Be Single Mothers

Justin Mott for the International Herald TribuneNguyen Thi Nhan at home with her grandson, Thao, 2. Abandoned by her husband after the war, she asked another man to impregnate her. LOI, Vietnam — They had no plan to break barriers or cause trouble. But 30 years ago in this bucolic village in northern Vietnam, the fierce determination of one group of women to become mothers upended centuries-old gender...

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Russian Ethics Official Steps Aside Over Property Disclosures

MOSCOW — The chairman of the ethics committee in Russia’s lower house of Parliament temporarily relinquished his authority on Wednesday after bloggers posted a raft of documents on the Internet showing him as the owner of expensive real estate, including a luxury oceanfront apartment in South Beach, part of Miami Beach, as well as valuable property in Russia that he did not list on required disclosure...

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Despite Claims of Third Blast, North Korean Nuclear Program Remains a Mystery

As scientists and world leaders scrambled Tuesday to judge the importance of North Korea’s claim that it had detonated a third nuclear bomb, the main thing that quickly became evident is how little is known about the country’s increasingly advanced atomic and missile programs. Even the best news about the test — that it was small by world standards — could have a dangerous downside if the...

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