United States Ramps Up Airstrikes Against Al Qaeda in Yemen Over the last two days, there have been as many as 30 strikes against suspected militants in the strife-ravaged country, compared with 38 in all of 2016.
U.N. Syria Mediator Reports Some Progress in Peace Talks Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy, said talks in Geneva had produced a “clear agenda” for the first time to resolve the six-year-old war. By RICK GLADSTONE
Banksy Puts Mark on Bethlehem Hotel With ‘Worst View in the World’ The elusive British street artist known for his dark political commentary has decorated the Walled Off Hotel in the West Bank. By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
David Rubinger, 92, Photographer Who Chronicled Israeli History, Dies Mr. Rubinger, an Austria native who fought in 1948 for Israel’s independence, is known for a photo of paratroopers gazing at the Western Wall during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. By ISABEL KERSHNER
Ancient City of Palmyra Swings Back to Syrian Government Control The Unesco World Heritage Site has seesawed between Islamic State militants and Syrian forces four times in the past two years. By RICK GLADSTONE
Egyptian Court Clears Way for Hosni Mubarak’s Release The country’s top appeals court cleared the ex-president of any responsibility for the killing of hundreds of people during the 2011 protests that ended his 30-year rule. By DECLAN WALSH
Trump May Give the Pentagon More Authority to Conduct Raids The proposal to give the military greater independent authority is aimed at accelerating the fight against the Islamic State and other militant groups. By HELENE COOPER and ERIC SCHMITT
Devices Seized in Yemen Raid Offer Some Clues to Qaeda Tactics The information provides insight into hidden explosives the group is making and new training tactics, but it is unclear how much it advances the military’s knowledge. By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER
Eyewitness to America’s Longest War, After Others Have Gone Foreigners are a rare sight in Kabul these days; even more rare are foreign journalists. By ROD NORDLAND
Russian Airstrike in Syria Hits U.S. Allies by Mistake Russian aircraft bombed Syrian Arab fighters being trained by the Americans, officials said. U.S. advisers were about three miles away at the time. By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Austerity? Not on This Saudi Itinerary King Salman has traveled to Asia with 1,500 people, six Boeing jets and a military cargo plane with two Mercedes limos and 506 tons of luggage. By KIMIKO de FREYTAS-TAMURA
U.N. Investigators Say Syria Bombed Convoy and Did So Deliberately A hard-hitting report says that the government airstrike was “one of the most egregious” assaults in the battle for Aleppo and that rebel groups also committed abuses. By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and ANNE BARNARD
Senior Qaeda Leader Is Killed in Drone Strike The leader, Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, was the second-ranking official after Ayman al-Zawahri and was a son-in-law to Al Qaeda’s founder, Osama bin Laden.
With a Pregnant Iraqi, Collapsed in a Desert, as Bullets Fly As a convoy arrived to drive militants from western Mosul, a small group made its way toward them, including a grandmother straggling behind and thanking God. Photographs and Text by RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
In Taliban Attacks, a Reminder That Winter Offers Afghans No Mercy On Tuesday, 11 police officers were killed in an assault in the south, but that was only one in a long and not unusual series of attacks against Afghan security forces. By ROD NORDLAND
Mostafa el-Abbadi, 88, Champion of Alexandria’s Resurrected Library, Dies Professor Abbadi was a historian of Greco-Roman antiquity and the visionary behind the revival of the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt. By JONATHAN GUYER
Russia and U.S. Clash Over Syria in Security Council Vote It was the first public tangle over a vote in the Security Council between the Kremlin and the Trump administration, which joined its European allies. By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Egypt Parliament Removes Prominent Dissenter: Anwar Sadat’s Nephew The expulsion of Anwar Sadat’s nephew, who shares the name of the president slain in 1981, was seen as an effort to prevent him from running for the presidency in the 2018 election. By DECLAN WALSH
TimesVideo Who Are the White Helmets? The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says it has rescued tens of thousands of people since the start of the civil war in 2011. A film about the group won an Oscar for best documentary short. By YARA BISHARA
Asghar Farhadi, Iran’s Master of the Ordinary, Wins a 2nd Oscar In a country where the state-controlled news media generally overlooks the strains of normal middle-class life, the director fills the void. By THOMAS ERDBRINK
United States Ramps Up Airstrikes Against Al Qaeda in Yemen Over the last two days, there have been as many as 30 strikes against suspected militants in the strife-ravaged country, compared with 38 in all of 2016.
U.N. Syria Mediator Reports Some Progress in Peace Talks Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy, said talks in Geneva had produced a “clear agenda” for the first time to resolve the six-year-old war. By RICK GLADSTONE
Banksy Puts Mark on Bethlehem Hotel With ‘Worst View in the World’ The elusive British street artist known for his dark political commentary has decorated the Walled Off Hotel in the West Bank. By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
David Rubinger, 92, Photographer Who Chronicled Israeli History, Dies Mr. Rubinger, an Austria native who fought in 1948 for Israel’s independence, is known for a photo of paratroopers gazing at the Western Wall during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. By ISABEL KERSHNER
Ancient City of Palmyra Swings Back to Syrian Government Control The Unesco World Heritage Site has seesawed between Islamic State militants and Syrian forces four times in the past two years. By RICK GLADSTONE
Egyptian Court Clears Way for Hosni Mubarak’s Release The country’s top appeals court cleared the ex-president of any responsibility for the killing of hundreds of people during the 2011 protests that ended his 30-year rule. By DECLAN WALSH
Trump May Give the Pentagon More Authority to Conduct Raids The proposal to give the military greater independent authority is aimed at accelerating the fight against the Islamic State and other militant groups. By HELENE COOPER and ERIC SCHMITT
Devices Seized in Yemen Raid Offer Some Clues to Qaeda Tactics The information provides insight into hidden explosives the group is making and new training tactics, but it is unclear how much it advances the military’s knowledge. By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER
Eyewitness to America’s Longest War, After Others Have Gone Foreigners are a rare sight in Kabul these days; even more rare are foreign journalists. By ROD NORDLAND
Russian Airstrike in Syria Hits U.S. Allies by Mistake Russian aircraft bombed Syrian Arab fighters being trained by the Americans, officials said. U.S. advisers were about three miles away at the time. By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Austerity? Not on This Saudi Itinerary King Salman has traveled to Asia with 1,500 people, six Boeing jets and a military cargo plane with two Mercedes limos and 506 tons of luggage. By KIMIKO de FREYTAS-TAMURA
U.N. Investigators Say Syria Bombed Convoy and Did So Deliberately A hard-hitting report says that the government airstrike was “one of the most egregious” assaults in the battle for Aleppo and that rebel groups also committed abuses. By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and ANNE BARNARD
Senior Qaeda Leader Is Killed in Drone Strike The leader, Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, was the second-ranking official after Ayman al-Zawahri and was a son-in-law to Al Qaeda’s founder, Osama bin Laden.
With a Pregnant Iraqi, Collapsed in a Desert, as Bullets Fly As a convoy arrived to drive militants from western Mosul, a small group made its way toward them, including a grandmother straggling behind and thanking God. Photographs and Text by RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
In Taliban Attacks, a Reminder That Winter Offers Afghans No Mercy On Tuesday, 11 police officers were killed in an assault in the south, but that was only one in a long and not unusual series of attacks against Afghan security forces. By ROD NORDLAND
Mostafa el-Abbadi, 88, Champion of Alexandria’s Resurrected Library, Dies Professor Abbadi was a historian of Greco-Roman antiquity and the visionary behind the revival of the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt. By JONATHAN GUYER
Russia and U.S. Clash Over Syria in Security Council Vote It was the first public tangle over a vote in the Security Council between the Kremlin and the Trump administration, which joined its European allies. By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Egypt Parliament Removes Prominent Dissenter: Anwar Sadat’s Nephew The expulsion of Anwar Sadat’s nephew, who shares the name of the president slain in 1981, was seen as an effort to prevent him from running for the presidency in the 2018 election. By DECLAN WALSH
TimesVideo Who Are the White Helmets? The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says it has rescued tens of thousands of people since the start of the civil war in 2011. A film about the group won an Oscar for best documentary short. By YARA BISHARA
Asghar Farhadi, Iran’s Master of the Ordinary, Wins a 2nd Oscar In a country where the state-controlled news media generally overlooks the strains of normal middle-class life, the director fills the void. By THOMAS ERDBRINK