Marine Le Pen Falls to the Rule of Law and a Great Battle Looms

Last year, Marine Le Pen spoke menacingly of the possible fallout from her trial on embezzlement charges. “Tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people will see themselves deprived of their candidate for the presidency.” After a court disqualified her on Monday from running for public office for five years, those millions of French voters … Read more

A Quarter-Billion Dollars for Defamation: Inside Greenpeace’s Huge Loss

When the environmental group Greenpeace lost a nearly $670 million verdict this month over its role in oil pipeline protests, a quarter-billion dollars of the damages were awarded not for the actual demonstrations, but for defaming the pipeline’s owner. The costly verdict has raised alarm among activist organizations as well as some First Amendment experts, … Read more

Investigating a Sprawling Money Laundering Network

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. For months, Selam Gebrekidan, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, would stare at a maze of handwritten diagrams, drawings and charts on a wall inside her Hong Kong apartment. She was trying to … Read more

Putin Keeps Pushing, With Trump and in Ukraine War

The White House, for two months, has warmly embraced the Kremlin. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given little in return, despite his professed willingness to cooperate. His forces have carried on bombarding Ukraine, both on the front and deep into the Ukrainian heartland. He has barely budged in peace negotiations, freighting an … Read more

Soldiers Slow Rescue Efforts in a City Destroyed by Myanmar Earthquake

Three days after Myanmar’s worst earthquake in more than a century ravaged the remote, war-torn city of Sagaing, razing monasteries and apartment buildings, help was still just starting to trickle in. The city’s 300,000 residents had been left to largely fend for themselves after the 7.7-magnitude quake struck, damaging roads and prompting the authorities to … Read more

Uncertainty Torments Afghan Refugees Facing Deportation from Pakistan

In a refugee settlement on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Afghan families gathered on Sunday to observe the festival of Eid al-Fitr — not in joyous celebration, but in quiet apprehension. On Monday, thousands who have called Pakistan home for generations face a deportation deadline and an uncertain, possibly dangerous future. Since the Soviet invasion … Read more