Fidel Castro after arriving in Havana on Jan. 8, 1959. Mr. Castro’s revolution was welcomed by Cubans like Juan Montes Torre, a poor laborer at the time. “It was an emotional shock,” Mr. Montes recalled. “These bearded men, poorly dressed — they won! And on behalf of the lower classes!”
The clash of emotions common in Cuban families is reflected in a grandfather’s loyalty to Mr. Castro and a granddaughter’s glum view of conditions in her country.
In a post on Twitter, he said he would “terminate” the pact President Obama made if Cuba is unwilling to make “a better deal for the Cuban people.”
Our correspondent returned to the Egyptian city this fall to find a place as full of despair as her mother’s of the 1960s was full of hope and anticipation.
If the Syrian president defeats the rebels, he may preside over an economic wasteland hampered by a low-level insurgency and facing a challenge to find financial aid to rebuild.
Leaders of the African National Congress, after a debate among party members, reaffirmed their support for the unpopular leader.
Many park personnel, responsible for fending off poachers, go without basic necessities like boots, tents and health insurance. Some groups are trying to change that.
Immigration concerns and the election of Donald J. Trump in the United States are seen as giving Norbert Hofer an even chance to win the largely ceremonial role in voting on Sunday.
She celebrated the occasion in her home in Italy, with some of the festivities shown live on the state broadcaster.
Opposition lawmakers rejected the offer, calling it a ploy, and said they would call for a vote on Friday to impeach Ms. Park, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal.
With money surging out of China, the Chinese central bank makes it harder for Chinese customers of banks to complete overseas transfers.
The crash of a plane carrying the Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense to a game in Colombia is one of several similar accidents stretching back decades.
Few survivors have been found among the 77 on the chartered flight taking the team to a game in Medellín. The crash came as fans across Brazil had been reveling in the team’s performance.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germans sort 65 percent of their waste into an array of color-coded bins.
The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain project would link the oil sands in Alberta to a tanker port in British Columbia, where there have been several protests against the plan.
According to an official inquiry, the American-led attacks in September were conducted under the “good-faith belief” that the targets were Islamic State militants.
Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, will join the top American diplomat in Cuba at the funeral, an official said, citing the countries’ “complicated” relationship.
A surreptitiously photographed page of notes reading “What’s the model? Have cake & eat” has fueled speculation about the official policy for leaving the European Union.
Leaflets dropped over the besieged city warned inhabitants, “If you don’t leave these areas quickly you will be annihilated.”
Under pressure from critics at home and abroad, Mr. Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, orchestrated his re-election as his party’s leader.
The shelter, under construction since 2010, covers the deteriorating steel and concrete sarcophagus hastily built after the nuclear accident 30 years ago.
The move signaled a possible escalation of a campaign against a separatist movement, even though the legislator had not called for independence.
Assailants disguised as police officers took hostages and killed seven Indian soldiers before being shot and killed.
Using complex and proprietary optics, the Imago camera creates life-size portraits directly on photo paper. A second Imago is in the works for Beijing.
The visit by António Guterres to Beijing was another chance for China to promote its growing role in global governance.
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, who goes by the name Zunar, is under investigation for producing cartoons that purportedly defamed Prime Minister Najib Razak.
About two-thirds of the shallow-water coral on the reef’s previously pristine, 430-mile northern stretch was dead, researchers reported.
Hao Jingfang, the first Chinese woman to win a Hugo Award, reflects on the line between reality and fiction and giving voice to “invisible people.”
About 8,500 people went to the hospital after a storm last week spread ryegrass seed fragments, so fine they could be inhaled, throughout the Melbourne area.
New research tries to spot the collapse of liberal democracies before they happen, and it suggests that Western democracy may be seriously ill.
The documentary, broadcast on a network owned by the Qatari government, accuses Egypt of abusing its recruits, and the country was quick to denounce it.
Mr. Taimanov was a classical pianist and former Soviet chess champion whose lopsided loss to Bobby Fischer in 1971 cost him his government salary.
The South Korean electronics giant may create a holding company structure after an American hedge fund called for the company to shake up its operations.
Bitter feelings about the dictator persist in Union City, N.J., where the once large population of Cuban immigrants has dwindled.
The announcement angered the movement’s Saudi-backed rivals and threatened diplomatic efforts to end a conflict that has ravaged Yemen for nearly two years.
The wildfires that swept across Israel’s countryside last week brought suspicion of arson, but also an outpouring of Jewish-Arab cooperation.
A survey commissioned by the armed forces puts hard numbers on a 2015 report that showed a culture hostile toward women and other minorities.
The social network’s efforts to placate German authorities provide a case study for its moves to combat fake news and hate speech online worldwide.
In Larung Gar, the world’s largest Buddhist institute, demolition teams are cutting through an extraordinary vista of hand-built red dwellings.
Donald J. Trump’s election is influencing markets, currencies and government policies as the world bets on how he will rewrite international rules.
The African National Congress’s national executive committee introduced, for the first time, a motion urging the embattled Mr. Zuma to step down.
The discovery of a headless corpse in the Netherlands helped Belgium and its bigger Dutch neighbor resolve a property squabble that began in 1961.
Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad drove rebels out of parts of the city, sending thousands of people fleeing for their lives.
The televised act, performed by Tatiana Navka, a skater married to an aide of President Vladimir V. Putin, was based on the film “Life Is Beautiful.”
Mr. Nuttall, a European Parliament member for the conflicted, anti-immigration party, is taking a job that many others have been unwilling or unable to hold.
A start-up company called Astroscale is dedicated to cleaning up some of humanity’s hardest-to-reach rubbish, and its plans include a small satellite with an adhesive glue.
A Japanese theme park tried to draw visitors by freezing 5,000 fish beneath its ice rink, but a public outcry forced it to close the attraction after just two weeks.
President Park Geun-hye’s government is backing away from insisting on the use of only state-issued textbooks that critics say play down darker aspects of recent history.
Juanita Castro, who fled Cuba decades ago and became a vocal critic of her brother’s regime, expressed disdain for those who rejoiced over his death.
The trade embargo has failed. What Cubans eager for the end of the Castro regime want is for the U.S. Congress to vote it down.
The National Front candidate for French president views Donald Trump’s election as “good news for our country,” but others see much to protest.
Our country’s adolescent democracy needs the support of America — and its new president, the foreign minister of Ukraine writes.
Secrecy, mistrust and the shadow of interrogation at the American prison limited doctors’ ability to treat mental illness among detainees.
Test your knowledge from the last decade.
If you’ve been a “What in the World” reader, we hope we’ve surprised you, made you smile and maybe even taught you something about another culture. To celebrate the posting of our 100th article, we offer this quiz, where you can test your new knowledge of quirky facts from around the globe.
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has a reputation for frank speechmaking that often angers the international community.
This reporter’s long-dreamed-of journey to explore the heart of Islam revealed surprises, debunked stereotypes and produced one stunning bird video.
How New York Times reporting may have made the Middle East just a little bit safer.
A contentious dam project that dates to the 1950s is more than 80 percent complete, and the filling of a reservoir will swamp much of the town of Hasankeyf.
During the 10-day Hindu festival Mayana Kollai, the troubles of transgender women are distant as they transform into the deities they worship and are revered by villagers.
A look at the lives of 247 men, women and children who were cut down in mass killings in six countries.
