BEIRUT – Three years after Rafik al-Hariri’s assassination, the crisis unleashed by his death opens ever deeper rifts in Lebanon and threatens the state and society the leader tried to rebuild after the civil war.

ASHGABAT – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pardoned more than a thousand prisoners on Thursday — the first anniversary of his rule in the gas-producing Caspian nation.

MOSCOW – The prosecutor of Russia’s Volga region of Saratov was killed overnight and police believe his murder could be linked to his anti-corruption drive, Russian media reported on Thursday.