Today’s Paper

Highlights

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   On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes

   Powerful associates of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are making and selling captagon, an illegal amphetamine, creating a new narcostate on the Mediterranean.

    By Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Saad

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   What’s Driving Putin’s Ukraine Brinkmanship?

   There are tactical reasons for threatening an invasion, but the real cause may lie in the Kremlin’s fixation with righting what it sees as a historical injustice.

    By Anton Troianovski

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      Before Even Receiving a Name, Omicron Could Have Spread in New York and the Country

      

      A health care analyst came to Manhattan for an anime convention. His trip shows how the virus once again outpaced the public health response.

       By Joseph Goldstein, Julie Bosman, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura and Roni Caryn Rabin

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      Bob Dole, Old Soldier and Stalwart of the Senate, Dies at 98

      

      Mr. Dole, a son of the Kansas prairie who was left for dead on a World War II battlefield, became one of the longest-serving Republican leaders.

       By Katharine Q. Seelye