IHT Quick Read: Nov. 12

NEWS A tentative agreement among the Syrian opposition was signed to create an umbrella organization that could pave the way for long-elusive international diplomatic recognition. Neil MacFarquhar reports.

F.B.I. agents recognized the stakes of any investigation tied to David H. Petraeus, the C.I.A. director who resigned Friday, but were wary of exposing a private affair with no criminal or security implications. Scott Shane and Charlie Savage report from Washington.

As controversy swirls around the failure of former Greek finance ministers to investigate a list of 2,000 suspected tax dodgers, the government in Athens is taking a hard look at the foreign assets of those people and thousands of others. Landon Thomas Jr. reports.

The BBC's chairman said Sunday that the broadcasting organization was in a “ghastly mess” as a result of its bungled coverage of a decades-old sexual abuse scandal and in need of a fundamental shake-up. John F. Burns repo rts from London.

China's government extolled the fruits of 10 years of reform in its cultural sector on Sunday, saying it had privatized thousands of publishing companies, newspapers and cultural groups while promoting industries that can spread China's influence abroad - all firmly under party control. Ian Johnson reports from Beijing.

EDUCATION As a special adviser to the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Andreas Schleicher has the attention of policy makers in the world's wealthiest countries. Mr. Schleicher has changed the way countries think about what goes on in their classrooms, D.D. Guttenplan writes from Paris.

When the doors open next autumn at the Paris campus of Parsons the New School for Design, the program will be both the oldest and newest overseas branch of an American university. D.D. Guttenplan writes from Paris.

ARTS The evolution of cooking tools is the theme of a new book, “Consider the Fork,” by the British historian Bee Wilson. Alice Rawsthorn on design.

SPORTS Manchester United is back on top of the English league principally because of the instincts of two men - one a 70-year-old Scot, the other a 24-year-old Mexican. Rob Hughes on soccer.

In Argentina's first match after its debut season in the Southern Hemisphere's Rugby Championship, Los Pumas beat Wales, 26-12, in their best performance ever on British soil. Huw Richards reports from Cardiff, Wales.