Bashar al-Assad, whose regime looked shaky under international pressure last year, is consolidating his power and cracking down on dissent. Despite a UN probe linking Syrian officials to the assassin…

The election of pope to lead the world’s one billion Catholics stirs debate over the spiritual authority of the pontiff and the church’s role in the world.

The division of Iraq’s oil wealth is an important obstacle to a power-sharing deal. At issue is whether revenues should be regionally or centrally controlled.