Political newcomer Emmanuel Macron won a decisive victory in France's presidential elections, but the new president will face major challenges to forming a governing coalition.

The adoption of the junta-drafted constitution is the latest episode in the deterioration of Thailand’s democratic system.

The pope’s encyclical on the environment carries a profoundly religious message about care for the earth, wedded to a new call for activism, say religious scholars Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.

King Abdullah’s succession plan for Saudi Arabia’s aging leadership may be his most important legacy at a time of multiple crises in the Middle East, says expert Rachel Bronson.