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.

Controversies over too-big-to-fail financial institutions continue to mount. The Basel Accords represent the latest effort to ease risk and restore confidence, as this Backgrounder explains.

Global food prices are being driven up by a number of factors including bad weather, low stocks, and unstable commodities markets. Combating price volatility and protecting food security will take in…

President Obama has made "strategic communications" an essential part of his move to boost the military and nation-building effort in Afghanistan. But experts say countering Taliban messaging will ta…

Peru has avoided the development problems seen in other extraction-dependent economies, but experts say the country faces governance hurdles, especially on the environment.

The U.S. State Department’s annual global rating of human rights performance antagonizes friend and foe alike. Many rights activists embrace the reports while some express doubts about their influenc…

President Barack Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., has criticized some of the Bush administration’s counter-terrorism moves, calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center…

A Senate proposal calling for the restructuring of Iraq’s government has drawn fire from Iraqis who liken it to partition. Amid the criticism have emerged other controversial options.

Backgrounder: State and local governments are ramping up their own intelligence efforts, using fusion centers to funnel information.