“Habemus conclave.” We have a conclave. It is official and it commences on March 12. That news came across the wire late last week here in Rome. As a pilgrim-journalist covering the conclave, the election and installation of the new…

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED Monday that its security forces had killed Shamil Basayev, a commander of the jihadist insurgency in Chechnya. The death of the man responsible for the 2004 Beslan school massacre may prove every bit as significant for…

IN A BOLD AND CONTROVERSIAL DECISION, the president authorized a program for the surveillance of communications within the United States, seeking to prevent acts of domestic sabotage and espionage. In so doing, he ignored a statute that possibly forbade such…