Community colleges in Michigan are venturing into forbidden territory: outsourcing the hiring of non-tenure professors. While faculty critics condemn the move as one that will undermine educational goals, this is a trend that might take off.

A Pentecostal church in Brazil has built a gigantic replica of Solomon’s Temple. The new building is the most visible sign of the growing power and influence of pro-Jewish Christian bodies in the country.

Just after showing support for Israel in its own Parliament, India has joined a resolution against Israel at the UN. This move will help India appease Muslims at home and Israel critics abroad without damaging its own relationship with the country.

A man infected by the Ebola virus flew to Lagos, capital of Nigeria, where he has since died. The epidemic shows no signs of slowing, and it is proving extremely difficult to control.

Some are reporting that “Tier 3” sanctions are increasingly likely next week from Europe, and markets appear to have taken note. Has Europe finally realized that Putin has no use for its off-ramps?

Chinese President Xi’s anti-corruption campaign is both means to consolidate power and an effort to save the system by changing it. It’s also a sign that Xi is preparing for an oncoming storm.

A video showing a Hindu politician force-feeding a Muslim during Ramadan is rocking India’s media. India is a big country with huge tasks before it, and not everything that happens is going to please foreign (or Indian, for that matter) human rights groups and NGOs. The question will be whether the BJP and its allies can run the government without being sidetracked by communal politics and rivalries.

Pope Francis met with Meriam Ibrahim this week, a Sudanese Christian who narrowly escaped a death sentence for apostasy. The meeting was just as clear a rebuke of fanaticism as Pope Benedict’s controversial 2006 remarks on radical Islam.

As the U.S. searches for signs that Iran is becoming more moderate, Iran arrests The Washington Post‘s Tehran correspondent and three others.

Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Nepal, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in nearly two decades, is an opening act in the new PM’s push to compete with China for influence in its near abroad.