Rawalpindi / AFP Thousands protested in Pakistani cities on Monday against the execution of a man hailed by hardlines as a hero for killing a provincial governor who was seeking reform of the blasphemy law. Protests against the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri were held in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and several smaller cities, with demonstrators burning tyres and chanting slogans. But ...

Tehran / AFP Iranian hardliners suffered another election setback on Monday with two leading conservatives ejected from the top clerical body, handing another victory to moderate President Hassan Rouhani whose reformist allies made gains. The public’s rejection of ayatollahs Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi when picking the powerful Assembly of Experts came as final results were also awaited for ...

Thumbing through the annual report of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is always an education. This year’s 430-page edition is no exception. Crammed with tables and charts, it brims with useful facts and insights. —On page 62, we learn that the growth of state and local government spending on services (schools, police, parks) has been the slowest ...