The chaos in South Africa’s Parliament on Feb. 12—the expulsion of one party and the walkout of a number of others during President Jacob Zuma’s annual State of the Nation address—was arguably the worst moment in the history of South Africa’s legislature. The spectacle

Walmart reported on Feb. 19 that it would increase wages and establish more predictable work schedules for employees. New employees will receive a minimum wage of $9 an hour beginning in April 2015 and $10 starting in 2016.In a letter to Walmart “associates,” Walmart’s chief execut

What should disqualify someone from being a saint?That might seem a funny question. How about sin? But over the course of the last month, people in California and elsewhere have been asking it a lot. In January, Pope Francis announced that in September he will canonize Junípero Serra, the 18th-cent

The leader of the Catholic Church in Libya called for dialogue and understanding in his violence-torn country on Feb. 16, even as prayers and calls for action followed the horror of the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians. The men, who had come to Libya from Egypt in search of work, had been kidnapped

Congress should reaffirm the principle that government “should not force anyone to stop offering or covering much-needed legitimate health care” because of a conscientious objection to abortion or other procedures, said Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap., of Boston and Archbish

The Washington-based Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment called the Obama administration’s efforts to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement “undemocratic” in a statement on Feb.17. The trade pact between the United States and about a dozen Asian coun