For all the crude xenophobic placards and slogans at this week's Russian March, one stood out for its—dare I say—cleverness. “The good half of the population already hates the regime. Soon you will get to know the bad half,” read a sign carried by a marcher. Not only was it clever, but it also rang true. In a recent editorial, Gazeta.ru wrote that “for the first time, nationalist marches are taking on an oppositionist character.”

This week Sunni and Shia Muslims ushered in the Islamic New Year and the beginning of the holy month of Muharram. For Shias, the month also is a time to mourn the events that sparked the centuries-old schism between Shia and Sunni Muslims.1 Pew Research Center polls conducted in 2011-2012 find high levels of concern about sectarian tensions in several countries where Sunnis and Shias live side by side.

In an eatery here, 28-year-old Israeli human rights activist Avner Gvaryahu described the first time he came face to face with a Palestinian. He was 19 and serving in the Israel Defense Forces when his unit invaded the home of a Palestinian family in the dead of night. They were there to perform a “straw widow,” a raid during which soldiers forcibly seize control of a Palestinian civilian home.

Two U.S. raids in Africa show the United States is pressuring al-Qaeda, officials said on Sunday, though a failure in Somalia and an angry response in Libya also highlighted Washington's problems. In Tripoli, U.S. forces snatched a Libyan wanted over the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi 15 years ago and whisked him out of the country, prompting Secretary of State John Kerry to declare that al Qaeda leaders "can run but they can't hide."

A survey of Jewish residents in the United States has found that 1 in 5 say they have no religion, and their ranks appear to be growing. People in this category feel pride in being Jewish and a strong sense of belonging to the greater Jewish community. But they say their connection is based mostly on culture and ancestry, not necessarily on belief in God or observance of religious law. A large majority said remembering the Holocaust, being ethical and advocating for social justice formed the core of their Jewish identity.

A recent survey by Brazilian pollster Ibope, commissioned by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI, the national industry confederation) confirms that the popularity of the president, Dilma Rousseff, is on the rise amid protest fatigue and boosted by her tough stance towards the US following revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on her and on Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company).

Sri Lankans in the north vote on Saturday in provincial elections for the first time in 25 years. During the country's long civil war, the region served as the base for separatist rebels belonging to the Tamil Tigers.

With 250 million people the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia will soon elect a new leader. Prabowo Subianto is a man transformed, driven by a persistent ambition to serve the Indonesian people as its head of state. Once the feared head of Indonesia’s notorious special forces known as Kopassus, now Prabowo puts those days firmly behind him.