A Marine was arraigned a second time Thursday on charges of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian after he withdrew a guilty plea last month that had been part of a pretrial agreement.

It was a choice that perhaps owed more to the public mood than to any cute lyrical hook or novel musical riff. Asked to pick a song for this year’s Eurovision song contest, Israelis paid little heed to the eternal Eurovision themes of peace, love and harmony and settled instead …

Iranian students involved in an angry protest against the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been expelled and earmarked for compulsory military service in an apparent act of official retribution.