BEIRUT — Assassinated leaders are very much alive in Lebanese politics. The commemoration of leaders blown up or shot dead is a tradition in a country plagued for decades by political killings and civil violence.

BAGHDAD — When Ali Mohammad was woken by gunfire celebrating the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, he thought about the lessons of history in his country where rulers tend not to die quietly in their beds.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Thursday marks one year since a massive stroke felled Ariel Sharon and left the former premier who for decades dominated the nation’s political landscape in a coma.