Russian exiles have always feared that the Kremlin would try to silence them, wherever they were living. They cite the murder of Trotsky in Mexico, when a hitman sent by Stalin plunged an icepick into his head, and mysterious killings by Soviet agents in communist times. In the past year …

A suicide car bomber has hit a paramilitary checkpoint, killing four people in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, the latest attack in a wave of violence sweeping the country in recent weeks.

Israel released 255 Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a series of goodwill gestures designed to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his standoff against Hamas.