In his annual Christmas Day blessing, the pontiff condemned killing in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan and the "brutal persecution" of religious and ethnic minorities.
As part of a series on hashtag activism in 2014, Audie Cornish speaks with Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Open Society Foundation. Ezekwesili was one of the early promoters of the hashtag #bringbackourgirls, about schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria in April.
In the landscape of modern Africa, they are a link to the long-ago past. They know everything about plants and animals. But their way of life — and language of clicks — may be doomed.
Abdelmalek Gouri had been a wanted criminal in Algeria for nearly 20 years. His Islamic State splinter group was blamed for killing hiker Herve Gourdel in September.
Tunisian voters chose a figure from the regime of the ousted dictator for president - opting for slow change rather than risking the chaos that has occurred after uprisings in other countries.
Tunisians voted Sunday for a new president in a contentious race. The election marks another important milestone in the one country where the Arab Spring has been mostly peaceful.