Syria’s civil war is at a crucial point following the defection to the rebels of Prime Minister Riad Hijab and new reported attempted defections.

Everybody and his brother — the Sierra Club, the natural gas industry, the solar industry, the wind industry, President Barack Obama and Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency — want to design the nation’s energy mix and the nation’s electrical system.

Celebrate a rare victory for transparency in American politics. Voters weigh candidates in a system awash in money, but it is cumbersome at best to find who wrote the checks.

The man showed up at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., just as volunteers were gathering to cook lentils, yogurt and rice pudding for the faithful.

Even if the lobster war between the United States and Canada never turns hot, this summer’s cross-border trade dispute exposes some issues threatening one of Maine’s most prominent industries that won’t be going away.

In the final weeks before Congress left for its August break, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., took a gamble. They watered down their own cybersecurity legislation in hopes of winning passage.

Give Charlie Summers’ campaign staffers credit for diligent research.