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Fighting in Damascus has escalated, and the U.N. says 5,000 Syrian refugees are fleeing every day. The humanitarian crisis is growing along the borders with Turkey and Lebanon, and Israel launched its first airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday, reportedly targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah.

One theologian thinks that Pope Benedict XVI's resignation affirms the power of the papacy lies with the office, not the man.

A worldwide Catholic conversation that effectively stopped when Benedict XVI was elected pope eight years ago has been rekindled by his plan to resign. Issues include celibacy, the role of women in the church, and the spectacular shift in Catholic population to Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Gambling houses have placed odds on who might become the next leader of the Catholic world. At the top of the list of frontrunners are men not from Europe.

Since Monday's announcement by Pope Benedict that he will step down, the world has been abuzz. Catholics and the rest of the world are grappling with the implications of the pope's stunning announcement that he will resign on Feb. 28.

Also: A school will be named after Maurice Sendak; poetic parking regulations; and Amish romance novels.

Look for more of what President Obama exhibited three weeks ago at his inaugural address: a challenge to Congressional Republicans, and a focus on the economy, immigration, gun control and climate change.

A study of more than 85,000 women in Norway found that those who started taking a folic acid supplement four weeks before getting pregnant were about 40 percent less likely to have a child who developed the disorder. Mothers had to continue taking the supplement during the first eight weeks of pregnancy to get the full benefit.

The scandal has shown just how long and winding the food chain really is, and how little oversight is exercised within Europe's open borders. In Britain, local butchers are among the beneficiaries of this crisis.