The war in Syria escalates with the brutal killing of 32 children

World View: The chances of compromise were never great, but they now seem to have been killed along with Houla's children

The rubbish has been collected but snipers kill people after dark. Patrick Cockburn reports from a Damascus suburb

World View: Intervention was meant to produce democracy in the Middle East and stability in Europe. Now we know it was a con

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain discussed a political union at a meeting in Riyadh yesterday in a development that could see the tiny Gulf kingdom largely absorbed by its neighbour.

Closer political union is blow to Shia protest movement

World View: With no one willing to call the belligerent PM's bluff, the fate of the Palestinians has dropped off the agenda

World View: But most of the interviews given by US officials and politicians to mark the anniversary of the al-Qa'ida leader's killing were fantasy

In his second piece marking the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, Patrick Cockburn examines how the terror leader's network has capitalised on unrest across the Middle East

The network Bin Laden led may be fragmented – but it has not been eliminated. In the first of two special reports, Patrick Cockburn analyses the power it can still wield across the world