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• 9 things we learned this week

  From Christian decline to deep space travel, and emotional prawns to Twitter activism, these are the subjects we've been talking about over the last seven days

• How did militants seize control of Iraq's second biggest city?

  Sectarian divisions provide the space for militancy to flourish.

• Is there room in Britishness for cultural difference?

  Watch our editor Daniel Trilling in a panel discussion on multiculturalism, as part of the Welsh National Opera's Faith season

• Divide and rule: Egypt under General Sisi

  With the Muslim Brotherhood shattered and secular democrats sidelined, Egypt’s military-backed regime is consolidating control. Rachel Aspden reports from Cairo.

• What is Hindu nationalism?

  A short guide to the ideology of India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi.

• Is Bhutan still the "happiest nation on earth"?

• India's election: is secular democracy under threat? Writers, artists and businessmen give their views

• Rescuing the missing girls, not sectarianism, must be the priority in Nigeria

• Will Iraq's election ease sectarian tension?

  Against the backdrop of bloody violence, it is a victory that voting took place at all. But the real challenge will lie in securing the country's fragile peace, writes Samira Shackle

• Possessed by the Chairman

  The discovery last autumn of a Maoist cult in South London shocked the world, writes Sam Geall. But does it have any parallels in modern-day China?