A brief introduction to the woman accompanying President-elect François Hollande to Élysée Palace later this month
Syria: Is This an Arab Spring or a Balkan Winter?
Special envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that his struggling peace plan is the last hope to prevent Syria from plunging into an all-out civil war. But the reason his cease-fire and political-dialogue …
Protesters Rally in Opposition to Vladimir Putin’s Rule
Demonstrators clash with police at rallies after the Russian President embarked on his third term
Israel’s New Coalition: Why Netanyahu Has Moved to the Center
By unveiling a new governing coalition that includes the centrist Kadima party, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only called off a national election he had just set for early September, he also re-calibrated the outlook of …
Can India Balance Its Ties with the U.S. and Iran?
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her visit to Kolkata and New Delhi this week to urge India to up its efforts in reducing oil imports from Iran. In remarks made in Kolkata, Clinton commended the cuts India has made in …
Who Is François Hollande? What You Need to Know About France’s Next President
Most of the world now knows François Hollande as the man who won France’s May 6 presidential election, and in so doing made incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy the nation’s first single-term head of state in 31 years. Many people have …
Must-Reads from Around the World, May 8, 2012
Late-Night Surprise – Israel’s Haaretz reports on the unexpected agreement early Tuesday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition Kadima Party chairman Shaul Mofaz to form a national unity government. The move …
Netanyahu’s Election Flip-Flop: Is He Sounding a Warning on Iran?
So entrenched is the dominance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli politics that he can afford to use the parliamentary process for political theater — that’s the lesson of Israel’s on-again, off-again election. On …
“Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks.”
Al-Jazeera English Forced to Close China Bureau After Correspondent Expelled
The Chinese government has expelled al-Jazeera English’s correspondent, marking a further deterioration in the country’s tolerance of foreign journalists. The English-language network said Tuesday that it was forced to close …
Netanyahu Calls for Elections, But Will It Change How Israel Is Governed?
Update: The late-night, last-minute deal to avert early elections by bringing the centrist Kadima party into the ruling coalition — announced in the early morning hours of Tuesday in Israel — comes with an agreement to pass …
Sex Abuse Documentary Threatens to Topple Head of Ireland’s Catholic Church
During the four decades that pedophile priest Brendan Smyth abused children, he frequently took them on driving excursions across Ireland. Brendan Boland, one of his victims, began going on those trips in the early 1970s when he …
Vladimir Putin Sworn In as Russia’s President
A brief ceremony marks the leader’s third term