Though it isn’t a direct result of the gender debate that arose from the attempted rape charges lodged against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a new campaign by French feminists does indicate they’re more determined than ever to remedy the habitual injustices France’s male-dominated society imposes upon them. As part of that, an …
Europe
After a U.N. Moment of Truth, Obama Will Struggle to Restore a Broken Mideast Peace Process
Perhaps nobody told President Barack Obama that last week’s United Nations showdown over Palestinian statehood was the proverbial “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment for his Mideast peace effort. U.S. officials are, this week, once again trying to herd the Palestinians back into the same unconditional talks that President Mahmoud Abbas …
Exclusive: TIME Meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the international statesman of the moment. Greeted as a rock star in Egypt and other countries transformed by the Arab Spring, the Turkish Premier looms like a colossus over the Middle East. In recent weeks, he has been one of the most vocal world leaders to back the Palestinian …
Entrepreneur Launches Rival to Challenge His Own Airline
Sure, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family are on track to make £70 million from their 38% stake in easyJet this year. And, yes, Haji-Ioannou was knighted for his “entrepreneurship” in founding the discount airline in 1995. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped the Greek-Cypriot billionaire from launching a rival …
Historic Win By French Left Further Darken Sarkozy’s 2012 Re-Election Hopes
With just seven months to go before general elections, France’s unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy has gotten another signal of just how difficult his effort to retain the Elysée will be. That reminder came in voting on Sunday, when French leftists took control of the upper house of parliament for the first time since France’s …
U.N. Security Council: Is It Time to Veto the Veto?
The fitful Palestinian approach to the U.N. Security Council will be, as all have known for a long time, stillborn. The near certainty of a U.S. veto in defense of Israeli interests has made the Palestinian gambit for statehood recognition more about ritual symbolism than any real process. This when, according to a BBC poll, the majority …
Israel and Turkey: It’s Hard to Fight with Your Hands in Each Other’s Pockets
One of the pleasures of covering Florida politics in Washington used to be Sam Gibbons, D-Tampa, the only Democrat reliably elected to the House from the Gulf Coast, and a dedicated teller of war stories. Gibbons parachuted into Normandy with the 101st Airborne and what followed would inspire certain quality entertainments from …
Will Bloody Sunday Payouts Set a Precedent of Compensation for Other Victims of the Troubles?
Britain’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the U.K. government will pay compensation to the families of those killed and wounded by British soldiers during the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre. The precedent set by the payouts could pave the way for families of those killed in other skirmishes and attacks during Ireland’s Troubles …
Will the Palestinians Settle for a Rain-Check at the United Nations?
Move along, there’s nothing to see here.
The much vaunted September fireworks between Israel, the U.S. and the Palestinians at the United Nations is turning out to be a rather soggy squib. As things stand, by virtue of the choices made by President Mahmoud Abbas in the face of considerable pressure from his longtime sponsors in …
At the Close of the LibDem Conference, Has Cleggmania Returned?
Cleggmania has returned. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t reached the Beatle-level hysteria the Liberal Democrat leader enjoyed in the lead up to last year’s elections. But the angry party recriminations that plagued Clegg earlier this year seem to have evaporated – or at least are simmering deep below the surface. This week the …
Ahmadinejad’s Words Aren’t Taken Seriously at the U.N. But Are Obama’s?
NBC may have been seduced into doing a credulous exclusive “Day in the Life of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad” special — as if the embattled Iranian president was sufficiently relevant to world events as to warrant interest in his workout routine — but no decision-makers will set much store by what he says when he turns up for his annual …
Hacking Scandal: Rupert Murdoch Offers $4.7 Million Payout to Bereaved Family
Update: Scotland Yard has “decided not to pursue” its plans to force the Guardian to reveal their sources.
Back in July, News International chief Rupert Murdoch met with the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl whose phone was tapped by News of the World after she went missing in 2002. According to the family’s lawyer, …
Dispatch from Birmingham: Despite Many Travails, Nick Clegg and LibDems Brim with Optimism
There was a moment during Nick Clegg’s Q&A Monday at the annual Liberal Democrat Party conference in Birmingham where a questioner asked if Clegg was feeling “hopeless and embarrassed” to be sharing a government with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The question had to do with a scandal earlier this year over the hiring of …
