Noisy Neighbors – China’s Global Times reacts to the Hong Kong election Sunday, by a small elite circle, of Leung Chun-ying as new Chief Executive with an opinionated ode for the region and the mainland to improve their sometimes …
religion
Mexico’s Papal Visit: Will the Ruling Party Get a Benedict Blessing or Backlash?
If you were Mexico’s ruling party, and your presidential candidate was down by double digits in the polls three months before the election, you’d be looking for some divine help too. So President Felipe Calderón’s …
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 23, 2012
Non-cooperation – The Jerusalem Post reveals Israel will not cooperate with an international probe into the effects of settlements on Palestinian human rights, after a 36 to 1 U.N. Rights Council vote in favor of the fact-finding mission Thursday. The U.S. was the only country to vote against it. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu labeled …
A Killing Spree in France Ends with a Barrage of Gunfire
Nearly two weeks of terror in France came to an end Thursday, when an assault by elite police forces left self-declared al-Qaeda member and avowed serial killer Mohammed Merah dead in the southwest city Toulouse. The raid was …
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 21, 2012
Suspect Cornered – An hours-long stand-off between French police and the 24-year-old man suspected of Monday’s shootings at a Jewish school in Toulouse continues. Reuters reports that police tracked the suspect to an apartment …
French Police Corner Suspected Toulouse Killer Claiming Al-Qaeda Membership
French police have pinned down a self-declared jihadist believed to be the killer of seven people in southwestern France in the past 10 days—including three small children and a rabbi outside a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday. The suspect has been barricaded inside a house in eastern Toulouse, where officials say he has claimed …
Is the French Jewish-School Shooting the Work of a Serial Killer?
Is a horrifyingly calm and methodical serial killer stalking residents of southwestern France? That’s the fear spreading through the region and the country after a gunman killed at least four people outside a Jewish school in …
Will the Next Archbishop of Canterbury Be Black?
The position of Archbishop of Canterbury, which Rowan Williams has held for nearly a decade now, has increasingly required as much diplomacy as it has spiritual leadership — if not more so. Back in 2007, Williams told TIME that …
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 13, 2012
Sarkozy’s Xenophobia: French President Panders to the Extreme-Right
French economic growth is slowing, unemployment is rising, Greece is still a risk to default, and the crisis-rocked euro—while somewhat stabilized of late—is still not out of the existential woods. Yet despite those burning …
“The dream of an Iraq governed by elected leaders answerable to the people is rapidly fading away.”
Must Reads from Around the World: Feb. 7, 2012
Syrian Situation – Global Post reports on Syrian Christians’ reluctance to join the uprising against President Bashar Assad. “Syria’s Christians, a fellow minority, believe they need the ruling Assad regime for protection,” …
Meet the Assads: A Look at the Syrian Strongman’s Family
As the conflict in Syria reaches a critical phase, TIME looks at some of the regime’s key figures.