What you need to know on June 27, 2012: Ahead of elections, scandals and intrigue grows in Mexico; Turkey raises the heat on Syria; Germany digs in its heels ahead of Euro summit; the slow, but steady pace of reforms in Burma continues
Angela Merkel
Hollande’s Socialists Win Parliamentary Majority in French Elections
The French parliamentary elections hand Socialists and their leftist allies the large majority that President François Hollande needs to pass progrowth policies — and challenge German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s austerity …
Must-Reads from Around the World, June 7, 2012
Syrian Shame – The Washington Post reports on unconfirmed accounts of a fresh massacre in Syria on Wednesday, just as representatives from 55 countries met in Washington to explore ways to sharpen sanctions against the Assad …
More Trouble for Merkel as Pirate Party Raids Its Fourth State Parliament
Must-Reads from Around the World, May 14, 2012
Hunger Pains – The Guardian writes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned Israel of “disaster that no one could control” as Palestinian hunger strikers near death. Tony Blair, the Middle East quartet representative, …
After Greece and France: Europe’s Revolt Against Austerity
I have a piece in the dead-tree TIME this week that looks at the election of François Hollande in France and connects it to the democratic revolt happening in Greece. What do they have in common? Both are reactions to the …
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 …
After Winning the French Presidency, What Will François Hollande Do Next?
Though it’s an obvious cliché (and one that has already been used here in a related story last autumn), winning the Elysée may have been the easy part for French president-elect François Hollande. Given the severity of the …
France Election: Socialist Hollande Defeats Sarkozy for Presidency
France was poised for major change Sunday night when Socialist candidate François Hollande looked set to beat conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in runoff balloting for France’s presidency. Initial results revealed at 8 …
TIME Interviews French Presidential Front-Runner François Hollande
This is an extended version of TIME’s interview with Socialist Party candidate and Elysée frontrunner François Hollande. A condensed text is published in the international editions of TIME (and
Politics, Ahoy! Germany’s Pirate Party Scores Another Election Win
Last September, when the German Pirate Party won seats in the Berlin state parliament for the first time, mainstream politicians dismissed their success as a fluke. Sure, they had secured 8.9% of the vote, pushing them well past …
Must-Reads from Around the World: February 29, 2012
Weight of History – Following a backbench revolt in the German parliament Monday over the Greek bailout that’s left Angela Merkel’s coalition government weakened, Der Spiegel reports former Chancellor Helmut Kohl has stepped into …
Must-Reads from Around the World: February 28, 2012
Electioneering – The New York Times casts skepticism on revelations Monday that Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services have thwarted an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin. “The report came less than a week before the …