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 …
Europe
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 …
The UBS ‘Rogue Trader’ Scandal: Just Who Is Kweku Adoboli?
By all accounts Kweku Adoboli was a quiet, affable guy. An amateur photographer who loved music and cycling, friends in his artsy circle hardly knew he was a banker, let alone one who’d be accused of losing UBS $2 billion in rogue trades. “He was a great fan of beautiful things,” says Sanjhana Moon, a photographer who met …
George Osborne, Anthony Weiner and Why Neither the U.K. nor the U.S. Press Knows How to Cover Sex
Though you wouldn’t believe it from the hacking scandal and the panoply of salacious headlines gracing Britain’s papers daily, the U.K. actually has tougher libel laws than the U.S. There is no guaranteed freedom of speech in Britain, and the truth is judged on face value with no regard to intent, i.e., even if it’s an …
British Kids: Still Unhappy, Unloved and Out of Control
On Sept. 13 the BBC’s main evening news flashed up a TIME cover. There’s nothing particularly unusual in our stories making headlines in other media, but this was more than three years after publication. The story in question, about why Britons appear scared of their kids, and to what extent they’re right to be so, provoked comment and …
James Murdoch Recalled to Clarify Testimony
As the criticism over his testimony has mounted in recent weeks, so has speculation that James Murdoch would be recalled by the U.K. commission investigating the hacking scandal to clarify the record. As so the announcement Tuesday that Murdoch would indeed be returning to the stand came as no real surprise to anyone.
Committee …