When U.S. President Obama called Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to tell him the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. citizens in a lightening raid not far from the Pakistani capital last night, he also instructed his team to similarly inform their Pakistani counterparts. The question is, who was surprised when they …
Why Bin Laden’s Death No Longer Really Matters
Before leaving for a vacation in South Africa in December of 2001, my editor asked me to prepare an obituary for Osama bin Laden for TIME.com on the assumption that he might well be killed in Afghanistan while I was on the beach in Cape Town. Almost ten years later there was finally a reason to call up the old file: President Barack …
Miffed by Palestinian unity, Israel stands on the money hose
As it does when a Palestinian government makes a move Israel doesn’t much like, the Jewish state is withholding millions in tax revenues ordinarily passed along as a matter of course. In this case, the government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding back $89 million from the faction that runs the West Bank, Fatah, because it …
Shrouded in Secrecy, China’s Space Program Slowly Opens Up
China’s space program has long been one of the country’s most secretive undertakings. When Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut to reach orbit in a vessel powered by the country’s own rockets in 2003, television images were subjected to a time delay in case anything went wrong. News that his rough re-entry left his face covered …
How to Make a Dramatic Exit: Japan’s Nuke Advisor Quits
Like apologies, resignations are a delicate art in Japan. But the leave-taking of scientist Toshiso Kosako made waves not so much for its skilful dodging as for its remarkable bluntness. The University of Tokyo professor had been employed since mid-March as a nuclear advisor to the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is still …
Couch Potato Briefing: Royal Wedding Edition
Caught in the warm afterglow of royal nuptials, Global Spin’s weekly guide to rental movies to bring you up to speed with the week’s events takes another tilt at all things monarchical. Presented by Tony Karon and Ishaan Tharoor.
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The Queen
Helen Mirren’s stately journey into …
Would a Palestinian Unity Government Preclude Negotiations With Israel?
Anyone paying a modicum of attention to Israeli-Palestinian issues knows that the reason there’s little prospect of progress in negotiations between the two sides is not the decision by President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party to form a unity government with Hamas. Negotiations have been deadlocked because of the chasm between the two sides …
In Libya’s West, Battles Rage Along the Tunisian Border
The battle for Libya spilled across the border on Friday as forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi clashed with Tunisian troops after chasing rebel fighters through the mountainous border areas. They also fired shells into the Tunisian town of Dahiba, wounding one resident. The fighting erupted nearly a week after the rebel forces had …
Great Game 3.0?
Rival empires vie for supremacy in a central Asian nation peopled by warring tribes. Sound familiar? If the Great Game was about England and Russia duking it out in the mountain passes of Afghanistan, the second iteration could be said to have taken place in the 80’s, when the United States took on the Soviet Union through its proxies, …
Global Briefing, April 29, 2011: We Want a Divorce
What Wedding? — TIME’s Ishaan Tharoor writes the definitive non-wedding story: ‘Five Reasons to Hate the Royal Wedding.’ Love it anyway? Click here.
New Waves— Over the last 32 years, China’s remarkable growth has shown that Western-style modernism is not the only route to modernization, writes Eric Li for the Christian Science …
The Other Shoe? Egypt Moves to Ease Gaza Siege
Egypt’s announcement that it will open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip — loosening the siege of the Palestinian enclave Egypt has helped Israel carry out — has the sound of the other shoe dropping. Coming one day after word that the post-Mubarak government had brokered a tentative unity accord between rival Palestinian …
What’s The One Thing Not Growing Fast In China? Its Population.
China, as we all know, is a rapidly expanding country. Economic growth is chugging along, the military is adding new high-tech hardware and international luxury brands are opening new stores on a near daily basis. But according to the results of the nation’s sixth census, China isn’t growing quite as dramatically in one key respect: …
Death of a Terrorist: Orlando Bosch Outclassed by Cuban Dissidents
Something quite unusual happened in Cuba last week. Dissident lawyer Wilfredo Vallín, who last year filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the island’s communist government, was told by its highest court that the suit can proceed. Coincidentally, the news reached veteran Cuba reporter Juan Tamayo in Miami yesterday, April 27 – the …