On Feb. 24, the Danish Naval Command received a distress signal from a vessel in the Indian Ocean. Not long thereafter, Danish officials confirmed that the yacht of a Danish family had been hijacked by Somali pirates. The crew of seven, including three teenagers, their parents and the ship’s deckhands are now all captive. “It’s almost …
Defensive Position: Cameron Tells Karzai Why Troop Cuts Will Make UK Stronger
Sometimes press conferences involve as much diplomacy as, well, diplomacy. Before British Prime Minister David Cameron and Afghan President Hamid Karzai emerged from their London bilateral at lunchtime today, a Downing Street official told assembled journalists that a tight schedule permitted only two questions to the leaders. This did …
Global Briefing, Mar. 1, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
The Latest on Libya — TIME writers ponder the possibility of American military intervention, wonder who is in charge and muster some thoughts on Gaddafi’s clothing.
Secret Service — The New Yorker asks if the Times was right to stay mum on Raymond David’s CIA ties.
Child Brides — The Economists ‘daily chart’ shows, quite …
What’s Up, Doc? Germany’s Defense Minister Resigns
Can Germany’s teflon Defense Minister survive plagiarism accusations? That was the question posed in this piece by William Boston, published just yesterday and explaining how the popular, plausible, ultra-posh Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, until recently tipped as a possible successor to Angela Merkel, came to be in such a pickle. Well, we …
India’s Budget: Trying to Please All of the People, All of the Time
I can remember a time not so long ago when journalists covered the unveiling of India’s annual budget using the classic “man on the street” interview. Farmers, housewives, shopkeepers and students all got their say on the government’s latest set of subsidies, taxes and signals about the country’s financial and political …
Obama’s Tall Order: A Democratic Mideast That Shares U.S. Priorities
President Obama has reportedly told White House aides that he wants a “new Middle East policy” — one that urges beleaguered allies threatened by popular rebellions to “enact reforms that would satisfy the popular craving for change while preserving valuable partnerships on crucial U.S. interests, from soil security to counter-terrorism …
Gaddafi’s Ministry of Silly Outfits: a TIME Gallery
We mentioned in an earlier post that, yes, it has become a little cliche to gawk at Muammar Gaddafi’s sartorial decision-making. Unlike other publications, we even deliberately refrained from publishing our amassed photos of the now-isolated Libyan dictator’s wardrobe while security forces in his employ gunned down ordinary Libyans. …
With Friends Like the Gaddafis…
It seems only yesterday (actually it was last November) that students from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an institution of such international renown that like the BBC it usually goes by a three-letter acronym, led protests about changes to the funding of higher education in Britain. Once again, LSE students are …
The Craziest Guy in the Room: A Portrait of Gaddafi
Three inches from one of the most notorious dictators in history, the photographer Platon focused tightly on the black eyes glaring at him through his lens. “There was nothing in them,” he said. “It’s like his soul had been scooped out of his head and taken away.”
The result, a dark and menacing portrait of Libyan leader …
Global Briefing, Feb. 28, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
Not in Bloom — TIME’s Austin Ramzy chronicles the ‘sad farce’ of China’s would-be Jasmine revolution.
The Palin Doctrine — Foreign Affairs asks what Tea Party populism means for American foreign policy.
The Right’s Might — A flagging Europe is at risk of a fascist renaissance, warns Ian Kershaw in the National …
Sarkozy’s Cabinet Shuffle: Will Anything Change?
Though hastily organized in appearance, the cabinet shuffle announced by French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday night was in fact designed to do something that had long become inevitable: dump scandal-plagued Foreign Affairs Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie. But while Sarkozy justified the shake-up as necessary to get France’s sidelined …
Grameen Bank Founder’s Fate in the Balance
The board of the Grameen Bank is meeting today in Dhaka to decide the future of its founder, Muhammad Yunus. Revered as one of the founders of microfinance, Yunus won a Nobel Prize in 2006 for his work in bringing credit to the world’s poor, beginning in his home country of Bangladesh. He is now caught in a political maelstrom and could …
In China’s “Jasmine” Crackdown, Image Matters
After the paranoid and sometimes violent response to yesterday’s thwarted “jasmine rallies,” a question hangs in the air: why would a government that seems so strong react with such fear? After all, few think that China will experience its own Middle Eastern-style “jasmine revolution.” The story from yesterday’s protest sites, at least …