In about three weeks Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th president of the US – and his mandate will be one of the weakest in history. After winning only 46.2 per cent of the vote, Trump will be governing with the…
Politicians love a big set-piece speech and Jean-Claude Juncker is no different. The president of the European Commission will today deliver his State of the Union address, an attempt to set the European agenda for the…
When Hillary Clinton became Barack Obama’s secretary of state, much was made of the US’s planned “pivot” away from the Middle East and towards Asia. Obama was supposed to be America’s first “Pacific president” and Clinton…
With less than a week to go until the US chooses its new president (yes it really is nearly over), there is still little discussion about actual policy. Climate change was barely mentioned during the three debates, while…
It’s too often said that Turkey stands at a crossroads but this may well be a deciding day for its democracy. Ankara’s Grand National Assembly is debating the nuances of an executive presidency that provided it gets the…
Donald Trump may be the first race-baiting, hate-filled wannabe demagogue to have a serious chance of becoming the Republican nominee for president but in the world of fiction it’s happened already. Philip Roth’s 2004 novel…
Speculation is mounting in the Philippines about a dramatic return to government for a member of the Marcos family: president Rodrigo Duterte is expected to make room in his cabinet for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr as…
Where Russia is concerned, Angela Merkel must feel her allies are abandoning her one by one. While President Obama imposed sanctions after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, his successor Donald Trump has spoken of co-operation…
Globe-trotting politicians should spare a thought for president Tsai Ing-wen. When Apec leaders jet off to Peru for next month’s annual meeting, custom dictates that the Taiwanese leader stays at home and China approves her…
There’s a pressing bit of business left in the in-tray at the Oval Office: should the US directly arm Kurdish forces in its assault on Isis-held Raqqa? It’s a question that President Trump will need to mull over carefully…
Once home to some of Beirut’s more illustrious foreign correspondents, a rebrand for Hafez Al-Assad Avenue has been long overdue. It was named after the tyrannical father of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the mid-1990s…
Hours before the attack in Nice on Thursday night, which killed more than 80 people and injured scores more, French president François Hollande was interviewed on TV. Asked what advice he would give to any potential succ…
There’s no love lost between Argentina’s president Mauricio Macri and its former leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The two regularly scrapped when Macri was mayor of Buenos Aires before assuming the country’s top…
Travelling to Honduras by plane is soon to become significantly safer. President Juan Orlando Hernández has announced that the country will be building a new international airport to replace its current treacherous trans…
Amid political turmoil as president Park Geun-hye faces an impeachment vote on Friday, South Korea has made a significant move to protect itself from unrest beyond its borders. Parliament has this week approved the nation’s…
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff may not be the country’s most popular politician but her party’s signature policy still has broad backing. Bolsa Familia has pulled millions of Brazilians out of poverty but if weekend…
