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World News Brief, Tuesday May 8

Elections in France and Greece challenge austerity policies; France's Hollande vows to renegotiate parts of the EU fiscal compact; political uncertainty in Greece threatens to unravel EU-IMF bailout plan; Chinese defense minister set to begin talks in Washington DC today; Korean Customs Service launches crackdown on trafficking of human-flesh capsules; Syrian voters head to the polls; Putin sworn into office for third term as Russian president; and more

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Scandals and sideshows, sleaze and slurs

Autumn has become a season of scandals and sideshows – John Key’s casino-convention centre “scandal”, the Banks-Dotcom donation “scandal”, the sideshow of the mythical David Shearer leadership challenge – all soon to be wiped away by the start of the main game: the defining Budget of 2012.

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World News Brief, Tuesday May 1

Fears over military stoush between US and nuclear-ambitious Iran lessen; US and China plan talks over Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, now in US custody in Beijing; Japan and US to discuss further economic and defense ties; Sudan declares state of emergency; Spain's economy continues to contract; French journalist missing in Colombia, thought to have been abducted by FARC; and more

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Afghanistan – lest we forget

New Zealand troops could be out of Afghanistan next year – but are we stumbling out of one ill-considered international military commitment straight into another, and what happens to our reconstruction and development commitment to the country our troops are leaving?

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No doubt the precogs have already seen this (redux)

When National revealed its "law and order" policy before the last election, I wrote this post on it. Now that Judith Collins reportedly is preparing to introduce legislation to deliver that policy, here are some more thoughts. 

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