Chinese authorities suddenly let Chen Guangcheng leave a hospital and fly to New York City, where he was greeted with cheers as he arrived at a Greenwich Village apartment that will be the home for him and his family.

Enrique Pena Nieto is far ahead of Mexico's other two presidential candidates, but will he really be able to end the country's boom of gang violence?

After seeing their influence rise in the revolution, women are optimistic about winning national assembly seats. But there are also fears of  single-party dominance, a la the recent Egyptian elections.

The European leaders, particularly in Germany, would have to stop moralizing and start acting practically. Part of the answer is to give Greece and other countries reasonable hope that they will emerge from austerity and depression to a decent future.

President Barack Obama is expected to decline Palestine's bid for statehood later this week, but as former CIA station chief Robert Grenier writes, when he does it will be a moment of personal defeat and humiliation. 

Jackson Diehl writes, "It’s becoming clear that President Obama regards Vladi­mir Putin as a prime partner for a second-term foreign policy. The problem is that Putin is refusing to play his part."  

Large writes, "Chen's story is sharp and immediate and far more engaging than the large complex relationship the United States has with China."  

Officials said the plot involved a more sophisticated kind of bomb than one seen in a 2009 attempt to bring down a U.S. airliner. The bomb was seized early in the investigation.

Rosecrans Baldwin writes, "the French will miss him more than they realize. Beneath the boorishness, the cringe-worthy comments, he transformed how France thinks of the presidency, just as he altered what America thinks of the French."  

The AP reports, " Locke's key role in the drama over blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng has put him on the front lines of U.S. concerns about China's embattled dissident community."