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Geopolitics
Libya

Car Bomb Targets French Embassy In Libya

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20 MINUTES, LE MONDE, LE FIGARO (France), REUTERS

Worldcrunch

PARIS – French President François Hollande has condemned a car bomb attack that hit France's embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli early Tuesday, injuring two French guards.

"France expects the Libyan authorities to shed light on this unacceptable act so that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice," Hollande said in an official statement quoted by 20 Minutes.

The explosion, caused by one or two booby-trapped cars according to Le Monde, left the French embassy badly damaged. A diplomatic source quoted by French daily Le Figaro says up to 60% of the building was destroyed.

A member of staff from #french#embassy arriving to asses damage and attend to wounded personnel #tripoli#libyatwitter.com/Eh4b10/status/…

— Ehab ايهاب (@Eh4b10) April 23, 2013

This is the first attack on a French target since the end of the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, in which France took the lead role.

No one has yet claimed responsability for the bombing, but Reuters notes that al Qaeda's north African arm AQIM has warned of retaliation for France's intervention in Mali – while Le Monde mentions France’s involvment in the crackdown against militias in Tripoli as a potential reason for the attack.

Scene at st of #french#embassy before firefighters arrived to put out the flames, only 1 eye witness #libyatwitter.com/Eh4b10/status/…

— Ehab ايهاب (@Eh4b10) April 23, 2013

In September, an attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in eastern Libya killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

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Geopolitics
Xi Jinping

Yes, Xi Jinping Is Now More Powerful Than Mao Zedong Ever Was

After being re-elected as head of the Communist Party last year, the Chinese leader has been unanimously re-elected to another five-year term as head of state. Now, wielding more power than any other past Chinese communist leader, he wants to accelerate the rise of Chinese influence around the world.

Photo of huge portrait of Xi Jinping

Huge portrait of Xi Jinping is displayed in the National Day mass pageantry celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China

Wang Kai/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
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Yann Rousseau

-Analysis-

BEIJING — Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has been re-elected to a third five-year term at the head of the world's second largest economic power. Nobody was surprised.

The vote took place during a legislative assembly convened to rubber stamp decisions of the authoritarian power, during which 2,952 parliamentarians unanimously approved Xi's re-election before rising, in perfect choreography, to offer a prolonged standing ovation to their leader. As usual, Xi remained completely neutral in the face of the enthusiasm.

His victory was a mere formality after his re-election last fall as the head of the all-powerful party, which controls all of the country's political institutions, and after legislative amendments to erase term limits that would have forced him out.

Xi Jinping, who took over the presidency in 2013, "is now the most powerful leader in the history of the People's Republic, since its founding in 1949. Institutionally, he holds even more power than Mao Zedong," says Suisheng Zhao, a professor and Chinese foreign policy expert at the University of Denver.

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