Houston

European elections: In Leipzig, a microcosm of Germany’s political scene

Leipzig is a lively and broadminded town, the fastest growing in Germany and a cultural beacon. It celebrates Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived and worked here, and the city also hosts festivals for Goths, techno fans, and punks.

Mideast peace plan’s rocky start: Did US misread Arab politics?

The first phase of the long-awaited U.S. plan for Middle East peace, a summit in Bahrain to discuss economic investment in the Palestinians, is already beginning to look like a major miscalculation. The announcement this week of the June 25-26 event was met with a wave of derision among Palestinians and in the Arab press, culminating Wednesday in the Palestinian Authority’s official rejection of the U.S. invitation to attend. The central complaint: that the economic component of peace could not be addressed without agreeing first on fundamental political principles.

Why the SAT needs a character check

To help more disadvantaged students get into higher education, the College Board has come up with a scoring metric beyond its own SAT test, which measures only verbal and math skills. Relying on public data, it looks at 15 factors in neighborhoods and schools that might negatively influence a candidate’s college readiness. If applicants come from a highly adverse background yet have decent but perhaps not stellar SAT scores, a college might then admit them.

Reporting in Mexico isn’t easy. Under AMLO, it may get harder.

Mexico has been on track for an unwelcome press freedom record since President Andres Manuel López Obrador took office last December: six journalists slain in the same number of months. For more than a decade, the country has been one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism, thanks to high levels of violence and impunity, combined with weak institutions.