Houston

Why an Argentine leader seeks to break the pull of populism

Young Andrés Watle has only been around for about three decades – and yet that’s long enough to have known the economic ups and downs of Argentina’s legendary populist governance. “It seems great when you’re living the good times of el populismo, with services practically given away and a feeling that we’re a wealthy country,” says Mr. Watle, a Buenos Aires travel agent. Breaking the pattern of the boom-and-bust economic cycles that have defined Argentina’s economy for decades was a central objective of Argentine President Mauricio Macri when he took office in 2015.

The ballot broker: North Carolina race puts face on electoral fraud

A country still dealing with potential election interference by foreign agents is now facing a home-grown scandal: credible and bipartisan allegations that a small-town operator in rural North Carolina used illicit means to swing a 905-vote win for a Republican House candidate. A bipartisan elections board in North Carolina unanimously declined to certify the Ninth District election last week after “unfortunate activities,” in the words of the board’s vice chair – apparent mass-manipulation of absentee ballots – came to light. Affidavits suggest that Republican officials shared early voting data with partisans while withholding that information from Democrats.

Putin’s praise of a truth-telling dissident

An object of investigation in the West for spreading fake news, Vladimir Putin paid tribute on Tuesday to a man known for truth-telling. The Russian president praised the late Alexander Solzhenitsyn on the centennial of his birth and unveiled a statue honoring the Nobel Prize-winning author. For decades, Solzhenitsyn was a fierce critic of his country.

A reporter's backstory – finding a way to humanize a global crisis

In our continuing series of profiles, let us introduce you to our Paris-based reporter at large, Peter Ford, who coordinated much of our On the Move coverage. Before returning to Paris, Peter was our bureau chief in Beijing for a decade. Before that, he served as the Monitor’s bureau chief in Moscow and Paris.