East and South Asia

The Bank of Japan has set a 2% inflation target.

Setting the stage for India’s 2014 national elections.

Former Chinese premier Jiang Zemin may be receding into the background.

China may be reconsidering its one-child policy.

North America

Something happened, I think, on Monday in the United States.

On U.S. treasury secretary Tim Geithner’s legacy.

Canada’s new $20 bill features a Norwegian maple leaf instead of a native one.

Latin America / Caribbean

Colombian rebel group FARC has ended its unilateral ceasefire.

Peruvian president Ollanta Humala’s popularity is on the rise — to 53%.  [Spanish]

Africa

First hints of a coup in Eritrea?

Ethiopia tiptoes toward elections for the Addis Ababa city council in May.

Europe

An assassination attempt in Bulgaria? Or a cheap trick?

Austrians have voted to retain conscription.

Labour lead over the Conservatives in the United Kingdom shrinks to five points.

UK prime minister David Cameron’s long-awaited EU speech will come Wednesday.

Alex Harrowell at Fistful of Euros argues that the Tories are accidentally selling the EU to the British.

Some thoughts from former UK prime minister Gordon Brown.

On inflation in Greece.

Charlemagne over at The Economist considers Sunday’s Lower Saxony elections.

Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem will become the next president of the Euro Group (see my previous piece on Dijsselbloem here).

Russia’s always been fairly anti-gay, but now the Duma’s passing anti-gay legislation.

Former frontrunner Jan Fischer has indirectly endorsed Miloš Zeman over Karel Schwarzenberg in the Jan. 25-26 Czech presidential runoff over the latter’s position on the expulsion of 2.5 million Germans from Czechoslovakia during World War II.

Wolfgang Münchau in the Financial Times argues that Mario Monti is not the right prime minister for Italy.

Middle East

Foreign Policy showcases Wednesday’s Jordanian elections.

Progress on Turkey’s EU accession talks.

Egypt’s secular National Salvation Front shakes off ties to the Mubarak regime.

Ten lessons for Libya from the Egyptian constitutional process.