2017
April
24
Monday
Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

The establishment is breathing an enormous sigh of relief in France today. Centrist Emmanuel Macron will face far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the May 7 presidential election. The relief is that Ms. Le Pen wasn’t joined by the far-left candidate, who was also polling well before Sunday’s first round of voting.

But there’s a danger in that kind of relief. Is Mr. Macron’s primary value that he’s not someone else? Later this week, we’ll take a look at why Macron’s supporters like him. And that’s important. What’s needed is not a defeat of the so-called extremists. What’s needed is a positive and compelling vision for a future that embraces all – including those feeling left behind by globalization. If relief only leads to complacency, then any victory will prove a hollow one. 


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Charles Platiau/Reuters
Marine Le Pen, French National Front leader and candidate for president, poses for a selfie as she leaves a salon near her campaign headquarters in Paris April 24, one day after she secured a place in the election’s second round.
Kelly P. Kissel/AP
Solomon Graves, of the Arkansas Department of Correction, waits for news from the execution chamber at the Cummins Unit prison, near Varner, Ark., April 20. The US Supreme Court rejected stay requests from inmate Ledell Lee, allowing his sentence be carried out.

Overlooked

Stories you may have missed
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Oxfam, World Bank, Inside Gov

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

The real story on New York City and crime

SOURCE:

New York City Police Department

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

The Monitor's View

AP Photo
Saudi entrepreneur Manar Alomayri, a partner of Dhad Audio Publishing, stands in front of her stand as a part of the STEP Music Conference in April in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

A message of love

Ariel Schalit/AP
Pausing to remember: Young surfers stood in silence on a Mediterranean beach in Netanya, Israel, April 24, as a two-minute siren sounds. The annual Holocaust remembrance day is held in memory of the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thank you for reading today. We’re moving now into producing these story packages daily, with the aims of getting at some of the deeper questions in the news and of turning up some fresh perspectives. Please let us know how we’re doing. 

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2017
April
24
Monday
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