May 7, 2017

Polls open in Paris

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Philippe Wojazer/Pool Photo via AP

Russian fingerprints on the last-minute dump of campaign emails hacked from pro-business independent Emmanuel Macron, the heavy favorite in today's French presidential election:

"Vitali Kremez, director of research with New York-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint, told Reuters his review indicates that APT 28, a group tied to the GRU, the Russian military intelligence directorate, was behind the leak. He cited similarities with U.S. election hacks ... attributed to that group."

  • Fortune: "As with alleged Russian interference in the recent U.S. election, the Macron hack could represent an attempt to boost a candidate seen as more favorable to Russia ... Marine Le Pen."
  • "A Le Pen defeat won't mean the end of French extremism," by historian David Bell on the cover of WashPost Outlook: "[A]mid the economic stagnation, political paralysis and terrorist threats, ... [the] party system seems to have collapsed."
  • "France's divide mirrors West's," by Griff Witte on WashPost A1: "[T]he French campaign has solidified the new fracture lines in modern politics, which bear little relation to the relatively modest differences marking the old left-right divide. ... [T]he profound new chasm in the West: between those who favor open, globalized societies and others who prefer closed, nationalized ones."
  • Polls close at 2 p.m. ET, with projections expected right then.
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