Walmart Hid Mexican Bribery Scandal

HOME POLITICS NATIONAL NEWS WORLD ECONOMY SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT Joe Conason Carl Hiaasen Connie Schultz E.J. Dionne Gene Lyons Jonathan Alter April 23, 2012 THE BIG STORY Sarkozy, Socialist Challenger Headed To French Presidential Runoff Francois Hollande, a mild-mannered French Socialist, is heading toward a presidential runoff election against conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in a vote that could alter Europe's political and economic landscape. Hollande heads into the May 6 second round with the upper hand after narrowly edging Sarkozy in the first round of France's voting Sunday, according to near-complete official results. Nearly one in five voters chose far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, handing her a solid third place with her anti-immigration platform that targets France's millions of Muslims. READ MORE FEATURED COLUMN: E.J. DIONNE How To Beat Citizens United We are about to have the worst presidential campaign money can buy. The Supreme Court's dreadful Citizens United decision and a somnolent Federal Election Commission will allow hundreds of millions of dollars from a small number of very wealthy people to inundate our airwaves with often vicious advertisements for which no candidate will be accountable. One would like to think that the court will eventually admit the folly of its 2010 ruling and reverse it. But we can't wait that long. READ MORE ANOTHER NEW LOW Report: Walmart Concealed Massive Bribery Scandal In Mexico Government officials declined on Sunday to comment on the allegations contained in a New York Times report, which said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. failed to notify law enforcement after its own investigators found evidence that company officials paid millions of dollars in bribes to spur the company's rapid expansion in Mexico. READ MORE FEATURED COLUMN: LEONARD PITTS JR. Snow White is Sooo Yesterday Sometimes, it seems as if every tabloid and magazine has a headline about some actress or personality and her crusade to find -- or keep -- a man. Either she has been dumped or he has cheated, or she is thinking of taking him back, or she is lonely without him, or she is struggling to conceive, or the wedding is off, or the wedding is back on, or she has found new love after the divorce, yadda, yadda and yadda. It is life as soap opera story arc or country music lyric. And here is the thing: you will almost never see a male celebrity as the object of one of those headlines. READ MORE TODAY IN STUPID Arizona Sheriff Joe Played Probe For Laughs An audio recording has surfaced of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio playing his refusal to cooperate in a federal investigation for laughs. Taped at a fundraiser for an anti-illegal immigration group in Texas, Arpaio ridicules politicians who sought the probe and displays contempt toward federal authorities who are still investigating him on two fronts. READ MORE LAW AND ORDER George Zimmerman Released On Bail In an unusually low-key turn to a high-profile case, George Zimmerman was released without incident around midnight Sunday from a Florida county jail on $150,000 bail as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin. READ MORE CARTOON OF THE DAY   (c) 2012 Eastern Harbor Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 28 West 27th Street, Suite 502 New York, NY 10001