France: strikes
In his first "state of the union" speech, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, was cautiously upbeat about the EU's economic recovery: it is "gaining pace", he said, "albeit unevenly". Meanwhile, more than one million French workers joined strikes and rallies in protest at the government's austerity measures. Job cuts, a retirement age rise and pensions overhauls had Parisian strikers chanting: "Slave-driving? No, no, no."
President Nicolas Sarkozy's already shaky reputation depends on his ability to push through pension reforms, something no president has previously tried to impose. Retirement at 60 may be early by OECD standards, but French workers are highly taxed and, measured hour by hour, highly productive; it is seen as an important achievement of the Socialist former president François Mitterrand. Increasing the age at which people get a pension is not going to be easy.
Egypt: reform
“If the whole people boycott the elections totally, it will be, in my view, the end of the regime," declared Mohamed ElBaradei on 7 September. The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a prominent leader in Egypt's fractured opposition, has said he will run for president in next year's polls only if the current government reforms the parliamentary system. It's an unlikely goal, but one that has united various opposition factions. Egypt's upper-house elections in June were widely attacked as fraudulent.
However, a boycott would need the support of the Muslim Brotherhood, which agrees with ElBaradei's proposed reforms but said earlier this year it would "participate in all coming elections". So, for now, petitions for change seem the best way forward: so far, more than 750,000 signatures have been collected.
South Korea: aid
It's been a tense few months on the Korean peninsula, after South Korea accused its northern neighbour of torpedoing one of its warships in March. Naval manoeuvres near the countries' sea border, artillery fired into nearby waters, and threats of "strong physical retaliation" from the North followed.
But none of this stopped the South offering the North - hit by heavy rains that affected levels of food production - ten billion won (£5.5m) of aid in late August. On 7 September, the North asked instead for rice, cement and heavy equipment, releasing a seized Southern fishing boat that day. The resumption of rice aid, halted by the South's president, Lee Myung-bak, in 2008, would be a big step in repairing relations.
Cuba: Fidel
On stage for the first time since handing power to his brother Raúl in 2006, Fidel Castro was on sharp-witted, if physically frail, form. Speaking to an audience of 10,000 from the steps of Havana University on 3 September, he warned that in nuclear weapons, the US had created "a system that threatens humanity". He criticised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitism, calling on the Iranian president to try to see Israel's point of view. Despite speculation that he is keen to be involved with Cuban governance, Castro steered clear of domestic politics. He stuck to international affairs, urging that "it is possible to be victorious" against nuclear threats.
Japan: breakout
In a tale of technological derring-do, sort of, a Japanese journalist, Kosuke Tsuneoka, has returned to Tokyo after five months in an Afghan jail, released the day after surreptitiously tweeting from a low-ranking guard's mobile phone. "i am still allive [sic] but in jail", Tsuneoka told his followers. Then: "here is archi in kunduz. in the prison of commander lativ."
The freelancer's Twitter silence signalled his disappearance in the first place. But the social network can't take the credit for his release: guards seem to have shown mercy because Tsuneoka is a Muslim.
