Madrid: new political mold for old (Catholic) Spain.

• Position: KIOSQUE: Global highlights and local sidelights culled from the media - Brief article

Four years ago, bombings rocked Madrid's commuter train line just days before the national election, handing an upset victory of Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as prime minister. In March, he won re-election by a statistical sliver.

What has changed under his rule? Madrid-based NPR journalist Jerome Socolovsky reported that his election in 2004 gave Zapatero "not a free hand, but quite a bit of latitude" to do what he wanted with the country. So "he took Spain on a sharp left hand turn," pushing through legislation that would have been unthinkable before: provisions for gay marriage, easier paths to divorce, access to abortion, massive amnesty deals for undocumented workers. Perhaps most shockingly in terms of Spanish history, the new leader clashed with the Catholic Church, threatening to cut its government funding...